<p>Otherwise, it seems like I’m trying to cram in all these programs for my college application.</p>
<p>Chelsea, please remember, Brown likes top academics and top “other.” The latter can include programs you pay for. But, your get-up-and-go, at home, is still very important. One way to avoid looking like you’re cramming things in, this sumer and next, is to focus equally intently on what you do right now- next weekend, next month, each month, etc. Maximize.</p>
<p>lookingforward: All I can do right now is focus on my studies. </p>
<p>The school board announced a few weeks ago that my school doesn’t have funding for summer school. That’s out, I guess. </p>
<p>I have four debate tournaments in the next month, so I’ll be busy.</p>
<p>[MU</a> Honors College: Welcome to the MU Honors College](<a href=“http://honors.missouri.edu/]MU”>http://honors.missouri.edu/)</p>
<p>If you are in the honors program at Mizzou you may live in special housing. Their Honors College is on facebook (see the above link) & you can click to become a “fan”—if you do that (based on my experience with the schools to which my D is applying) you will receive regular updates on the goings-on at the Honors College. </p>
<p>[University</a> of Missouri Honors College - Organization | Facebook](<a href=“http://www.facebook.com/pages/University-of-Missouri-Honors-College/159537924077970]University”>Redirecting...)</p>
<p>If you are thinking of majoring is something which will require grad school for you to become employable (or have a decent future in the subject) you might want to give very serious thought to attending Mizzou—the reason is, grad school is also quite expensive and you <em>will</em> graduate with loans to repay. </p>
<p>But if you attend your state’s flagship univ. and get to pay the much lower tuition there, you will have few loans from your undergrad days folloowing you into grad school. And grad schools are very pleased to see graduates of state universities who were leaders in their classes, took the honors program, interned where applicable, etc. </p>
<p>I am not trying to discourage you from applying to Brown – but I think you should take a very careful look at the honors program at Mizzou, the courses offered there in the areas you want to study, do the math for the price differential — you have a couple of years to prepare yourself to apply to any of these places, take the time to think about all the opportunites that are out there for you!</p>
<p>On summer school – what is at your local community college? Around here, kids who are discouraged by no or poor offerings at their h. schools turn to the comm college.</p>
<p>I took my son to Princeton last summer. During our campus tour/information session, the admission director said that the average Princeton student graduates with less than $4K in debt. They work very hard to meet 100 percent demonstrated need. I believe students from families earning $60K or less can expect a free ride. I got the impression that the hard part about going to Princeton was getting into Princeton not the paying for Princeton.</p>
<p>JRZMom: If I don’t get accepted anywhere else, I will probably end up going to either Mizzou or my local university. </p>
<p>I’m planning on attending law school and I know that’s going to be very expensive. I’m going to hopefully avoid graduating with any debt. </p>
<p>I’m trying to consider all of my options.</p>
<p>I looked at my community college’s website and they currently don’t have any summer school program information on their site, but I’ll check back soon.</p>
<p>Deenie2612: I don’t want my parents to have to pay for my college education. I need a lot of financial aid, but I want to contribute too. </p>
<p>I’d say the hard part about going to any Ivy League is getting in. That’s what I’m worried about the most. I don’t know if I’m what they’re looking for. I don’t want all of my hard work to be for nothing. </p>
<p>If I don’t get into Brown, my other options are: UPenn, UChicago, U of Notre Dame, Georgetown, WashU in STL, Johns Hopkins, NYU and Mizzou.</p>
<p>If I apply ED to Brown, does that mean I can’t apply EA to other schools?</p>
<p>Yes, it is binding ED.</p>
<p>“If I apply ED to Brown, does that mean I can’t apply EA to other schools?”</p>
<p>I don’t see anything on the Brown site that precludes this. It says you cannot apply ED to another school, but that’s standard everywhere.</p>
<p>[Brown</a> Admission: Q&A](<a href=“Undergraduate Admission | Brown University”>Undergraduate Admission | Brown University)</p>
<p>Brown changed its ED policy this year, and now does allow students to apply ED to Brown and EA to other schools. </p>
<p>Chelsea, your hard work in high school should not be only to insure acceptance into a selective school. And as a sophomore, you shouldn’t develop your college list now – you have a long time to go before you need to do that. Your list is top heavy with reaches, it should be more balanced, and you should also look at schools that will give you a lot of merit aid.</p>
<p>@HelloImChelsea, I can confirm that you are allowed to apply EA other places as fireandrain said. </p>
<p>However, I don’t think you should be compiling your list now. I decided junior year that I wanted to apply ED to Brown and I did. Well, I got deferred and at first I was devastated. However, I looked into other colleges after I got deferred and found plenty that I would probably be just as happy at as Brown. I could have saved myself a lot of sadness if I hadn’t become attached to Brown. If you feel compelled to start your list now, you definitely SHOULD NOT be deciding where you are applying ED sophomore year. Even if you do get into Brown ED, you probably didn’t spend a lot of time looking into other schools. I knew every nuance of Brown before I applied (heck… I even knew about the combined RISD/Brown dual degree program and I haven’t taken an art class since 7th grade), but finding out those nuances took time away from finding out about other schools. Unfortunately, I can at least say from experience that it is very easy to become attached to a single school, much easier than spreading out the love amongst many schools. </p>
<p>I’m sorry that was kind of a pointless rant. From experience I find that ED is not a good option because you will change so much from the start of your college application process to the end. It sounds cliche but I made a lot of progress in “finding myself” by writing all of these college essays and I am a different person than I was when I submitted my Brown ED app.</p>
<p>I’m also sorry for hijacking the thread. To stay on topic… when I visited Brown the tour was huge and they did not take my name down. I’d say its more important for you so you know about Brown than for your “chances.”</p>
<p>Rainbow is offering some sage peer advice.<br>
Let me add: 30,000+ apps. Even if you declare 75% are flat-out unworthy, that leaves 7500 kids, most with A averages or close to it, rigorous courseloads, plus sports, music, and other achievements. AP Scholars and better. Great Essays. Their ECs include broad and deep experiences- not just the usual vp of this school club or vol on that committee or a couple of hours per week at a soup kitchen, for 6 weeks of senior year. Many kids stretch themselves into challenging vol work, mentoring, working with homeless, supporting a political candidate, whatever. Hey, it can even be reading to kids at the local library or talking with folks at a nursing home. </p>
<p>Kids with a lower GPA or scores DO stand a chance of an admit, dep on their “package.” Coming from a lesser high school or a less competitive area of the country is not an automatic hindrance. The question is always: what did the kid do with the opportunities that ARE there?</p>
<p>A kid with top stats can fall flat. It’s pretty obvious when a kid’s ECs are padded with great extras mom and dad could pay to send him to- some enrichment program at a university, then language camp, then a sweet little trip abroad to “study” again. Versus the kid who had to work, so he focused in the local community.</p>
<p>So, the point is: any aspiring applicant to a top school should be working on that whole package. You want to show the college that you are motivated, determined, able to achieve, mature enough to make these decisions early and well. </p>
<p>Believe it or not, this is meant as encouragement.</p>
<p>Chelsea – Yes, Lookingforward is right — do the best things you can for your town, where you are right now. But don’t wait to do them; it is too early to be making a list of colleges, but it is not too early to be out doing for your community. </p>
<p>The person whose child visited Princeton is also absolutely right – we learned this in our family too— Princeton in particular is committed to students from less well off families not being deterred by their price tag. The hard part is getting in. </p>
<p>The same is true of Brown. And, any school which has way more applicants than it has seats in the freshman class is going to be difficult to get into.</p>
<p>JRZMom: I’m going to try and get as involved in 4-H as a I can. It really stresses community service and leadership. </p>
<p>I have an A- in geometry right now and I’m starting to worry. </p>
<p>I’m going to stay motivated and hope for the best.</p>
<p>lookingforward: Yeah, I saw that Brown received a record number of applications this year. Since they let just anyone apply, the acceptance rate is really low, but if they only let people who had certain qualifications apply, the rate would be higher. </p>
<p>I might participate in some summer programs, but only because I’m interested in them. </p>
<p>I know one of the representatives from MO, so I’m going to try to volunteer when the 2012 elections get closer. </p>
<p>I appreciate your advice. I know that it’s possible. I’m going to take all of the AP/honors courses available, I’ll have a lot of ECs. I know I’m mature and I know what I can handle. </p>
<p>My main community service involvement has been co-teaching the kindergarten Sunday school class at my church. I’ve been helping since I was in eighth grade.</p>
<p>rainbowrose: I’ve spent time looking into other schools and I think I would be happy at any of the schools on my list. </p>
<p>I know that I’m deciding all of these things way too soon, but I’m trying to develop a plan so I can succeed. </p>
<p>I really appreciate your story. 
I hope you get into Brown, by the way.</p>
<p>fireandrain: Okay, I’m happy about that, at least! I think Mizzou would be fairly easy for me to get into and if I get at least a 29 on the ACT, I should get a full-ride scholarship to any public university in Missouri. </p>
<p>I’m going to take a lot of rigorous classes because I simply love learning. I love biology, so I think I’ll take 3 years of that. I want to kind of be able to speak Spanish by the time I graduate, so I’m taking 3 years of it too. I really don’t like math, but I’m not horrible at it.</p>
<p>Wow I’m surprised that you appreciate it! I was kind of just talking stream-of-consciously (is that even a proper way to use the term “stream of conscience”? I don’t know if I can make it an adverb 
whatever I just did.) and I thought it would just turn out to be a rambling mess but thanks :).</p>
<p>I believe I was one of those kids with high stats and lots of extra-curriculars who fell flat. My essays weren’t great because they were rushed. I do have a couple of large(ish) awards but I believe my personality was a bit lacking on that app :(. Hopefully my other ones turned out better! Either way, I’m already accepted at Tulane (with a pretty hefty scholarship) where I could be very happy, so it all works out in the end.</p>
<p>The thing I don’t like about CC is many people seem to convey the message “top college or bust” and I don’t think that’s true. Granted, you should go to a school that has the resources you need, but after a certain point, especially if you plan on going to grad school/med school/law school/etc… what’s most important is what you make of your undergrad experience, not where it takes place. Listen to the older students/adults on here who say that because it really seems true (sorry I have no experience to say it IS true but I believe it is)!</p>
<p>Goshh another rant on this thread! I honestly do not usually write novels in my posts XD.</p>
<p>Rainbow rose is sure right about CC & all the nuts on this site who think only Harvard, Princeton or Yale will do for them or their kids! And that 2250 on their SATs is “low.” </p>
<p>The thing I find disconcerting is that a lot of them seem to get into these colleges, which means there are people in those student bodies I would not want my daughter being subjected to.</p>
<p>“Top College” really means “top college for <em>you</em>” imo. And one person’s “top college” can be very different from another’s. </p>
<p>If you do get a full ride scholarship to Mizzou (and low money elsewhere), for heaven’s sake please use it! You will be saving yourself huge sums in loans and if you have plans to go to grad school, you will wind up borrowing for that. So if you can get away with low or no loans for undergrad, do it! </p>
<p>Don’t forget to use those practice books for the ACT/SAT – taking the practice tests in your home really helps you to do better when you take the test for real. If a higher score gets you free money at Mizzou (or anywhere else), it is worth the time you put into it. </p>
<p>Keep teaching Sunday school, don’t neglect to mention you have been doing it since 8th grade when you are filling out applications, and see if you can do some things that show leadership in this—</p>
<p>For instance, if you were to develop <em>on your own</em> an afternoon program for Easter or whatever, where the kids did activities, had Scripture lessons, learned a new song or two—not a “canned” Bible School program the church buys from a publishing house & the teachers present to the children, but some things you pulled together <em>yourself,</em> by using the Bible readings for that week, from looking up crafts on the net or whatever, rounding up volunteers to do the crafts, play the guitar, etc—that is genuine leadership experience. </p>
<p>A great time to do one of these is before Christmas as an Advent thing, as a “parent’s afternoon off” and the parents get to do “things” at home or shopping, without the kids around. And the program you present to the kids is making little Manger scenes, making an Advent chain of construction paper, learning some carols, making little presents for them to give their parents, and so on. If you can be the one who cooks it up, signs up the volunteers who help do it, gets the supplies and plans the activities, crafts, etc etc —that is genuine leadership and you are developing some serious people skills when you do it.</p>