<p>Princeton and Yale are both in the NYC metro area and happen to have the best two undergraduate programs in the country. Definitely worth a shot, if you're going for reaches anyways.</p>
<p>Ugh. Now I can see why it's important to get an early start with college selection. There is so much to it. D is the youngest of 4 and is a first generation college student though 2 siblings took some classes at a cc.
I have learned so much on CC but obviously not near enough yet. Right
now D doesn't know how long she will continue in her sport so is keeping her options open. Thanks for the suggestions and info so far. Do you think the schools we are looking at are pretty similar or is there some glaring differences?<br>
FYI having done some traveling she knows she likes Boston, Chicago and New York. Not as much so with Washington, though she didn't visit any campuses there.</p>
<p>It sounds like she wants more of a downtown than DC offers. (Though DC has great museums and theater and lots of dance companies come through the Kennedy Center.) For a more urban feel she might look at Pittsburgh or Philadelphia, St. Louis or the west coast.</p>
<p>rgmom...you've gotten great suggestions but there is a big 'if' underneath those ACT scores. A 28 is not in range for the reach schools listed. The rule of thumb on the SAT is +1450 for Math + CR. In that range, one of the scores is likely to be in the +98th percentile.</p>
<p>Does your school have scattergrams? You should as the GC if you and D can go in and look at those --if they are not online.</p>
<p>Chicago
Northwestern - Super Reach
Loyola - Match
DePaul - Safety?</p>
<p>Boston
Tufts- Super Reach
Boston College - Reach
Northeastern - Safety</p>
<p>New York
Columbia- Super Reach
Barnard --REach/Match (Barnard looks beyond a lower test score--pm Calmom for details).
Marymount Manhattan--Safety
Fordham --safety</p>
<p>University of Rochester - not NY we know but interested</p>
<p>She might want to consider Sarah Lawrence -- it is suburban, but an easy train ride into NYC, and it is the type of school that might be very forgiving of her non-standard path through high school. Reasonably good with need-based aid.</p>
<p>as a chicago res, it sounds like what youre saying makes loyola a good school for your D. its a great school and is not as tiring as northwestern would be if your daughter also wants to pursue her sport. check it out.</p>
<p>In the Chicago suburbs, you might want to look at Lake Forest College (match, I think) and Elmhurst College (safety). Lake Forest has more of a national profile; Elmhurst is a really nice school with a broad range of programs, but with a preponderance of local kids. Both are in towns with extremely easy train rides into the city.</p>
<p>Hi Rgmom--I'm guessing from your screen name and what you've posted that your d is in the same sport as mine was. My d (long retired) was a national team member too and had great experiences representing the US internationally. Having gone through the college app process with my d (I also have a younger d who just went to college this fall--she wasn't in the sport), I suggest your d really play up her accomplishments (top 8 in the US)It's going to be her "hook." I'd make sure your d uses her application essays and such to showcase her experiences in the sport, because these are experiences that most kids her age don't have. They also demonstrate a serious level of commitment and discipline. I'd also play up her study of Russian on her own. I remember reading that the AP folks are planning on adding Russian to the AP language tests. (Don't know if that happened yet.) This might be a test she'd consider taking if it's offered. Additionally, I'd say that whenever it's possible she should take advantage of interviewing or talking to the Adcoms. Many (like most people) don't know about this sport and if your d can show (and I'm sure she can) that it's something she is passionate about, that's impressive to admissions folks. </p>
<p>Finally, I think your d should retake the ACT or take the SATs. Your dd's current ACT score makes places like Columbia, BC, Barnard, NYU, Tufts, Brandeis, and Fordham a reach. Finally, I'd have your d look at Tufts because--as you may know--they like kids in this sport. In recent years, they have admitted a number of national team members. One who graduated, two who are currently there, and one (a '96 Olympian) who went to a graduate program at Tufts--Fletcher School. One last thing--have your d think long and hard about continuing to compete because that does limit where she applies to college. (I'm assuming she wants to stay with her current coach.) Good luck.</p>
<p>Is there some reason why this sport is a big secret?? It does sound like it could be a bit of a hook. Think about Michelle Wie...clearly golf was a significant hook for her even though she could not play in college because she did not have amateur status.</p>
<p>fyi- if your daughter plans to do liberal arts at Northeastern, a co-op is optional.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for your responses. It is really hard to know how colleges would respond to her "non-standard path through high school" to quote Calmom calls. Compared to the super prepared CC kids her stats
are low but it seems like someone would appreciate her accomplishments.
She is retaking the ACT this weekend but hasn't had a chance to study
much (she leaves for World Championships the same day) but is still hoping to bring her score up since she didn't know she was taking it the first time and didn't prepare at all. She also has a free voucher to take it in October as well. Cheers, I really appreciate you showing us the reality of admissions and the importance of those GPA's and Test Scores.
Bromfield, haha, I knew someone would pick up the sport from my screen name. No Thumper the sport is not a secret but it is a small sport and it's very easy to figure out who is who, just look up RG. Yes, a lot of soul searching, and research, has to happen before a final list is compiled. Sometimes I just tell her to go try out for Cirque : )</p>
<p>Just for clarification - my d. is at Barnard & had a 28 ACT. (She retook and got a 27 ;) -- ended up submitting both ACTs because some of the subscores on the 2nd test were higher). My d. also got into Barnard the year that the lowest percentage of students were admitted in the history of the college - ACT score range was 29-31, so in terms of scores my d was clearly in the lower quartile).</p>
<p>Barnard is a reach with those scores, but the RG would be a huge hook there as well -- and my own daughter's experience shows that Barnard can be flexible on test scores. The bigger problem is that Barnard is an extremely demanding college academically-- I would not see it as realistic to plan to continue participation in the sport and keep up with studies. My d. is doing very well there, but I get the sense that there's not a lot of leeway in terms of missing classes. (That observation is probably true of most of the other colleges on the list, though --I don't think full time college will mix well with the sport if your d. wants to continue after the 2008 olympics)</p>
<p>My d. also considered Fordham to be a safety, so I believe that a 28 ACT was in the upper end of their range - so the poster who categorized that as a reach was mistaken. </p>
<p>The foreign language issue is probably the bigger problem -- most of those colleges require at least 2 years of a foreign language in high school. My d. was in a group that piloted a Russian AP exam 2 years ago, but the exam is still under development -- I don't think a kid who had studied Russian informally could expect to do particularly well. Rosetta Stone is a great software program -- after 4 years of studying Russian & living in Russia, my d. was impressed with the level of Russian in its advanced lessons -- but it focuses more on conversational fluency, whereas exams may expect more in the way of written proficiency. </p>
<p>Once the college list is narrowed down I would suggest that your d. contact the admissions reps at various colleges to discuss these issues directly -- I am sure that her status as a member of the national team in her sport will be enough to spark some interest on their part. The college reps may have some suggestions as to how to document her language proficiency and/or let you know up front whether the missing language instruction would be a deal breaker or not.</p>
<p>Adding a couple of thoughts to what's already been posted:</p>
<p>I think cheers' ranking of the schools the OP first listed is a better rendition of how they fall as to reach/match/safety.</p>
<p>The notion of starting at a cc and then moving to dream school which the OP mentioned: be careful to evaluate how the dream schools in question dole out financial aid to transfers vs. to freshmen. Many schools are much less generous with transfers than with freshmen. YMMV but you want to check this out <em>in advance.</em>"</p>
<p>I agree that the lack of foreign language could be an issue. However, I know from one case example (dangerous to generalize, I know ;) ), that the "required preparation" is really "recommended preparation" and exceptions can be made. And will be made if the applicant has something(s) that the school wants. calmom's advice to talk this over with her narrowed list of schools is the right way to address it, I think.</p>
<p>I can't agree with the poster who says Washington DC is not as much of a city environment as Pittsburgh or some other cities. I'm a "city girl" through and through. Grew up in and around DC; lived in Boston, SF, Manhattan. They all had what I wanted; so I wouldn't rule out DC at all.</p>
<p>Best of luck.</p>
<p>I get the RG now. At first, I thought it was short for rugby!</p>
<p>I grew up in DC too. It has all the amenities of other cities, it just doesn't have the energy, the downtown or the tall buildings. I'd find it frustrating due to live there as you have no real say in Congress, but budget is determined by them, and the schools are lousy. Not really an issue for a student though.</p>
<p>In an earlier post, someone mentioned St. Louis as a possible urban destination. I was thinking of mentioning St. Louis University, but then the discussion veered toward tall buildings and a vibrant down-town. That isn't St. Louis. It is urban in other regards, has a lot to offer, but not a vibrant downtown scene. The campus of St. Louis Univ. has undergone a huge revitalization over the last decade, however, as has some of the surrounding area. The campus is lovely.</p>
<p>Rgmom--good luck to your d at World Championships. Are you going?
FWIW--my two cents on competing and going to college at the same time--it would be difficult (especially at a college with strong academics), but not impossible. I'd have your d ask herself why she wants to continue. Does she want to accomplish something specific? If she wants to continue, she might consider applying to a college and then asking to defer admission for a year. That might be a good compromise position. She can make a decision on her college (without being tied to the place where the coach is) and then continue to compete without having to balance school and training. After that year, she can go on to college. I know when my d retired, it was a difficult transition at first--RG had been her life. Happily, she got into college life, did well academically, and is now pursuing a career.</p>
<p>
[quote]
, I know from one case example (dangerous to generalize, I know ), that the "required preparation" is really "recommended preparation" and exceptions can be made.
[/quote]
Very true at some schools, not others. That's why it is important to call. Somewhat paradoxically, the elite reach schools may be somewhat more flexible on this than the schools targeted as matches -- at least that was my daughter's experience with a lopsided profile that was weak on required math at some colleges. (Despite weaknesses, she got into almost all of her top reach schools, while being waitlisted at a couple of schools she considered matches).</p>
<p>Calling the schools is an excellent idea and one that we will surely do.<br>
Seems like that would also be good to show interest.
Interesting enough the only school on our original list that a FL is required is Northeastern (also our state uc.) For all the other schools they only say FL is recommended. I have a feeling we are going to need to use the big net method and see what happens.</p>
<p>I like Barnard as a fit for a girl who has been round the world--and then some! There's no comparison between Bway and 125th and sleepy, suburban Medford (home of Tufts). I'm glad calmom posted her D's story--because I think it is relevant for your gal. calmom is THE CC authority on Barnard, IMO. Hopefully, you and your D will get a chance to visit Barnard.</p>