Such an impressive kid. She’ll go a long way, good luck to her!
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Um, I was responding to what I thought was an interesting question about how an admissions officer would regard a kid who spent their summer lifeguarding nowadays. Your post certainly seems very judgmental. I am not competing with any parents here on CC, just giving my own opinion in response to that question based on my own experience.
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I am very glad to hear that and to hear that you agree with me about us all being on the same team. I wasn’t just responding to your post but since you asked I will mention that there are people on here who did help their kids get job and there are people on here with privileged kids and your post appeared to put those two things down. Instead of debates and opinions, I am encouraging us to be inclusive of people who make different choices than we do, including different parenting choices.
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Everyone is entitled to their own opinion on that subject. My husband and I both attended state universities undergrad and private universities for grad school and know the benefits of both. We will be happy no matter where D22 ends up and are not here to compete with any family. The Frank Bruni book “Where You Go Is Not Who you Will Be” is an excellent read for anyone stressing about the college admissions process.
I think Frank Bruni’s thesis is correct on average. However, around the margin, the relationships you make with your peers at the very top schools can be incredibly life-changing, transformative, and lead to some amazing outcomes!
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I took the “curating activities that will be appealing to prestigious schools instead of spending time just being a kid” comment to mean it was sad if kids didn’t pursue their own interests whether that be math competitions or athletics or lifeguarding or art or whatever and instead tried to do things that they thought the admissions team would want to see even if they weren’t interested in those activities.
I agree that is a shame. Kids have enough to do in school that they should be able to pursue their own interests or passions outside of school and not try to get inside the AO’s head.
Go geek out on math, or curing cancer, or playing in a garage band or whatever it is that floats your boat!
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I certainly wasn’t suggesting there is anything wrong with being spiky. As I think I noted, those kids impress the heck out me with their focus and accomplishments.
I was just wondering a bit wistfully whether uber-selective schools can make room anymore for kids who have promise but are more “scattered” at age 17, for lack of a better word.
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Yes, and this extends to course selection too. My kid came home in 9th grade and observed that Valedictorians at our high school can’t take 4 years of art because it was impossible to get a high enough GPA since art classes don’t get honors points. Students were also avoiding those courses because choosing an art course meant that they were not selecting an honors course as part of the “most challenging curriculum” that would look good to top colleges. (For me, an art course would have been the most challenging course I could have taken in high school!). This is very different from kids selecting challenging courses that interest them.
Have you all seen the MIT “Applying Sideways” blog post? MIT seems to be saying the right things.
Applying Sideways | MIT Admissions
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Good one -MIT “applying_sideways”. Thanks for sharing!
Great article! Thank you for sharing.
That is pretty much what I said. Not sure how anyone could construe my comments to be an indictment of any particular activity. My own kids have participated in athletics, academic competitions and other things that interest them. My observation is really based on what I’ve seen at our own HS (overloading on activities that kids think will “look good”-- even if they aren’t interested) as well as posts here on CC (should I start a charity and the like).
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Hi UC experts! getting confused over this UC San Diego ranking colleges part of app. e.g. let us say D22 is interested in economics as major. Does it mean all colleges in UC San Diego offer and she has to rank them? I checked out their web site but looking hear from someone who has done this in the past to understand the process. Thanks in advance
I totally trust you meant well but I also hope you can understand that “wants to do more than just math” and the line cook thing could land as critical. It is a trap we can fall into when we are promoting one side of a two sided coin that we can inadvertendly put down the other side. Spiky, rounded is one coin around here…and helping/hands off parent is another.
(Not sure if other '21 parents remember this but there were a number of times that the Hands Off parents put down the Helping parents regarding helping with essays, signing into admissions portals, researching schools, etc. Then the Helping parents took swipes at the Hands Off parents for being on CC at all then. Actually all of it could be pretty funny and taken lightly because, you know, viva la difference…except that this can be a stressful time for many people.)
So I was hoping to inspire people early in the process this year to remember that there may be people on the other side of the coin from you and it is very possible to share your view without putting down the other.
Which gets me back to your original question (I think) about whether there is a place for well rounded applicants. My guess in all of my reading around here and elsewhere is that it isn’t necessarily a spike bias (or at least not anymore). I have a hypothesis that now, in 2021, there is an “interesting” bias. I keep hearing from podcasts etc that AOs want authentic, to hear about interests, and they seem to want to find the student interesting. So I think anyone spiky or roundy can be interesting. (I hope that is true for us parents, too!)
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The Residential colleges are not major based so you need to compare the GE’s specifically to see on how to rank them.
Here is a link to compare up to 3 colleges at a time based on GE’s, location, dining options: http://compare.ucsd.edu/
Also take a look at the AP/IB credit link for each college to maximize GE credit: https://catalog.ucsd.edu/_files/advanced-placement-credit-chart.pdf
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It is always easy to misinterpret tone on line — I’m surprised you thought my comments could land as critical, though.
By bringing up activities other than “just math” and line cook, I was referring to LESSER activities — ones I thought we’d all agree were non-academic and not significantly application-enhancing. I wasn’t suggesting engaging in those activities were superior to academic activities.
The ONLY point I intended to make was that kids like mine who “waste time” on things they think are fun but don’t have a ton of direct relevance to a future career can still turn out to be great students. And I don’t know if that makes them spiky enough (or “interesting” enough, if you prefer) for the most selective schools today.
The more focused student could well be viewed by an AO as more of a sure thing, which I get. That’s what I meant when I said (kinda tongue-in-cheek) that my kid might be too well-rounded — but now I am sensing the term “well rounded” might have been taken to mean “better”??
I am sorry if my musing inadvertently pushed any buttons. It was a comment about admissions philosophy, not the choices of any parent or student.
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To add to Gumbymom’s post — students can apply to any of the residential colleges, but there are some that tend to draw the engineering students, the art students, etc. Each has its own vibe. Each structures general education requirements differently and some may emphasize writing or community service. Make sure to do research on them to understand the differences.
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We will soon see with my D22. She decided to pursue STEM relatively late and doesn’t have the track record of others with similar interests (internships, research, science fairs, etc.). She has also started “geeking out” on her foreign language interests, pursuing a couple of activities that give out no trophies/recognition but are meaningful to her. And she took on a new sport last year, which she loves but is no where near being competitive. Because there are only so many hours in a day, she’s deemphasizing her most accomplished activity, music. To some, that might be “scattered.”
As a parent, I was a little worried at first (particularly her leaving a prestigious music program) but D22 made a strong case and understands the risk she’s taking. So we’re onboard.
(On a side note, D22’s school is organizing a networking event with alumni working in different fields. I don’t know if this is intentional or not, but the alum participants attended a range of universities - hopefully, D22 and her classmates will notice that you don’t need to go to tippy top schools to do well in your career and life.)
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Well, from my neck of the woods, the only kids who ever get accepted to elite schools are athletic recruits. The Val this year is brilliant - one of those rare truly gifted kids who has been taking college level math classes since junior high, is a successful three sport athlete (all league and a state qualifier - not good enough to get recruited for athletics at an Ivy, but good enough to easily be a contributor on a Division III team)
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My kid attended a virtual info session yesterday at a T40 (not T20) school where the AO and one of the student representatives both went on a bit about how much they didn’t like math. Which is fine, to each their own, but it sure landed wrong in an info session. I can’t imagine an info session where presenters would say “Let me tell you all the things I hate about reading.”
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