What kind of colleges kids will be attending if kid is taking the toughest course load and is placed in top 10% in the top prep school? Korean Kids attend school on 70% aid.
School does not rank and college placement is very good.
Korean-American or Korean national?
Test scores? Extra-curriculars?
What does the college counselor at the high school suggest? What is the student interested in studying?
Most likely, if you want to you can attend an ivy+ college.
@doschicos Korean, - US Citizen
@siliconvalleymom, our first child going through US schooling system, and we have no idea about what to do even, No contact with college counselor as this is all brand new to us. probably math/econ/enginering
What is the student’s current grade level?
Not unusual, since kid is a sophomore. However, the college counselors will be the best resource for your question, since they have experience with kids from this particular school.
in 10th grade
Most schools publish a list of schools to which their latest class or a combination of the last 3 classes has matriculated. It can give you some insight into the kind of schools the kids end up being admitted to. Look at the top 20-30 % to discount a bit for the fact that some kids are recruited athletes or big-donor legacies. Make sure you’re looking at a list of schools to which the kids matriculated, not just the ones to which they were accepted because the latter list will have a lot of duplicates among the superstars.
If the kids are already attending the prep school you shout be able to contact the college counselor, even if your kids are freshmen. They want kids to be planning early so they’d welcome your call.
If the kids are not yet attending the prep school you’ll want to look at the school’s college counseling page for the aforementioned matriculations list. Do be careful in assuming the child will be in the top 10%. The kids at these schools are smart and the majority come from the top 10% of their previous school.
Here’s that list for Phillips Andover.
https://www.andover.edu/Academics/CollegeCounseling/Documents/PhillipsAcademySchoolProfile2015-2016.pdf
When do we meet with counselors in beginning of 12 grade?
So far. we have received teacher’s reviews for year and half, all teachers say that this student has scored among highest in the grade. Actively participate in class discussions, and very well prepared and writing is very good. Well she joined prep school in 9th grade.
Not an athletic person but loves writing, politics.
Generally 11th grade, but you can certainly initiate a conversation before that.
At most middle tier BS, at least 80% of kids are accepted at "most selective " schools. Given that there were some students who didn’t apply to those schools, it’s reasonable to say that most who applied were accepted. Note that this category goes well beyond HYPSM schools, but that should alleviate any concern about outcomes.
As noted, it’s always a little dangerous to assume anything from the lists without the background. There are things that can tip the list in favor of schools such as legacies, URM, athletic recruits (especially at schools with PG and strong sports feeder programs) and other things that your child may not have. There are also things that can tip the list away from top schools such as need for FA, desire not to be a minority, etc.
As suggested above, your best bet is to talk to the college counselors at your child’s school as they are the ones who will know your child and the school’s placement record better than any of us possibly could.
With that said, the top colleges know that if a kid excelled at a top BS, he/she will not have trouble academically at their school. In addition, they know that living independently will not be an issue. I wouldn’t worry about college for such a kid.
@infinityprep1234 I assume by “top prep school” you mean a recognized “name” school like Andover, Groton, Choate, Exeter, Deerfield, Milton etc?? If so that can actually changes the algorithm quite a bit regardless of top10%. How do you know your child is in top 10% if they dont rank?
Thanks, will ask them. I hope that the school will not get mad as we ask questions? By the way thanks for informing about AP and SAT IIs.
They will not get mad, that’s what you pay for!
It is one of those schools but do not want to name it. Our kid wanted to go to these schools, but my husband was not interested. Unfortunately at local public school, she would have exhausted her high school math curriculum by 10th grade. We have a close friend whose kids graduated from the same school, they convinced us that these schools are good and we ultimately applied and she was luck to have a fabulous need based aid. This has been an eye opener experience for us as we have no idea that these kind of places exist. Unfortunately the family has since moved back to Korea as their business asked them to move.
In past when we were struggling whether our kid attend or not attend the prep school, our friend shared some information about grade distribution and opportunities. We have asked her dorm faculty as how she is doing. He has hinted that she is among the top student but we have no proof what so ever.
Also we checked school profile and looked the current cumulative GPA against it. She is towards the very top side of the 10%. But no ideas where she actually stands.
And in all probability, nobody will tell you exactly where she stands. However, more to the point, once a student is in the top 10% (unless applying for a college like UT that autoadmits top 7%) the difference between top 2% and top 4% is infinitesimal to college admissions officers. Top colleges have little interest in total academic drones, and since they evaluate applications holistically, the kid needs to work on other aspects, like test scores, EC’s, and essays. Of course, she’s a sophomore, so has plenty of time to work on these other aspects, while keeping her grades up.