My daughter, a competitive skilled dancer on the high school dance team has most people surprised when they find out that she is very strong in math (taking AP Calculus BC). It’s the stereotype of a dancer that must wear costumes and a lot of makeup during competitions that doesn’t make people think “math geek!”. It’s as if she in disguise! She has applied to 10 colleges already. Seven of them are in California. Univ. of Washington, Purdue, and Vanderbilt are not. She is preparing her second round of applications due Jan. 1st but wants to narrow it down. With a 2000 SAT, 4.2 weighted GPA, 3.9 unweighted, Mexican American, from San Diego California, National Honor Society member, CSF member, CollegeBoard AP Honors recipient, 3 years of non-paid tutoring of peers at the high school, many other extra curricular activities, leadership, volunteer work, will have completed 7 AP courses and many honors courses I could use some advice. If you have a dancer you will understand the amount of time this activity requires. I am ecstatic that she has managed her time and done so well in school. She is interested in an Actuarial Science degree or something close to it with math, economics, finance and statistics courses. I like Purdue for Actuarial Science! This is her list of remaining colleges to apply to from most difficult to least difficult in terms of acceptance (in my opinion):
Princeton (visited)
Brown
Univ. of Pennsylvania
Cornell (visited)
Duke
Washing University of St. Louis
Univ. of Notre Dame
Boston College (visited)
I know the average SAT scores. They are all above hers except for Univ. of Notre Dame and Boston College. But her GPA is right with the average of all except for Princeton with a weighted GPA that is slightly higher. I know colleges look for more than this. Duke allowed her to upload some dance performances including her solo that she will compete with starting in January. Pretty cool!! Ivy League is NOT a must do. There are a lot of easier colleges that she can get into but she really wants to be around serious students. She wants to enjoy going to a football game, join a sorority or club. I want her to be happy.
What are her chances? It would save me money to narrow this list down. It would save her time to have fewer supplemental essays to write.
All the schools you have listed are definitely reaches for your daughter, maybe a less so for Boston College, but BC had a huge increase in applications last year. Yes, her gpa is nice and being latina/hispanic will give a little boost, but her test scores are definitely below average for the schools mentioned. Not sure what California schools she applied to but hopefully those cover both matches and safeties for your daughter. Where is your daughter ranked in her graduating class?
Our high school does not do ranking by individual students but she is in the top 10%. I think it creates too much competition when AP classes are already competitive. She took the SAT one last time last weekend and thinks she did better after more preparation with new SAT preparation material. I appreciate your honesty. I think Purdue would still be a good pick. California schools are UCLA, Cal, Davis and UCSB.
Yes, I overlooked Purdue and I think you are right. As long as she’s happy with some of her less selective schools, she will have a few choices. Remember that at the CA public schools she won’t be getting a boost from her URM status like she would at the privates. As far as the reach schools you’ve listed, I’d suggest picking her favorite among the top couple where the reach is the highest, and focus more on the bottom of the 8 listed. I would consider Princeton a far reach.
I forgot to mention that my daughter was contacted by a Harvard College coordinator from the Undergraduate Minority Recruitment Program. I don’t know how they found out about my daughter other than she added Harvard to her Common App. During our east coast trip to see other colleges like Boston College we made a brief visit to Harvard but more for fun because she felt it was so out of reach. Even after being contacted by the UMRP she doesn’t want to apply to Harvard. She is concerned that it will be so intense and that she will not have any time to breath. That’s pretty much her life now. I know she is hoping to have opportunities to take a break from studying. I haven’t pushed her towards Harvard as I hear that the professor accessibility is less compared to the graduate Harvard University. But then, It’s what I read.
2000 is also below avg for BC and Notre Dame. That being said, her SAT is solid and puts her in the top 10%. While she may get a boost from being an URM, her list is extremely top heavy. I would suggest adding some matches. Barnard and Connecticut College have fantastic dance programs as well as excellent academics. Worth checking out
Well that’s the reality. I know. She will be disappointed! She stays up until midnight consistently working to complete all work and study. Dance practices and learning new choreography from professional dancers on the weekend for competitions has taken too much time in my opinion. We are Catholic and may daughter has gone through all the catechism and youth ministry classes up until junior year. I’m hoping BC or Nortre Dame care about that. I’m praying!
A good friend of my daughter at University of Michigan is on the dance team and is a math major. She’s happy with the math and the dance aspects of her experience there so far.
Thanks Brantly! I’ve seen University of Michigan come across in searches. I just didn’t know much about it other than they have a football team. If it has a January 1 deadline it is a possibility. What is Michigan like? I was born, raised and spent all but 5 months living in California. I feel so uneducated about the rest of the United States outside of the states in the Pac-12.
Look up each school’s Common Data Set on the internet. Focus on Section C. For example, here’s the one for Vanderbilt: https://virg.vanderbilt.edu/virgweb/vucds.aspx This is the source used by Cappex and others.
Just thought I’d mention it: what about women’s colleges? Scripps, Mount Holyoke, Bryn Mawr (and someone mentioned Barnard above) and others are all great places to consider! Small, close-knit communities, liberal arts education (often great performing arts options) with strong STEM programs. Many of them are also SAT optional, which may be something to consider if her scores are lower than the schools would like.
They don’t have sororities, but there are wonderful traditions, a strong alumnae network, and a very close community. It’s almost like the campus is one big sorority sometimes.
My daughter is also a competitive dancer and math/science geek. Is your daughter applying to USC? Strong academics and lots of dance opportunities. My daughter didn’t submit a dance supplement since she’s not applying for a dance program, but a lot of schools do allow a supplement.