Ping to some folks who may be interested, especially a homeschool ping. I’m interested in your views.
Maryland ping.
GA Tech. Save yourself some $$$$.
If you can afford Hopkins, I would think that would be the way to go. Also, if money is a concern, a kid could take the MARC up to Camden from Muirkirk (or doesn't the Penn Line run within spitting distance of where you live?) and the subway over to the campus -- so commuting could be a viable option in that case. Even with gas prices the way they are (The same applies to UMCP, as well)
Just my opinion, though.
Maryland. Why? Well first it is free. It is close to home. It has a five year MBA program. And it is free. Drop that $65,000 or $88,000 savings into a savings account, that will be seed money for his engineering firm after he graduates and gets a few years experience in the field. Or it will pay for his doctoral program at Harvard if he wants to teach. And it is free.
Thank you for posting this. I am very pleased with so much about this, as a homeschool parent, a pseud-classicist, but who works in the “real” world (and is constantly pushing engineering with kids). I follow higher education (in both the classics departments and the engineering departments) very very closely and I think your breakdown is really excellent.
Assuming your young scholar actually wants to be an engineer, I think it is a close call, but Maryland should win in my opinion.
The clincher is the free cost. And the excellence of the classics. (Again, sort of assuming the classics here is about building a life, not pursuing a scholarly career).
I would suggest keeping the cost down, and doing “good enough” in terms of credentialing as an undergrad.
Then, I would say go for MIT or Stanford as a graduate degree. With a classics undergrad (I really love this by the way...), and good marks in engineering, it is very doable to get into a top engineering graduate program and then you have the credential/name that Harvard offers. It would even at that stage be prudent to take on some debt, as the graduate program would not be the full 4 years (masters) and it also would more clearly increase earning power.
So I think that’s the way to go. Maryland for free now. Stanford/MIT for masters degree with the cost less than a Harvard undergrad.
(All that said, I do not think it would be a bad choice at all just to do Harvard now....that would be great, too...just not quite as good, all things considered, as Maryland).
Again, congratulations and bless you for all this...very impressive!