<p>I’m sorry that I don’t have the time now to read all posts so I may be repeating what someone else said, but here is my opinion:</p>
<p>Keep what she is doing in perspective. IMO, the main goal here is to GET AN EDUCATION, not get into a certain college. It sounds like she is doing just fine on the main goal. An educated person will be able to find an acceptable college to continue her education.</p>
<p>No matter where she goes to high school, there will be some desirable college that, for whatever reason, doesn’t fairly weigh some aspect of her background. That is just a fact of life about of the process. </p>
<p>She should not transfer in the belief that it will enhance her admission prospects or in the greatly mistaken belief that she has wasted her time. On the contrary, her hard work, persistence and dedication will pay off for the rest of her life. No college anywhere is worth sacrificing those virtues for. Period.</p>
<p>A friend of my daughters is in the journalism program at Ithaca. She was in the top ten of their graduating class and got a free ride. Total merit aid. The friend loves Ithaca and has said the journalism program is really good. She’s a sophomore and right now is at a study abroad in Switzerland. It sounds like a great program!</p>
<p>If it is any consolation to you, yankeegirl49, my d here in california has just the same situation. She’s a junior in hs, travels by train and shuttle to her school, 30 miles away, so that she too can attnd a more rigorous school. CA schools, the UC’s, such as Berkeley, and the state schools, such as CAL Poly, look at statistics, not the rigor of the high school. She also loves her school, but the pressure of all of the “college talk” has her less than happy. I agree with the other posters, your best strategy is to go for colleges outside of your immediate area. So, while we peruse schools on the east coast, those in the east peruse ours. There are not that many here, but possible private schools would be the Claremont-Mckenna Schools,(such as Pomoma, Harvey Mudd, Scripps), USC(U of Southern California), Stanford, to name a few. THe UC"s arn’t going to favor anyone not meeting their statistics, whether in or out of state.<br>
When I pick my daughter up at 8:00 at the train station, I know that she has more dedication than most kids, that that is what will carry her in college, more than anything else.</p>
<p>Remind your daughter, she is not really going there (magnet school) to try for some prestigous admissions, she is doing things the hard way to develop into the best person she can be. She is challenging herself, learning to work hard, and, hopefully, learning about herself and maturing into a strong person.</p>
<p>Yes, there is that upper middle group of kids, top 11-20 in an extremely competitive school who theoretically could have been top 5 in their other school and yes, that is really frustrating. Do not lose sight of the real reason to do this hard work- it is not about university admissions (well, not only that) it is about the education, the experience, the peers, etc.</p>
<p>One more thing, remind her that this is her time to really learn about herself- in my experience, the best entrance results were the kids who had essays that really showed who they are. If NYC people say the commute essay is overdone, then make certain if you do something along that line that is really shows who she is and why she is different than the average applicant. One very talented applicant wrote very normal essays, all well-written, but the same thing they read from every one- her admissions were lackluster, another wrote essays and short answers very specific to her personality and they were unusual and she got 6/7 schools, all highly rated. The two girls profiles were not dramatically different…not enough to account for the admissions differences, it had to be the essays.</p>
<p>Yankeegirl, I sympathize. My daughter is in a similar situation in terms of attending a private school with zero grade inflation. However, what we have found again and again, is that when she interviews with admissions reps at private schools, many recognize the name of her school and react positively. Even when a school does not recognize the school, they react positively when daughter mentions a few key facts about her school to them. Further, when my daughter mentions having to commute 35 minutes to an hour to get to school, they are also impressed at her dedication.</p>
<p>Second, I’m a Syracuse Alumni who keeps close tab on admissions to the Newhouse school. Your daughter’s grades and test scores put her well within the top tier of applicants to Newhouse. In fact, I don’t see a single school on her list that I would call an unrealistic reach. In fact, she may actually be aiming a bit too low as I would consider nearly all of the schools on her list to be solid matches.</p>
<p>So, please, tell your daughter NOT to get discouraged. She is right on target and should be just fine. If she or you would like to contat me privately by PM, I’d be happy to give you some advice on what to look for in journalism programs.</p>
<p>Call me paranoid, but I really think you should add a little geographical diversity into the mix. Ohio University has the Scripps school of journalism that is excellent, for example.</p>
<p>Why would the education she might get tomorrow be more important than the education she is getting right now? (and I do mean that seriously, and not rhetorically.)</p>
<p>(I finished 123rd in my class at Stuy. And, yes, they did rank!)</p>
<p>Thanks everyone!
My D has gotten over it for the most part now that her friends who are Srs have gotten their acceptances. Most got into all of their choices with the exception of a few ivy applicants. </p>
<p>As for the geographical issue…I agree with all the posters, unfortunatley my D doesn’t. She absolutely refuses to look anywhere but the mid atlantic states and since she is the one who has to live there for 4 years I will not push anymore, though I do mention other schools to her.</p>