Hi all, my daughter is currently a rising junior and wants to start researching colleges – and although I’m a teacher who has informally advised multiple students on the college application process, I’m finding it’s a little different trying to advise my own kid!
A little about her: A bright kid who thrives on intelligent conversation and wants to be around other bright kids (her #1 criteria). She was selected for our district’s IB program freshman year (they require all 4 years of IB coursework) but dropped it when she was accepted to a science-emphasis semester school out of state for spring semester last year. Unfortunately, she was sent home after only a short time there due to Covid-19, which was devastating since she felt she’d finally found her “fit” academically. Not a party kid and wants to attend college with others who are driven, collaborative, and down-to-Earth. Right now her interest is mostly directed toward LACs, or at least smaller schools, but she’s not thrilled about being in the middle of nowhere unless there is a very active Outdoor Club. Best case scenario in her point of view would probably be in/near a major city OR on either coast near the ocean.
Her school is a large urban public in flyover country with about 70% graduation rate, and outside of the IB program, not much attention gets paid to the AP/Honors track kids (of which there are very few). She is only able to take 3 APs junior year and could not fit a foreign language class into her schedule due to conflict with AP Calc. She is taking 6 credits of college Mandarin online this summer, but foreign language will be a weak point in her application since she won’t have 4 years of the same language. She very much wants to study abroad senior year (only affordable if she wins a scholarship), so if she does, she’ll graduate with only 3 total AP courses. If she completes senior year at her current school, she’ll probably be able to take 3-4 more, which will mostly exhaust the offerings at her school.
Her current interests are in the area of environmental/life sciences and international studies. Her dream career as of now would be something in diplomacy, working with foreign countries on environmental policy – but she’s also interested in pure research and/or public health. She has a 4.0 GPA and is ranked #1 in a class of 550+ (any kid with a 4.0 will be tied for #1, as her school doesn’t weight – this is usually about 4 kids each year). ACT taken sophomore year was 32, and she will probably take once more (although she’s not a fan of standardized tests).
Extracurriculars are fairly standard – Captain of Science Olympiad team, founder of a club that brings together native English speakers and refugee kids for cultural exchange and assimilation/tutoring assistance, founder of a club that brings after school science to elementary kids in her district, orchestra. She’s also worked fast food since she turned 15 (loves her job) and worked with Youth Conservation Corps last summer maintaining trails.
Hobbies are eclectic and include swimming (for exercise and fun, not competition), knitting, photography, and flying (currently working on a pilot’s license but progressing slowly due to COVID).
Suggestions? She’s got above average grades, decent test scores, average ECs, but below average course rigor, especially if she studies abroad – compounded with the fact that we’re middle class with an EFC of 22k and NPCs that generally give us anywhere in the 25k-35k range. We can probably stretch to afford 30k, but we do have kid #2 graduating only a year later, so money is a factor as well. Any ideas where she might be happy, and more importantly, where she has a shot?
Thanks in advance!
I’m pretty sure Carleton will go on the list as well for reach schools.