<p>One more comment,</p>
<p>“First gen poor student who and has spent a lot of time taking care of his two younger siblings” </p>
<p>My D spends a lot of time taking care of her three pre-school siblings 
Volunteers as a teacher’s aid in our Sunday school. She is great with kids. But she doesn’t want to be a teacher.</p>
<p>Thanks OHMomof2,</p>
<p>Yes, she started 9th grade in year-round magnet school. She likes it (although, she liked other schools as well). </p>
<p>A good friend of mine is Prof. of Math. He says that, at some level, its not possible to teach math, student either gets it or not. All Math Ph.D. students that I’ve met were unbelievably bright, almost like they are not humans, but different species.</p>
<p>To be an investment banker or management consultant or engineer or analyst or underwriter does not require a PhD nor a PhD level of math.</p>
<p>Probably some leadership required for a couple of those though ;)</p>
<p>Nope, she won’t get credit for taking care of her pre-school sibs.<br>
So far, the one activity is vol at church school. As she gets older, a larger role than taking care of little kids would be better. “Great with kids” is something more relevant to education majors or premeds who somehow hint at an interest in pediatrics and are already working with kids at a clinic or program. </p>
<p>She’s not first-gen. She is the kid of two grad degree folks. There is your first context. We do get bright kids who write about Harry Potter- it’s jokingly considered a deadly topic. We also get kids whose “goal” is to be wealthy (bright kids can say the oddest things in their apps.) Also not credit worthy. </p>
<p>Is she in any APs for 9th? What is she doing in the community that is not about her personal interests, your family commitments (religious, cultural, etc) or your goals?</p>
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<p>How about this guy, who just gave the largest gift ever to a LAC–$250 million to little Centre College in Kentucky. Is he elite? Is the school?</p>
<p>[Centre</a> College in Rural Kentucky Receives $250 Million Gift - Bloomberg](<a href=“http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-30/centre-college-in-rural-kentucky-receives-250-million-gift.html]Centre”>Centre College in Rural Kentucky Receives $250 Million Gift - Bloomberg)</p>
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<p>Quick poll: how many posters here have had 14-year-olds who not only discussed college with us while they were still in grade school or junior high, but a) knew what a “major” was and b) talked about what they might like to major in…before even starting high school?</p>
<p>I will start: 0 of 2.</p>
<p>Actually, my D1 knew in 9th. But, she knew. She did graduate in it, did love it, did have all sorts of ancillary interests fulfilled and is going off on a grant, this academic year, to some way off country. </p>
<p>It was prior to that, that she just wanted to be wealthy.</p>
<p>ps… D2 knew, but it was the typical pre-med thing and didn’t last, in college. Don’t know how you count that.</p>
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One doesn’t need to be a genius to major in math - just mathematically inclined and willing to do it. Note that most engineering majors could probably also successfully major in math if they wanted to since they generally take a lot of math anyway and need to be successful at it.</p>
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Exactly. There are some who are dreamers at that point and are imagining various fields, usually only ones they’ve had exposure to like what their parents are doing, teaching, doc/nurse, clergy, whatever they see on TV like law enforcement, lawyers, military, maybe some other things they see like heavy equipment operator (which looks like fun), airplane pilot (which looks like fun), etc. </p>
<p>Many/most simply aren’t focused on the idea of a profession since that’s eons away for them - they’re more focused on how to handle HS, finding their social niche, friends, GF/BF, playing a video game, listening to music, etc. There’s no need to be focused on a specific career at that point. they s/b more concerned about their general education, friends, and having some fun.</p>
<p>There are a huge number of professions the average 9th grader has no idea about - real estate investment, small business owner in various areas, management at any of thousands of firms, engineering, etc. Granted, there are some people of that age who decide they want to be a teacher or doctor/nurse and end up in those professions but there’s a lot of learning and exposure and experiences between 9th grade and the end of college.</p>
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<p>Not here. I went and talked to my kids’ hs counselor when they were in 9th grade and my kids were mortified. I learned from my mistake. </p>
<p>I had one kid who we all thought would be a creative writer / English major, who discovered a passion for politics in 11th grade and is now an American studies major.<br>
I had another kid who thought she’d like chemistry, started out in chemistry, decided she wasn’t interested, and moved to economics and math. Californiaa, these things are no big deal. It is of no consequence whatsoever that she “knows” what she wants to do at this stage of the game.</p>
<p>wow, the student sounds super qualified. I guess now a lot of people are super qualified and admissions is by who is lucky enough to stand out more… :(</p>
<p>To be honest, I am not interested in providing advice to a student whose goal is to become rich. This is just as well, because I am totally unqualified to provide such advice.</p>
<p>One element of californiaaa’s posts that does trouble me a lot, though, is the school’s wishing to keep 9th graders out of AP classes on the grounds that the UC system doesn’t count AP classes taken in 9th grade, in their grade-weighting scheme.</p>
<p>For a magnet school, this sounds like a truly weird point of view. I have felt that the local HS (in the good suburban school category) did try to limit students’ advancement to some extent. I cannot present their reasons, because I don’t really know them. But they did argue that a reason for not permitting a student to advance in math is that then the student would run out of high school courses before senior year, and “have to” (their words) go to the university for math classes. To me, this seemed like an opportunity, rather than an obligation. </p>
<p>On the other hand, the local school was nevertheless accommodating (despite their apparent misgivings) if a student really wanted to advance in math. There were a handful of 9th graders in Calc BC, all earning 5’s on the AP exam, and many more 10th graders in Calc BC. (The school did not offer math beyond that.) In a later year, there was at least one 8th graders in Calc BC. </p>
<p>So if a magnet school is not permitting 9th graders to take AP classes, I’d view that as problematic.</p>
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<p>With the exception of true prodigies, super advanced students in math, heritage speakers of foreign languages, or those who did K-8 in foreign language immersion schools, how many of the AP courses/tests are suitable for 9th graders? Maybe human geography, a well known “AP lite”, but even “AP lite” courses are likely supposed to be more advanced than 9th grade students are supposed to be able to handle.</p>
<p>Best volunteer exercise I remember hearing about was curmugeon’s daughter who was basically a candy striper in a local hospital. She saw a need for Hispanic patients to be able to talk to non-Spanish speaking doctors and developed a system (flash cards?) of basic questions. It’s not just about volunteering - it’s about taking the next step - seeing needs and acting on them. Raising money one time isn’t that hard - heck friends and I did that in 7th grade.</p>
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Since some Harvard dean years ago said that a 600 or 650 was good enough to succeed at Harvard, I’d take the 2100 without qualms, but I might take all three if I could. Both my kids won awards at Science Olympiad, and I know enough about the program to know a lot depends on how good the school program is, and the quirks of the judging any particular year and the particular events you ended up in. I don’t actually think it’s that good an indicator, though both my kids really enjoyed it. The significant charitable organization? It would probably depend on my mood that particular day. I feel like a lot of charities get started when the effort would be much better spent on contributing to an existing charity. One of the best examples I remember from CC is Curmudgeon’s daughter who developed a system for Hispanic patients to communicate with doctors as part of her volunteering in a local hospital.</p>
<p>As to californiaa’s concerns about magnet vs ghetto school - I really think it evens out. A middle class kid is not likely to get brownie points for attending a low performing school. There will be other indicators of her background - parental education and income for one. It’s the kids who truly have deprived backgrounds and have nevertheless risen to the top that get noticed. That will come up in letters of recommendation and their own personal essays. I really believe that it comes out pretty even. </p>
<p>My older son and my nephew had very similar scores and abilities and applied to many of the same colleges. He went to a very selective private school with a class that sent a high percentage to top schools. In my son’s school a much smaller percentage went to the top colleges, but because the school was so large there were also a good number going to top colleges. I don’t think my son’s college admissions results would have been that different if he had been at a different school. However if we lived in the city (NYC) I wouldn’t have hesitated to send my oldest to one of the exam schools - he’d have had access to better quality math and science than he got, but he was able to pursue his main interest - computer science at a very high level because he didn’t end up working that hard in high school. (He wasn’t a slacker by any means, he took all the major science APs and Linear Algebra.) I’ve actually become less impressed with the NYC exam high schools thanks to some recent scandals and some CC posters.</p>