<p>Hi, my daughter is a junior and trying to narrow down her college search. We live in the SF Bay Area and she thinks she would rather stay in CA or at least the West Coast, though I suppose a really amazingly good fit would tempt her farther away.</p>
<p>Her stats are: GPA 4.15 weighted, 3.97 unweighted (basically all A's with one B freshman year in Algebra II); she is at a school that offers IB classes but she has chosen not to pursue the IB diploma; otherwise she is taking what would probably be considered the most rigorous course schedule. (I guess it's because the IB classes are mostly 2-year classes that the weighted GPA isn't that high? She's taking 4 IB classes currently.)</p>
<p>SAT: 670 math, 710 CR, 710 writing.</p>
<p>Extracurriculars: ballet 3x week for basically her whole life; ballet summer intensive programs; has performed in a professional Nutcracker (as a child dancer) three times; two years of a 1 hour/week job assisting with ballet classes.</p>
<p>She thinks she would like to major in sociology or something sociology-related that maybe has elements of cognitive neuroscience or behavioral science. She says she's interested in people and why they behave the way they do, but she doesn't want to have to deal with people personally (no future as a therapist!). She's also passionate about LGBT rights; I think she may end up working in a policy field. She's mentioned that she might think about law school some day (her father and I are both lawyers).</p>
<p>We toured UC Davis this week, and although it's a lovely campus, I can't help thinking that maybe a smaller school with a strong liberal and LGBT culture might be better for her. But she likes the idea of a big university with lots of interesting classes and other opportunities. In general she doesn't have strong opinions on any colleges or aspects of her college search, other than that she definitely doesn't want a school with a religious or conservative atmosphere.</p>
<p>Sorry this is so long! Thanks for any suggestions! (And I hope I'm not being obnoxious by re-posting this here; I didn't get any replies when I originally posted it in the California Colleges forum, and this forum gets more traffic and I am a parent so . . .)</p>
<p>Cal and UCLA have top-ranked sociology programs; University of Washington is also very good. But frankly, most good universities will have good sociology departments. I personally would focus more on fit than a broad major like sociology when picking a school. Don’t forget, kids change majors. </p>
<p>Have you looked at UC Santa Cruz? In addition to Sociology, they also have majors in Cognitive Science and Neuroscience that might be of interest.</p>
<p>It is big without being overwhelming. On the liberal - conservative scale, it leans toward liberal with a good dose of hippie culture. </p>
<p>Just adding that I think UCLA’s sociology department is a hotbed of thought about alternative communities and subcultures (or so I understood from my kid in the ancient past of 2011 when he was applying to graduate school and that was what interested him). “Sociology” has dozens of subfields, and nowhere is strong in all of them. So if you are looking at sociology departments, you have to drill down a little. </p>
<p>Which is not to say that I disagree with what katliamom wrote: you shouldn’t be focusing completely on sociology departments to the exclusion of other factors that may wind up being far more important. But it ought to be comforting to a kid who is a strong student in California and wants to stay there that UCLA may well be one of the best places in the world to study what interests her most right now. I know a little less about Berkeley, except that it has unquestionably a top-ranked sociology department as well, probably a little stronger overall than UCLA. And either one of those is probably more attainable, more affordable, and more comfortable for her than their peers in the sociology firmament (e.g., Harvard, Princeton, Chicago, Penn, Wisconsin, NYU).</p>
<p>You are lucky that you live right next door to two of the top sociology programs in the country. If your daughter can potentially raise her SAT scores…she can have Stanford and UCBerkeley added to her list of potential schools she may have a chance at…</p>
<p>…she seems like an interesting student with a strong passionate focused background in ballet…the type of student Stanford looks for…</p>
<p>…raising the scores will also make UCLA and Pomona (top liberal arts school) more of a possibility…</p>
<p>Thanks for the input! I figured Stanford, Cal and Pomona were off the list because of not doing the IB diploma – that choice basically says that she did not choose the hardest possible academic route. The reason for that was that she would not have had room in her schedule for both Advanced Dance and Theory of Knowledge which is required for the IB diploma, and she did not want to give up dance. So that tells you something more about her – her interests are more important to her than academic honors. She has no interest in going after various awards and honors to pad out her resume, either – she’s very much a “like me as I am or I’ll find someone who does” kind of person.</p>
<p>She also does not do well under stress and is not a competitive person, so a highly competitive environment would not be the right fit for her. I’ve heard that Cal is extremely competitive, more so than other schools of comparable selectivity.</p>
<p>We are thinking about UC Santa Cruz – it will definitely be on the list, as well as UCD and UCSD (we visited there last year). We’re planning to visit the Claremont colleges over spring break – as I said I assume Pomona is a high reach, but either Scripps or Pitzer might be good fits. </p>
<p>JHS, that’s interesting what you say about UCLA – sounds like we should visit there as well! What was your son looking for in graduate programs?</p>
<p>Berkeley admissions appears to be more about GPA and course selection within the available offerings than about whether she gets the check mark for the IB diploma (and test scores are slightly less important than GPA and course selection). It is probably an admissions match for her. UCLA admissions selectivity is fairly close to that of Berkeley.</p>
<p>Obviously, additional schools at safety level would be desirable. Remember also to check net price calculators to see how affordable each school is (and safeties must be affordable).</p>
<p>Regarding rigor of high school course selection, note that what may be important at the schools that want a counselor recommendation is whether the counselor will check the “most demanding” option for his/her assessment of her schedule. She may want to ask her counselor if that is the case for her. (The UCs and CSUs do not use recommendations, but many private schools do.)</p>
<p>Since you are going to check out Claremont, why not take a look a Redlands maybe a 1/2 hr down the 10. They also have Johnston where you can make your own major. </p>
<p>I had thought of Occidental, yes. I can’t believe I never even heard of U of Redlands! It does sound interesting, though I don’t think D is ready to create her own major.</p>
<p>Her counselor also suggested Reed, but she’s balking a bit at going out of state (though I told her Portland is no farther away than SoCal), and I think it’s also a reach.</p>
<p>Is she interested in pursuing her dance at all? UCLA, Cal, Pomona, and Mills all have dance programs as well as sociology. My son has a friend who is a freshman at Cal this year. She is doing quite well but does not like the academic pressure she sees there, so it might be a bad fit for your daughter as well. </p>
<p>Oh, I’m sure she’ll want to dance in college. I don’t think she wants to pursue it academically as a minor or anything.</p>
<p>What is your son’s friend’s major? I’ve heard that the engineering and bio majors are all worked to death at Cal, but I wondered if the same would be true of other majors.</p>
<p>In general, courses with labs, computer programming assignments, large term projects, art studio, and performing art (music, theater, dance) tend to be the high workload courses. You may hear about the engineering and biology majors because they tend to have a lot of lab courses. However, large term projects can be found in other subjects, and performing art practice can be time consuming.</p>
<p>This tendency is probably not all that different at other schools.</p>
<p>Definitely have her look at Pitzer. Fits both the “smaller school with a strong liberal and LGBT culture” and “big university with lots of interesting classes and other opportunities” criteria (the latter because of the Claremont consortium). Bonus: admissions is test-optional. Agree on having her look at Redlands and Mills. And, it’s out of state but if you can get her to consider Reed she may also want to take a look at Lewis and Clark. </p>
<p>The UCs, the Claremonts, Occidental … Reed, Whitman, L&C. The University of Washington might be good, but there’s not much point in a CA resident paying extra for sociology at an OOS public school when there are strong programs at several UCs for $15K/y less. </p>
<p>If you decide against a big university, I’d vote for Reed. Another, out-of-the-box possibility: Colorado College (if she’s willing to cross the Rockies.) Less selective than Pomona, sunnier (and more relaxed) than Reed, friendly liberal/LGBT/arts scene. The one-class-at-a-time Block Plan makes scheduling much more flexible for field work, study abroad, and other special projects. </p>