Your grandson doesn’t need a “story”. He should write an essay about some aspect of his upbringing (putting up a yurt sounds like a solid topic), let the guidance counselor address in a tactful way his somewhat unusual childhood with both family and financial challenges, and have the teacher recc’s address his intellectual gifts and curiosity despite an unconventional upbringing. That’s more than enough.
The kids who need a “story” grow up in Winnetka or Atherton with a surgeon mom and hedge fund dad, a string of A’s, a great backhand as a result of private tennis coaching from the age of 7, and 100 hours volunteering in an animal shelter which someone thought would “look good” on a college application.
Look at Pomona and Pitzer too. Other Claremont colleges? If he wants West coast.
If he applied to Ivies he would go virtually for free, ditto other top schools. Amherst and some of those little Ivies too. He might want to look at Lewis and Clark. Also the Colleges that Change Lives website.
Oberlin, Kenyon, Carleton, Macalaster in the Midwest.
Questbridge is a good idea, but he can also apply on his own to schools that give good financial aid without loans.
It isn’t too late at all.
Along with hardships involved in living with a disabled parent with PTSD, I find the growing up on the “back to the land” plot interesting. And he seems to have some genuine interests.
Has he pursued those interests at all as yet?
Let him know it is okay to use humor in an essay if he wants to
Note that while UCs and CSUs need only FAFSA for financial aid, Stanford and many other private schools also have the CSS Profile or their own supplemental forms in addition to FAFSA.
If he likes Reed, then also consider UChicago. Its a larger, quirkier version. Chicago also has an ED2 option in case his first choice doesn’t work out. They also have great financial aid.
Thanks for the link to the prompts. I am hoping to get him onto the essays after his SAT tomorrow. Happily, he is a good writer and will likely inject humor (don’t know if he would be able to avoid it) into it. I’ve read the UC prompts. They seem rather dry. I know hardly anything about CSS but will educate myself. Any suggestions on how to answer UC prompts without boring the pants out of yourself and the AO?
Do you know when CSS is due? Or other FA applications? I thought it best for A to concentrate on essays, recommendation letters and the applications themselves.
A’s extracurriculars are rather sparse as far as I can tell. He has been and currently is on the board at the Mendocino Environmental Center, Jr. and Sr year. Went to Bioneers, did some fire mitigation work for me. Installs drip irrigation. He is very eager to learn chain saw work, but no time for it yet. He literally worked 10 hour days all summer long helping his family move back to the land which is why he didn’t have any time to work on applications/SAT study. Awarded ‘best achievement’ for one class or the other every year in high school. I’m really in quandary about ECs. Don’t know what counts or what is worthy of putting in apps. His all seem so rather paltry. CSF? Local Science Fair (no awards)? MESA? Robotics? Oh. And his passion: D&D. He’s been the Dungeon Master for about 3 years, I think. It’s an obsession and, perhaps a way to escape into fantasy. He mentored students in Honors English but, I think, not officially. Ho Hum, what to do?
com-mom
We’ve talked about Pitzer a bit. Pomona and Claremont McKenna would be a real reach for him unless he comes in with very high SAT scores. But might try. Excellent schools. In the end, he will decide, of course. My role is just to present. And to encourage him to do the do.
Did you mention upthread that he might be interested in a gap year? If so, I’d encourage it if I were you. It’s rather late to be getting started for the types of schools he’s looking at and could be qualified for. He has no SAT score yet (through no fault of his own). And he has a LOT of work to do with financial aid forms and figuring out how to afford college. Plus school work. Not to mention that colleges will still be messed up next fall due to covid-19.
Working is an EC, and a good one…even it wasn’t paid. The others sound like good activities to put in the activities section as well (although I am not sure what they all are!). It’s best to list the most important activities first (typically the ones the student is most passionate about and/or the longest term ones and/or the ones with the most hours).
Here’s the UC financial aid process/deadlines. I would fill out FAFSA and CSS Profile as soon as they are available on Oct 1.
Maybe target a few schools that he’s really interested in like 5 or 6. Maybe 2-3 UC’s or State schools and 3 reach schools that usually are generous with FA. Limit the number apps to make it doable this year. He might decide he wants to launch into school next year. If he doesn’t like his admission results he can always decline and take a gap year.
As for going too far away from home is that the best thing for him? I don’t know but you seem to be his support system and he might want to at least be in the same time-zone. Plus traveling far away can get expensive.
Agree about the “story”. It’s just a phrase. He sounds like he has plenty of interesting conversation points and doesn’t need to invent anything. He just needs to get them on paper.
There’s a great thread from the past few years by @HKimPOSSIBLE and his journey to college in-case you need some inspiration. You could just skip to the last page for the happy ending.
For West coast I would include Lewis and Clark, University of Puget Sound, Pitzer, Whitman- if the net price calculators indicate affordability or if merit aid is possible.
CSU’s and UC’s.
Look into Questbridge.
He has plenty of EC’s in that list, including work, which colleges are honoring these days. Low income status makes it hard to fully pursue activities outside of school and the need to work plays a role as well. Colleges understand that. Helping family is also honored. The guidance counselor can explain.
Is the student going to do the financial aid applications? Usually a parent does them…If low income, there is an option not to do the part on assets so doing a FAFSA can be quick. I don’t remember doing the FAFSA or CSS Profile until applications were in. I think I did them in January.
It is not too late to do applications but to avoid undue stress he needs to have a focused list. People stress about essays but colleges know there is a lot of coaching and their importance has gone down as a result. I think the main thing is to avoid a bad essay: neutral can be okay! No stress in other words.
Clearly he will need financial aid. Stanford of course is excellent in that regard but look into some of the other privates in addition to publics. Good luck1
If A is really set on taking a gap year, I would suggest making your college list with that in mind.
Each college will have their own Gap Year Policy. Some do not allow it, while others have stricter requirements for allowing it.
And to make it more confusing, Covid has impacted the use of gap year—you might find that colleges that did not allow gap year have eased up and now allow it.
So, you will need to research each college. This info is so new, and so fluctuating, there may not be current policy listed online. You may want to contact the college directly before A starts filling out an application.
Regarding Financial Aid, earlier is better for getting the best awards. It is doled out on a first come first served basis, and there are limits.
