The idea of working for her friend’s parent is great. It doesn’t need to be called an internship, can be volunteeirng. Even grunt work puts her in the environment., (something many, many kids with poli sci interests don’t do.) And if she can start now (ish,) she can maybe get to work on something a little bigger over summer. And show more months. It doesn’t need to be 40 hours/week, far from it. But a regular appearance, over time. Later, you can worry how best to phrase it.
You’re trying to pull this together to show core strengths, show you’re these colleges’ sort of student. Again, you want some read on what that is, from the colleges. Some savvy, some ESP (lol.)
As for “interest,” it’s something that needs to come through in the app/supp. A big part of it is how you show (not just tell) your match. And that’s one reason why digging into what the college says, the sorts of students it touts, something about its programs, gives you an idea of how to self-evaluate match and what to present in the app/supp, what approach to take. Some colleges ask a direct Why Us? question. Those that don’t will still be looking for this sense in the rest of the presentation.
Many kids whom adcoms think are using a school as a safety have a dry or disinterested approach that fails. Or it’s generic (you have my major or you’re a top school, etc. Can be the kiss of death, depending.) This is more than emails, but yes, take the interviews.
I don’t know what to suggest about foreign lang but have some reservations about ASL, for a poli sci or psych wannabe. In some cases, adcoms are looking for languages relevant to the academics. There’s some give, of course. If she has any interest in Japanese culture or politics, eg, taking some course in that might be a “show” of this. It might make up for the missing language years.
There’s a lot of advice on CC to let a kid be herself (eg, that the electives top strategizing for adcoms.) But in the end, the colleges choose the students they feel are activated in the right ways, prepared in the right balance. And you’re looking at some rather competitive schools.
@LoveTheBard - Good idea about taking a college course over the summer. UW isn’t far, but the courses that are offered look like they might be too low-level. Japanese 334 is 3rd year Japanese, and she already finished AP Japanese. Granted, it’s college level vs. high school, but I’m guessing that they’re roughly equivalent in content.
You make a good point about demonstrated interest. She’s been ignoring all of the emails and letters that are sent since they’re kind of spammy and junk mail. Maybe she should make sure to open some up and respond.
@dla26 - Just looking at course credit for AP Japanese, I fount that Bates, for example, will give you credit for Japanese 102 with a score of 4 and Japanese 201 with a score of 5 of the AP exam. Third year Japanese would be exactly where she is in terms of level (and remember, she has not taken Japanese since 9th grade.)
Generally speaking, one full year of a high school language class is the equivalent of one semester of a college language class. Having gone through AP, she has roughly the equivalent of advanced intermediate college level (second year). She can also try to take a literature class, but she may be in way over her head (she will be expected to write research papers in the language).
OP - I think you’re being too generous. Your D’s UW GPA is below that of most competitive students at her reaches/matches. Her ECs are nothing special, either. But the good news is that she has an excellent ACT score and an upward trend for her GPA. Definitely have her focus on making a 4.0 in her remaining semesters. But at the moment it seems to me that:
Reach: Brown, Pomona, Williams, Amherst, Bowdoin, CMK, Wesleyan, Haverford
High match: Bates, Colby
Match: Scripps, Bryn Mawr
Low match: Mount Holyoke, Occidental, Oberlin
Interesting. Thanks for the insight. This may be a good option then. And she does want to brush up on her Japanese anyway.
FWIW, back in the day I took Japanese in college after spending a year there as an exchange student in high school. I assumed 2nd year would be the right place to start, but it was a joke. There was a big jump between 2nd and 3rd year. My daughter’s AP Japanese class looked similar to 3rd year college Japanese - to me anyway.
The irony is that my younger daughter’s Japanese isn’t as good as my older’s, so she’ll be starting high school next year with Japanese 3. She’ll then take Japanese 4 as a sophomore and AP Japanese as a junior, so she’ll get credit for 3 years of a foreign language when my older just jumped right into AP.
Oberlin is not a safety unless she applies ED. A legacy who applies RD to a college that highly values demonstrated interest will likely be waitlisted. They’re going to think she doesn’t really want Oberlin and that her Dad the legacy made her apply.
She has an unbalanced record. High ACT, of course. It won’t get her in anywhere, but I think a good way to look at it is that it won’t keep her out of any place. Her score will be a nonissue for any of the colleges she’s applying to.
The language issue is, well, an issue. I’m surprised her HS doesn’t require it. Our local public school doesn’t allow students to skip language study unless they have a learning disability and need to replace the language period with a a study skills period. Does her school offer Latin? If so, I recommend Latin I as an elective next year.
Her safe schools should be LACs that have a good percentage of students who are not in the top 10%. Try Skidmore, Lafayette, and Beloit.
@RustyTrowel You said; “Also, the lack of athletics will be a problem at Williams (admissions formula is AR2 + something athletic + something else special). Ditto at Amherst. I would delete both of those schools from your list.”
I am quite sure that this is not correct. Amherst and Williams only care about athletics if you are being recruited to be an athlete. Otherwise athletics is just another extracurricular. Both of those schools have plenty of students who were not athletes in high school.
Definitely do not delete them from your list, OP. They are great schools that seem to fit her interests perfectly. In fact, Amherst has a long history of Japanese studies, and a special connection with Doshisha University, which was founded by an Amherst alum in the 1870s. While her chances of getting in are not as high as some of the other options, there is no reason not to try because she has a shot.
“The language issue is, well, an issue. I’m surprised her HS doesn’t require it.”
There is a 2-year foreign language requirement, but you can test out of it. Since she was able to get a 5 in AP Japanese, she was deemed to have met the requirement.
One reason she did this was because there are only 6 periods. If she took a foreign language all 4 years, math, science, history, and english, that would only leave her with 1 extra period per semester. That’s 8 semesters, but unfortunately 4 of them are immediately taken up by the PE/Health requirements. So that leaves 4. Then there’s arts requirement (4 semesters) and Occupational/Career (2 semesters). There are a couple classes that meet both the arts and career requirements, but that’s pretty much it. There’s literally no room for anything else after filling the requirements. (Assuming she were to take 4 years of a foreign language.)
Starting her senior year they’re switching to a 7-period system, but that wasn’t part of the plan when she was a freshman.
Is there a reason Reed is not on her list? Too close to home? It meets her four goals, and tops her list of schools in terms of grad school PhD production in social science and psych, in case she is so inclined.
@brantly I’d be sceptical of calling Lafayette a safety for any student, even those who are Harvard-bound. Skidmore possibly as well. Beloit, however, would be a great chose for a safety for the OP’s D.
Did she take the Japanese AP? If she scored high many schools may consider that as having 3-4 years of study. She should look at Skidmore for a safety – great theater department, fun school, very creative.
Suggest taking a look at Midwestern LACs where I think her chances of admission are good, she would likely receive a merit scholarship, and they would probably be flexible about the language study - she did get a 5 in AP J. after all. Denison & Earlham offer Japanese including Study Abroad if she’s interested in continuing with Japanese.
Keep whatever reaches or dream schools on the list that she wants, just temper it with reality and several good, acceptable backup plans.
@astute12 - Yes, it was Japanese AP. She took it as a freshman, since she had been going to Japanese every Saturday from K-6. (My wife is Japanese, so we used to speak it at home. Now we mostly just speak English.)
Since it’s AP, will schools consider that to be the equivalent of 3-4 years? That’s kind of the big burning question. My daughter was told that they would but there’s no way to confirm for sure. In our school district, AP is technically the 5th year of Japanese. Kids can start Japanese in the middle school in 8th grade to be ready to take AP Japanese as a senior.
@vonlost “Is there a reason Reed is not on her list? Too close to home? It meets her four goals, and tops her list of schools in terms of grad school PhD production in social science and psych, in case she is so inclined.”
No, it’s on the list! We’re actually planning on driving down there at some point. My brother-in-law’s brother (so technically also my brother-in-law?) went there and loved it.
Suggest your daughter email the admissions offices of the schools on your list, tell them about her Japanese AP and ask whether not having 2-3 years in class will be an issue. If so, she can ask what they recommend as remedies if her school does not offer a higher class.
