Vicious Cycle of College Application!

Parents Forum
221

<p>"^^Not declaring engineering is a recipe for disaster at a UC -- nearly impossible to transfer into Eng from L&S."</p>

<p>True, blue. I'm just talking about the mere acceptance. The classmates of the person I mentioned will be admitted undeclared, and then, yes, they'll have to cross that bridge later, which may be difficult.</p>

<p>Just noting that he used a variety of strategies for the various campuses: seeking a science, but not engineering, for Berkeley, for example; seeking engineering for some mid-level U.C's -- yet was rejected almost everywhere, including Cal Poly. </p>

<p>Good point about the gender. Females definitely have an easier time getting into bioengineering, esp., so Yes, I agree that POIH's D is a match, but we should never count on today's matches being next yr's matches, as we've seen over & over on CC.</p>

222

<p>I also recommend the strategy cpt is laying out.</p>

<p>For a kid with this kind of performance record:</p>

<ol>
<li>Find a safety your kid really likes. They WILL NOT like it for the same reasons they like HYPSM. But there are lots of other reasons to like a school. For example, if your kid loves cities, it's in New York or Chicago. If your kid loves marine science, it's the University of Miami. If your kid loves NCAA basketball and wants to be in the midwest, it's Kansas. If your kid loves small, find an LAC in an area of the country that wants your geography, and just happens to have a unique department or program of study or internship infrastructure that will lead to a good experience.</li>
</ol>

<p>There are many ways to get educated, and have fun. If you also look for a safety looking to "purchase" high SATs, your kid has a good chance of both a killer merit scholarship and the company of other kids with his/her stats who really want/need that scholarship. And professors who will kill to have him/her on their research team or in their classes and may nominate them for prestigious national awards. </p>

<ol>
<li><p>Now look for several matches. This can be hard. Because for high stat kids, what is a match? Well, you don't know. So your kid has to try a few - some in the great state schools with honors programs, some in the Rice/Vandy/Emory category where your kid really stands out for some reason. But you need to try a few, and, in this realm, for the private schools at least, you really do have to show interest. Yes it means a ticket to St. Louis or Evanston but that will help.</p></li>
<li><p>Then your reaches. Honestly, at this stage, I say go for it. Apply to as many as your kid thinks he or she might like. Don't like cities, well then don't apply to Columbia, unless you really love the Core, in which case you can make the tradeoff. But for kids like these I really don't think it's offbase to apply to five or six reach schools to cast the proverbial wide net.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>And for these schools? Well, all I can say there is look for some way in which they might want you. Super high verbal SAT score? Try Penn CAS where the majority of their super high scorers are their Wharton applicants. MAle? Try Brown where they might want to pull you in to keep their balance at 50/50.</p>

<ol>
<li>For HYPS? The super-reaches? Frankly, I have no special tips. At that level, just let your kid write their best essays. DO NOT edit them. DO NOT do anything other than support the application so the admissions officers see your real kid. Because they really do see 25,000 great candidates and at the end of the day, you cannot game that system.</li>
</ol>

<p>Enjoy. It is not as bad as it feels at the time. And it is highly likely your daughter will be accepted to a school that is in keeping with her ability and efforts.</p>