“Next year, plan on taking an ACT or SAT test.”
What is the advantage to taking a test as a sophomore? To me it seems too early, too much emphasis on college too early and unnecessary $ spent. Some high schools do PSAT sophomore year but I haven’t heard of college counselors recommending SAT/ACT tests this early. @twoinanddone
You can’t really get a physics-related summer position anyway. Most HS kids don’t have enough math or physics background to be helpful in that type of lab. Doesn’t mean there aren’t ECs, but what is a physics internship even?
Sorry to hear about the counselor intimidation. I am wondering, was no one else here put off by the fact that the counselor was essentially gossiping about a graduate of the school? and in a way that might identify her to the crowd? Kind of disrespectful, I think. If your daughter likes the school though I bet there will be a science or math teacher that helps her find her way to some really interesting activities. And the girls only atmosphere should guarantee that any of the teachers will be comfortable coaching girls in science and math.
@ccprofandmomof2 – despite your fears, the UC’s are still guaranteed admit for in-state students who meet the A-G requirements and have qualifying GPA and test scores. So really, all you have to worry about at this point is course selection and grades. Too early for test scores, and high grades will take pressure off from the test scores. (A kid with a very high GPA can meet requirements with average-level test scores – but kids with less impressive GPA’s can bolster them with test scores).
It is also way too early to be focused on specific college majors. Your 9th grader’s interests and academic goals will evolve over the next three years as she matures and learns.
The most important thing at this point is assuring that that first year course selection provides a proper foundation to move forward. I’m surprised that at a meeting for parents of 9th graders the college counselor wasn’t focusing on that
So for example, as a prospective STEM major, is your daughter currently taking the courses at her high school that would put her into the most advanced math and science track? Or will she later find out that she isn’t eligible to take advanced math and physics classes because she started out in a lower track? That’s assuming, of course, that there are multiple options available for 9th graders.
But keep in mind your daughter’s interests may change entirely. So now isn’t the time to worry about internships - now is the time to worry about building a foundation that might support other paths as well.
OK, so my kiddo attended a STEM high school where a science internships in your junior year is a graduation requirement. There are plenty of little jobs high school kids can do in science labs… lots of pouring of things into beakers and squirting chemicals into test tubes. (Don’t I sound like an expert? :))
But here’s the thing: the high school arranged it. The school had relationships with university labs, arranged the placements, gave kids classes in interviewing, dressing for work, and even taught them how to get to the medical campus via public transportation.
So OP, if the counselor at your daughter’s fancy pants school thinks a science internship is required for prospective science majors, it’s your fancy pants school’s responsibility to set it up. So calmly tell the counselor you have no contacts in the science community and request help in arranging this oh-so-important internship. This is a service you should be getting at said fancy pants school.
And if the counselor demurs… give her/him one of those Parents Looks. You know, the are-you-really-going-to-make-me-speak-to-the-principal-about-getting-my-money-back looks. Works every time 
With all due respect, I wouldn’t trust that guidance counselor as much as you might be assuming. Do your own research and read a lot. All of the information is out there. Of course your daughter can apply as a Physics major. Make sure she has four lab sciences and the highest rigor possible (A.P., honors etc.). Of course you know from reading here that strong SAT/ACT scores will be important too. Remember, always look out for yourself even when your private school is supposedly supporting you.
Oh gosh I had counselors like this! First, most colleges get that kids that have these internships and experiences tend have parents that can get them for them. (Not all…but a friend of mine is close to the admissions director of MIT and he said he actually laughs at what these parents try to trump up.)
Just finished this process with my oldest (off to McGill) and starting with my now HS junior. Here is what my advice (and yes, n=1 so take it with a grain of salt):
Sophomore Year: visit some schools to figure out setting. Does she like cities? Suburbs? Big schools? Small schools? You will find yourself saying again and again things like “we are not looking at UCLA but rather a big school in a big city. Do you like how it feels? Do you like having lots of stuff (Westwood) at your finger tips?” Also, have the money talk which is the very last cut on which school will be us looking at the net costs to make sure we can afford it. You should say this last thing to her a LOT.
Junior Year: Create the list and start visiting schools. You’ll be surprised at how much it changes. Take the SAT/ACT early…give her lots of tries to get what she wants. Oh, and do prep over the summer between sophomore and junior year. She will hate you for it…and then adore you when she is done with the testing early in Junior year (hopefully). Think about recommendations. My youngest has a math teacher this year (second year with her) and we will have her write a recommendation at the end of the year while he is still fresh in her mind.
Summer Jr./Sr. Year: write the personal statement for the common app. Again, she will hate you and then at the end of the summer when she goes back to school and her friends are stressing she will tell you that you are awesome. Finish up list of schools early and get the essays cranked out.
I know I left quite a bit off but this really worked for my oldest son. It kept our house semi sane (he goes to a ridiculous competitive public high school so he had his stress moments).
Good luck. And keep using CC…I learned a lot from other great parents here.
“You can’t really get a physics-related summer position anyway. Most HS kids don’t have enough math or physics background to be helpful in that type of lab.”
Cleaning the lenses doesn’t take fancy math. That’s the kind of task HS kids and college freshmen would do.
@calmom “the UC’s are still guaranteed admit for in-state students who meet the A-G requirements and have qualifying GPA and test scores.” is somewhat misleading. A student who meets the criteria is guaranteed a UC admit- but it may not be the UC they want.
Thanks, you are all SO HELPFUL! I’m generally not the helicopter parent type, and the counselor I guess made me second-guess myself. The upside is that it made me start taking part in this community, and for that I’m grateful. I have no way of knowing what my daughter will want to major in by the time college rolls around, but I don’t want her to have cut off some possible option such as Physics because she didn’t do x, y, or z in this competitive environment.It sounds like she’s doing the right thing by working hard in school and doing an EC that she loves. Thanks so much!
In spite of what that counselor made you believe and what you will hear fro some other parents, the VAST majority of kids have no idea of what they want to do…many even after they arrive on college. And that is OK. High school especially should be about finding what she likes…and just importantly what she doesn’t like. It’s hard…I live in a town where half of the families come from testing cultures and everything is STEM STEM STEM. 50% of the 550 seniors are enrolled in AP Physics…50%! At times it gets under the skin of my Type A personality but then I just remember to relax (or at least fake it). It’s early in the process for you…just really enjoy your daughter and her world. Best of luck!
OP… if your daughter loves physics, and has the stats, check out this program at UC Santa Barbara… a unique, highly selective program where students get to do graduate-level work starting in their freshman year. (And no, no internship is required for admission, lol.) https://www.ccs.ucsb.edu/majors/physics
If the OP’s daughter is only in 9th grade it’s far too soon to know if she’s going to love physics mostly likely. As others have said there’s very little interesting work that a high school student can do in a physics lab. The counselor is correct that it is likely that many students from a private prep school may have experiences that give them an edge in admissions. Not all of them take money, and many programs have scholarship money available. My younger son applied undecided everywhere but one school where he had to apply to a School within the School to get the major he was considering most seriously. He was hesitant to mention majors because he had not participated in the EC that would be most closely allied with the major. (He didn’t like the kids who did that EC.)
What I do think is worth thinking about is how to build on interests your daughter may have (and recognize they may evolve). Summers are an ideal time t explore things in more depth. What your child does may depend a lot on your budget, but I can say planning a vacation in the middle of a summer so that a kid can’t do a summer program or a job is probably not a great idea. You might not be in a science field yourself, but talk to people at neighborhood parties or at sports games. My older son got a project which resulted in an acknowledgement in a scientific paper thanks to a conversation with a neighbor. Job shadowing can lead to internships or parttime jobs if you make a good impression.
FWIW - older son did a CTY science program after freshman year, took a class at Columbia after sophomore year, and then then did a week of job shadowing at the end of the summer, which resulted in a job offer for the summer after junior year. All in computer science.
Younger son had less useful skills. He did music camp after freshman year, worked for me after sophomore year, and volunteered at the senior center junior year teaching origami classes, helping with lunch and playing a few violin concerts. He also made and sold origami earrings to some local galleries.
That counselor is not doing the students or parents any favors. This is the kind of thing that’s causing so much stress for high school students nowadays.
Bottom line, OP, no you do not need an internship to be a physics major at a competitive college. None of us, including that counselor, knows of any magic bullet to ensure admission into this or that school, and none of us is in a position to be able to say “you absolutely need X or Y in order to be admitted!” (unless by X and Y you mean, grades and test scores that are in the right range for that school – and there’s no mystery about that).
If your D thinks she might like to do an internship, great. Talk with the counselor about how she can apply. If not, also great – there are plenty of other things she can do to showcase her intelligence, her drive, and her interest in physics. Thinking that she needs to follow any specific blueprint to make her high school career look exactly this way or that way is a fool’s game and is most likely to end in your D not enjoying her high school years very much. Let her follow her passion and do what she wants to do! She’ll be much happier (and will probably be a more appealing college applicant) as a result.
My D applied as physics to some and engineering to others - No AP sciences and no internships and was accepted to some good schools (Duke, UVA, etc) based on high test scores and ranking. She started her school as physics and it was even hard to work with professors as freshmen - one professor told them they didn’t know enough as freshmen to help much so not sure what you would do as internship for physics in HS. If that ends up being your child’s interest, they can focus on it for senior project or science fair. Oh, my girls also didn’t do academic summer stuff.
Daughter is a Chem Eng major at a top tier school. Her HS physics teacher is brilliant (MIT grad) but an awful teacher. She used dimensional analysis to solve mechanics problems junior year and did not really understand E&M senior year. She had an amazing physics teacher freshman year of college, works in his lab on a large DOE project, is presenting at a the Division of Nuclear Physics conference this fall, sharing her research with other under graduates and the community of nuclear physicists. I’m amazed that she wants to add higher level physics courses to her rigorous chem eng. schedule. She did not do an internship until after freshman year in college and it was in the pharma industry, her current first passion.
Let your daughter explore her interests both academic and hobbies. Finding the ‘happy’ college environment for her to thrive will be most important. In order for her to make that decision, she needs to spend the next two plus years learning more about herself, her preferred learning environment and the types of peers she is seeking. Newton created calculus to describe his understanding pf physics, so give your daughter time to learn the math needed to study college level physics. Keep in mind that HS guidance counselors and teachers often live in a bubble, never worked in industry and most did not attend the same schools most often discussed on CC. Listen to the information about application deadlines, HS recommendation letters and test dates. Screen the rest of their advice because your daughter is in control of her academic and EC record and major interests and your family can help her decide where to apply.
At my children’s public high school, there was an extensive program to match up successful STEM-oriented students with research labs in the area. It started in 9th grade, and accommodated dozens of students in each grade. Of course, most of the students’ parents would not have had any idea at all how to arrange such a position for their kids; the school did the heavy lifting.
The kids who were part of that program, and stayed with it, tended to be very successful on the college admissions circuit. On the other hand, a kid from that school applying with a STEM focus to very selective colleges absolutely would have been at a significant disadvantage if he or she had not done the research program. There were too many classmates with great grades and great scores who had.
@JHS Can you quantify “significant”. STEM focused ECs only part of the puzzle. How big a part they play is up to debate. Is having a STEM focused internship any more compelling than volunteering at a local food bank? Or staying home to support an ill parent? Selective colleges are looking for more than just all-STEM all-the-time.
My daughter had no high school internships and no math or science extracurriculars. She had an exceptionally successful college admission season as a potential engineering major, earning the full ride Stamps scholarship at Ga Tech and a likely letter to Dartmouth, and is currently an electrical engineering major at Princeton.
That said, your daughter may be in a different situation if it is typical for potential math and science majors at her high school to do internships of some sort, as she will be compared to other applicants from her school to an extent. I would want to have my own conversation with the counselor about what the typical student from that school is doing and what sort of arrangements need to be made. I’d talk to other parents too. The counselor may be ridiculous, or this may be the reality of the sort of high school you have chosen for your child.
@Rivet2000 : One of my daughter’s classmates (high school class of 2004) worked throughout high school at a biology lab at Penn, doing cancer-related gene research. I have no idea what he did there in 9th grade, but by 11th grade he was pretty integrated into the lab and its work. He won various regional and national science fair prizes based on projects that came out of the work he was doing at the lab. He was accepted ED at Penn as a Vagelos Scholar – he wanted to continue working at the same lab. In 2006, he became the youngest person ever at the time to be the principal author of an article in Science . . . which of course came out of his work in that lab. He got his PhD at MIT.
Of course, that’s a story of maximum involvement. But almost all of my kids’ classmates at that school who were STEM-oriented and who went to Ivy League colleges had spent 3-4 years in a research program at some lab in the area. Kids who weren’t STEM-oriented did different things, of course. But because the school had a big, well-functioning program to slot STEM kids into research labs, it pretty much became an informal requirement for ambitious STEM kids to do that.
My kids weren’t STEM kids at all. They were just friends with STEM kids. So I don’t know what the kids in that program were doing day to day in their labs.