Any advice for a poor but intellegent girl?

Parents Forum
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<p>Please give us any advice which can improve the chances to get into a good school. Do you think it will be a good idea to remove politics from her resume? I am little afraid on this issue as she is a poor yet very well involved in Republican politics. Could her involvement hurt her chances? Thanks</p>

<p>Drawbacks: over represented ethnicity, need financial aid, actively involved in politics. Applying to some Ivys and some merit based school. Few safeties in places too. No major choice but may pursue history or economics.</p>

<p>Scholarships:
• Received a full endowment scholarship worth $30,000 per year to attend a prep school (9,10,11,12)</p>

<p>• Jack Kent Cooke Young Scholar - During high school to provide highly able youth with individualized educational services to help them develop their talents and abilities.</p>

<p>• APEX Scholar by the Center for Gifted Education Policy, American Psychological Association, to do further very intensive research in the area of interest (One of 20 kids selected from the entire USA) </p>

<p>• Placed first and earned a prize of $1000 in an essay competition with a matching prize given to School. National Semifinalist for a second essay competition and a chapter winner/semifinalist of third essay competition.</p>

<p>• Scored a 1500 on the SAT as an 8th grader. She placed fifth highest in the country for a combined verbal and math score. She is also a member of JHU’s Study of Exceptional Talent (SET) Program for students who score above 700 in either verbal or math before age 13, scoring 750 in math, and 750 in verbal. </p>

<p>Academic Awards
• CAMC Mathematics Book Award - This award is given to the top scoring student on AMC 12 in regional area made of six states. AIME 6. </p>

<p>• 1st Place: Won in school wide math and history competitions. 3rd Place: Another school math competitions</p>

<p>• Hardest course load with many APs (all are five), SAT II and SAT I are 800. Top 10% (School does not rank)</p>

<p>Non Academic Awards
• Attained the Silver Congressional Award by US Congress by 400 hours of volunteer service, 400 hours of personal development, 400 hours in physical fitness.</p>

<p>• Highest Award in Girl Scouting (12 years involvement)</p>

<p>• Winner of a local newspaper contest in honor of National Sportsmanship Day and a winner of a Television Channel sponsored contest and appeared on the TV. </p>

<p>Research
• Only high school student as a paid intern performing summer research in microbiology working with other Ph.D. students</p>

<p>• She performed chemistry research in a top research university. She was only high school student among graduate students.</p>

<p>• Invited the only high school student to attend the MIT program that is designed for incoming undergraduate students, went on a special invitation from a professor.</p>

<p>Extra Curricular Activities:
• Writing
o School Newspaper – Associate Commentary Editor (12), Weekly Columnist (11, 10).
o Political Magazine: Associate Opinion Editor (12), Columnist (11,10)
o Cultural Magazine: Columnist (9)</p>

<p>• Politics and debate
o Head of Debate Research (12,11)
o Winner of School Intramural Debate
o Winner of prep school Interscholastic Debate Invitational
o Head of the school political party</p>

<p>• Music
o Selective Choir; participant on a audition based group
o Orchestra </p>

<p>• Sports
o Field Hockey JV (9,10,11,12)
o Volleyball JV (9,10,11)</p>

<p>• Community Service
o Community Service program designed to integrate service in the City of XXXX with learning about how inner-city conditions developed.
o More than 400 hours of community service since 9th grade. She volunteered at nursing home, hospitals, and youth centers, scouting etc.
o Raised money for various charitable organizations and raised more than $15,000.
o Girl Scouting</p>

<p>• Other Activities
o Math Club – many prizes as well as on the state team
o Peer tutoring</p>

2

<p>The girl has an awesome resume. She is a great candidate for admission at top schools and major financial aid and merit money.
If she is heavily involved in Republican politics, she should list it as an EC, since it will show leadership. There are many active Republicans even at liberal colleges.</p>

3

<p>Marite:</p>

<p>Do you think she will come across to Adcoms as a not compassionate kid as she is on financial aid and still believe in GOP views? Few of her teachers have been very hard on her on this issue. However, majority of them have supported her. Also do you think she is competitive or most of the kids have similar resumes.</p>

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<p>My suggestion is that the girl herself post here and get advice. Since she’s at a prep school,she should have easy access to the Internet. I know I’m not the only poster here who’s wary about giving advice to third parties. I figure if a person wants advice, they’ll post, not rely on a friend.</p>

<p>If the girl is you, then simply be honest about this, including about what you’re looking for in a college. No reason to misrepresent yourself. This forum has a supportive group of informed parents who’ll likely be very helpful.</p>

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<p>You can be a Republican and compassionate. At any rate, I do not believe that adcoms vet for political beliefs. If she were to write an essay advocating a highly controversial viewpoint, she might rile a particular adcom, although I believe applications are read by several people, not just one. The regional adcom must make the case, but some applications are so strong that no case need to be made. Someone who received a Jack Kent Cooke scholarship would seem to me to fall in that category.
At any rate, merely listing that she is an active member of the Republican chapter or involved in local Republican politics should not be an issue. I also think that adcoms who rejected applicants on that basis would open themselves up for very ugly suits.
Your D (I assume it’s your D) is an excellent candidate for the very top schools, whatever her politics. Go for it.</p>

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<p>Northstarmom:</p>

<p>I am her parent. She has access to computers but her schedule is very busy. Like any parent, we are trying to navigate unknown waters as she goes to college. I recently find this place and trying to get some answers. Sorry for not clearing that as a parent I am posting. I do not want to offend anyone.</p>

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<p>Since when is it a problem for a bright Republican to get a good education? Take a look at Dartmouth, for a start.</p>

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<p>Do the school like Dartmouth provide financial aid based on similar factors like prep schools? She is applying to Dartmouth. Remember there are other students who have similar needs and are looking for admission with aid. We are just looking ways to polish her resume. Most of her classmates have hired private counselors as they have means. Unfortunately, we cannot do so. Somebody told about this website. Thus I may be asking some questions which may come across as foolish or stupid?</p>

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<p>Oh, OK. That really does help. :)</p>

<ol>
<li><p>No reason to remove politics from her resume. Indeed, if she’s applying to very liberal schools like H, Y, S, they welcome conservative applicants because such schools want to include all sorts of diversity in their student bodies.</p></li>
<li><p>When it comes to chances: Pay the $15 for the US News Ultimate college guide web site access. Then you can check out the admissions for each college and see how her scores exactly compare with those who are admitted. It is very well worth the price, and you get to use the site until next Aug.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>It’s far better for you to estimate chances the way that I suggest than to rely on boards of anonymous strangers who are not admissions insiders such as adcoms.</p>

<p>The US News website also provides a lot of info about financial aid. In addition, check the financial aid and merit scholarship web sites of the individual colleges.</p>

<ol>
<li>What does your D want out of her college experience? A “good college” is only a good college for a student if it meets the student’s needs. What are her financial restrictions? Does she have any geographic restrictions? What state is she a resident of? That would help in terms of selecting a safety that you can afford and she can gain entrance to.</li>
</ol>

<p>Is she Asian? If so, there are a couple of first tier that don’t have many Asians and also do have nice merit aid: Grinnell, U Wisconsin-Madison.</p>

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<p>Any college worth attending will want to have students of all different political perspectives well-represented. </p>

<p>Otherwise, classroom discussions become boring.</p>

<p>Moreover, colleges like to pride themselves on the fact that their graduates are well-represented among the top ranks in government, no matter who is in power. I’m sure Harvard is thrilled that that conservative graduate John Roberts is on the Supreme Court, for example. Harvard, MIT, and Princeton must all be taking pride in Ben Bernanke’s nomination to replace Alan Greenspan on the Federal Reserve–he was undergrad at the first, doctoral student at the second, and faculty member at the third. One of Harvard’s house masters is Roger Porter, a conservative Republican and devout Mormon, who held key positions in the White House during Reagan and Bush (senior) administrations–he is also said to be a very popular teacher.</p>

<p>Elite colleges want to have their graduates well-represented in all future administrations–if nothing else, they need to hedge their bets. A significant part of their budget comes from Federal expenditures subsidies of one form or another (e.g., reseach grants, tax deductibility of alumni and corporate donations, etc.) As a matter of financial survival, the elite colleges need to make sure their graduates have a “seat at the table” in all future administrations.</p>

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<p>Northstar mom</p>

<p>I am trying to hide her identity as much possible. You are right on ethnicity. </p>

<p>No restriction on geography. We would prefer school with full financial aid. </p>

<p>She wants to become a lawyer or scinec major. She comes from northeast.</p>

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<p>Since you want full financial aid at a tier one college, that means merit scholarships:
Emory, Duke, University of North Carolina, Wake Forest, Vanderbilt, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Chicago Carnegie Mellon may have the best type of aid that you’re looking for from top rated colleges. That kind of aid is hard to get, but your D’s chances are better than most applicants.</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>The majority of the Dartmouth student body is pretty liberal (voted overwhelming for Kerry in the last election).</p>

<p>In addition Dartmouth does not give “full financial aid” because they beleive that students need to be active participants in the financing of their education. While the school does meet 100% of your demonstrated need, should your daughter be admitted, she will have a student contribution of about $2250 which increases a little each year (this money should come from summer earnings). In addition she will have work study.</p>

<p>Starting with this fall’s enrolling class, the Class of 2009, Dartmouth students whose family incomes are less than $30,000 will receive financial aid packages without student loans. The portion of the package that normally would be composed of loans will be replaced with additional scholarship funds. Barring significant changes to family financial circumstances, this no-loan financial aid package will be renewed each year for all four years.</p>

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<p>This student has excellent credentials. Top schools have endowments and should not be left off the list due to cost. Often these need based financial aid students can make out well with FA at the most selective schools. As you can see, she was able to get lots of aid for prep school too. Her involvement in GOP politics will make no difference in her outcome. She should fully disclose her leadership and participation in political activities. Nobody needs to hide that. Very selective schools admit students of all political persuasions and in fact, value having diverse viewpoints on campus. If anything, it is an interesting twist if she is poor but has conservative political views. In any case, I see that as a non-issue for admissions and would never classify it as a “drawback” as you put it. The more important thing is how she feels the school atmosphere would fit her or not. </p>

<p>There is no question that this student’s academic and activity profile puts her in the running as an excellent candidate for selective schools and if she is poor, she’d be up for financial aid at these need based institutions. She also would be a great candidate for merit based schools. I actually do not quite understand the “worry” or “doubt” in this case, other than being an overrepresented minority and even in that instance, she has enough outstanding credentials that she stands out in that pool as well. She is not merely a 1600 kid but has done quite a lot outside the classroom, even sports!</p>

<p>Susan</p>

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<p>Im kinda shocked that a school that runs $30,000 a year wouldnt have college advising available- but I agree that a conservative viewpoint wouldn’t be a hinderance and may even be a hook!</p>

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<p>Have you checked out Questbridge? If she is a senior she is too late to look into this as an option</p>

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<p>Emeraldkity brings up a valid question. I realize that you say many of your daughter’s peers are using and can afford private college counselors. However, one of the strengths of elite prep schools is that they have knowledgeable connected college counselors on staff, unlike some of our public schools like mine. While this is not the same as a private independent counselor, it is still someone who should be able to knowledgeably guide your daughter. I do understand, however, your coming here because ANY parent or student would benefit from reading/particpating on CC when involved in the admissions process. But still, I would hope that the college counselor on staff at a $30,000 prep school would be able to also guide you. That is one aspect of a private prep school education that many parents who go that route seem to expect or want out of it.</p>

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<p>School put more than 20% class in Ivies. College advising at her school is excellent but majority of kids have leagciesis and hooks. Thus, we are looking for additional help. </p>

<p>She has won or earned more than $3000 in money as a researcher and used it for her necessities. In addition, she has won many small and big scholarships with $$$$.</p>

<p>Most of her class mates thinks she comes from a very rich family as she fits in very well. She is not ashamed of being poor but never tell people unless they ask about it. However her close circle of friends knows that she is on full financial aid. She thinks her mind is her best asset. She comes as very confident. She has gone abroad on concerts as she earned some musical scholarships to do so. Most of the school kids think she comes from a very well off family.</p>

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<p>Asian-American students make up over 5% of the University of Wisconsin’s undergraduates with 1,535 students enrolled. They represent the largest minority group at UW. There is also a very large contingent of Asian internationals. Asian students are also very well represented at the graduate and professional level. </p>

<p><a href=“http://registrar.wisc.edu/students/acadrecords/enrollment_reports/Stats_min_2005-2006FallPrelim.pdf[/url]”>http://registrar.wisc.edu/students/acadrecords/enrollment_reports/Stats_min_2005-2006FallPrelim.pdf&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://registrar.wisc.edu/students/acadrecords/enrollment_reports/[/url]”>http://registrar.wisc.edu/students/acadrecords/enrollment_reports/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I cannot speak about scholarships for out of state students, but I would urge the OP’s daughter to apply to UW. She’ll find it a very congenial place in terms of her race and politics.</p>

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<p>Yes she applied to quest bridge in 10th grade. She was not chosen finalist as they told us that she is receiving good aid already. We are looking for a path through them also but will not apply ED. ED may limit ourselves as we can not compare.</p>