D1 and D2 attend a public “highly gifted magnet” Jr/Sr (7-12) high school in LA that now offers the IB Diploma Programme. We love this school for its diversity and palpable sense of community and history. However, it does not traditionally send students to the LACs D1 is looking into (Bates, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Oberlin, Kenyon, Grinnell, Haverford, the Seven Sisters, etc.). If students venture outside of the UC system, they generally aim for Harvard, Brown (a solid relationship there), and sometimes Stanford. By the same token, our school is not on the radar for visiting admin reps, who tend to visit schools in more affluent communities with highly educated parents.
Does this work to our advantage or not? How does a high school (or student) go about creating a pathway where none exists? Do such colleges look favorably on pioneering students, or do they tend to stick with known schools and counselors?
I don’t see any issues with this. Even in the Northeast certain types of schools like Catholic schools don’t send too many kids to this group of schools and it works in the students’ favor.
Why compete with your classmates?
These schools are trying to break their image as Northeast prep school stepping stones, so I’m sure your application will be welcomed.
Most of them have outreach programs where the visit to school is a formal three day event with the student’s expenses paid.
Our sons selected colleges that were far away and not attended by their classmates or alumni of their high school. The most difficult part was traveling to see the colleges before the ED deadlines, so that they could decide whether and when to apply. There may be a geographic advantage as schools look to admit a diverse student body every year. This may have played a part in their admission decisions, but there is no way of telling.
There is quite a big cultural difference attending school in the areas you have mentioned than where they now live. We have a friend whose son chose Bates over UCLA, having grown up in LA, and he has loved his experience. Another attended Tufts instead of UC Berkeley, having grown up in San Francisco. He is moving home after graduation, having had enough of winter on the East Coast. They each were considered pioneering by their classmates, and both chose to apply EA rather than ED as to have more time to decide, knowing that admission would be more difficult going that route.
Applying to colleges not usually applied to from your high school can cut both ways.
On the plus side most admissions officers strive for as diverse a class as possible. By this I mean diversity in all ways, not just ethnicity. Having someone from a school (or, especially, a state) that is underrepresented can give a small boost to the applicant’s chances. I dare say CA isn’t underrepresented at these schools but people from public CA schools might be.
The minus side is that the admissions officers won’t know your school as well (although this could be a plus in certain cases…). If the admissions officer knows your school well they can represent you in committee better. Having them know, for instance, that your school has little or no grade inflation can get a 3.6 GPA accepted at schools that typically look for GPAs much higher. Admissions officers do have information from the schools about their grading but when there are only a few minutes allotted to each school having an admissions officer who knows and respects your school without having to go through paperwork can be a real advantage.
Don’t get me wrong though, these things tend to only come into effect with people close to the wait-list/admit border so for the vast majority of applicants there will be no impact.
A small correction-Bates and Tufts don’t have an EA option. Perhaps they applied RD?
In my experience colleges like the ones on your children’s list are happy to make inroads at new schools. You may want to have your girls contact the admissions officer who covers your region to find out when he or she will be in your area. That way they can connect at a college fair or visit to a nearby school. I’ve even known AO’s to make a side trip to a new school when they’ve received interest from a student.
Admissions Officers look favorably on the rigor of IB programs so even if they don’t “know” your D’s school they will know the type of education it offers. As mentioned above, I too think they welcome making inroads to new schools, especially those with top academics. Also mentioned above, I would be sure to allow plenty of time to visit the schools that might be in contention for ED as the culture/weather/environment is going to be so different from what your D is used to, and it is worth spending the night, attending classes etc. at her first choices if at all possible. Some of the schools might also be able to connect her with students from the LA area so that she can get some input from those who have transitioned to New England. Just a thought!
@Sue22 Thanks for the clarification. Should have be clearer - both applicants chose schools not to apply to any schools ED, as to give themselves more time to decide.
The advantage of IB is that it’s fairly normalized, so that all classes are high quality and requirements very demanding. Therefore, attending an IB school, whether it’s not or not, means your child will benefit from its prestige and reputation.
That will mitigate the fact the school isn’t well-known from Northeastern LACs (BTW, just in case: look into Carleton, Grinnell, and Macalester, too.)
On the other hand, you child will have the benefit of coming from a school that’s not represented yet in the adcom’s rota for CA; although CA isn’t an under-represented state, the LACs may want to start establishing a relationship there.
True, IB is standardized, but different schools may offer different HL versus SL subjects. Also, quality of instruction can still differ, which may be revealed on the IB score averages from different IB schools (much as AP score averages at different schools hint at differences in quality between different schools’ AP courses).
I’m going to reiterate the advice of @Sue22 to contact the LAC’s and see when they will be in your area. This is doubly important if you won’t be able to visit the schools in person. Even if the admission rep won’t be coming to your school, you may be able to meet up with him/her at a nearby school or college fair. I do think those LAC’s look favorably upon an applicant who makes the effort to seek them out. My D was interested in Mt Holyoke, but the Mt Holyoke rep wasn’t scheduled to come to her school. So D emailed her and arranged to meet the admissions rep at her hotel for an interview when she was in town visiting other high schools.
"I’m going to reiterate the advice of @Sue22 to contact the LAC’s and see when they will be in your area. This is doubly important if you won’t be able to visit the schools in person. "
I have to agree with that. For many of these school, (cetainly Kenyon) anything that shows interest is helpful in getting admitted. More importantly, talks with the admissions officers are a great way to better understand the vibe of the school helping you focus better on the schools that are the best fit.
I think it would be very important to visit these schools, particularly Kenyon, as noted above. Yield is very important to any LAC, and they want to know that a student is serious about coming. And although some of these schools look somewhat similar on paper, the vibe varies considerably from campus to campus. Finally, having made a visit, and connecting personally with a professor, can be a considerable advantage when writing the essay.
Thanks, BatesParent2019. We just visited Bates today after getting off the plane and will definitely be applying after finding out that a new digital studies/comp sci department will debut in 2016.
You’re right, MidwestDad3. I had heard that Bates/Oberlin/Pitzer had similar student bodies, for example, the feel of the campuses could not be more different. Also, we learned that Kenyon had previously offered a travel grant for interested students at our school, which D1 will apply for.
Thanks for the positive feedback, everyone.
As D1 is in the first IB cohort at her school, if she is fortunate enough to be accepted at any of these schools, I know her teachers would actively encourage future classes to apply and cement such relationships with the colleges AND to promote the IB fledgling program.
When AOs can’t visit, her school often invites former students to speak about their experience, and D1 would enjoy doing that for friends in D2’s class.
@albclemom - I can see why your sons chose Bates and Tufts over Cal and UCLA.
D1 enjoyed our visits today more than she thought she would. Also, the more formal dress code for boys on the East coast appeals to her too. Amen to that!
@winnvanmeter We never visted Oberlin but a classmate of my son did when they were visiting Kenyon. He was being recruited for swimming. He described Oberlin as “goth”, which is probably an exaggeration of course but wouldn’t be anything like New England schools.
Did you see the Bates 280 dorm? The new underclassmen dorms will be similar. Was the dining hall open?
And yes dress in the Northeast at college especially smaller schools tends to be natty. The boys have a particular liking for khakis in a variety of shades of red.
“I’m going to reiterate the advice of @Sue22 to contact the LAC’s and see when they will be in your area. This is doubly important if you won’t be able to visit the schools in person.”
For schools that value interviews (which Bates does) you should ask the school to arrange for an interview where you live. There are pretty much alums in every area. My S toured Bates but had his interview where we live with an alum.
"And yes dress in the Northeast at college especially smaller schools tends to be natty. The boys have a particular liking for khakis in a variety of shades of red. "
My S just graduated from Bates and never wore khakis and I never saw any of his friends wearing khakis, either. Jeans, t-shirts, sweatshirts. Shorts in warm weather (or what passes for warm weather in Maine.)
Most kids roll out of bed, pick something off the floor to throw on, get coffee at Commons and go to class.
@winnvanmeter - Actually, those were sons our of friends, not mine. We’re from the East Coast. My younger one actually chose a large public school on the West Coast for the opposite reason preferred by your D1, although my older one studies overseas in a much more formal environment than home. To each his own I guess!