@labegg and @1822mom - Hear, hear! We never expected to be where we are now with this whole college process, and we have learned so much here. We very literally could not have done it without this board. I love to hear from anyone and everyone.
@labegg As best as I can, I shy away from stating the exact stats for my D18. I’ll just say she’s a high stats kid. She’s a good kid, strikes a good balance between work and play and loves sports like her dad. That’s why she’d love a D1 school.
I’ve always told her that there’s will always be someone bigger better faster smarter and/or prettier. Just do the best you.
That’s all true, and I think we need to embrace all types of students and families. But we do need to be able to be specific in order to get educated feedback and learn from each other.
@MAsecondtimer oop, yes EA…I am forever getting the terms turned around. One would think since this is my second go at this college app thing, I’d get it right by now! Lol! No early decisions for us, that’s for sure!
S18 has strong ECs with lots of leadership, such as Boys State, HOBY, the local chamber of commerce’s Regional Youth Leadership program, Student Body President, class president during junior and sophomore years, and some other positions in school organizations. He plays club and high school soccer and volunteers as a tutor at a local social services agency. He has some community activities, including involvement in a local political campaign. He has a 4.0 unweighted GPA with decent rigor (will have 8 APs by graduation, the rest are honors level) and a solid class rank (4/219). But his standardized test scores are his weakness and a big source of frustration. He has taken the SAT twice and scored a 1440 (710M, 730R) on the first try and the June score is not yet out. He has taken the ACT three times and three times scored a 31 composite, but his section scores varied so much that he has a 33 super score, which only means anything to the few colleges that superscore the ACT. I am tempted to advise him not to send the ACT scores to any colleges, and just to send his SAT because I think the SAT score concords to better than a 31 ACT. None of the schools on his list require all scores. He still has about 20 schools on his list. Hopefully when the SAT score from June comes out, we will know whether to eliminate a few reaches or if he can eliminate a few safeties.
Don’t get me wrong, I like to see actual stats, it is extremely helpful to see the range and certainly can help to assess the suitability of a potential school! But, it is easy to overlook the diversity of students on CC. Let’s face it many of us are here precisely because we are the kind of people who like or need to see real world statistics to gauge probability.
I am on another parent website where it is just as shocking to see how very little some people know about the whole admissions process and I feel like I need to really check myself in my responses. I must say that they often don’t have very positive things to say about CC on that other site. Which is sad because there is such a wealth of information and support to be had here on CC.
@daffodilpetunia if you asked my DD today she would answer sociology/psychology. She landed on that about 6 -9 months ago and it seems to be sticking!
@gcisports a 1440 is a about a 33 on the concordance right? I would be tempted to stick with that one, although I might look to see what score the preponderance of applicants submit to a given school and use that as a guide to which score to submit. Taking into consideration if the school superstores of course.
Hello. We are homeschooling our S18. Ultimately, he is looking to become a Nurse Prac or Physician Assistant. He is looking at BSN (nursing) programs mostly in Colorado with the possibility of one or two out of state schools that have direct admit programs, though he will likely qualify for National Merit and so we are looking at the University of New Mexico and Oklahoma as well. I mostly lurk on this board but enjoy reading everyone’s posts. 
My DS finished a rough junior year with a 4.4W GPA and 3.4UWgpa. We are not in the league with NMF. I’ve posted before that he has a 29 ACT and took it again yesterday. Practice tests indicate he should end up in the 31-33 range. His target is a 33 which brings us to his college choices. His first choice college is U Alabama. It was merit aid that put it on our radar (and DH’s family is from AL) but after begrudgingly touring it became his top choice. Hoping and praying for the 33 to get the Presidential scholarship to make that OOS tuition affordable. He gets a lot of flack for that being from Texas. So his other choices are Texas Tech and A&M (The latter I think is really on the list because he feels a lot of pressure from friends and other adults in his life). Ole Miss is also on the list with U Houston and Lamar (major safety for admission and merit) bringing up the bottom of the list.
ECs are Eagle Scout with a lot of leadership positions and training (JASM, NYLT, NAYLE and NAULE staff for any scouters), band and church youth group and youth leadership.
@TexasMom18 We are from Texas too, although not natives, I am often amazed at the pressure to apply to A&M. I wonder if there is pressure like this in other states? Ie Does everyone in Ohio feel pressure to apply to Ohio State? (I from NE Ohio and I don’t recall that much pressure to apply to OSU back in the day!)You should apply to A&M seems to be the first thing out of everyone’s mouth here, lol. Well with DD’s stats her chances of being accepted are less than 50%, so yes it is on the list for now, but who knows when push comes to shove if she will apply. My kids get lots of flack for looking OOS.
@labegg I have 2 concerns with A&M. #1 they don’t seem to give out a lot of merit scholarships and we really need something. #2 Ds is intending to major in engineering and A&M doesn’t allow students to apply to their engineering major until sophomore year. For instance DS wants to do chemical engineering. If he doesn’t get admitted to ChemE then he has to either accept what he gets or transfer to another college. I don’t like that.
Isn’t anyone here in full blown denial like me? Wish we could move time back to the 8th grade.
@labegg No one in this house is looking at Ohio State. Nothing against those who love it, lol, but I’ve heard enough first-hand issues from parents that we feel it is just way too big. Plus, my husband is a Cincinnati graduate. We are going to have issues because my daughter is interested in both UC and Xavier (major cross town rivalry) 
I would absolutely DIE if my daughter got some of the ACT scores mentioned on CC. She took it for the third time on Saturday - I’m hoping for a couple extra points. She’s only taken one AP class, but a bunch of honors classes (the next rung down in our school). She’ll take AP Calc and DE Physics next year, but definitely has not loaded up on AP classes.
She has a two-page resume of work and volunteer activities - one of them being advanced ballet. And as any ballet mom knows ballet is a time suck of epic proportions (and I can’t wait till she’s done). So she is smart and works hard, but not even close to NMF here.
We will see if her “hook”, if any, might be because she is an international adoptee. We’ve never ever treated her as such - she is as American as they come, and is my perfect mini me (poor kid) - but now I am realizing that others might see something different when they look at her. We are not sure if she will write about that in any kind of essay … we are going to start looking at prompts this week.
@bearcatfan just a reminder:
My son was adopted from Korea just about the time that the Child Citizenship Act came into play. As a result, we never got around to getting him a US Passport, knowing that his citizenship was automatic.
The problem is that the FAFSA paperwork hasn’t been updated. They still require either a passport or a Citizenship Certificate to file FAFSA.
If your daughter doesn’t have either, you’ll want to get to it this summer. I know it’s redundant; simply being able to prove she was adopted, and that you’re a US citizen SHOULD be enough. But it’s not.
I’m a high school teacher, and today is the last day of classes. But I taught almost all Seniors, and graduation was last week. What that means is that, aside from cafeteria duty and the occasional SAT class (translation at this point: study hall), I had tons of free time at school last week.
On Friday, I took out my calendar and my daughter’s college list, and set up a number of college tours. (Since I’m the driver, I get to set the calendar.) It was a wonderfully productive way to spend a bit of my free time at work!
@bjkmom Both of my daughters have their Certificates of Citizenship, but thanks for the heads up. Does the FAFSA require the number off the certificate? I looked really quick on a FAFSA form I found on the web and didn’t see anywhere to put that (assuming one checked US citizen, which she is).
We got my son a passport, but I imagine we had to include the number. It’s been a while so I’m fuzzy on the details.
labegg - I will say that while my daughter has strong test scores, her GPA is not great (well, I think it is, but not competitive by many standards). I am always envious by the amount of money that some people can pay for their kid to go to college. My daughter is blessed to be in the running for NM, because she needs a full ride, or close to it, to avoid debt. That’s our challenge - and a source of my guilt as a mother.
My D18 is another with Canadian citizenship so we also have a couple Canadian schools on our radar - will likely apply to McGill and UBC. Great schools with equally great tuition/COA. UofT may very well be the best of the bunch but I have lived in Toronto and find the other options more exciting for a college kid. Anyways, will submit a couple apps to Canadian schools but D mostly interested in their business programs which are extremely competitive at these schools so we’ll see.
Other options - and probably more likely options.
- CA schools (we are socal) - UCLA (reach), UCSB, UCSD, Cal Poly Slo, SDSU (safety) - probably sounds crazy but likes SDSU the best of the bunch for instate.
- Affordable OOS (merit schools) - ASU, FSU, UA, USCarolina, Ohio State, Univ of Utah
- Possible Apps if she goes w accelerated 5 yr MSOT (occupational therapy) - Quinnipiac, Towson, Scranton
I think she is leaning towards an OT career but maybe not 100% committed at this time so will likely complete undergrad and then apply to OT grad school options at that time. She would prefer not to go to school for 6 1/2 - 7 years to be an OT so looking hard at undergrad options where she can complete in 3 yrs - the publics on her list are friendly towards AP/DE credit.
Her stats - 30 ACT (hoping to edge up on June ACT), 3.77 UW/4.25 W GPA, UC GPA 4.0 - decent EC’s.
D18’s current college list looks like a dumbbell, with few schools in the middle range. She has the stats for all of them but the admission rates make the high ones reaches.
Reaches:
Stanford – almost no chance but I would like her to apply there
USC – her favorite but has a low admission rate (16%)
GaTech – good chance being in-state but they like high math scores and that’s D18’s weakest test area
Targets:
{crickets}
Safeties:
UGA – should get in EA
Bama – they like NMF kids
GaTech’s admission rate is deceptive. You might think that a 30-35% rate overall means it’s easy to get in … but you would be wrong! The applicants are a select group of STEM kids == the EA average ACT this year was 33.
That empty middle is a real concern. D18’s having trouble finding schools for it and I’m having trouble coming up with suggestions for her.