I know that she’s a junior, and that you’re in CA, but is there a plan for prepping for and taking the PSAT, which is given this month? The reason that I ask is that right now, your daughter falls into the “average excellent” pool, meaning that she has very nice grades, and not much else that would make her stand out in admissions (other than the fact that she is full pay). Unfortunately, her school doesn’t offer much in the way of honors or AP, although it appears that she is taking advantage of some of what is being offered. So for the CA public schools, if she is awarded national merit commendation or higher, she can list it as an honor. CA schools are test-blind, but are NOT honor/award blind, so the admit comm would see it, and it would help to put her GPA without substantial rigor into context. If it’s too late for this, it is still worth determining which test is better for her - ACT or SAT - and possibly prepping for it, since a high score on this would help with the many schools that still would look at it.
You’ve got schools of all sizes on your lists, from small LACs to huge flagship U’s. You are willing to pay rack rate, which would help at some need-aware LACs (even though they don’t like to say it). Your daughter can find a Christian fellowship group at most schools. There will be dance clubs and dance classes at most schools; if she were planning to major in dance, and were considering dance programs that require auditions, I have a feeling that she would already be farther along in the competitive process culminating in acceptance to a high level dance program, so it sounds as if it’s going to be a hobby, rather than a profession.
Most schools have psych dep’ts. However, acceptance to clinical graduate psych programs is more competitive even than med school. She would need a high GPA, high GRE score, and it helps to come from a quality undergrad institution. An applicant for a clinical psych program coming from a well-respected undergrad institution (and one where they’ve taken advantage of research opportunities) is going to be in a better position that someone coming from a small, less prestigious LAC without psych research opportunities. So in her case, if what she wants is clinical psych, I think you DO need to be considering whether the undergrad school that she attends gives her a lift towards getting into a clinical psych grad program.
The above link to a frank guide to what you need to do to get into a clinical psych grad program may be enlightening. The reason that you need this now, rather than a few years from now, is that the quality of the undergrad institution, and what is available there, is definitely a factor in shaping an application. For med school or law school, apparently what matters is the GPA and standardized test, much more so than the college, but for clinical psych, the college matters too.
For this reason, I would recommend looking into the quality and reputation of the undergrad psych major at schools, and the clinical research opportunities that exist at the institution. This will help to shape your list. I know we all hate the USNWR and Niche and such lists, but it’s a place to start. Clearly, your daughter already knows how to work hard and do well in school, so I suspect that she can hold her own, GPA-wise, at any school that she can get into. Sure, she can knock off the list any schools that are frat-intense, or have absolutely no Christian club on campus, or have no possibility for dance whatsoever, but the main driver of her list should be how would the school be viewed by a graduate clinical psych admissions committee.
