It’s so hard to say what is a manageable courseload. A lot depends on the student and the school. Having said that, at my D18’s school, for a 4.0 student, that courseload would probably be fine.
I know you didn’t ask about this, but regarding science, did she take Biology her freshman year? What about Physics? My D18 considered not taking Physics in HS, but when she looked at the admission requirements for colleges she was interested in, she found that some of them expected her to have taken Bio, Chem, and Physics. Your D may not need Physics for the particular colleges/majors she is considering, but not having it on her transcript could potentially close some doors.
ASB is student body
She has 3 years of Spanish she took in 7th/8th (counted as one year),9th grade and over the summer. May take a 4th year next summer?
For CA schools took Design as her Art requirment in 9th grade as well as Honors Biology.
Yes, i agree with you that she is a little light in STEM courses but it’s really not her thing even though she has done well in those courses so far. May have to research this more.
She will likely be a business majo but is undecided.
@typiCAmom yes precalculus and as mentioned she has taken three years of a foreign language (Spanish).
To all, what are your kids doing about ECs to create a hook, spike, “and”, etc to help package them their senior year to make them interesting, demonstrated passion, what makes them unique, do they have a special talent, leadership, depth of discipline?
I think this is an area that my D is lacking as of now…
@socaldad2002, I heard top uni’s look for 4 years of FR, so I would definitely recommend 4th year over the summer. As for the EC’s, that’s tough… My daughter probably looks somewhat boring on paper. She is not in any band and never took music at HS, though she plays piano and guitar for her own pleasure. She may be mediocre, but she enjoys it and it really helps her de-stress. She also swims and plays tennis recreationally, and in swimming used to be on a team, reached Junior Olympics, but due to a string of injuries, car accident, doctor’s warning, etc., she hasn’t joined any teams at school. However, just a couple days ago, she came along to my son’s tennis lesson, and was giving him some tips before class. The coach overheard and offered a volunteer assistant coach position that could turn into a job once DD turns 16 in a year. Encouraged by this, DD asked someone at a swim school if she can similarly volunteer, and they promised to look into their policies and get back to her. I am not sure if this “volunteering” could be considered as ECs since it’s not a non-profit but a gym, the main thing for me is that she would most likely have fun doing it. Hope it helps
@socaldad2002 Mine has had some degree of success in dance (YAGP, summer programs, etc) but ballet is starting to take a toll on her so she’s trying out for her school’s spirit squad. If she makes it, she will cut down the ballet by about half. (She currently dances 3-4 hours/day, 6 days/week.) She also teaches preschool classes at her dance studio.
A few reasons why: S20 isnt remarkable (to others), we can’t afford our EFC, we’ve leery about going private OOS now that D16 has transferred back & S20 loves his state flagship {midwest} . We know exactly how to get merit from that school. That’s what we are aiming/packaging for - merit from state flagship. It’s completely GPA and score based.
he’s taking 4 yrs of foreign language although he does not like it and has a small speech thing going on. It’s very hard for him! but he’s interested in CS; and that program requires 4 yrs in HS or make up the difference in college (Harder!)
good luck to your kiddo; i basically hang out on CC to see what others are doing and read about ideas. I’ve learned so much! but we are not in this for the big name colleges.
@typiCAmom my slow swimmer D17 volunteered as a Special Olympics swim coach. She also was a volunteer lifeguard for girl scout events and did pool and water safety workshops.
She worked for $$ as a lifeguard and swim instructor.
So she made swimming and water safety her passion without being a very strong competitive swimmer.
She has very personal reasons for being passionate about water safety and it had nothing to do with packaging.
@bgbg4us I didn’t realize that some colleges don’t consider ECs. I know my D will likely apply to both CA UC’s and CSU schools and while GPA and test scores are very important for admissions they will also look at ECs and other factors. However, one UCSB rep told us that the essay is 50% of the admission consideration which I call BS on. Maybe all things considered (two identical applicants, the essay can be the differentiator) but I don’t believe AO’s will spend more than 5 - 10 mins on each applicant’s submission; there are just too many applicants (e.g. UCB 60,000+) for a full and complete review. But maybe I am wrong?
@tutumom2001 and @VickiSoCal, thanks for your support. @socaldad2002 I too am skeptical about full and complete review. My theory is that each uni sets their own threshold for grades and scores. Then everyone who passes that threshold gets their file reviewed, and that’s when EC’s and essays come into play.
@typiCAmom I agree with you on the theory that there is a 1st cut and those that make the cut will then get their file reviewed. When we had college open house night at the HS a few months back the AO acknowledged that all of the scoring was “taken care of” by the time they reviewed the file. I took this to mean that all of the applilcants scores (GPA/Test scores/class ranking, course rigor, etc.) were all summarized prior to the AOs reviewing the file and many never made it past this first stage with the bottom x% never making it to the human review?
So when the UCSB says the essay is 50%, she could be right as the essay will only be read after the high cut-off, thereby drastically reducing the number of file reviews needed. I just don’t know? And I’m sure colleges with more manageable number of applicants and/or the resources to hire more AOs will look at all (or almost all) files. More transparency would be nice…
@socaldad2002, while I agree more transparency would be nice, it might also highlight how non-meriocratic college admission is. Truth is, i don’t think pure meritocracy in college admissions would be good, either. It is natural for any community to value non-qualifyable things such as a sense of humor, compassion, tolerance, other intangibles. Having more transparent guidelines and requirements would open each school to more criticism a la “why did you reject a top-notch student who met so many of your guidelines with stellar stats”. The truth may be that stellar stats kid sounded arrogant and detached in his essays, but AO doesn’t want to justify his decision with an explanation. Vague guidelines can be super helpful in that case.
My daughter got rejected from a dream summer program, not even making it past the first round. She did all the right things, started an app early, got her teacher to review her essays, had a very compelling reason to participate in the program, etc. Bottom line, she didn’t make it this year and will try again next year. Yes, i’d appreciate some feedback - were her essays too immature, or maybe the story she chose was too shallow, or lack of sports/music/ECs hurt her, but at the end of the day, I am ok with things as they are. She doesn’t know why she got rejected, and she won’t be pushing herself to do things that might be harmful - i.e., joining the swim team and practice 2-3 hours each day instead of 1 hour a day every other day as doctor recommended.
so - i’m still working through grading the PTO scholarship applications – it’s SO FASCINATING! And it’s so subjective. What an eye opener. I have not read a lot of stand-out essays yet, but have had some good applications otherwise. Some of the essays have been funny, braggy, unclear, one-paragraph, and full of the word Passion and touching. I doubt my own kid would earn this small local PTO scholarship when he’s a senior; but I think I’ll be able to guide him with writing a good essay. (eg: write to the prompt, watch TMI about detailed health issues, making it personable, not nebulous and not bragging). Ok - carry on
Have to be honest with you, reading through the UCLA admission threads yesterday, it’s shocking to see so many excellent applicants rejected or at least waitlisted. 113,000 applications and only 6k spots! With a 33% yield, they have a 16% acceptance rate. Ouch! Don’t know what kind of grades, etc my S24 will need when applying to UCs in 6 years!
