Parent of Worried Daughter with Relatively Interesting Stats--Please Help!

Parents Forum
21

<p>"The gpa and course schedule are not the problem. It's the testing."</p>

<p>Right. A 3.86 is fine (except maybe for the Penn Huntsmen program??) -- assuming (as I do) that this GPA does not equate to a low class rank at the particular high school. </p>

<p>If you can get the SATI up to 2100, I think Reed begins to approach a match, at least as long as the Math portion is not too low [750CR 750WR 600M is not as good as 750CR 650M 700WR]. If you look at the Reed SAT stats, you will note that the CR is significantly higher that the Math. Oberlin -- another school your D might consider -- is similarly "lopsided." </p>

<p>Remember that Middlebury does not require SATIs. You can satisfy the Middlebury standardized testing requirement with any comination of SATIIs and AP exams in three subject areas. Your D already has a 770 SATII in Chineese and a 5 on the AP Calculus AB; one more good SATII or AP score in a third area (e.g. English literature or writing) would put her in good position.</p>

22

<p>I, too, am confused as to whether this student is native Chinese or not. If not, what is her native language? I ask because she took a TOEFL equivalent and I thought that was for non-English speakers but I may be totally confused.</p>

<p>I agree with every poster here, and I hope the OP is listening, that this is a list of schools which could potentially spell serious disappointment come April.</p>

<p>Where I seem to differ a bit with the other posters is in my impression of her ECs. I don't find them very impressive - well, let's re-word that. <em>I</em> find them impressive, but they look a lot like EC lists from a large number of kids whose profiles we see here on CC. So if the OP and daughter are expecting them to make her stand out, I think they might not do that at all. Even if it weren't for the mother/family influence. BTW, I do think they would stand out at some schools where she might apply, but not so much at the schools she has targeted. Her list of ECs will be much closer to run-of-the-mill for most of those schools.</p>

<p>I think the worried daughter is right to be worried. She can solve that by making a list of her criteria for schools (size, geography, atmosphere, fields of study) and then identifying schools which fit her criteria in ALL levels of selectivity - reach, match and safety. She doesn't seem to have done that at all. That is the nuts-and-bolts, basic ABCs of successful college admissions.</p>

<p>Finally, the second major flaw in her list (besides too many reaches) is the selection of the two schools which "seem to be" her safeties. You state that she does not wish to be on the west coast - yet both of these schools are. Another indication that she has not given proper thought to developing a list of schools which meet her own criteria.</p>

23

<p>"THe scattergram for my daughters school- which is one of the best publics in washington- shows that the avg GPA of accepted students is 3.7 ( unweighted) and the avg SAT ( 1600 scale) is 1279-"</p>

<p>Scattergrams can be quite different from school to school. According to our school's scattergram for Harvard for example - you have a 28% chance of getting in and more than 50% chance if your weighted GPA is over 101 and your SATs are over 1500. I'm pretty sure the picture is quite different at other schools.</p>

24

<p>Well I wasn't sure if she went to Garfield or not at first-and since they are the only local(public) high school that updates their webpage- let alone every day :)
I figured it was a place to start
But given the program she is involved in- and if she * isn't at Garfield, she has to be at Cleveland- since the other two area high schools that are involved in Oneworldnow, couldn't remotely be considered * inner city.</p>

<p>Which has some good supports, but I don't know how their college advising is, given that such a high percentage of kids dont graduate-I worry about schools who are so tickled to have someone be interested in learning, that they get overly excited about their prospects.
Im sure some of those schools are worth a shot- but we still don't know what the money situation is- and some schools- give little need or merit aid- not enough to make a big difference anyway</p>

25

<p>The thing about Hunstman is not only that they have too many applicants choosing Chinese as their target language, it's that they do not want people using a native language. Every Chinese applicant I know using Chinese as their language was rejected, all with much higher scores.</p>

26

<p>I am sure this girl is from a Chinese family background since I know a few names of people who have founded Chinses chools in the Seattle area. </p>

<p>IMHO, sorry to say that her chance for the Huntsman program is slim based on her test scores and GPA.</p>

<p>Her safety school may be UW and Reed since Reed is not as hard to get in as people think. I agree with most of the other posts, she needs to find a few other schools for herself since she has too many reach schools on her current list.</p>

27

<p>Bowdoin College in Maine will take three AP test scores instead of SAT's. They will take three subject tests of any type.</p>

28

<p>Does your daughter know about American University in DC? It has a strong foreign service program that seems to fit your daughter's interests.</p>

29

<p>Other considerations: How much can you afford to spend each year on her education? How much would you feel comfortable for your D to borrow to pay for her education?</p>

30

<p>I am with Jmmom. Do not see the ECs as a great differentiator, especially given her backgroud. There need to be more safeties on the list.</p>

31

<p>I still would say- you dont want to have as "back ups" schools on teh west coast if you don't want to * go* to schools on the west coast
I also wouldn't be surprised if Reed develops "tufts syndrome" re: students who are clearly using it as a backup and aren't really interested in the type of unique place that it is.</p>

<p>Being an URM would be a huge plus however at Reed, although in recent years admissions has gotten tighter- acceptances for class of 2009 for example had a 44% admit rate.</p>

32

<p>ek4, did I miss something? I know the answer is probably yes, but what gives rise to the idea that she is URM? IF she is URM, some of the schools on her list move closer to her. OTOH, I would suggest that if she was of Chinese descent that there may well be some admissions bargains at schools who have small Asian populations. Namely some of those in the South and Midwest.</p>

<p>I'm assuming that based on your local knowledege , you are making some assumptions of which high school the D attends and the makeup of that high school. </p>

<p>I still find myself concerned with prestige/reputation line the OP used.</p>

33

<p>Goodness there are a lot of replies! Thank you to all.</p>

<p>Now to reply to the replies...</p>

<p>She goes to Garfield, born in China, but English is definitely her native language.
We've been talking to (or more like working with) a former admissions officer of a very selective school who had ranked her schools like this:
Safeties: UW, Reed
"Easier" Targets (slightly higher chance of getting in): Johns Hopskins, Cornell, Uchicago, Tufts
50/50; Targets: Middlebury, NYU, Northwestern
Reaches: Georgetown, Rice, UPenn</p>

<p>Very interesting.</p>

<p>And yes, she does plan to continue both her studies in Chinese and Arabic in college.
Womens schools are completely out.</p>

<p>Her mom keeps out of her academic life as much as possible, somewhat odd for an Asian parent. Our family is the opposite of your usual Asian stereotype. We don't need her to be a successful lawyer or doctor, as long as she's happy and tries her best. She is the opposite however, always wanting to prove herself.</p>

<p>Mentioning her mother might also be a good thing however, because it shows that she works to help the family pay the bills and helps her mother out in a foreign country. It is much more stress than say, waitressing at a restaurant for extra spendign money. Her school is definitely a full-time job because she handles all aspects of the business that deal with English.</p>

<p>The only Wash. DC school she's interested in is Georgetown.</p>

<p>She has gotten 5 B's so far. Twelve classes per year (6 per semester). Takes the hardest classes as well as night classes outside of high school and Arabic classes with that organization. And then she teaches classes at night and on the weekends. Her grades improve. They were shoddy the second half of her sophmore year and first semester of her junior year when she began to get very busy, but by the second semester of her junior year, all her grades were back to A's and did well on the APs (nothing less than a 4).</p>

<p>Money isn't much of an issue now. We always find a way.</p>

<p>Being Asian never helps when trying to get into college.</p>

<p>She has considered Brandeis and liked it a lot actually. I don't know why it was cut off though.</p>

<p>Momwaitingfornew: Middlebury isn't a girl's school, it's co-ed.</p>

<p>As in "kicks and giggles", it's not actually throwing an application together. Harvard uses the Common App. so it's going to be the same things that she sends to the other schools.</p>

<p>She says she's only looking at the school's academics itself. She's very adaptable; rural or urban, liberal or conservative, she'll survive.</p>

<p>Her chances of Huntsman are very slim, yes. But no matter what anyone says, she's applying.</p>

34

<p>I do not understand some of your abbreviations such as URM. Translate? Thanks.</p>

35

<p>URM means under represented minority</p>

36

<p>Ah, thank you! Well in that case, she is definitely not underrepresented in colleges.</p>

37

<p>You've gotten much good advice here. A comment that is often mentioned on this site that seems appropriate is that typically the grades and scores come first and the EC are the icing on the cake. No matter how impressive the EC's are, rarely do they make up for the grades and scores that are on the lower end for those selective schools.</p>

38

<p>It would be good for the OP's D to read the story of Andison who was rejected at all the schools he applied to the first year, with stats that sound better than the D's (he took a gap year and is now happily attending MIT). She should certainly apply to her dream schools and reaches; but she should also have a few more safeties and matches.</p>

39

<p>I don't know the credentials or track record of the former admissions officer. I do know that some private admissions counselors are very good; but some are unfortunately off the mark in guess-timating a student's chances at various schools. I know of two families first hand who employed private counselors whose categorization of the student's list was so far off the mark that the students had few and extremely disappointing choices on April 2.</p>

<p>So, because a "former admissions counselor said it" does not make it so. yanimated, the folks on this Parent Forum are not infallible either, but when the collective wisdom all points in one direction, we are a pretty good group.</p>

<p>Your worried daughter does not have a very safe list. I have rarely if ever seen Northwestern or Middlebury as 50/50 schools - for anyone, especially someone of your kid's stats. I do think that Chinese origin may be a help at Middlebury although not so at many of the schools on her list, as you know.</p>

<p>What do YOU think, having read all of these posts and knowing that your D is worried? Do you think she should add some less selective schools to her list? Do you think she would be happy at Reed or UW if those are her only acceptances - given that she says she doesn't want the west coast?</p>

<p>And, yes, andi's son's story is a must read for this family: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=47867&highlight=picking+pieces%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=47867&highlight=picking+pieces&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

40

<p>Although Harvard uses the Common Application, it also has a mandatory supplement. I don't recall what Harvard's supplement looks like, but some colleges' supplements will take as long to complete as the common application itself does.</p>