[TiK]

I couldn't help but reminisce and laugh about my high school experience after reading about your son's stats (97 avg., 1350 SAT). It seems like yesterday that I was in the same boat. Crazy high school I went to they calculate your average to the hundredth place. The difference between the valedictorian and salutatorian was about 2 hundredths of a point. Pretty sick, and the competition was pretty sick too.

I ended up going to Michigan, hated it (it was [censored] cold, and it happened to be the mildest winter in 25 years). But on the plus side, I was there when Michigan split the Championship with Nebraska fall 1997. Let me just say that Michigan games are RIDICULOUS (ridiculously awesome, that is). That stadium holds over 107,000 people and it's SRO EVERY HOME GAME. Other than that though, I didn't like the school. Big lectures, lots of kids, very easy to get lost in the fray (which I did). So I took some time off after my freshman year, went to community college for about 2 semesters, and then transferred to Tulane (great [censored] place and warm weather too). New Orleans has got to be one of the best cities to go to school in. Tulane itself is not too bad either.

Anyway, from my experience, I would say that you (your son rather) should definitely visit the school. No matter how good the school is, make sure you can LIVE there for four years. Cuz lord knows I would've killed myself had I spent four years at Michigan (or Cornell for that matter, that place is even drearier than Michigan during the winter).

I apologize for my long-winded reply. But if you have any specific questions, feel free to PM me.

Edit: Also, as JordanIB posted,
[ QUOTE ]

Finally, if cost is an issue at all, being in NY, if your son chooses the business program (or anything within the 3 state-funded schools), you're getting the same education that other people are paying through the nose for at a $10,000/year discount. (And you can still take whatever you want in whatever school or subject you want, just like everyone else.)

[/ QUOTE ] This, you should definitely look into. It is a GREAT value. Ivy league diploma for state college tuition.