I didn’t grow up here or go to schools here in this country and I always feel I may not be doing enough towards my daughter’s college planning. First, my daughter is a sophomore at a good & highly competitive public school in southern CA.
She has a 3.73 unweighted GPA and 4.47 weighted GPA so far (1st sem of Soph yr complete). Hasn’t taken SAT or ACT. PSAT she took in sophomore year (doesn’t count) she was in 94th percentile (whatever that means).
I believe she’s got a good academic rigor as she has taken mostly honors & AP classes and has stayed almost all As or some Bs. Freshman year, all were As even with honors classes. Per regular school recommended rigor, they offer only 1 AP (Euro) and she has a top B (almost A). There are some kids who do some amazing planning and maneuvering in summer since 7th grade, do get private tutoring and have earned enough to take even more APs like APBio, AP Calc, AP Chem etc. that are typically offered in Junior year when in regular path (I told u this is a highly competitive public school).
She’s captain of her JV Cheer squad; Completed Girls Scout Gold Award doing work at a underprivileged children abroad.
I feel I can fund at least half her 4 yr undergrad and may not qualify for any “need based aid” based on my house value & business income.
She has no data/decision points for colleges other than saying she wants a college that helps her become a physician/med. Counselors at her public school are too busy and give very generic advice.
1. Is she at a disadvantage for not taking these extra APs that school technically offers only at Junior year?
2, Is there a list of recommended colleges for career interest (Med). How do I know which college has the best reputation for a certain topic/subject/career? US world news & Kiplinger & Princeton all have generic rankings but don't see anything about details about reputation etc.
3. Given this academic trajectory, should we target Ivy leagues or is that out of reach?
Thanks for reading a long note. Answers greatly appreciated.
Her PSAT score might mean – if her percentile was based on a sophomore only cohort – that her SAT score may eventually be in the 1330-1370 range. She can work to over-perform this estimate of course.
For a preliminary list of schools to research, this online list can be useful for generating ideas: “The Experts’ Choice: Colleges with Great Pre-med Programs.”
“The Experts’ Choice: Colleges with Great Pre-med Programs” is basically just a random list of good colleges. I don’t see where it actually provides any reasoning behind its choices, and there are probably at least 200 schools which will prepare you well to take the MCAT and to apply to med schools.
Scoring in the 94th percentile on the PSAT is a great score. But if translates to a 29-30 on the ACT or a 2000-2050 on the old SAT, so not an Ivy league score. (I am assuming that the 94% you stated is the percentile rank vs other 10th graders who took the test) But she is off to a great start and many kids are able to boost their scores in jr/sr year.
Can’t say if she is at a disadvantage with regard to APs. If there is a significant number of students taking APs early and your school encourages this, then it could be a disadvantage, if it is just a small group than not as important. Class rank may be an important factor for your daughter.
Go to the library and pick up a copy of Fiske’s Guide, or grab one at the local book store. Spend some time with your D looking that over.
You have plenty of time, so I would recommend visiting a big, medium and small sized school, and try and see one that is relatively urban, one suburban, and one more rural. Those kind of visits should give her an idea of what she is looking for in a school. Big school with research, small school with small class sizes, etc.
You can then get some idea as to her preferences, and start refining your college search.
You have started at the right time, so thats great start. And 4.47 weighted GPA is commendable. Would recommend the book “The applicant”… will be super helpful as it is written by student who got admit in to Stanford and top schools.
You are lucky that you live in a state with a good public university system. I would do some research on the UC admission process, and make sure she is fulfilling all those requirements. Med school is expensive, so she is going to want to minimize her debt for undergraduate.
Every school has a “net price calculator” on their website to show you what kind of need based aid she might get, but they may not be too accurate for you, since you mention a small business. She will probably get less aid than the calculators show.