Rising senior just getting started, overwhelmed.

Parents Forum
21

What is her sport? Even if it’s “just a club sport”, national ranking is very very good in college applications. If nothing else, life doing a sport on the national level adds a dimension relatively few other applicants have. If it’s something like fencing, that would make her very attractive to several east coast elite schools.

Have the money talk now. Don’t wait until after she applies. Go to the websites of several colleges or universities and run the Net Price Calculator (NPC). It never hurts to do Harvard’s NPC - that likely will be one of the most generous need based financial aid and it’s an easy NPC. Then run the NPC for schools she will likely apply and attend (Harvard could be in that group)

Keep in mind that acceptance rates below 30% means she may be rejected, even with your daughter’s impressive scores and sports achievement. Acceptances rates below 20% means she is almost certain to be rejected. Just go into the process with this mind set (hoping for but not expecting or demanding admission) and you’ll do fine.

Your child is done with the SAT I and ACT. No reason to take either exam again. She may need to take the SAT II depending on her school list. otoh, she may just want to eliminate schools that demand SAT II test scores.

22

SAT II means the same thing as SAT Subject Tests. The College Board keeps changing the terminology.

@SlackerMomMD makes a very good point – there is no reason for your daughter to take the SAT or ACT again. A 35 or an “upper 700s” score is good enough for whatever schools she decides to apply to. It’s time to focus on other (and more pleasant!) things, like picking out a few interesting schools to visit.

23

The number one major of incoming college freshmen is “undeclared”. So your daughter is like many others her age heading to college.

She doesn’t have to consider every choice. Start by just visiting one. Get a feel for it. Visit one more and compare. You learn as you go. Once you get that first visit in, it seems to get less overwhelming, and that’s because you are taking action. You daughter will get a feel for what clicks with her and what doesn’t. After visiting two colleges, she can make two more choices based on the knowledge she’s gained from the first visits.

My son visited four schools and that’s all that was necessary for him to make a choice. Just chunk things down, it will help you and she to enjoy the process. It’s memorable. Definitely consider finances and what’s affordable. No more SAT or ACT tests seems necessary. Yes, try to have fun, the college years FLY!!!

24

I would add that until she/you have been to a number of schools, I would not try to establish parameters like size, location, or setting. Try to visit an eclectic group of schools and see what she likes and finds interesting. Many and maybe most students describe their ideal school one way, and then visit a number of schools and their favorites are quite different from that.

25

If you could identify the sport the CC community might have some specific colleges to suggest that you might otherwise overlook. And the general area since she does not want to be too far from home (Northeast, Midwest, etc).

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(double post)

27

@Much2learn If your school use Naviance, I strongly recommend to use it. It is VERY useful to identify the schools match your child performance.

If you cannot use Naviance, get the recent (last 3-5 yrs) college acceptance history of your school with some breakdown. How many student applied, how many accepted, how many attend to specific colleges, and ED or EA record with grade distribution and standard test scores of your school. And identify the schools your daughter’s classmates will attend in the end and start from those schools. GPA is the single most important factor combined with EC. I doubt that EC boosts any college application. Your daughter needs to fit her EC into a context to define or show her interests.

28

If the sport is ultimate frisbee, look at Carleton.

29

I like Much2Learn’s advice about looking at an eclectic mix of schools. That’s what my son did. One was a massive stage flagship. One was a large school in a rural area. Two others were in the same big city (350,000) with one being a mid-sized school, the other one large with a sprawling campus. These four offered just enough variety to compare what the schools shared and what was unique to each.

Son chose the midsized school in a large city and it worked out. The campus itself was self contained yet the city it resides in offered endless culture and activities.

30

My cousins’ kids play (or played) Ultimate at Harvard. One is now on the national team.

I know it seems overwhelming for an undecided kid. One thing that happened with my youngest was that the process of looking at colleges gave him some ideas about majors he hadn’t even known existed. There are a number of interdiciplinary majors out there - for example I considered History of Science when I was an undergrad, but ended up in Visual and Environmental Studies. It was a mix of architectural and film history, art theory, and studio art courses. I took some real math and science as preparation for architecture school and a lot of history and literature as well.

Step 1: Determine your budget
Step 2: Try to get an idea of the type of college - small liberal arts colleges, big state unis, or something in between
Step 3: Location (urban, suburban, rural)
Step 4: Type of campus - some are really amorphous, while others have a clear central quad area, even if they bleed out into the surroundings somewhat
Step 5: Even for an undecided are their any majors, or activities that must be there (for example, that club sport)

It’s okay to apply to a mix of schools and put off some of these decisions to April. My younger son kept one LAC on the list just in case, though he was pretty sure what he really wanted was “something bigger than my high school”. Neither of my kids were wedded to any one particular school, but by April (and visits at accepted students events) they were much clearer about what they wanted out of college.

Assuming your daughter’s schedule is rigorous enough, her scores and activities make it look like any college in the country would be plausible. Canadian colleges are quite popular around here, because a lot of New York students dismiss the SUNY’s, but I don’t think most of them provide a substantially better experience than your average good state university.

31

OP, based on her ACT score, there are a LOT of colleges that will pay your DD to go to college.
You should plug in your financial data into college Net Price calculators, and have the $$ talk with her soon.
IF your tax returns are simple- you dont own a small business, family farm, or have trust income,etc, then they should give you a good idea of what to expect to pay. But be aware, the EFC on the FAFSA, may be very different for Profile colleges that do their own financial calculations, and take into consideration other factors in determining what THEY think you can afford- equity, savings, etc, etc. Loans, in addition to, or instead of grants, are often part of the package at less wealthy colleges with smaller endowments.
Dont put the money talk off until she has already applied to colleges.

There are also U’s that offer full or 1/2 tuition scholarships to NMF’s, including U of Southern California.
Here is a list of colleges compiled by CC parents.
http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/

Some colleges, like USC, REQUIRE early applications to be eligible for scholarship consideration. Pay particular attention to the required dates those schools, as you dont want to leave any $ on table. Applying early to those schools will NOT prevent her from applying early to SCEA or other EA colleges.

32

Some of the Canadian universities are in the nice big cities if this is a requirement. For example McGill may be considered a cheaper alternative to BU/GWU.

33

There are several links contained here that give automatic/competitive scholarship information: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1678964-links-to-popular-threads-on-scholarships-and-lower-cost-colleges.html#latest

Also, our school’s guidance counselors identified the following site for information on merit scholarships, although they cautioned that a person needs to go to the school’s website to check for any updated information: https://www.meritaid.com/

34

Wow, so grateful that so many of you are taking the time to help. Thank you so much. There’s so much wonderful advice.

I checked and her high school does have Naviance. They don’t have her SAT or ACT scores in there, but they do have her grade point average. And it was interesting to see where other kids from her school have applied and been accepted, thanks so much for this.

  1. She has a 3.9 unweighted and a 4.6 weighted GPA.
  2. They don't rank the kids at her school.
  3. She's taking Adv Precalc and AP Lang/Comp this year, next year she'll take AP BC Calc and some other AP English, Literature?
  4. She did take the SAT II in U S History and Literature this spring, since she had just taken US history, and scored 750 on history and 790 in literature.
  5. She's taken 5 AP's, and will take 4 more next year. She's received all 5's on the AP tests that she's taken so far.

So she obviously tests well, but she’s not one of those superstar kids, she mostly flies under the radar at school. I get the feeling at parent-teacher conferences that some of her teachers aren’t too sure who she is. She’s a sweet kid with a core group of good friends, but she’s very quiet and is only involved in a few fun activities at school. She’s a talented mountain bike racer.

We will have the money talk!! I brought it up after reading some of your responses and I was surprised at how interested she was. I wonder if part of her draw toward our state school is because she’s been worried about being a burden on us. I need to sit down with my husband and work out a more detailed budget, but I told her what we had in the 529, divided by 3, and at least that gives us a rough guide.

I brought up the whole college topic at the dinner table with the family and overall it went well. We all agreed that we had been kind of in denial about the time line and that it was time to start looking at options. In June we’re going to see the two private colleges that are within driving distance and go on an official tour of our state school, though she’s been there to visit before. And we will … dum … dum … dum … open the mail! :smiley: I loved the advice about getting a pizza and sorting the pile, seeing if some patterns emerge about what might be interesting to her. We’ll also check out some of the books, like Colleges that Change Lives and Fiske, that were mentioned. I looked and our library has both.

My job for June is to educate myself about financial aid, net price calculators, merit aid and scholarships, and any deadlines that we need to be aware of for early admissions financial aid, etc.

As @Marion wrote (did I do that right?) I could see her being happiest at our state school for many of the reasons that appealed to your son and it nice that there’s a good, affordable option that she’ll be happy with. Certainly takes away some of the anxiety that she sees her friends experiencing. But I feel armed with all this good advice to help her look at the options so that if she does go to our state school she’ll know that she chose that because it was what she thought was the best place for her, not just as a default.

Thanks again everyone, what a great resource you all are.

35

Does she have some idea of what she wants to study? Some areas , like engineering or nursing require an immediate commitment with a later specialization, but they are easy to switch from to the arts and sciences college. Most engineering programs have an sampler class to help students decide what to major in. LAC and most universities have a core curriculum that often occupies the first 2 years. If she has an inkling … science, writing, languages , likes research, like sorts medicine etc… that will help you narrow your search to colleges that offer majors in those areas.

With her stats, I would look at the Ivy’s, Vanderbilt, Rice, and many of the well funded private schools. Many of them look to build a diverse class and geographic diversity is part of that. You will find they provide a better education at about the same cost as your state school. Canadian schools that do not have a reciprocal tuition agreement with your home state will probably be unaffordable. Alabama, Oklahoma, and Nebraska are schools that would offer full scholarships with her stats. There is also ROTC.

Look for honors colleges with other public schools too, they may provide greatly reduced tuition and greater support and opportunities.

36

When you open the mail keep this in mind- it is JUST advertising material sent by the marketing companies hired specifically by colleges to increase the number of students applications. Nothing more.
The catalogs do NOT come from the admissions office. As much as you or she might like to think they do. They dont.
Dont let them go to your DD’s head.

I personally tossed all the catalogs they sent my son.
Because another wise CC parent warned me long ago that getting them meant nothing as far as his chances of acceptance…

Ask yourself- Would you go out and buy a Mercedes because you received a catalog that said you have worked hard and deserve to own one?

37

@EverydayThings - My daughter was also one of those under-the-radar kids with great grades and scores. The teachers knew she was smart and hard working, but she was quiet and reserved, and most kids didn’t know who she was - until she got into Harvard :slight_smile: I suspect your daughter would have good chances at the top universities if she makes an effort on her applications, gets strong recommendations, and is able to stand out from the crowd (which is easier for a reserved kid to do in college applications than it is in a high school full of extroverts).

Perhaps the top universities are not the right place for your daughter - I know my daughter finds Type A Harvard life to be quite overwhelming at times, but there is likely to be no monetary reason not to consider them, and your daughter should be a competitive candidate if she were to apply.

@menloparkmom - Those catalogs may be marketing materials, but some kids would get into 99% of the colleges they receive mailings from, if they were to apply to them all.

38

The last sentence is key. Don’t think it’s all about what she does in school. The out of school activities are just as important, even more so after the student hits a certain threshold of grades and stats.

No. The mailings are for the benefit of the college, not the student. Students may learn the college’s name, location and what it offers but the mailing is not a signal of likely admissions.

We also tossed 95% of the mailings after noting the name and location. D kept mailings she requested and even then, she tossed postcards and shiny brochures. Course catalogs were keepers (if from a requested college).

39

You have gotten a lot of great advice so far! Things to have your daughter work on this summer include:

  1. Essays - it sounds like she is a great writer. If she decides to apply to a few Ivies/Top LAC’s (I think she should as her state university sounds like her safety) this is something that differentiates her from the thousands of other kids who have similar stats. Have her start writing 2 or 3 essays - she may be able to modify something she has already written. You can get last year’s essay topics (and they often tend to be similar in nature from year to year). Believe it or not, essays can be the hardest part for some high stats kids (mine included). This is one of her strengths!

It is great to have an activity that differentiates her from others - I would say competitive mountain bike racing fits the bill, and may be a great essay topic for her, and a unique read for the admissions committee.

  1. Start a resume. Keep adding to it. Include different awards, interests, stats, part-time work, volunteering, etc. This really comes in handy as you start applying for scholarships. Son did this on advice of a friend, and we were so glad to already have it done when scholarships started asking for it.

  2. Letters of Recommendation from several teachers that know her well, and will write favorably about her. She should also get one from her counselor. Ask now! Don’t wait until the fall, as the teachers are overwhelmed with requests then.

Also, we didn’t open 95% of the mail - I think it is still in a bag in son’s bedroom! :">

40

You’ve gotten great advice here. I would add one thing. In terms of recommendations, it is really important to have teachers who can speak specifically to your daughter’s strength and interest in classes (in other words, “she’s a nice girl and did well in my class” is not a particularly impressive recommendation). Ask her to think about teachers who know her best or in whose classes she has either spoken up, taken on an extra responsibility or project or gone in to speak with about the subject matter. If she doesn’t have such teachers, she can still go in now and talk to them - for example, ask the English teacher for some summer reading recommendations etc. That way, the teacher will be able to write something specific about your daughter’s interest in the subject, or willingness to take on responsibility etc.