<p>I would worry about her health first. But only you can determine that because you are closed to her. I know my kid sleeps more than 7-8 hours/day and more on weekend and I was still worried that she could be burning her candle at both ends because she had so many tests to take in Junior year. She rarely have 2-5 hours sleep, my house rule is to go to sleep before 12:00 A.M ( For comparison, D high school is equivalent to Gunn High school, and I don’t mean just API). </p>
<p>I think if you think after the summer rest she’ll be able to reconsider her schedule, ie take more than 2 academic clases then do it, but I think overdoing on the ECs is not wise either. I know I rather error on the EC challenge than Academic Rigor/GPA challenge.</p>
<p>I agree with BlueBayou, the A for Admission book( I know it’s old) states that EC is a distant second in importance which is used to compare 2 comparable candidates, ie it serves as tie breaker, not a shoe in.</p>
<p>But if this were my D, I would take her health as number one priority, I certainly don’t want her to be burned out before college.</p>
<p>If you live in the area, Foothill CC offers intensive summer classes in Spanish, French, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Each language can be studied for 2, 4, or 6 weeks. Each 2 week session is considered equivalent to a year of high school study. The classes start July 2. She could get high school credit (and CC credit) for these courses and have them appear on her high school transcript. </p>
<p>2-5 hours/night of sleep is unhealthy for everyone.</p>
<p>Cangel, if she’s interested in Linguistics (didn’t the parent say that? or was it one of us) the math isn’t going to be viewed in the context of “wow, a poet who loves math”. Linguistics is an increasingly math-based discipline which requires very sophisticated analytical skills. </p>
<p>Agree that health is number one. Mental health is also number one. I think the kid is sending clear signals that she’s prepared to let the chips fall where they may admissions-wise. There are lots of great schools which would love to have this kid… I tried to suggest a bunch which had rigor but lower intensity than the tippy top where stamina and durability are virtually required.</p>
<p>Myau, if you are interested, I can email you a copy of an article written in the NY Times education section last year, of how heavily 110 colleges weigh the following admission factors- EC’s, recommendations, talent/ability, interview, essay, etc… I could not find a link online. The article uses a chart ranking from 1-4 the relative importance of factors other than academics and standardized test scores. the quote below is from the article.</p>
<p>On what basis do admissions committees anoint the chosen? The question has preoccupied generations of applicants. “There is no magic formula,” says Gila Reinstein, a Yale spokeswoman. “It’s just not an exact thing.” Nonetheless, the College Board’s annual survey of colleges and universities does ask them to rank admissions criteria. No surprise: high school academic record is consistently rated “very important,” as are standardized test scores (Harvard contends they’re only “important”). But what about all that other stuff? Institutions below admit the country’s best students: 25 percent of their freshman classes, fall 2004, scored 700 or more on the math or verbal SAT and placed in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating classes. But academics alone won’t get you in. Here’s what else matters.</p>
<p>On blossom’s list, which I think was a good one, Rice I believe is a good ratio for a girl. Also has a great music school - question is how many classes can she take there without being in the school. I am not sure how it works.</p>
<p>My father, an English professor at Stanford for many years, has always had a high degree of respect for Rice.</p>
<p>You might look at Whitman in Washington state, Colby and Bates in Maine, Occidental in California, and Bucknell in Pennsylvania-- all small, well-respected with good male/female ratios.</p>
<p>I’m just curious, did your daughter also have sleep deprivation sophomore year? My daughter refused to take AP USH this year because AP Euro was such a slog but still had AP Chemistry and Honors English and 12 hours of dance and flute lessons and was up until 2 (or ever 3 or 4) a number of nights. I shudder to think what would have happened if she had taken AP history.
That said, in order for her to regain some sanity this year, if your daughter absolutely won’t consider dropping one of her 3 music periods, maybe what she needs to do is GROVEL–write an essay which describes how important music is to her and that she completed the equivalent of 4 years of high school in just over 3–who knows, maybe she’ll encounter a reader who relates to that. “This might just be stupid enough to work!” (And no, my senior moments are kicking in and I don’t remember what movie or TV character said that). Failing the grovel strategy, go for the schools mentioned in earlier posts which are strong in both linguistics and music.</p>
<p>“I’m just curious, did your daughter also have sleep deprivation sophomore year?”</p>
<p>Yes, she did, but not ALL the time, like it became by junior year. And some part of it was shamelessly self-inflicted by Internet addiction. However, by the end of soph. year, especially during pre-final couple of weeks, her sleep deprivation driven her, in the first time, to that scary muscle pain. :(</p>
<p>She had 8 classes that year, 3 honors and 1 AP.</p>
<p>Wow-that muscle pain thing is scary.
Clearly your daughter needs to recuperate. What has she thought about the suggestions on this thread? She has options…
Best of luck…</p>
<p>In my kid’s senior year, I convinced him to take AP Physics (he also took 4 other AP’s), even though he was also doing music auditions for conservatories because he had expressed an interest in some top schools – it seemed to me that it would be a risk not to take a lab science and “the most rigorous” program – he cut back on his second instrument instead. The result was what he wanted, so it appears to have been worth the final push. An essay “explaining” why your daughter didn’t take the most rigorous program would be a big risk, especially if the reason wasn’t a compelling medical reason, and perhaps even then; a positive essay about her interests would probably be a better idea. Looking at her schedule, it is way too lightweight – one chorus program would be enough if she is also the piano accompanist (as I infer), to show that she has a strong extracurricular “passion.” If she is not ready to give up on the idea of a top school (including UCB and UCLA), she should consider the consequences of her current plan.</p>
<p>My son also has three performing arts courses next year (and two APs and one honors), and I know it would be not be enough (despite high scores, a challenging courseload and high cum to this point) for tiptop colleges…but he is auditioning for conservatories only. </p>
<p>I remember you talking about your D perhaps going the conservatory route, and certainly for conservatories at least, her schedule is fine…but that would be important for her to decide before she commits to that courseload.</p>
<p>(BTW, I know the time commitment for the musical…do I ever!) ;)</p>
<p>It looks as though she isn’t planning to audition for conservatories, based on the OP’s description …but if she is, she will have to spend a lot of time preparing the repertoire – and the CD if there is prescreening. If she wants to use a CD for schools like Princeton and Harvard, it should be high quality; they get loads of them and only select out a handful for special consideration. Doing all this would not preclude also participating in a musical if it takes place after the auditions, even if she has to go to all of the rehearsals and not just music rehearsals, but doing a lot of other music at school that is unrelated, and playing a second instrument on which she is not auditioning (especially if she continues with youth orchestra) would detract from her ability to prepare adequately for the auditions (there is also some travel involved in auditioning, even if you do them all in California).</p>
<p>myau, I think there’s a difference between “lite” and extremely focused and it sounds to me as if your daughter is a good example of the latter. </p>
<p>My son just graduated from a highly selective LAC. We nearly came to blows over his schedule in his senior year of high school because it included NO science or math. (He would have ditched the language too except for the IB requirements.) Instead he focused on his passions – art, creative writing, religion, history – and wrote a knock out IB extended essay that combined all of the above. He applied ED and was accepted, I think BECAUSE of his intense interests and accomplishments in art and art history.</p>
<p>So the question is not really what she eliminates, but rather WHY she eliminates and on a positive note what she emphasizes. I wouldn’t worry about the burned out motivation for your daughter’s choices but rather the fact that she wants to pursue her interest in music at the most intense level. </p>
<p>Of course she’ll need to communicate her reasoning in her application – along with her with performance tapes and resume of accomplishments, her essays and recommendations should reflect and enhance her special focus.</p>
<p>Admittedly, this strategy is risky for HYPSM, but I think along with her excellent statistics, it’s reasonable for even the most selective LACs, and I have to agree with others that say that your daughter, the multi-talented generalist, sounds like “LAC material.” </p>
<p>Although there’s no doubt that Williamstown IS rural, Williams music department is one of the best among those LACs with rigorous academics with ample performance opportunities both classical and jazz related. I wouldn’t eliminate it without first visiting.</p>
<p>If your daughter is shy then Rice would be a good option for her. They place students in a residential college (which is both a dorm, a dining hall and a social network) for 4 years. The students in each residential college become like a family.</p>
<p>< Admittedly, this strategy is risky for HYPSM, but I think along with her excellent statistics, it’s reasonable for even the most selective LACs, and I have to agree with others that say that your daughter, the multi-talented generalist, sounds like “LAC material.” ></p>
<p>For HYPSM, there’s no such thing as “risky” when you consider the exceptionally low admissions rates.</p>
<p>Again, I’m surprised that most people responding to this thread seem to assume that sufficiently high stats and classes make admission to HYPSM a given when that’s clearly not the case. That’s all the more reason for the OP’s daughter to make the change she wants. If the OP’s daughter gives in to the academic pressure, continues on the AP-to-the-hilt track, SOMEHOW survives (which is doubtful given the health problems mentioned), and then gets rejected from the HYPSM-type schools, she’ll be SO devastated.</p>
<p>“If the OP’s daughter gives in to the academic pressure, continues on the AP-to-the-hilt track, SOMEHOW survives (which is doubtful given the health problems mentioned), and then gets rejected from the HYPSM-type schools, she’ll be SO devastated.”</p>
<p>You raise a very important point. I also think that it’s important for both the mom and D to recognize that high school may be the D’s last time to be able to dive so fully into the musical activities that she loves.</p>
<p>The only thing that I’d worry about is her not taking a senior year math course if she plans to major in linguistics since some posters have suggested that math knowledge is important in linguistics. Since math is easy to forget, it may be important for her to have a senior year math. </p>
<p>The D has great scores and her coursework through junior year sounds strong. She should be able to get into some tier one university or LAC if she wants to. HPYS and similar schools are reaches for everyone, so I don’t thinki it’s a good idea for her to continue sleep deprived and miserable as she carries a tough courseload and juggles her beloved ECs in order to try to look like an excellent applicant to the very top colleges.</p>
<p>As someone mentioned on this post, the students that such colleges want and tend to accept are those who thrive on pressure and juggling tough academics and demanding ECs, and will voluntarily continue such behavior while in college.</p>
<p>Most people – including most very smart people – would be miserable doing this, so places like HPY would not be good matches for them.</p>
<p>There are also a certain percentage of kids who can take a full load of AP courses and not have to work particularly hard at them. I know because I was the parent of one of them. He got seven or eight hours of sleep a night easily.</p>
<p>The OP’s daughter is interested in UC’s – the top ones will expect a rigorous senior year – they are more merit-based and definitely not the “crap shoot” that Harvard, Yale, Princeton seem to be for many students; also, the UC’s value grades and rigor of program (courses exceeding the required courses) far more than SAT scores; they are interested in extracurricular activities, but not at all to the same extent as some of the top private schools (I’ve known kids who have gotten into Cal with very few extracurricular activities but with high grades in an academically rigorous program) – except for the Regents’ Scholars, who are often the same kids who also get into Harvard, Brown, etc.; there is no getting around it. UCD lists the kind of activities that they give points for, for “leadership” – being in a club is not one of them; for music, you have to be a principal or band leader to earn points…this list is available on the Internet and is a good guide for what the UC’s look for (even the ones that use “holistic” review). The music activities listed by the OP are overlapping (3 choruses) and most high school chorus and jazz programs are fairly mediocre – is it worth taking three of them? Along with a preprofessional youth orchestra?</p>
However, by the end of soph. year, especially during pre-final couple of weeks, her sleep deprivation driven her, in the first time, to that scary muscle pain. :(</p>