Bright son at a very, very competitive prep school (think just barely below boarding school level) Always a builder-maker-type kid. Moved him from public where he was top of class to private as a freshman so he could be challenged and "let his nerd out". There has been some "If I'm not the smart(est) kid who am I?" angst, but he has found his passion: he designs and builds drones (complex, large, unique designs, taught himself all of the programs and electrical, does some fabrication on 3D printers). He spends a lot of time on these passions during free time both at school and at home (like up all night amounts of time) to the detriment of his grades. He wants to build things for a living, and we are trying to figure out schools that would be a good fit. He has documentation of his builds through the years, so schools that accept a portfolio (to help offset his GPA) might be a plus. He would love a school that has a curriculum that would allow him to spend a decent portion of his time focused on what he wants to do for a living... so maybe a flexible curriculum? Seems like the obvious engineering schools are out of reach from a GPA standpoint. His school offers some APs, but very few, they feel their curriculum is sufficiently challenging. We are in southern california, if that makes a difference. Any suggestions appreciated. Passionate, smart kid who has basically refused to jump on the admissions treadmill (we tried, believe me) and just did his own thing. Any hope? Also, thoughts on working on his GPA, applying after senior year and taking a gap year? (not my first preference). Thanks in advance.
3.3 GPA
1470 PSAT (99.xx% sounds like will qualify National Merit Recognition in CA)
NEW SAT scores not back for another week, but he said it was "incredibly easy", assuming he'll do as well as he did on PSAT (first sitting, no studying)
Boy Scout, 11 years of scouting
1 AP Computer Science (senior year)
11 years Soccer, 2 years JV and 2 years Varsity
decent amount of volunteer work (through scouts and another org)
Tech Club leader at school
Hobbies: archery, building & design
Freshman and Sophomore summer: Built drones
Junior year summer: 3 week, well-regarded engineering camp
Junior Year summer: internship at construction/engineering firm
↧