<p>I'm a junior at an absolutely tiny K-12 school in Nebraska (my graduating class is 19 and we're the biggest in the school! Our high school has around 60ish kids?) I want to go out of state, but I was wondering if these factors might hurt my chances at a more competitive school. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>No AP/IB classes are offered. There are a few dual credit classes offered through the local community college, which I'm planning on taking as many as I can. </p></li>
<li><p>Only 2 years of foreign language are offered. Well, there is a program for 2 years of Spanish and a separate option that offers 2 years of Chinese. I'm in my second year of Spanish this year--if I take Chinese I next year, would this count as 3 years of foreign language?</p></li>
<li><p>Class rank. Even though I'm 1/19, would this be basically useless?</p></li>
<li><p>Extracurricular options are limited, even though I'm involved in almost everything offered at the school! If I have JV volleyball, one-act, speech, filmer for varsity volleyball and basketball teams, track, band (marching and concert), letterman's club (secretary), National Honor Society, Quiz Bowl (cocaptain), and FCCLA (chapter Vice President of Peer Education, have been to Nationals in STAR events and gotten gold both times, am running for a State Office) and have been on yearbook staff the past 2 years (couldn't fit journalism into my schedule this year). Would these be acceptable?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks for taking the time to look at this! I'm new here, and this really seems like a great community. :)</p>
<p>GPA is 99ish out of a 100 scale, so a 4.0 I think?</p>
<p>Haven’t taken the SAT/ACT yet; I’m taking the ACT for the first time in December. I got a 30 on the PLAN test, but I’m not sure how accurate it is at predicting ACT scores. </p>
<p>I’m hoping to double major in English or journalism and some kind of natural science (I’m thinking physics, astronomy, or genetics/biology)</p>
<p>Money might be an issue; I’m really looking for a school that gives great need-based financial aid. </p>
<p>Schools send school profiles. They’ll know there’s ONLY 2 years of any language if you ask your counselor to mark that down on the profile. They’ll also know that AP/IB isn’t offered.</p>
<p>That’s definitely good to know, Yurtle. I’ll make sure to have her mark it down! </p>
<p>I really do love my school. My classmates are like family after 12 years together, and I honestly wouldn’t trade my school experience for anything. =)</p>
<p>3 years of language might not mean all in the same language; it depends on the school. You will have to ask.</p>
<p>Your class rank is probably not as impressive as if you were the first out of 600 students, but that doesn’t make it any less valuable.</p>
<p>Schools will only judge you against what you could have done. They won’t hold not taking AP or IB classes against you if there were none offered at your school. Taking community college classes holds almost as much weight, and in fact transferring credits may be a simpler process. The same is true of your extracurricular activities - you cannot do what’s not offered. I think your ECs are fine, you’re involved in more than students at bigger schools do (you don’t have to be in 7-10 clubs to get in - even 2-3 committments is fine if you demonstrate interest, leadership, and sustained participation).</p>
<p>Schools don’t always send school profiles but the counselor has to send a report which does include some characteristics about the school.</p>
This really is a case where the glass is half-full and not half-empty. The limited ECs offered by your school is a big advantage to you. See, most colleges don’t care about ECs in admission (although they might factor them into some scholarships). For those that do care, you seem to entertain the belief shared by a lot of HS students that having a lot of things listed on your app is what they’re looking for. Not at all!! Echoing what a previous poster wrote about ECs, Stanford says in its FAQ
Now back to that half-full claim. Since you go to a school that doesn’t offer many ECs you’re going to have to come up with them on your own. There is no rule that says ECs must be something offered by your school, and often the most powerful ones (raising money or staffing a group that helps in the community, participating in community-based art or theater, running your own business, etc) are done completely independently. But the kicker is that in coming up with ECs outside of school you’re really going to employ the leadership and determination that they’re looking for – or else you won’t end up with anything to show. And that puts you steps ahead of the kids at larger schools that have just signed up this this club and that (maybe running for an officer in one of them) and thinking that shows the type of ECs colleges want to see. </p>
<p>As for what to do, the sky really is the limit. Spend some time thinking about what you really enjoy and how you could pursue it either to a level of distinction (entering contests, etc) or in order to help your school/community. Don’t try to be an adcom and think about what they want to see; figure out what YOU want to do and then you’ll have the energy and passion to see it thru to a level that will garner recognition. To get started, take a look at this post by a Harvard alum interviewer <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/210497-those-ecs-weak-so-whats-good.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/210497-those-ecs-weak-so-whats-good.html</a> and see how many of them are outside of school. Don’t just pick something you see here, but use it to start those juices coming up with ideas.</p>
<p>Now maybe you’re not aiming at colleges with the rigor of admissions of a Stanford, so ECs will be less important than you think. But if you are aiming at the most selective colleges, what you have is a golden opportunity to shine!!</p>
<p>Coming from an absolutely tiny K-12 school in Nebraska makes you very, very, very different from all the kids who come from the big suburban high schools with large numbers of AP and IB courses - the kids who more typically post here at CC. I would say that this alone makes your glass at least 3/4 full, if not more. If you want to develop a new EC as suggested by mikemac, go ahead. But truly, I don’t think you need to go that far. In my observation, the active students at small schools like yours usually are president of two or three clubs, soloist in the chorus, lead in the fall play or the student director, active in 4-H, etc., etc. Your schedule probably already is pretty full.</p>
<p>I really wouldn’t worry about it. D graduated from a tiny school, too, with very limited educational and ec options, and did very well in the admissions game. She had her choice of schools, all over the board, from top 20 through top 100 with full ride merit scholarships.</p>
<p>In her case, I think it was her test scores, which it sounds as if you will do quite well, given your Plan results.</p>
<p>What schools are looking for is kids who CAN succeed in the curriculum. Across the board, high test scores and high GPA are the best indications for future success simply because kids who see themelves as A students will just work harder every time they encounter an obstacle…GPA tends to be self-fulfilling. I’ve seen this with D in Chem, where she has to work incredibly hard to get her grade, but just does it.</p>
<p>Just make your best applications and you will do well. In the meantime, honestly, at least enjoy yourself when you can. You are obviously a hard worker and don’t need to be constantly stressed.</p>
<p>I think you will have good options, especially if you do very well on the ACT or SAT. You bring geographic diversity to East Coast schools for example.</p>
<p>I would think that SATIIs would potentially be very important for a student with this kind of background. As with homeschooled students, SATIIs put the content you have mastered in the context of the wider world.</p>
<p>Why are you taking so long to take a test? </p>
<p>You should try to take the SAT and ACT in Nov. That way, if you have a bad test day, you’ll still have other chances.</p>
<p>Plus, some schools won’t take the Dec tests for scholarship consideration.</p>
<p>If you need “need-based” F/A, there are a few considerations…Do you know what your parents’ EFC is? Do you know if they can pay their EFC?</p>
<p>OOS publics can’t give much to OOS students.
Many privates can’t meet 100% of determined need (based on FAFSA).
many privates put student loans in their F/A packages.</p>
<p>Thanks for your suggestions, everyone! My best friend and I are the teachers for the preschool AWANA on Wednesdays (1 1/2 hours almost every week, September-April). I also help out with VBS every summer (about 16 hours when all is said and done) and I’m hoping to chair an FCCLA service project sometime this year… hopefully that will look good?</p>
<p>mom2collegekids, I’m still a junior, so hopefully I’ll have almost a whole year to raise my scores if I don’t do well. I think the EFC is little to 0% as they ranch for a living–not really a high-paying job. Their income changes from year to year based on cattle prices and whatnot, though. I am definitely willing to work make going to a good college a reality. Is there a good website you know of for basic financial aid information?</p>
<p>One other tangential piece of advice since you are a junior. Get a good book about college admissions such as “Admission Matters” by Springer. Many HS students have the notion that any top-ranked school would be worth going to if they get in, considering rankings as the important measure of quality. In fact the student experience varies widely between schools of similar ranking – class size, approachability of profs, location, advising, etc. By reading a good book about the admissions process you’ll learn not only the nuts & bolts of preparing a strong app but also how to pick colleges that are a fit for you, to understand the financial aid process and the various types of aid that are offered, what to look for on college visits, etc.</p>