Middlebury is a tough admit but your daughter’s facility with and interest in languages might give her a boost.
Thank you to everyone for your responses. You have all given us food for thought.
As for testing, timing on the ACT is not a problem. When she did a practice test at home she had plenty of time, finishing the English sections with about 10 minutes to spare, and she even had just about enough time on math, just didn’t do well. She likes that the ACT doesn’t have grid-in answers. She is taking a prep class for both SAT (through her HS) and an outside ACT class, so we will see if that helps at all.
Middlebury, Dickinson, MoHo. FWIW, not all guidance counselors are proficient at their jobs. Not saying yours is or isn’t, just that their “educated opinions” sometimes need to be questioned.
@melvin123 Her plan all along was to take pre-calculus over the summer, as her school’s calculus teacher offers one at the school. She is actually fine in math and has had straight A’s throughout HS, though it is by far her least favorite subject. That’s why these test scores surprise me. I think she is getting cold feet and worries the summer class may move too quickly. I am going to work with her on this, though she will definitely not be a STEM major.
@privatebanker Thank you for your kind words. I have wondered about Bowdoin but didn’t know they were so strong in languages. We will look into them and try to find our way up there for a visit.
I would absolutely have her take pre-calc over the summer and get her into at least a basic calc class senior year. I think that will be a huge hurdle at some of these schools and if she’s from a rigorous private school, her peers will have taken it and she will be compared to them. At least, that’s how it rolls at my children’s school.
I think especially if she has been getting As in her lower level math classes, which it sounds like she has with a 4.0 UW, they are going to wonder why she didn’t stretch herself and take Calc.
Also, it sounds like Middlebury is skimpy on FA: https://middleburycampus.com/37601/news/treasurer-tells-all-in-endowment-forum/
She sounds a good bit like my daughter- low income, loves languages (5 years of Italian, 2 years of Spanish, Russian, and Latin, a year of Swahili and Dutch), didn’t get to calc and not a particularly strong test taker. My daughter was accepted ED into Haverford College, and the consortium seems like a good place to look for your daughter. Between the four schools there is a school for everyone, I think, and tons of language offerings- all with wonderful financial aid.
Regarding Bowdoin, a school can be strong in languages without graduating an abundance of majors. Nonetheless, Bowdoin appears to graduate fewer foreign language majors than several of its peers, and does not offer Chinese as a major. Though not obvious through the figures below, Bowdoin does support a particularly well reputed German department, however:
(IPEDS data based on “first majors.” https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=Bowdoin&s=all&id=161004#programs.)
Also, I suspect your counselor suggested Smith because it’s a) test optional, b) extremely generous with FA, and c) totally open curriculum so she’d never have to take a math class again.
^I keep reading about how generous Smith is but out of the more than a dozen schools where D was accepted they came back with the least amount of aid (D was an early write there) and on top of that we found the financial aid office difficult to work with. That was our experience, YMMV.
Middlebury meets 100% of need and does NOT include student loans in their package.
Middlebury does still include student loans in their packages but I agree it’s a school to at least consider. The school is known for its language programs.
@luckybooth There is no calculus on SAT or ACT, so taking calculus might be recommended for college admissions, but not helpful for raising math scores.Reviewing algebra, trig, geometry is helpful and taking practice standardized math tests is helpful. Khan Academy or other study methods are good for raising math scores.
Try Khan Academy review class , its free-
https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/sat
SUNY Binghamton offers a Korean language program. I thought it was tuition free now, for lower income NY State residents, so only pay room and board in a low cost of living area of New York State.
https://www.binghamton.edu/apps/academics/program/ug/korean-studies
And Chinese language at Binghamton
https://www.binghamton.edu/apps/academics/program/ug/chinese-studies
Its good to keep at least one SUNY school on the list for a backup plan.
IMO it may not be a good idea to rule out women’s colleges in this situation. MoHo and Smith (or Bryn Mawr) are not nunneries; there are men around, esp. if you make full use of the consortium (which greatly expands the available course offerings compared to what you might get at a more isolated LAC.) They also tend to be easier admits compared to peer co-ed LACs.
Based on everything the OP has shared, my #1 pick probably would be Barnard. It’s a little less selective than some of the other full-need and need-blind colleges. It offers all the excellent resources of Columbia U for foreign languages, Asian Studies, and IR. It definitely scratches the “access to a city” itch. It’s small (Barnard itself) yet pretty big too (Columbia U).
While Binghamton estimates room and board at a whopping $15K annual, I would investigate that as few private colleges charges that much and most students cook and live off campus and can get by on much less than that for room and board. I believe SUNY might offer her additional scholarships to cover the fees at Binghamton as well. Might as well investigate what they can do for your daughter at Binghamton, since they offer all the language programs. Many students work as well, so investigate on campus work study or just how much work is available on any college campus. Bigger schools have more student hourly work than say Haverford which limits students to work study. Bigger schools will have a wide variety of jobs in their library, working as a resident assistant in freshman dorms to earn free room and board and other options.
It’s interesting to note that IPEDS shows 22 foreign language-major graduates for Middlebury, a school known for languages, yet 55 for the smaller Hamilton. This may indicate Hamilton’s reputation lags its programs.
I see a lot of (valid) college recommendations on here, but have you taken a look at Questbridge to see if you qualify?
https://www.questbridge.org/high-school-students/national-college-match/who-should-apply
It seems like she has a shot at it and it’s a terrific program helping kids who prove themselves in high school have a shot at really nice colleges.
I wouldn’t worry too much about calculus. We have several college students who end their high school year with pre-calc and they do just fine when they don’t want a math heavy major. SAT/ACT prep is often helpful though.
Definitely ask your GC at your next meeting about senior year math. He’ll have a better idea and the full picture about where that puts her in terms of “Did the student take the most rigorous schedule available?” and how important that is to various schools.
I wouldn’t harp on this but if she’s at an elite high school, it can be tough to be put in the school’s context. Just figure out if it’s a big deal or not. And if not, hooray! Don’t worry about it!
OP. I don’t think Bowdoin’s language department is Midd level or perhaps a lot of big flagships or Georgetown. But it’s one of the finest school’s in the country and I am sure the language majors are representative of the quality expected there.
And the test optional nature and what seems like a institutional commitment to income equality and meeting full need made it a strong candidate for consideration. IMHO.
Here’s a list of colleges that offer Korean language courses.
http://www.aatk.org/web/schools
On the list among the schools that have ben mentioned here-George Washington, Middlebury, Georgetown, Smith Vassar, Wesleyan, SUNY Binghamton.
Hamilton offers six terms of Korean during the academic year:
https://www.hamilton.edu/academics/catalogue/department-display?id=46.
Middlebury, on the other hand, only offers Korean during their off campus summer program:
http://www.middlebury.edu/ls/schoolofkorean.