My husband and I just recently went with our daughter to a college planner for a consultation. We live in Florida and have prepay and bright futures here so she will be staying in state for college. She is planning on applying to UF, FSU, UCF and USF. She is a sophomore and is is all honors and AP classes and currently in the top 5% of her class. She will probably graduate with about 15 AICE/ AP classes. She is very involved in theatre (her real love). She is also in Deca (just qualified for districts) and plans on running for office in national honor society. She goes to sleep away camp during the summer, so has no plans to dual enroll during the summer to boost her GPA. She got a 1230 on the PSAT 10, which the college counselor wasn’t particularly impressed with but felt it would go up when she completes Algebra 2.
The college counselor said that she really needs to either start a business or open a non profit or something like that Maybe teaching kids drama. The truth is, she really has no desire to do that. Honestly, her plate is full. She is already up way later than she should be studying, and theatre takes up a ton of time. Does she really need to add more to her plate to get into UF or FSU? It seems absolutely ridiculous to us that what she is doing isn’t enough. Are all of the kids out there really doing this stuff? She’s not looking at Harvard or Stanford, she wants a state school. Just feeling a little discouraged.
Did the college planner truly hear that she is planning to stay in state? I hope you didn’t pay the consultant too much because it sounds like your daughter is already on the right track, especially for the schools she is considering applying to. Look at the SAT/ACT and GPA ranges for each of those schools to get an idea of where she needs to be to be competitive.
Oh yes! We were very clear. She said UF and FSU are very holistic and his is what she needs to do if she wants to be competitive. It was a free consultation.
The vast majority…by a LOT… of kids do not start businesses or non-profits to get into college.
Kids do volunteer work, and that is something your daughter should consider adding to her plate.
The most important thing your kid needs to do NOW to get acceptance to her instate publics with maximum Bright Futures…is get the best grades she can get…so she gets the highest award, and maximizes her acceptance potential.
Since she is a 10th grader, she should do a little prep for the SAT…it might put her in the merit aid range with a higher score…or take the ACT.
Agree w/ @sherpa !! Your D looks great. And I wouldn’t be too concerned w/ her PSAT scores. My S19’s sophomore PSAT score was 20 points LOWER. He ended up w/ a 32 ACT & getting accepted to a Top30 LAC.
@Jenwyman30 Don’t be discouraged! It sounds like she’s on track. Instead of starting a business or non-profit (I agree, ridiculous) she should spend some time the summer before her junior year preparing for the SAT/ACT.
Below are links to the common data sets. You’ll find lots of information about admissions.
she has good EC’s that she is passionate about. She also has time to do meaningful volunteer work. I would not be worried about getting into one of these instate schools.
Your kid is fine. If anything at all would go sour between now and application time, have her apply for summer rather than fall admissions. My cousin’s kid (good grades, not-so-good SAT score) did that, and will start at FIU in June.
UF is very competitive and it is true she may not get in but it won’t be because she didn’t start a business or star on Broadway, but more likely because there were a lot of applicants from her high school or her gpa was just outside the top applicants. A friend’s daughter didn’t get into UF but did get into a lot of other highly selective schools. She was from a Gainesville hs, and the competition was fierce. UF is not going to accept all 50 applicants from one high school, even if they are in the top % of their class and have perfect gpa’s and have started 10 businesses.
She’ll need 100 hours of community service for BF so she should pick them carefully to show her interests. If that is theater or business, great. If not, she can turn that part of her application to show more of her interests.
I think the most important thing is to not get hung up on UF. There are a lot of public schools in Florida that will give her a good education. A friend of my daughter’s picked UCF. I was surprised, but she really did well there. She was cast as the lead in a musical when she’d been on campus about a week and never looked back.
She would be totally fine with FSU. She may actually prefer it. She didn’t love the size of the UCF campus but will definitely apply. She already has 100 hours as a volunteer CIT but it had nothing to do with theatre or business. She is hoping to work at a theatre camp this summer as a volunteer for a couple of weeks. Boy have things changed since I was a kid .
I think this is fine. Her volunteer things do NOT have to be in business or theater.
My younger kid was an engineering major. Her volunteer hours were done in a K classroom doing things like read alouds and arts and crafts with the kids and teachers. Nothing related to the sciences at all.
This college consultant seems very tunnel visioned.
The volunteer hours do not have to be in anything special for BF, but UF and FSU do have holistic admissions and they do look at activities. School theater is fine (most of my daughter’s ECs were in theater). If she wants to complete more community service, do so and make it specific to her goals. Volunteer in theater, volunteer in a business event. It may give her a good essay topic.
The UF ‘holistic admissions’ is real. You need the stats, but need the other stuff too, including stuff you have no control over like who else from the class is applying, geography, majors others are applying to. Maybe some other kids HAVE started businesses and won medals in world peace, but all you can do is what you (daughter) wants to do. Kids who go to summer camp and don’t start businesses still go to college, even go to UF. Her essays on what she does and why may be excellent. The counselor is giving very broad, general advice and it may not be useful to a specific kid who already has a good path or knows what she likes.
I’ve found this with resume writing. Some things work for the masses, but just didn’t feel right for me so I left them off my resume. Still got a job.
FSU admissions sent me this when asked about extracurriculars:
The most important factors in our admissions review process are the student’s GPA, SAT/ACT scores, and strength of schedule. Extracurriculars are considered, but the academic profile is much more important.
She’s a great student and a hard worker. I’m going to let her do what makes her happy and she will land wherever she is supposed to!
Don’t be discouraged! That college consultant is just wrong. Most kids that go to even top 20 schools have not started nonprofits or businesses! My niece is graduating from UF this year and she had “normal” ECs, mainly art, and nowhere near the APs you’re talking about. She also did not go to summer school. And our S had a similar psat in 10th grade (no prep) as your daughter and with prep got a 34 ACT and 1520 SAT. If she were my child, I would have her do test prep (khan is free), and do some community service that she likes. Sounds like she’ll do great!
Out of the 12 Public Universities in Florida, UF is by far, the most “holistic” out of the 12 schools. That’s why admissions can sometimes feel a bit random.
At UF, about 50% is based on academics (GPA/course rigor/essay/test scores) and the other 50% is based on non-academics. What UF is really looking for, are folks that spend time doing things they love, while ALSO getting great grades taking challenging courses. With EC’s, it’s the amount of time and effort that matter. Someone working a part time job and getting good grades impresses UF more than someone who gets better grades, but doesn’t do much else outside of class.
Your daughter’s plan to volunteer a few weeks this summer sound great. :-bd
Combine that with some test prep and she should do fine. She’ll want to shoot for the middle 50% range at UF, that will greatly improve her chances at UF, and her chances for merit scholarships at FSU, UCF, USF, etc.
When you’re in the bottom 25% range, those holistic factors start to make a huge difference, much less so when you’re in the top 25% range.
More importantly, you really don’t need a college planner for the schools you have listed. Their applications are incredibly straightforward. Seems like she has a clear path and you are on track. Just know the entrance requirements and keep up what you are doing!