My daughter who is a rising senior has good GPA and rank(top 3% in a highly competitive high school). SAT/ACT scores are good 1580/35. However other than some volunteer work she does not have any ECs/awards. Looking at the chance me posts, it appears she does not stand a chance of getting into decent colleges. What do you think.
I think there are plenty of “decent colleges” that would be happy to have your daughter.
I’d say she has a great chance of getting into many “decent” colleges. Your kid is who she - she’ll find her niche.
How much volunteering are we talking about? It may mean more than you think! While volunteer hours alone probably aren’t enough for a tippy top, there are PLENTY of colleges - great ones - that would be happy to have your DD.
If you are in Texas as your user name suggests, she will be automatically admitted to all Texas public universities based on her top 3% rank (though not necessarily to the most competitive majors). Presumably, at least some of these are “decent”.
Thank you all for replying and putting my mind to ease. Seeing all the work that many of the HS seniors have done is stressing me out and I am thinking maybe I did not push my kid enough.
The problem with CC is that you see the “best” of all the other students and compare your kid to the union of all the other students. Much like if you went on to a discussion board about babies, you would compare your baby to the one that talks, the one that walks, the one that reads…not realizing there is not one single baby that does all those things.
Also realize that “decent school” doesn’t mean Harvard Yale or Princeton…like others mention, she can get auto-admitted to UT schools (e.g., UT Austin which is fantastic!).
@bopper Thank you for your reply. Yes, I am counting on UT. But I am hearing that UT can deny the major choice or can CAP you even for auto admit students.
My child had similar stats and few ECs/no awards other than “commended” National Merit , and got in to plenty of decent schools (in fact, all of them she applied to). If you have your heart set on an Ivy or other Top 20 school, you may be disappointed (along with most of the other students who DO have the “whole package”). My child targeted a number of small /medium LACs (her choice for type of environment she wanted) that were top 100 (so not “elite” but definitely “decent”) and was accepted with a good amount of merit money to all of them. Apply to a mix of schools (reach/target/likely) and things should work out well. And pat yourself on the back for not stressing out your child with pressure and forced activities to pad her application.
I’ll parrot @iwantalltheinfo in that its unlikely to get into a Top 20 school without some significant achievements outside of HS. That being said she should have some pretty good luck with any flagship University and some very good LAC’s if she is so inclined. Where does she want to go to college?
Many kids push themselves to the brink of exhaustion doing EC’s in high school, have grades and scores like your daughter’s, and still don’t get into top 20 schools. Rather than beat yourself up for not pushing her, think about congratulating yourself for not getting caught up in the Ivy rat race!