Match HS Sophomore - 3.9 UW GPA, 33 ACT, Intended Psychology Major (advice for application enhancement appreciated) [MD resident, <$50k]

One doesn’t need to have extracurriculars that relate to their potential major. Many college students change their majors or come in undecided. But a 30+ hour commitment to a discipline is impressive. Depth and commitment to one area is better than a flurry of activities with very superficial involvement.

As others have mentioned, community service would be an area that your D could improve upon.

Right now, whenever you’re in the area of a college, I would visit. So, visiting U. of Maryland - College Park, Salisbury, and St. Mary’s might be in order. That would expose your D to large, medium, and small colleges as well as rural, small town, and suburban, all of which would be in budget, so there would be no “falling in love” with something out of reach. Perhaps add in a visit to Johns Hopkins or Loyola Maryland or GW or Georgetown for an urban campus. But again, if those schools already mentioned aren’t convenient, then think about McDaniel, or Hood, or Towson.

The main goal is for her to start getting a sense of what college campuses are like and what her preferences are. Does she find a small geographic footprint claustrophobic or does she find a campus teeming with people everywhere invigorating? Does she think that a small population is super boring or that she’d love the increased opportunities for intimacy that would provide? None of this needs to be with an eye toward whether she wants to add Campus A or Campus B to her college list. Just figuring out the things she likes (and just as importantly, dislikes) so that as the spring of junior year approaches, it will be easier to craft a list of possibilities that are more tailored to her.

Additionally, there should still be wiggle room left for evolution and changing her mind. People do so from the fall or their senior year to the spring of their senior year, so there’s definitely room for change from sophomore year to senior year!

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