Reply to Tech Prodigy and College Choices: Balancing Advanced Skills with Less Prestigious Schools

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm looking for some advice about my 15-year-old son. Up until 8th grade, he excelled in advanced courses, always getting top grades. But something changed in high school – he stopped taking all honors and advanced classes and switched to regular ones. Despite this shift, he's still acing standardized tests, scoring around 1550 on SAT practice tests with ease. His regular school grades are a mix, with As, Bs, and occasional Cs, particularly in subjects like foreign languages that don't interest him.

He's now looking at colleges that are easier to get into, focusing on those with good Computer Science programs. His list includes Iowa State, George Mason University, Arizona State, University of Arizona, and Oregon State. He doesn't care about the school and just wants to get a CS degree.

Here’s where it gets impressive: his tech skills are extraordinary. Beyond basic coding, he’s adept at creating complex software solutions. He’s skilled in a wide array of programming languages and technologies, including Docker, JavaScript frameworks, Python, Java, C++, and more. He has an amazing ability to grasp and master new tech concepts, languages, and frameworks quickly. In my role as a senior director and hiring manager at a FAANG company, I see that his skills are comparable to those of our seasoned principal engineers and architects. He’s tackled challenging coding tasks and aced the tough coding tests we set for hiring these high-level positions.

Here's the part that irks me a bit: I talk to friends who have older kids and are just starting to learn programming at Ivy League schools, and it's hard not to feel that my son, who is far more advanced in tech, won't have the same prestigious college on his resume. This makes me wonder how important is a prestigious university for him. He’s incredibly talented in tech but isn’t pursuing challenging academic courses anymore. Should I push him towards more renowned universities, or is it okay to support his choice of more accessible colleges, given his exceptional skills? Will his advanced abilities in tech get recognized in the industry, even if he doesn’t graduate from a highly sought-after school?[/quote]

I would think a "more accessible college" would be fine. The person matters more than the school, and the tech world is a greater meritocracy than the Ivy League world as it uses skills that are more inherent than taught. I suspect your son will do very well.[b] A lot of highly gifted kids are not a good fit for standard schools and don't necessarily stand out in terms of grades, so they don't go to the T10s or T20s. Instead, they sometimes end up at colleges or universities that cater to their particular interests. I would suggest you look at some STEM schools such as Georgie Tech, Colorado School of Mines, or Rose-Hulman, [/b]where his SAT will generate interest and his GPA will be in the general mix. Regular public universities often have strong computer science programs too, so one of those would no doubt work. If he's being turned off by high school, it might be best to let him go to community college immediately so he can take more advanced classes that interest him. Once he has an associate's degree, he should be able to transfer into a decent university. I know some profoundly gifted kids who have taken this path. [/quote]

+1 especially with ADHD, being able to focus on what you like makes a huge difference. Both my kids have ADHD. My son did better as high school went on and he was able to focus more on math and math-related classes he likes. Ended up at VT in a data science major with a 4.0 in his major classes, involved in undergrad research, working as a TA for a math professor, has a great internship lined up for the summer. Still does the bare minimum to get Bs in Gen Ed requirements.

DD struggled more in HS with her EF skills and ended with a B+ average. Is at a mid-range LAC with a strong emphasis on her passion and track record for success in students going on to PhDs in the field. She was frustrated a bit at introductory classes that were a bit slow/repetitive for her and could see a lot of students didn't have as rigorous a HS preparation as she did but also said there were a lot of really smart kids and she felt she had a good peer group. [/quote]

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