<p>Hi ParentofIvyHopeful,</p>
<p>I'd like to suggest abandoning FH and going with an entirely different approach that others on this thread have mentioned, since having your D devote an entire summer to FH primarily for the purpose of getting her into an Ivy without knowing if she'll become a break-out star seems kind of a long shot, and just having a kid who isn't a break-out star call up the coach and say, hey, I haven't played throughout highschool but I'd like to play on your team if accepted doesn't sound like something that would result in the coach being super-helpful. (These coaches are using all their leverage to try to bring in specific, scouted super-stars.) </p>
<p>At virtually every college admissions session we've attended, including Ivy's, we have been told that colleges are seeking students with deep, long-term passionate interests, who have pursued those interests independently, demonstrating their love of learning and intellectual or artistic energy and commitment. Watching our own children's admissions decisions and those of their classmates, this really does seem to be play a significant role in top tier college admissions at the moment. This being the case, I think it would make the most sense for your daughter to take something that really interests her, and that has interested her for some time, that maybe ties together her EC interests and some of her academic interests, and do something she would truly enjoy and get excited about with that over the summer. I'm sorry if this sounds like packaging, but I think it would be better for admissions offices to be able to say something on the order of, "Oh, the comp sci kid who worked on such and such research over the summer, and also taught computer literacy to kids at the Boys and Girls Club, and made that amazing website for the church food drive where her family volunteers" than to try to have your D struggle to become a phenomenally good FH player in such a short time. My impression is that it doesn't help to add things (unless they are absolutely amazing, stellar, high school equivalent of curing cancer things) at the last minute, but rather to deepen the kid's experiences in areas of genuine, passionate interest.</p>
<p>^^good advice...However, I think it wouldn't hurt to find someone that can assess her abilities to tell her whether she has D1 talent.</p>
<p>Fair enough; so back to the brain storming table to comeup with something else that may provide some leverage to get into Ivies.>></p>
<p>Why are you so obsessed with getting into the Ivies? What do you think is so different about the Ivies compared to a lot of other top schools?</p>
<p>Why is "getting into the Ivies" the goal, as opposed to letting your daughter's natural personality and interests (both academic and extracurricular) blossom?</p>
<p>^^The OP has already said that her daughter is interested in computer engineering at the ivies and prefers it over stanford, mit, berkeley, etc despite the fact the OP pointed out computer engineering is rated better there. So it sounds like the preference for the ivies originated in the OP's daughter and not the OP.</p>
<p>(I'd say Stanford, MIT, Caltech are better than almost ALL of the Ivies for computer engineering, except perhaps Cornell. Heck, they're more prestigious too.</p>
<p>I bet there are a number of state schools that are better for computer engineering..... But gotta have those Ivys!!</p>
<p>Pizzagirl : I never understood the reasons for going to Yale to do computer engineering too. But that is what my D wants to do and I support her 100%. I just want to make sure that it happens. So for that she is doing her parts, taking the hardest subjects, maintaining grades, ECs etc.</p>
<p>I'm just trying to find ways to beat the admission process and I think it can be done.</p>
<p>You can't 'beat' the process, because frankly, if there was, then all of us would have. Just tell your daughter to commit to what she loves doing.</p>
<p>sylenteck0: Even the College Confidential offers gauranteed admissions if you can pay $16000. There are many other such program ranging from $10000 to $30000 with some success rate.</p>
<p>So it can be done.</p>
<p>ParentOfIvyHope,
Just out of curiousity, in what country did you grow up playing field hockey?</p>
<p>India: The sport was born there.</p>
<p>I never thought that India was the birthplace of field hockey;</p>
<p>I always thought the version we played was more of an English invention :)</p>
<p>Hey: What to say then?</p>
<p>did the english take it to India or vice versa</p>
<p>It came to England from India.
English took Cricket to India.</p>
<p>Ya! it is easy to claim invention by filing patent.</p>
<p>This is from the Wikipedia (which I know is not always accurate) article on Field</a> hockey:</p>
<p>
[quote]
The modern game of hockey grew from the game played in English public schools in the early 19th century. The first club was created in 1849 at Blackheath in south-east London, but the modern rules grew out of a version of hockey played by members of Middlesex cricket clubs for winter sport. Teddington Hockey Club, arguably, formed the modern game that we know today by introducing the striking circle and changing the ball to a sphere from a rubber cube. The Hockey Association was founded in 1886. The first international took place in 1895 (Ireland 3, Wales 0) and the International Rules Board was founded in 1900....</p>
<p>The game had been taken to India by British servicemen and the first clubs formed in Calcutta in 1885. The Beighton Cup and the Aga Khan tournament had commenced within ten years. Entering the Olympic Games in 1928, India won all five of its games without conceding a goal and went on to win from 1932 until 1956 and then in 1964 and 1980. Pakistan won in 1960, 1968 and 1984.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>"I just want to make sure that it happens."</p>
<p>But you can't make sure that it happens. Your daughter is already doing all the right things - taking a hard courseload, doing well in her academics, showing leadership in the classroom and in other extracurriculars. That's all that can be done. Despite all that and despite being well qualified, she may not get in the Ivies. So you can encourage her to go Ivy and then set her up for potential disappointment, or you can encourage her to look at a large number of schools that offer excellent educations in her field of interest.</p>
<p>I don't mean this rudely at all - I'd love my kids to have stats like your daughter's - but students that good are a dime a dozen in applying to Ivies. There's an element of randomness in the process. There simply aren't enough spots for all the qualified applicants. Why set her up to think she can game the system? </p>
<p>"I'm just trying to find ways to beat the admission process and I think it can be done."</p>
<p>You don't think admissions officers can see the difference between students who have passions, and students who engage in activities just to "cook the books" and look good? Do you think they are that naive?</p>
<p>Booklady :From the wiki</p>
<p>"Although the exact origin of field hockey remains unknown, historians have recorded a number of 4,000-year-old drawings found in the tomb at Beni-Hasen in the Nile Valley (Egypt) which showed men playing the sport. Throughout the following centuries, variations of the game were played by a spectrum of cultures ranging from Greeks and Romans to Ethiopians, Indians and Aztecs. In most of these cultures a single wooden stick with a curved end, probably a sapling or a suitable tree branch, immediately available, was used rather than a purpose 'manufactured' sports item."
...
"The first major developments to what was later termed the 'English style' stick (and the method of play with such sticks) occurred in India. "</p>
<p>It is always sad that even history is manipulated when the show is run by different set of people.</p>
<p>
[quote]
It is always sad that even history is manipulated when the show is run by different set of people.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yes: it's often phrased as "history is written by the winners". I was terrible at field hockey in school. ;)</p>
<p>^^^: My D is saying that is what compels her to go to Ivies, as history of 21st century will be written by the winners.</p>