I went to the open house at my daughter's high school last night and ran into a parent I hadn't seen in awhile. I know the woman's daughter pretty well because I coached her in the math club at the elementary school. She's incredibly bright. IQ easily north of 130.
The girl is a junior so I asked about colleges. The mom told me her daughter is almost certainly going to MSU. They took her around to lots of colleges, including U-M and some of the nearby private colleges. U-M made a strong push with the solar car stuff. But the girl has rejected Michigan for two reasons:
1. The Michigan campus has a weird layout for kids in the College of Engineering, and getting to classes is pretty difficult.
2. She's a huge MSU sports fan.
The mother mentioned point (2) at least three times. I wouldn't be surprised if this affects more than a few kids. MSU just jumped 10 spots in the US News rankings and part of that may be due to a stronger pool of applicants. Lots of positive spillovers to having strong sports teams, and these kids know MSU to be a powerhouse in football and men's basketball, with strong programs in other sports.
Oh, and my son started this year in Lyman Briggs. His first game in the student section is a night game against Oregon. He doesn't really understand how spoiled he is. My son's roommate, from Rochester Hills, apparently checked in with a 4.4 high school GPA and a 32 ACT. Lots of good synergies at MSU right now.
The girl is a junior so I asked about colleges. The mom told me her daughter is almost certainly going to MSU. They took her around to lots of colleges, including U-M and some of the nearby private colleges. U-M made a strong push with the solar car stuff. But the girl has rejected Michigan for two reasons:
1. The Michigan campus has a weird layout for kids in the College of Engineering, and getting to classes is pretty difficult.
2. She's a huge MSU sports fan.
The mother mentioned point (2) at least three times. I wouldn't be surprised if this affects more than a few kids. MSU just jumped 10 spots in the US News rankings and part of that may be due to a stronger pool of applicants. Lots of positive spillovers to having strong sports teams, and these kids know MSU to be a powerhouse in football and men's basketball, with strong programs in other sports.
Oh, and my son started this year in Lyman Briggs. His first game in the student section is a night game against Oregon. He doesn't really understand how spoiled he is. My son's roommate, from Rochester Hills, apparently checked in with a 4.4 high school GPA and a 32 ACT. Lots of good synergies at MSU right now.
