Advice for High School Freshman for College Admissions?

Applying to College
1

Hi I’m a rising freshman, some general advice to be successful in college admissions would be great, but I also have some specific questions about my situation.

  • how important is the high school that you go to, say does someone that goes to a very selective high school have an advantage compared to someone at a lesser known school/ public school?
  • Do you have to do all different kinds of extracurriculars (/be well rounded)? (an instrument, a sport, leadership, volunteering?).
  • My school doesn't offer AP classes for freshmen, is that a disadvantage, if so, how do I deal with this?
  • Do freshmen have to have found what they're already passionate about and what career they would like to pursue?
  • Do those summer programs at ivy-leagues, realllly help college admissions?
  • I'm asian, should I stay away from being a stereotype?
  • As an army brat, I move around a lot (to countries I'm not native to) will this being a disadvantage?

I know this is very early to be thinking about college admissions, but university admissions seem so daunting and horrifying. These are questions I’m to embarrassed to ask in real life ahaha.

2

You’re in 8th grade.

My suggestion is to take the most difficult classes you can be successful in.

But to also realize that these 4 years are about far more than grades, far more than building a successful college application.

They’re about the people-- the people you meet and the person you choose to present to the world.

They’re about growth. And growth doesn’t come easily. It involves pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. It means joining activities that interest you, even if they won’t build a resume or put you in with the cool kids.

They’re about being the kind of person you can be proud of. That means kindness, even to people who probably won’t be able to help you in any way, even to people who haven’t chosen to be kind to you in return.

They’re about being open-- to new people, to new ideas, to new everything.

I think it’s great that your school doesn’t offer APs to freshmen. I honestly don’t see any reason for a 13 year old to be taking college level classwork.

Many college freshmen have no idea what they want to be when they grow up-- there’s a huge percentage who change their major at least once. There’s absolutely no reason for you to feel you need to know this now.

Don’t worry about the Asian stereotype. As I said, these years are about figuring out who you are and what path you want. That doesn’t change for white, black, yellow or green.

As to the “Army brat” thing, think of all the cultures to which you’ve been exposed! Like most things in life, that can be an advantage or a disadvantage-- it will be up to you.

The best of luck to you as you begin high school.

(Oh, and New Yorkers as a group LOVE our bagels. Poppy seed is my favorite too!)

3

Ask @lookingforward .

4

The main thing is to take the basics at the hardest level you can do well at.
That means 4 years of English, 4 years of Math, at least 3 years of science including biology, chemistyr and physics, at least 3 years of history, at least 3 (preferably 4) of a foreign language, at least one art/music type course.

There are both advantages and disadvantages of going to a selective high school. The main reason imo to choose the selective one is for a better education and better counseling. My kids did fine at a very average very large high school with a pretty big group of high achieving students. It had a lot more opportunities than some smaller private schools. (Many music groups, an award winning Science Olympiad team, lots of sports etc.)

You should do the extra-curriculars you enjoy. My older son did academic ECs at school, and lots of different computer programming related things at home. My younger son (who majored in Int. Rel.) was in two orchestras, competed in Science Olympiad and was on the literary magazine. That’s where his friends were, and that was a major draw. He also sold origami earrings on the side. I do recommend trying a bunch of things as a freshman and hopefully finding something you will enjoy doing all four years. I think one or two in school ECs and one or two outside ones are fine. My kids did most of their volunteering over the summer.

Regarding no APs for freshman - that is not a problem. You will be judged in the context of the school. And really, if APs were really college level courses, most freshman should not be ready for them.

Some kids know what they want to do when they grow up as freshmen, but the vast majority don’t. If you get opportunities to do job shadowing or if there are career days where people talk about what they do, take part.

Ivy-league summer programs do not help kids get into Ivy-league colleges. There are a few highly competitive programs that do help. You usually have to be a junior to participate in them. TASP and RSI are the two I know of.

I wouldn’t go out of my way to play tennis and the violin as an asian, but if that’s what you do now and you are good at them, I wouldn’t say drop it for something else. My son’s best friend (not Asian) switched from violin to bass in high school then also started playing stand up bass in the jazz band and electric bass in his rock band. He’s a musician now (producing rap beats and stuff like that).

I think being an army brat is a big plus, but if you are not moving for high school you probably would only refer to it in passing in your essays. I grew up in the foreign service, I think it made me more flexible, more open to meeting new people, and I was very good at making new friends. It also gave me a taste for adventure, so I’ve had a number of opportunities as an adult to live overseas, and I’ve jumped at those chances every single time. :smile:

There are hundreds of great colleges in the US that will provide a fine education. This site concentrates on the 50 or so of them that are really hard to get into, but there are lots of other ones.

One of the best pieces of advice about college admissions: https://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways/

5

Start talking with your parents now about how they expect you to pay for your education. They will probably whine and fuss and say it is too soon, but fix them with a drill sergeant look, and get them to run the Net Price Calculator at the websites of a big state university in their state of residence, and a couple more places where they or their friends have studied. Forewarned, is forearmed.

6

Having more than 6-8 APs is overkill, unless you HS doesn’t have other challenging courses. In my kid’s HS, freshmen could not take APs, and Sophomore were discouraged from doing so. PE was require for 8 semesters, and so was lunch. So every day had, a maximum of 6 academic hours, and if any kid was looking at specialized advanced courses like Honors African American Literature, War and Literature, art courses, History of Hip Hop, Linear Algebra III, Investigative Research, etc, that limits the number of AP courses that a student could take. So, in some cases, focusing on AP courses at my kid’s HS can actually reduce the breadth and width of a kid’s education.

Your ECs should be a reflection of what you like doing. ECs do not have to be about whatever subject you want to major in, My Daughter will be majoring in Neuroscience,m and her main EC was dance, and her second one was the LGBTQ organization. Music is great, robotics is great, any sports is great, and it can be ultimate frisbee.

Most high schools will have a club day at the beginning of the year, and all the school organizations will have tables and try to convince you to join them. That is a great time to start exploring your interests and passions.

As for knowing what you want to do? My PhD adviser, one of the top mammal ecologists in the world, did his undergraduate in Psychology. Simon Levin, a great American ecologist and evolutionary biologist, did his PhD in mathematics. So, not knowing what you want to do in 8th grade is not something you need to worry about.

Choose courses based on what interests you. Math, biology, chemistry, history, literature, etc. Choose based on the level of the classes you took in middle school. You want to advance to the level above the classes you took this past year, if you were getting As and Bs,

Decide what you want to get out of high school and your decisions about your classes and activities should be based on that.

Don’t think “What should I do in order to get into the most prestigious college that will take me?” Think “how can I take advantage of the educational and extracurricular opportunities provided to me by my high school and by my community?”

You want to learn and to challenge yourself intellectually. You want to challenge yourself in other ways with your ECs. If you find that you can deal with the most challenging courses that your school has, while spending a lot of time pursuing your other interests and passions, without driving yourself to an emotional breakdown, then you should look for colleges which will continue to challenge you in the same manner. If you find that it is not easy for you to do all that, while maintaining your emotional health (at least so far as is possible for a teenager), a college which will demand that same level of academic rigor will not be a place in which you will be happy.

Taking the most difficult classes and crazy ECs in order to be accepted to a college with challenging academics is putting everything backwards. You try to be accepted to a college with challenging academics, because you were comfortable with taking very difficult classes while have a large number of ECs.

You should not set up your curriculum based on the college which you want to attend, you should decide your curriculum based on your strength and interests, and then choose your college list, based on what your transcript and profile is looking like during junior year.

Finally, @happymomof1 is right. It is never too soon for financial planning for college. College costs a lot, and it will just get more expensive.

7

Expensive summer courses of almost any type, Ivy League school or not, are not any kind of boost. The best reason to do a summer course is because you want to do a summer course. Colleges will be bald you did something productive over the summer, but that could just as well be volunteering or working. In fact, there are many colleges that would prefer you work or volunteer.

As for your other questions…
A well known high school that has connections to particular colleges can be a boost if you are trying to get into that particular college. You aren’t going to move just because of your high school, so make the most of what is offered.

You do not have to be well rounded. Do what interests you. Far better to spend your time in one or two activities you really enjoy than to spread yourself too thin in an effort to appear well rounded.

It is not a disadvantage if your school offers no APs to freshmen. The college will know this from your school profile and will assess you based on the context of what your high school allows.

You’re 13 or 14. No one expects you to have found your life’s passion by now. Maybe you won’t find it for another ten or twenty year. That’s fine.

You’re Asian. You can’t change that. It doesn’t matter, so be who you are.

As an army brat, it is important to ensure your high school counselor, in a few years’ time, mentions that you moved often due to your family being in the military. Colleges will not penalize you for something that you have no control over. However, you do want to ensure that whatever high schools you attend, you at least try to take the core English, math, history, foreign language and lab science classes that many colleges expect. For example, let’s say you eventually want to apply to Boston College. Here is what they say they are looking for: https://www.bc.edu/offices/stserv/academic/univcat/undergrad_catalog/policies_procedures.html#adm
They don’t specify what those courses must be, but as others have said, they will expect that you will take the most rigorous courses that you can manage to be successful in. That doesn’t mean taking all AP classes and getting C’s. Just be sure you have a balance of more and less difficult, and that you’re taking core classes.

Finally, please just spend your summer being a kid while you can. High school is a lot of work, but that doesn’t mean you should spend every minute of it with the goal of going to college.