Junior girl starting to get serious about next year’s college search! (I’m the parent) Not interested in the most selective/competitive colleges but I don’t know how selective the women’s colleges tend to be. Student unlikely to take a science in 12th grade, which tracks with her absolute lack of interest in pursuing science in the future. There is an issue where she wants to take a “fun” English class with one of her favorite teachers, vs the AP Eng Lit class, in 12th grade. Definitely wants to enter undeclared, not interested in ED (wants to know all her options before deciding), full pay. In a moderately competitive (not Palo Alto levels) Bay Area public h.s. Loves all things arts and crafts related but opposed to going to an art school, wants a more rounded college education.
Intended Major(s): undeclared but will be in arts or humanities
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 3.6ish estimated
Weighted HS GPA: 3.8 (adding point for UCs)
Class Rank: school doesn’t do this nor provide any estimate of decile ranking
ACT/SAT Scores: 1240 on PSAT as a sophomore, likely in the 1350 range as a guess for the May SAT
List your HS coursework
English: Honors Eng 11 (will take AP Eng Lang exam this year), getting an A/A- *see q about next year, above
Math: (including highest level course(s) completed) Math 3, getting B+/A- every year in regular math, will take Stats next year
Science: (including which ones, such as biology, chemistry, physics) In Physics now, after taking Bio & Chem and getting B+/A-. Hopes to not take a science next year, choices peter out - either an AP or rocks for jocks.
History and social studies: Psychology & AP Af Am this year. A/A- in both. Will take Gov/Econ next year. School doesn’t offer any other AP in this area.
Language other than English: (including highest level completed) Spanish 3 as a sophomore, dropped language due to crappy teacher.
Visual or performing arts: Intro to VA in 9th, Honors VA currently, getting an A. May take AP Studio Art next year.
Other academic courses: N/A but slaying Home Ec
Extracurriculars Very thin. A worker bee in tech for theater and student magazine. Last two summers spent at a sleepaway camp for artsy girls. Babysits in neighborhood.
Essays/LORs/OtherStrong writer, should be good. LORs from the hum teachers will be glowing. She will be a bit challenged if she has to get a stem teacher rec, as she is a good but not great or exciting student in that regard.
Schools
Smith, Bryn Mawr, Scripps - most interest currently, pre-visit
Mount Holyoke, UC Davis - some interest
UCSC - almost certainly will be admitted, has visited and likes as a backup
Would like to have a few more for consideration, parents wonder about Puget Sound, UCSD, U of O, Pitzer …
Sorry, I had a typo. Her weighted GPA is 3.82 (3.9 for grades 10-11), the school calculates it. I said UCs when I meant APs. Which itself would have been a typo since it is also honors classes not just APs.
The high school has very low admit rates to all the UCs except SC, Riverside, and Merced. Many high performing students come out of here. However, most of them are on the STEM side of things and applying to high interest majors.
Thx for the follow up qs. She is a little inclined to the smaller colleges with more of a campus feel but at the same time but hasn’t ruled anything out in that regard the way she has ruled out art schools. I think it’s likely that she will want to be on the same coast as parents, but Smith and Bryn Mawr are for sure the places she is most interested in right now. Full pay student, no budget limits.
Santa Cruz is almost certainly an admit; it took her older sibling whose grades were lower, into a competitive major last year. She loves the feel of that campus, which is definitely a big one. But not enough where it’s a first or even second choice.
I forgot to mention, she has tagged along on college tours of virtually every campus in Oregon other than U of O, and is not interested in applying to any that she saw. But she loved the feel of Reed’s campus. I mean, who among us.
How do you know she’ll get admitted to UCSC ? I think it’s likely but not a given, given the rigor.
Does she like the woodsy?
I think Agnes Scott would be a great choice for a Women’s College and you can take classes at Emory, Ogelthorpe and a few others. Hollins in VA is another. Both of these are near airports with Agnes Scott major. Easier entries than Mt. Holyoke but very good schools. Agnes Scott throws money at people.
Any budget issues ? I don’t see Puget Sound happening but if you like it, you might look at Lewis & Clark. You might look at Whitman. You can spend $30K or $100K.
U of O is nothing like UCSC - big, sports, wild - but beautiful. I was thinking Humboldt. U of O is an easy in though - relatively speaking
Might she like U of Montana? Or W Washington on the WUE rate?
We did tour Western Washington with older sibling two years ago and we all loved the campus. That could definitely end up as another extremely likely, it does have a downside of being fairly hard to get to for us. But a lovely spot with a good range of majors in the non-science disciplines. I would be very happy if she applied. But right now she’s more focused on the women’s colleges.
I thought that Agnes Scott was an HBCU, so thanks for raising it!
Humboldt is another good suggestion (reminder, really since it was on the long list for sibling), she likes rain and fog. Again, fairly hard to get to but not impossible.
The “normal” progression would be for a strong English student like her to take AP Lit as a senior after taking AP Lang as a junior (which she is, they just call it Honors Eng 3). The problem is that her favorite teacher teaches an alternate English class which I can’t describe as it’s niche enough that it could be identifying, and it of course would be her last chance to take a class with them. Now, some power students at the school do both English classes, the niche one being an elective. She is wary of that workload.
Of course I can’t know for sure about SC, but I’ve seen how many kids they accept from this high school over two cycles now. It seems very likely.
Southwest was flying there but dropped them. Now Just Alaska/AA go (same flights) but maybe there’s a way from Seattle with train?
If I’m not taking the class, I wouldn’t take the AP.
Agnes Scott is small and very diverse. You might find out how kids get to the other schools - but Ogelthorpe, Ga Tech, Emory are all in play for classes.
I’m not sure what you mean by you wouldn’t take the exam if you weren’t in the class, but perhaps it’s not clear that student is currently taking AP Eng Lang as a class and plans to take the exam in the spring. It’s just that this high school calls the class Honors Eng 3 (presumably to avoid pressuring students to take the exam); and the logical next class to take as a senior is AP Eng Lit. Which I would like her to take to show rigor (and because she’s a very strong English student), but she wants to take this other, non-honors class with a favorite teacher.
D28 should register for both, AP English Literature & the “fun” English elective. If the workload becomes too much to handle, she could opt not to take the AP exam, especially if she ends up scoring a “4” or “5” on the AP English Language exam this May. Do verify AP credit & placement policies - some schools accept language & not literature, others accept literature & not language, some accept either one; policy variants. Taking both AP English classes & performing well will make her a more competitive applicant.
D28 likely doesn’t need to take science since she’s an intended arts & humanities major. She’s taken home economics; maybe she can sign up for a “science-like” class, like personal health or child development, if she needs an additional class.
As a humanities focused student, would taking the second English course as an academic elective fit into the schedule (along with the usual other academic courses like math, social studies, science, foreign language)? Or especially if not taking a fourth year of science or foreign language?
It would probably fit into her schedule (the two Englishes); this is one of the key issues we have to mull over if Smith/Bryn Mawr/Scripps stay at the top of her wish list. If they are sort of within reach but not entirely and she needs to push herself, that would be one way. I just don’t see her taking a science as a senior. Another inflection point might be Stats vs AP Stats although some years the school doesn’t offer the AP version (and in any case she’s not trying to present herself as a stem scholar). Another might be picking up Spanish 4. Lots to consider based on her odds at her preferred LACs. [Not worried about Davis one way or another, just trying to decide if it’s worth the application fee - the website referred to above would put her just within 50% range.]
When you ask if a school is within reach and they’re need aware, that can be the determining factor.
I don’t see rigor in anything but English - so in theory they should be out of reach but money cures ills - if you have it. I hate to say it like that but…
While she might be humanities focused, it seems to me - if she was a tennis player, she’s running away from the backhand to hit the forehand - unless I’m missing something.
Even Social Science - only AP Psych - which is light weight for an AP but regular other classes - if I’m reading right.
There are many women’s colleges - more than you see - and if she wants English, a school like Sewanee is storied and more women than men (but not easy to get to). A school like my daughters - is 6700 females and 3100 males - and it’s easy to get to. That’s College of Charleston. Urban. Not woodsy.
AP statistics is not generally considered to be that hard. Be aware that many colleges have a math or quantitative reasoning graduation requirement, which commonly accepts an introductory statistics course with content similar to AP statistics.
Based on the first post, it looks like her 12th grade schedule is:
English: AP English literature, English elective, or both
Math: AP? statistics
Science: ?
Social studies: government and economics (are these one semester each, as is common?)
Foreign language: maybe Spanish 4
Art: maybe AP art
This would make 7 courses if she takes both English courses and a science and Spanish 4 and AP art. Seems like it would fit if the high school has 7 periods. If not, but she does not want to take all three of a science, Spanish 4, and AP art, then she can fit both English courses into a 6 period schedule.
