His choice of school is not set in stone. He always has the option of transferring to another college if he doesn’t like where he starts and sometimes it’s actually easier to get where you want once you have a good start at another college.
However, starting out with a strong GPA is essential. Colleges tend to expect the first year GPA to not be so strong because kids are just getting used to college and don’t tend to do as well as they could the first semester or so. If he has a strong freshman fall semester, that will go far.
Exposure to the different courses required for his choice of major will give him an idea of whether or not he wants to pursue a particular career field. Two of my kids thought they wanted to do computer science but after the first semester, realized that that was not what they expected. My youngest was serious about biochem but landed in physics. What they want to do will change.
Since he’s undecided at this point (all my kids were sophomores before they knew what they wanted to be when they grew up) go the cheapest - or free - if you will. That way, he doesn’t end up wasting money simply trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life.
He also needs to plan out very carefully what courses to take in the event that he may transfer. Courses like calculus are pretty much the same everywhere and will count everywhere. With good planning, he can also double major. That requires being very careful in which liberal arts courses to take. He needs to take ones that will do double duty, fill the LA requirement for the engineer while being required for the major for the classics.
“His choice of school is not set in stone. He always has the option of transferring to another college if he doesn’t like where he starts and sometimes it’s actually easier to get where you want once you have a good start at another college.”
Actually, his choice IS largely set in stone. If he chooses Harvard or Hopkins, and decides he would have liked to have gone to Maryland, instead, he will not have the opportunity to get back to Maryland with a full scholarship, including tuition, room, board, books, and an educational stipend.
Similarly, after having been admitted to Harvard and Hopkins, if he chooses Maryland, it will be very, very difficult to transfer to either one of these two schools, especially Harvard. Ninety-eight percent of matriculating freshmen at Harvard graduate from Harvard. There's just very little room for transfers.
“What they want to do will change.”
I think it's more likely he'll end up where he starts - engineering and classics. It's possible he might shift from civil to mechanical, but engineering is where it's at for him, in terms of a career. And classics is his avocation.
“Since he’s undecided at this point (all my kids were sophomores before they knew what they wanted to be when they grew up) go the cheapest - or free - if you will.”
I'm not sure why you think he's undecided. He's quite decided - civil engineering and classics. Not one or the other, but both.
As well, if he didn't know in what field he wanted to major, I'd insist on Harvard, as it's the school with the best all-around reputation. No matter the field, no one is going to cast aspersions on a Harvard degree.
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