"Building the List" early junior year--too soon?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm trying to help my daughter make a list of colleges that we can research, visit, and seriously consider this spring, while she is a junior, so that she is ready to get her applications in by the Early Decision deadline of whatever school turns out to be her first choice. I'm trying to make sure we have a realistic list of schools to work with, including schools that are a good match, some safeties, and a couple of reach schools. </p>

<p>My question is, how do I benchmark her stats against the college profiles with the data available? All we have is her own grades and PSAT scores, which are commended-scholar level but not quite semi-finalist in my state (although good enough in many others). (She’ll attempt the ACT in Feb and probably the SAT in March.)</p>

<p>If all we have now to work with is her freshman/sophomore grades, is it simply too early to do this? If she had a 4.0 UW for these first two years, I can see that, yes, it's reasonable to start considering top schools. But she doesn't. She has a mix of A's and B's, has taken challenging, but not always the most challenging option in all of her academic courses (e.g., we have honors and GT/AP levels and she has taken a mix).</p>

<p>There are obviously a number of ways that GPA can be calculated--weighted vs. unweighted, academic courses only or all courses including gym/chorus/etc.</p>

<p>Which of these should she use in figuring out what schools are a match for her?</p>

<p>We have no clue whatsoever where she will land in terms of class rank. There might be a handful of straight-A, all-AP students in her fairly large public high school, but after that, where an A- student with a mix of courses is going to wind up is a complete crapshoot, based more on what the rest of the class chose to take and how they fared than on how the kid herself performed.</p>

<p>We’ve already set up information sessions at two schools during spring break, but I hate to let her get her heart set on these schools if they wind up being too much of a reach.</p>

2

<p>All you can do at this point is assume that her level of course rigor and her grades will continue to be about the same as it is now. </p>

<p>As far as weighted/unweighted is concerned, if your school doesn’t weight she won’t have a weighted average, so don’t worry about it unless your state University system has a particular method of calculating it, as in California. If it does weight, I would assume that the guidance office could tell you what her weighted GPA is when the first semester jr year grades are in. As to which classes to count, do whatever your HS does. In terms of class rank, if guidance can’t tell you you can estimate what decile she might fall into by looking at your School Profile, which usually shows a GPA distribution for the last graduating class. Most schools around here have it online, in the Guidance area.</p>

<p>Try to look at a range of schools. Most people recommend starting with probable safeties and matches. It’s easier to add reaches later than it is to relinquish a vision of oneself at Idyllic School X that accepts fewer than 20% of applicants.</p>

<p>And it is definitely not too soon to start putting together a list at midpoint jr year, especially if you want to have ANY chance of visiting schools while they are in session and attending classes.</p>

3

<p>It is certainly not too early to start building a list for a junior. This is the right time to start. :)</p>

<p>Since your D’s PSAT is in the NMSF range of some states, that means that she probably scored some where in the 205-212 range - which “translates” to a 2050-2120 range. That is not “hard and fast” as many kids score higher on SAT and ACT than they do on PSAT. </p>

<p>So, I’m guessing that your D will likely score in the 2000-2200 SAT range, and in the 29-33 ACT range. If so, that would put her in about the 95th - 99th percentile. :)</p>

<p>Go back to the Collegeboard and ACT websites and pay the $15 extra to have the detailed score report sent after your D takes her exams. Those detailed answer keys and test booklet will help her know what she got wrong, and help her know what her weak areas are. :slight_smile: That way, when she takes the exams again in the fall (if necessary), she’ll know what to work on. :)</p>

<p>As mentioned above, at this point, the list needs to include a range of reaches, matches, and financial safeties. :)</p>

<p>I don’t see in your post any references to what you can afford to spend on her education. That can also make a difference. If FAFSA says that your EFC (expected family contribution) is higher than you can afford, then you need to include some schools that will give your child generous merit scholarships. :slight_smile: Merit scholarships would also be desired from schools that don’t meet need (most schools do NOT meet need).</p>

<p>In addition to the academic aspects, your D will have to decide what type of school she wants…</p>

<p>big
small
quiet
rah rah big sports
greek systems as an option
Catholic schools ok?
single sex
co-ed 50/50 split
rural setting
big city setting
collegetown setting
type of housing available
recreation availability</p>

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<p>Junior year is certainly not too soon to start looking, especially if you can spare the money and time to do visits. Consider a range of schools in terms of selectivity, and just as importantly, look at different kinds of schools. Our experience was that DD learned a lot about what she was looking for in a school by early visits to schools of different types and in different locales: large v. small, urban v. suburban v. rural v. classic college town, public v. private, highly competitive v. laid-back, religiously affiliated v. secular, artsy v. jock v. straight-up academic, Greek v. no Greek, coed v. single-sex, everyone drives v. no one drives, etc. And the answers to those questions were not always obvious in advance; some things she expected to be important really weren’t, while others took on greater significance than expected. Armed with that feedback, we were able to identify several possible “match,” “reach,” and “safety schools” that otherwise shared similar characteristics. You won’t know exactly which schools are going to fit into which category until later in the process, after more grades and test scores are in. But from what you’ve said about your D’s current stats, it’s reasonable to assume that HYPS-level schools—and most of the Ivies, for that matter, along with the most selective LACs (i.e., AWS)—are likely to be high reaches. (Rough rule of thumb: multiply PSAT score by 10 to get projected SAT CR+M+W score, and assume unweighted GPA remains roughly constant, discounting freshman year grades slightly as some schools won’t even consider them). You might look at one or two of those high reaches for comparison purposes, but it’s probably more realistic to start by assuming that schools a notch below that in selectivity are likely to be her reaches, and working up a list of matches where she projects out as solidly in the top half or even close to the top quartile of the entering class and acceptance rates are in the 25% to 50% range. Safeties would be schools where she projects as clearly in the top quartile and acceptance rates are, say, 40% plus. You can calibrate this as more information comes in, but in the meantime you can learn a lot about different schools, and about what your D is looking for.</p>

5

<p>Not too soon at all, before you know it its the fall of senior year and applications are due. I would suggest to look at Naviance if your school offers it. This is a website that lets you see the GPA and test scores of kids in her high school that were admitted to a particular school, and is invaluable since you are basically comparing apples to apples. It also has a very good search tool and lets you narrow the choices by size, location, etc.
If Naviance is not available, the college board website is good.</p>

6

<p>As someone who started taking her kids on college tours summer of sophomore year I would certainly agree that it isn’t too soon. In our situation I had twins and we live in an area where there wasn’t a lot available locally.</p>

<p>One thing we did that helped my girls to enjoy the college visits was to allow them a huge amount of ownership of the trips. They chose where we ate, what we did in free time, what channels were on the radio, in room movie picks etc. In short I made it all about them.</p>

<p>In addition after a disastrous first tour I allowed them to decide for themselves if they wanted to do the tour, info session, classes etc.</p>

<p>It worked out great and some of our best memories as mom and daughters come from those trips.</p>

7

<p>The college counselor or guidance counselor at her school should have a very good idea where she ranks. </p>

<p>You actually have a lot of data to work with. It sounds like her scores are her strength vs. her GPA. That might lead you towards formulaic state schools where here scores can counter a lower GPA and less rigorous course load. You’re also far enough into junior year to see know what the rigor is and where the grades are likely to end up.</p>