I don’t read “math/science” as “engineering” and OP never mentioned it.
She sounds like she loves math. Taking multi as a senior, right?
That leaves TONS of options. LACs, universities, tech schools.
I think the best thing to do now is try to do some visits to different colleges so she can begin to get a sense of what she likes. At many schools trying lots of classes and choosing a major at the end of the second year is the norm. At some (like those that offer engineering) you pretty much have to know what you want when you start,at some you must apply to that major from the get-go.
Hard to say but I always thought my D benefited from her strength in math/sci and her intention to major in a STEM discipline of some type. Someone will quickly point out that tons of Bio majors are female so that’s not that helpful, it seems to be a stronger “plus” in hard science or math or eng/CS.
But maybe she won’t need any further advantage for a school she likes - she is a very strong and advanced student already.
When you determine your budget that can help us suggest schools that may offer merit scholarships or meet-full-need schools that would give enough to fit the budget.
She needs to choose her potential college major based on what she actively likes, not what will get her into a college. I was a woman chemistry major eons ago because I liked it (I then chose medicine over grad school but was definitely into chemistry not premed for most of college). Sciences are different from engineering- no way did I want Chem E.
The best thing you can do for your D is be supportive of her decisions. Always remember she is who she is and not some package being prepped. Be sure she enjoys her childhood as well. Decades later the fun moments, not the awards, will stand out in her memory.
My H is from India and your D is among the overrepresented minorities. When considering colleges have her look at the departments in her probable majors. Be wary of top tier schools that have a huge number of premed students instead of those who are intent on their STEM major for its own sake. It is great to be among like minded students who are not just taking science courses for another goal. It is nice to be among a number of same major students (and women in the same major) so be wary of liberal arts colleges with few in her major, despite how many go on to PhD’s. It was nice for our son to take several grad level courses in a top tier math department for his honors math degree. The breadth of course offerings in a science/math major tends to be greater at larger U’s.
Look for merit money but not only that. The caliber of the department with her likely major matters. Public U’s (especially flagship, NY does not have one known as its flagship, however) often may not have the top overall ranking but cater to both good and the elite students who will be her peers.
This is one of the reasons why there are so many New Yorkers at flagship universities in other Eastern states, like the University of Maryland (which is not a bad choice in any event if you can afford the out-of-state tuition).
As far as the “women underrepresented in STEM” thing goes, note that the largest STEM major is biology, where women make up the majority of undergraduates. Chemistry is about evenly split between women and men. Physics, engineering majors, and computer science are the STEM majors with the greatest underrepresentation of women.
I forgot to mention that she is into computer programming. She has no interest in engineering. She developed interest as one of the school speaker who is a computer science professor in local university. He did a presentation in school three years ago. She spoke to him and asked him some questions. Since she showed interest, He told her to come to his lab. From last few years in summer he was assigning her small tasks in computer science. He also told her to study some Java, Python and other languages. Once she read it, last year he assigned her a major computer science project in summer. Lest us see what happens next
@intparent Our budget is around 15 to 22 K. We have no preference as open to anywhere. Since we have moved from India, her going to school another 3000 miles is not an issue.
Computer science (and maybe math), $15-22K per year.
If you have time, try a net price calculator at a meet-need school like Amherst or Yale and see what number it spits out with your income, assets, #kids, etc. If that # is too high then you may need to look at schools that offer merit aid.
Looks like all the SUNYs will be affordable, as a start, as you are in-state.
@oldfort she is good in writing poems that have been published in small magazines. She also have lot of volunteers hours as she is a peer tutor for math and science. She volunteers for math counts teams for younger students. She is co captain of math team. In addition, through girl scouting she has volunteered in many places and have volunteered for more than 400 hours since 8th grade summer as a rising freshman.
In addition she is a very good singer and schools Classical music club.
If the family income is 100K the need blind private colleges would be cheaper than state schools. Yale for example would be tuition free for families with 130k.
Does she have some target schools in mind? If her goal is to stand out among the top STEM girls in math/CS accomplishments she probably needs to have some awards like Aime/USAMO and USACO beyond SAT I & II scores. I know many top math/CS girls have those and they seem to help their admission chance a lot.
It is a good thing that she has broad strengths, since it shows that she is not the math/science-only stereotype that seems to be viewed negatively by some. Note that some STEM-focused schools like MIT have extensive humanities and social studies general education requirements for bachelor’s degree students.
@jzducol no daughter did not do very well in competition math, she is a deep thinker and takes time to solve problems. That is why she bcame interested in computer science at early edge. Even though opprtunities in school are limited for CS, she went outside of school and excelled in it.