How do you know if your child would be competitive at top schools?

Musicmom2015
Mon, 24 Apr 2017 03:11:14 +0000

I also have a son who is passionate about music and science. He was interested in very selective schools. The advice we received, for what it’s worth, is that at the most selective schools the transcript is the most important part of the application, and they expect to see all core subjects at a high level.

So my science kid took AP US History and AP Spanish, for example, along with band, AP music theory, AP Calc BC and AP science classes. He also just likes to learn about a wide range, so this wasn’t a " do it for college" thing. His goal is to be a science researcher also. He was a bit worried actually because he had not done any outside research in HS but he was accepted to 12/14 schools including 3 in the top ten.

The research class your son has available sounds like an awesome opportunity. I would agree with some others though about his other electives. He should stick with a foreign language and ss over electives like computer science or doubling the lab science in a single year. Can he manage the science research class and still take at least 4 core subjects? If there really isn’t room for the 5th, then maybe a summer class makes sense. And as far as “pointy” kids goes, again we were advised that this doesn’t refer to their curriculum but more to their ECs. So top colleges no longer need the kids to be in 12 different clubs, etc. Having focused interests is a good thing. Good luck to him!