My husband still thinks it it is a waste of time, she needs to concentrate on her studies. But her counselor has convinced us that she is very good in writing and analytical abilities. Therefore she is drifting towards writing and political clubs, She is now in multiple leadership tracks for various non math/science clubs while still pursuing her interest in math.
Her English and History teachers wrote that she is among the top writers in her grade.
We have no one in our local Korean community whose kids have gone to prep school route and it is all new to us.
Your husband needs to get out of that mentality, or at least not project it onto your kid. Rightly or wrongly, admissions to top colleges in the US is not like in many overseas countries where you score high enough on standardized tests, you’re in. Again, your college counselor has been through this many many times (certainly much more than your husband) and will be able to steer you and your child down the right path.
@infinityprep1234 , it sounds like you have no need to worry about your child’s college prospects, and parents here are a great community for you.
The best thing you can do for your child is persuade her to experiment, explore, take risks, and figure out what really excites her and matters to her. Let her learn to be driven by what she wants, not by what she thinks others want.
BS can be an amazing place to do this, and to focus solely on academics and college outcomes (which ultimately are beyond your control) is quite literally throwing away the amazing opportunity that BS provides.
Make sure she is more focused on the present than the future. The latter will happen just fine that way!
The value of BS is, in my opinion and experience, far beyond academics. I love that at my sons current school there are no APs: the kids can take the tests but they study for them separately. There are no classes teaching to those tests. The personal growth they experience by advocating for themselves (or not), resolving issues on their own, having teachers treat them with respect when they question something, choosing their own extracurriculars, is really empowering. They own their choices. It is really an incomparable experience and even if my kid ends up in University of State X, it will still be worth it.
Do encourage her to get involved on campus - for her own enjoyment and for college reasons. If she enjoys writing, it could be the student newspaper, school’s literary magazine or something like that. It could be helping refugee students with their writing. Whatever interests her but I do see kids make the mistake of ONLY focusing on academics and that makes their college apps a little one dimensional and boring.
IMO, in your child’s case, there is no need to reach out to CC at this point. Just go with the flow. She sounds like exactly on the right track. Just keep doing what she’s doing. If by the time of college application, she’s still a top student academically (rigor + high grades as you described) and highly involved in the ECs she’s involved now, she will have great results. Obviously, no matter how good she’s is, you can’t expect she will be garanteed to end up in Harvard, but if she’s clearly a top student in her top prep school, don’t be too paranoid. Stay positive and (cautiously) optimistic, and tell your husband to as well!
Thanks everyone. Sorry for asking lots of stupid questions, as totally unprepared for prep school and US education system. It is so different than what we were used to.
Keep asking. Parents in this group are a wonderful resource. Remember that it is in the school’s best interest to help its students get into the best possible colleges and they will be guiding your daughter to that end. It might be worthwhile for you to learn more about selective American colleges and their admissions processes. A good starting place might be a book called “The Gatekeepers,” which describes the so-called “holistic” admissions process. It could be a real eye-opener for you about the non-academic factors that are considered by American college admissions officers.
@twinsmama Thanks for the heads up! I look forward reading it:)
@infinityprep1234 – in a top day school in Boston, 33% get into ivy+. They may not be the top 33% of the students but I think it is a safe assumption that the top 10% are mostly going to ivy+.
@laenen, thanks for the information
@twinsmama thanks for a wonderful book, it opened our eyes as I am trying to understand the admission process and I am sure will never understand fully how it works. Just understand that one has to chase their dreams and see whatever happens in the process.
@infinityprep1234 , None of us fully understand how it works. 