<p>If you want to be more sure of options, I’d prep and retake the SAT. [Hey, this is CC…]</p>
<p>SMU and TCU… Forgot about those. We moved from Illinois (very southern part) back to Texas after having been away for 10 years. Not many college choices in S. Illinois, and daughter had no interest in any of the schools up there except perhaps Washington U., and she hates cold weather…</p>
<p>We will look at Rice soon. It’s less than an hour away, so it will be early on our list.</p>
<p>MidwestMom, we’ll look for that book. I know my wife and I went to a smaller state school (SFA in E. Texas) and loved it and are very happy with our careers and education. I won’t be dissapointed if she chooses a similar school, but I want her to have all the options and an opportunity to be challenged. She does love a good challenge more than anything.</p>
<p>John.</p>
<p>It is perfectly normal not to have a major, and for an intelligent, possibly intellectual student like your daughter, it might be nice to convey that college is not necessarily vocational, but can be “learning for the sake of learning.” Many, many kids go into college “undecided,” and even more change their majors once or twice or even three times in their 4 years.</p>
<p>Your question is so open-ended as to be unanswerable. If you are not limited to Texas, there are hundreds of colleges. The Fiske and Peterson’s Guides, and others like them, can be helpful. Also, the many other books on the shelves of bookstores: “College that Change Lives,” “Beyond the Ivies,” “Cool Colleges,” etc. </p>
<p>If you posted a little more info, maybe more people could offer help.</p>
<p>Some of the top colleges look at applicants in a very holistic manner, and want to see something beyond good SAT’s and grades, such as an extracurricular “passion,” or committed volunteering, etc.</p>
<p>You have already looked at some schools. With each of our three, we started off by looking at a large state U., a small alternative, and a typical liberal arts college. We also started out by figuring out whether urban, rural or suburban was preferred. So we got the general parameters down before looking more specifically. Just a thought.</p>
<p>Seconding dragonmom to look into Trinity - especially if your D likes San Antonio. I’ve never heard anything bad about this college.</p>
<p>“Your question is so open-ended as to be unanswerable…”</p>
<p>Not looking for a specific answer, but suggestions to get the ball rolling. </p>
<p>“If you posted a little more info, maybe more people could offer help…”</p>
<p>Uhm, working on it. Just posted first post 2 hrs ago… kinda new here ;)</p>
<p>“With each of our three, we started off by looking at a large state U., a small alternative, and a typical liberal arts college. We also started out by figuring out whether urban, rural or suburban was preferred. So we got the general parameters down before looking more specifically. Just a thought…”</p>
<p>Ahh, good suggestion. Thanks!</p>
<p>Definitely visit Trinity! It has a warm friendly environment and the 3 year residency requirement makes for a strong community. </p>
<p>Agree w/ everyone who advised to chill on the major choice. A small LAC will nurture her and help her decide what she wants to do with the rest of her life. A larger University will give her a variety of choices and that is a good thing too.</p>
<p>In CA I recommend the following small LACs if that is what she decides she wants.</p>
<p>Scripps College
Occidental
Santa Clara U</p>
<p>"
She’s having trouble deciding on a major. She has so many interests she doesn’t know where to start. Never has had trouble with any subject at any level and finds “everything” interesting…"</p>
<p>Most students have no clue what to major in, and even if they think they know what to major in, most students change their majors at least twice while in college. This occurs because in college, students learn more about majors as well as about their own interests.</p>
<p>She may want to take a close look at liberal arts colleges. They expose students to a wide range of subjects, and that could be of great help to a student like your D who has talents in many academic areas.</p>
<p>My S selected a LAC for that reason, and due to his experiences there, ended up selecting a major that he’d never considered before, but fell in love with after being exposed to it in college.</p>
<p>You and your wife are unusual as most people in this country don’t stick with the prospective major or career goal that they selected at age 15.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, taking your D within your state to look at different types of colleges will help her and you get a better idea of what kind of college where she’d be most fulfilled. Also take a realistic look at your finances, and let her know if there are financial restrictions – including ones related to distance – on where she can apply or go to school. </p>
<p>It’s best to create one’s college app list from the bottom up by first finding a safety that your kid loves, you can afford, and you know that she’ll be admitted to. She probably can get some nice merit aid at some safety schools.</p>
<p>Has she taken the PSAT? If so, did her scores qualify her for NMF status in Texas? Being designated a NMF[ one of 16,000] can give her application a big boost, as well as qualify her for Merit$$ at many universities. USC gives NMF’s a 1/2 tuition scholarship. She should first find some safeties she would be HAPPY to attend, and then work on finding reach colleges. If she hates the cold, she should consider USC as a match, and Pomona or Claremont colleges, which are part of the 5 college Claremont Consortium in Los Angeles.</p>
<p>If she’s just finishing up her junior year, there’s no need to be worrying about her major. She has another three years before she needs to make that decision!</p>
<p>But she might want to be thinking whether she’s going to be more of a liberal arts person, or more of a sciencey or mathy person. Or both-- but if she’s particularly interested in science, she might want a place with a reputation for strength in science, and she might want to consider a technical school: MIT, RPI, Stevens, WPI, just for some examples. On the other hand, if her strength lies in something like English, languages or history, she’d want to look for a school with small classes and lots of writing.</p>
<p>She should also be thinking about whether she likes a big school with lots to do, or a smaller, more intimate school with more of a school community feel. She should be thinking about whether there is some specialized field of study (Japanese? linguistics?) or some special sport or activity (equestrian? ice hockey? ballroom dancing?) that her school must have, because that could eliminate a lot of schools from consideration quickly.</p>
<p>A little piece of advice: you might want to tone down the “REALLY smart” claim. Around here, “REALLY smart” doesn’t mean SATs above 2100; there are many, many students here who have achieved that. It means SATs above 2350. At age 12.</p>
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<p>I don’t really agree with that assertion. LACs are small, which means many programs are weak, or even nonexistent; very difficult to get exposed to a field of study when the college offers few or no courses in them.</p>
<p>I second that USC in CA deserves a look. Many students from Texas, the NMF 1/2 tuition scholarship as mentioned above, great campus spirit, diverse student body, the benefits of a private (easy interaction with profs, generally smaller classes, less bureaucracy, opportunities for research), plus USC very much encourages exploration and interdisciplinary study, double majors/minors etc, and has a great liberal arts based Honors program (Thematic Option for those who qualify).</p>
<p>If she’s from a small town, kind of quiet, and not into big cities or the big school rah-rah sports scene, then I think a smaller liberal arts college (LAC) might be her best bet. They provide a more intimate environment, where students get to know all their classmates and all their professors. Unfortunately, there aren’t all that many great LACs in the mid-South or the Southwest. Trinity U in San Antonio is probably the best in Texas. Others more or less nearby would include Rhodes in Memphis and Hendrix in Conway, Arkansas. In the other direction, there’s Colorado College in Colorado Springs.</p>
<p>Another step up in size, Rice (in Houston) is definitely worth considering, as is Tulane in New Orleans.</p>
<p>You already have one big hint – your daughter liked Washington University. With her credentials, she’s a legitimate candidate for that school (though it’s not a sure thing). But that’s a very expensive school, and if your family is doing OK financially, your daughter may not be a candidate for need-based aid. So you need to think and plan very seriously about money before discussing Wash U further with your daughter.</p>
<p>What else is like Wash U – medium to large size, not specialized in a particular area, and highly academic but not as selective as the very top schools such as Harvard or Stanford?</p>
<p>Well, there are a lot of schools, but many of them cost as much as Wash U does. I’m thinking here of places like Northwestern, Georgetown, Cornell, Duke, Brown, Notre Dame, Emory, Penn, Tufts, and the University of Chicago. Not every kid will like every school on this list (some, for example, would immediately cross off the ones in big cities, while others would cross off the ones that are NOT in big cities). Among the state schools, popular choices among students of your daughter’s caliber include the University of Michigan, the University of Virginia, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. But admission to these universities from out of state is difficult, and their out of state cost is quite high – not as high as the private universities, but still something to think about very seriously.</p>
<p>I know many kids with credentials similar to your daughter’s whose entire application list consisted of selections from among the schools that I’ve just mentioned, plus a couple of academic safety schools (because none of the schools I’ve mentioned is a sure thing for a student with credentials similar to your daughter’s) and at least one financial safety school (a school that is not only an academic safety school but that the family can afford no matter what – this is usually a state school in the student’s home state). Some of those kids (including my own daughter, who had a slightly lower GPA but higher SAT scores than your daughter) ended up at one of the schools I listed above (she happens to be at Cornell). But many others ended up at their home state’s flagship state university, either because they didn’t luck out in the admissions process or because, in the end, financial considerations dictated that the home state school was the best choice.</p>
<p>As for not knowing what you want to study, that’s perfectly OK. But your daughter might want to try to make a list of three or four of the subjects that she thinks are her most likely possible majors. She would want to include introductory courses in those subjects in her schedule during her first few semesters of college. Also, she should look at the requirements for the majors; some are MUCH more structured than others, requiring very specific courses to be taken in a specific sequence. So if your daughter has any of the more structured subjects (such as chemistry or computer science) on her list, she should pay especial attention to including the prerequisites for those majors (including related courses such as math) in her first semester schedule. For less structured subjects (such as political science or English), it doesn’t matter so much.</p>
<p>I’m making this point because although it’s true that vast numbers of students switch majors, quite a lot of them find it necessary to spend an extra semester or two in college as a result. This is what you want to avoid (because it’s expensive), and with careful planning, you often can.</p>
<p>One more point: It seems as though your daughter just took the SAT for the first time. Has she given any thought to the SAT Subject Tests? Some of the colleges I’ve mentioned – and some other selective colleges that I haven’t mentioned – require students to take two (or in rare cases, three) SAT Subject Tests, and some require applicants for particular programs to take specific subject tests (although I think that a generalist such as your daughter is not likely to run into this particular requirement). If your daughter applies to any schools that require SAT Subject Tests, she will have to take those tests in the fall, if she hasn’t already, and she should be giving serious thought to her choice of tests (based on her own strengths and the strengths of her high school curriculum). You may want to look for threads on the Parents Forum that discuss the SAT Subject Tests (formerly known as SAT II tests and often still referred to by that name).</p>
<p>Well, I for one think Marian’s advice is the most succinct, informative, accurate and thoughtful post I have ever read on CC regarding higher achieving juniors looking at their upcoming admissions season. Well done!</p>
<p>I agree with Marian about the colleges to look at.</p>
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<p>Harvard would be a very good fit. From the father’s posts, I see no firm evidence here that the girl is NOT a suitable candidate for Harvard or the other super-elite colleges. If she doesn’t like cold climates, Stanford may be another college to look at. How many brilliant applicants does Stanford get from South East Texas? </p>
<p>About the financial aid, we simply don’t know whether this family would qualify. “We aren’t hurting financially” could mean “we are still making the same $60K/yr that we were making before the recession” or “we are making $200K/yr”. If it is the former, the girl could be eligible for a near-full ride to Harvard.</p>
<p>I think it would be good to have a conversation and determine if cold weather is really a rule out for your D. There are an awful lot of excellent colleges she might like in the Northeast and Midwest. If cold climate is a non-starter, in the South, she might consider Duke for a larger, reach school and Davidson, which is a small, excellent LAC but seems to have big school spirit. UNC, Chapel Hill could be visited if she wants to throw a large state school into the mix. In California, in addition to the colleges that have already been mentioned, she could consider the schools in the Claremont cluster. Although each college is small, they are next to each other and use each other’s resources, so a student at one can take classes at another, and there are more young people and activities available. There, she might consider Pomona as a reach and also Scripps, which is a women’s college, but again, with coed classes and colleges literally across the street. Pomona is need blind and Scripps has a reputation for solid merit $.</p>
<p>I’d second Trinity–in SA, great school, small, and offers good merit aid. I have several friends from HS that went there, and they seem to have all had good exsperiences.</p>
<p>Your D sounds like she’d be a candidate for WashU’s Danforth Scholarship. A student has to be nominated by the high school (GC or principal) by October of senior year. See for more details:</p>
<p>[Danforth</a> Scholars Program](<a href=“http://admissions.wustl.edu/scholarships/programs/pages/danforth.aspx]Danforth”>http://admissions.wustl.edu/scholarships/programs/pages/danforth.aspx)</p>
<p>Also, there are other merit scholarships she can apply for, for example one geared for humanities students and one that anyone can apply for who has a music background, and these can be “stacked” on top of each other and they do add up. These awards are not based on financial need. One thing also to know about the Washu scholarships is that there are merit awards (dean’s scholarships, eliot scholarship) beyond the full and half tuition scholarships listed, so if your student is not a recipient of one of the “big” awards, they could receive a decent merit award anyway. These do require a separate application in addition to the application for admission (they are NOT automatically awarded based on stats.)</p>
<p>[Scholarship</a> Programs At-A-Glance](<a href=“http://admissions.wustl.edu/scholarships/programs/pages/default.aspx]Scholarship”>http://admissions.wustl.edu/scholarships/programs/pages/default.aspx)</p>
<p>Keep in mind that the merit aid and financial aid policies vary greatly at various colleges and you need to really familiarize yourself with them. Reaches can be extremely generous or not at all, while some matches and safeties could end up offering her a full ride. </p>
<p>Have that discussion about how much of the COA at a private your family can afford and whether she will be able to accept an offer of admission if the financial or merit aid is not enough. How much in loans are acceptable? </p>
<p>Encourage her not to fall madly in love with any one college or university because there are dozens that would suit her and where she would be happy. Therefore, spend as much time invested in researching and visiting less selective colleges, which can be admission and financial safeties that she likes and would like to attend, as you do on the highly selective reaches.</p>
<p>With stats like your D’s, she would very likely be a candidate for some wonderful scholarship opportunities. Applying to schools based on scholarships can be a decent strategy to employ, once you factor in “fit” (ie rural/urban/large/small, etc).</p>
<p>Check out the President Scholars program at SMU. Awesome opportunities, includes full tuition, a paid semester abroad, and other special attention/perks. Excellent scholarship program which is very well run.</p>
<p>Reasonably priced university, not too far from Texas, great campus, much smaller than UT-Austin, excellent academics, tightly knit student body…University of Kansas.</p>