Sounds like there are a few wins mixed in there. Congrats mom (and son😀)!
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D just met with her guidance counselor yesterday to finalize classes (though she had to put in her requests in December–no idea what the delay was).
English II-Honors
Latin II (DE)
Pre-Calculus-Honors (DE)
Chemistry-Honors
US History I-Honors (DE)
AP World History (DE)
AP Computer Science Principles
PE II/Health II
D said the counselor brushed her off when she wanted to talk about college plans and told her it was “too early”. She said the entire meeting was maybe 4 minutes. I get the feeling we are going to have to do a lot of the leg work ourselves. Which is a shame as she is really motivated, but needs someone to talk to about it other than her parents!
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I know our school district, kids put in their requests for next year in January some time, and they find out what classes they get on the first day of school next year.
It’s possible that your school district has a bit more ability to adjust (which is why you got your course list so early), but they don’t quite have the resources to start college counseling for current 9th, rising 10th graders.
My kids school isnt helpful really with college choice either.
Our school has a separate college counseling center, but they didn’t start hosting events until the beginning of junior year. Now that I have a relationship with one of The counselors who helped my D21 I’ve already been in contact with her about my S25.
Unfortunately, it’s just one of those things where it’s not publicized that it’s a resource and you only really learn about it after going through it, unless you have friends with older kids who tell you about it in advance.
After going through the college admissions process last year, for our family the number one thing we will map out is what we are willing to spend. We won’t waste time looking at schools that we can’t afford. If you have budget restraints I highly recommend setting the financial parameter first.
If your daughter is already showing signs of interest for specific majors you can start researching schools with that program and explore the course map for the degree. You can also look to see what the minimum requirements are for admission. For example the UC’s have specific parameters and at our school it’s recommended to do more the minimum required.
Edited to say I realize this doesn’t offer any ideas for your daughter and finding an outlet to discuss college with. Perhaps there are online resources for her.
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Do you have a good budget already for her? Does she have an idea of what path or major she may want? Is she considering public or a LAC? If she has a few colleges in mind, does she follow them on social media? Is she on college vine? Does she know what region she wants to go to school (or places she wants to avoid?)
Honestly, without knowing where the GPA, test scores, and ECs will truly add up, trying to “chance” a freshman for college apps right now really is impossible. I have a S23 and I’m seeing that many colleges don’t even invite kids to their virtual sessions until junior year.
So instead, she should be pursuing things that interest her, keep her options open, and try to get an idea of the vibe she truly may be interested in. My D25 is more mature and understanding of her future plans than her S23 brother so I get it. Im having my daughter focus on enjoying the now, and worrying about the later at another date.
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Thanks all.
I wasn’t really looking to chance her and I am not sure she really knows what she wants to do yet, but says she want’s “choices”. She came into high school looking at an engineering field, but then switched to sports medicine and is now back to biomedical engineering. Her GPA will be solid (All A’s & 1 B (in an honors class) and her PSAT score would place her somewhere in the mid 1400’s on the SAT.
Based on the few schools she has seen (it is now part of our vacation planning haha) she seems to be looking for mid-sized universities and has ruled out LACs (though we may look at a couple more just to be sure) but, is open to large state universities.
Her ECs will be good for sports medicine, but just ok for engineering. She is a two sport athlete and an athletic trainer in the third season. She is on a club team during the summer. She is unwilling to give up the sports (and I don’t blame her) which she loves in order to resume build her application. That being said, she is not looking to play in college other than the club level.
But the sports do limit the time she has for other clubs (especially the time demanding engineering clubs). She is in a couple interest clubs for her hobbies (photography) and volunteers at the local arts center, church and athletic association.
As for awards, she has received the Girl Scout Silver Award and is planning to finish up the gold project this summer. She also just got scored summa cum laude on the National Latin exam.
I was just surprised/concerned that the counselor (who she has all 4 years) was unwilling to even discuss colleges with her.
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My d25 wont give up dance and it leaves her little time for anything else so I get it.
Your daughters on the right track for college. Shes starting to get an idea of what she likes. Add in budget now and more conversations may be had. I wouldnt want the gc trying to sell a college that we couldnt afford.
My 21 was a 2 sport athlete, with club soccer that consumed a lot of the year on top of that. She maybe could have tried to play D3, but didn’t want to so didn’t pursue that avenue of admission. As far as time commitment went, soccer was by far her biggest activity.
Things still worked out pretty good for her. Granted she wasn’t engineering, and the whole package looks different for every kid. But I think the main thing is to looks busy doing something productive. I wouldn’t worry too much about her not having time for other things. She will still show a major sustained commitment to something.
I think the college counselor could have had a general discussion on looking at size, setting, and just the very beginning of the search. My guess is they do not discuss with Freshmen because there is so little known: no track record of grades in the rigorous courses yet (no difficult APs/IB/honors available in 9th), and a PSAT 8/9 is really very preliminary and not as solid an SAT predictor as the 10th or 11th one. Our school has preliminary/group discussions with the counselors in 9th and the message is get the highest grades you can while challenging yourself but not burning out, try out many different clubs then narrow them based on what you like, and more specific discussions on colleges will be in 10th spring, when almost 2 yrs of HS are done and a cohesive record is developing.
Do not worry about Engineering electives at this time: the most important thing is to get As in the hardest math and science courses available, and make a good 4 year plan to have a rigorous STEM transcript. The ECs should be what she wants to do and is passionate about, which is likely still changing. The rest will sort itself out when it comes time to apply.
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D25 did the preACT. We know she doesnt shine on standardized testing so hoping test optional stays around.
Right now shes prepping for dance team auditions. This year she did both the hs team and a local studio who does competitions. She just moved from general classes to competition team 3 years ago and has been on their “lower level B team.” To gain skill she began solo competitions 2 yrs ago. Shes progressed to getting 2nd and 4th place in solos for her division.
She desperately wants to get put on the top level team next year. Shes put work in. But my wallet and schedule will be hurting as its a huge commitment (and $$$)!!
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As we’re heading toward sophomore year, there’s a really good overview of the realities and controversies of test-optional policies in this week’s Chronicle of Higher Education. (Paywalled, but I think it’s visible with their free account as well.)
https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-will-to-test-in-a-test-optional-era
My kid will probably still test. Our state requires the test for the merit aid they give which can be up to full tuition
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D25’s school has them doing PSAT starting in 9th grade. The 11th grade PSAT is the one that “counts”, and then the first SAT is typically that year too. But they believe in prepping the kids well ahead of that. Fine by me, whether to apply test-optional is a 12th grade decision.
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S25 will test. He’s a much better test taker than a homework-turner-inner. He had to take the pre-ACT 8/9 the last two years and scored well. He’s just a hot mess at getting homework turned in or writing his name on the homework even after working on it for hours. It’s infuriating, so I’m hoping test scores will bolster his application.
We survived his first AP test yesterday, AP World History. He felt okay about it, but he certainly didn’t/couldn’t put the time into it that I think would have helped him score really high. Hoping he at least pulled out a 3 on it. Regardless, I was proud of how hard he worked overall and I’m sure he learned a lot from the process. Will be glad when finals are over in 11 days and he can get a break from school work. He’s definitely starting to lose some motivation at this point, so I’m encouraging him to push through for the next week and a half to end on a good note.
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S25 probably will not test. Since Covid our school has stopped giving the PSAT in 9th. I think his performance in school will showcase him better than his test scores could.
That being said we still haven’t found an effective medication for his ADHD and so much work is missing or late and it’s extremely frustrating. We were hoping to have found a med by now to make the end of his year better. His grades are good but there is a downward trend in a few and they are right on the cusp of A’s. I’m hoping three weeks is enough time for him to bolster them. Ultimately, he can pull this off if he wants to. I think he’s burning out and focusing on his overall GPA instead of grade trends. I don’t want to badger him and at the end of it’s up to him. I’m just over here supporting him and meeting him where he is and reminding myself he’s a completely different student than his older sister is.
He’s taking his first AP next year and he’s admitted he’s nervous about that unless we can find a med soon, or he may consider leveling down. So frustrating because the teachers are phenomenal for that class and history is his strongest subject.
Overall 9th grade has been successful and I’ve seen growth and his teachers have said the same. He’s made so many new friends this year and has a wonderful social life which makes me so happy.
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And my C25 will test, probably spring of sophomore year just like their older siblings did (and they were all one-and-done at that point). At this time it simply allows for more options, and there’s no way to tell how long-lasting the test-optional policies out there will be.
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Our school also requires students to take ACT March of junior year. They spend much of class time prepping students for this.
D25 will not get a good score as long standardized testing is not her strong suit. I think she would thrive in a smaller LAC type setting.
Dance recitals this weekend. Next week she finishes up dance auditions for next season. This past year she did high school team, a club competition team, and a club solo program. She is really hoping she gets placed on the highest level club competition team this year. I told her if she does I think I will have her drop solo program. It just gets to be too much!
Our school goes through mid June.
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My kid does fine in regular tests for classes, but the second she gets a whiff of high-stakes testing, she under performs. Right now, she wants large universities where she doesn’t have to do Socratic seminars. I know the UCs (our state flagship) and Cal States don’t require standardized tests, but I’m not sure about other schools that she will probably apply to. Guess that’s another column to add to the college research list. Honestly, if her GPA at an extremely competitive high school isn’t illustrative of her academic capabilities, I don’t know what is. And maybe it is the social circles I run in, but I have no experience with kids taking multiple SATs. I read about it on r/applying to college, but I wonder what overall percentage of students are really doing that. I mean, I can see if you are chasing merit, but chasing status schools? I guess whatever floats your boat.
D25 made varsity cheer, thank goodness, and is doing Girls Who Code this summer. She signed up for the self-paced program and was on the waitlist, but got off of it quickly, like 2 weeks later. So if anyone is interested in that, it seems to have openings. All you need is a computer and Wifi.
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I’ve been dealing with S22 this year and I have S25 as well. S22 took full advantage of the TO (he has major test anxiety as well), and didn’t take PSAT (due to pandemic not offered in this state), SAT or ACT (pandemic lack of seatings in this state + widespread TO still).
I’ve been reading about some colleges that are TO but would like your scores reported after admitting. I think never having taken the tests did hurt S22 some in the admissions process (gut feeling, no actual evidence to point to).
I intend to have S25 take PSAT next year just to see how he does on that style of test. No pressure, since there are still TO options available. And we’ll make the call from there.
I could see having my kid take the SAT and/or ACT a second time, if they say they felt ill on the first day or got what we consider to be an egregiously low score for their abilities. But, we’re unlikely to do any prep courses – I’d buy one of those books if the kid asked, but seriously, extra school? No.
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