My sister is moving to Texas next year and my niece would start her high school there. If you or your children went to school there, what tips do you gave for an indirect ivy aspirant student? Which high school is better for GPA and rank, which courses to pick, what are the ways to get leadership positions in clubs, what resources are there to help you with college admissions, or anything else that would help her. Thanks.
She is taking Algebra 1 and Spanish 1 in middle school, would it count for high school?
As a general rule, Algebra 1 and Spanish 1 are high school courses, although it depends.
Well, I in the North Texas there are various high schools that are ideal for Ivy League aspirants. The best public schools are Plano West ISD, TAG (especially good since it is the #1 in America; requires interview and/or auditions), and Coppell, which are notorious for their high performance. In terms charter schools, Uplift North Hills Preparatory is outstanding and sends many students to schools like Cornell, John Hopkins, Duke, Harvard, and many more on a yearly basis, but requires a entry through a lottery system for admittance. Great private schools in the area include the Highlands, Hockaday, and Ursaline which send many kids to Ivies as well.
Uplift North Hills Prep is great because they don’t rank, and is one of the only K-12 IB continuum schools in Texas. They also have many opportunities for leadership, extracirrculars, and awards. They offer both AP and IB, with and IB focus, and the class load is rigorous and appealing to to colleges.They have Road to College Programs where have college visit opportunities and get linked up with university representatives and alumni linked to the school’s college counselors. They also hold private college fairs for their students where they can meet with actual representatives, get college and university contacts.
Coppell has a REAL high school experience with Friday night football and many athletic opportunities and strong fine arts programs. The academics are very strong as well. I have not heard of many Ivy League candidates coming from there, but they provide a lot of opportunities extracurricular wise and they have solid academics.
The other schools are great and I would love to go into detail about them, but I have to go but for more info here are their websites:
Plano West High: k-12.pisd.edu/schools/pwsh/
Coppell High: www.coppellisd.com/chs
TAG (School For The Talented and Gifted) : tagmagnet.org
Uplift North Hills Preparatory: www.uplifteducation.org/northhillsprep
The Hockaday School: The Hockaday School
Ursuline Academy: https://www.ursulinedallas.org/
The Highlands: www.thehighlandsschool.org
*Maybe I can come back later and go into further detail about the other schools.
My daughter went to Hockaday prek-9th grade and was a high achieving student, made high honors every term she was eligible. While Hockaday is an academically rigorous school, it is strife with social problems. We pulled her out after 11 years there because it was not an emotionally healthy environment, to say the least. She is now VERY happy and doing extremely well at another school. The girls at Hockaday are socially competitive with each other, and are often mean in under the radar ways, and while the school talks a good game about addressing bullying and social aggression among students, in reality, they don’t. So, if you have a daughter that is above average, but not too smart so she stands out, is athletic, and has all the right southern graces, then it is the perfect fit. Otherwise, I encourage parents of really smart girls, high achieving girls to look hard to determine if the schools is really the right fit. Ivy league schools look for a student who is taking the most rigorous courses available to them at their school (not compared to other high schools) and are doing well in them…in addition to MANY other factors. Things may change at Hockaday now that Liza Lee is back as interim headmistress, time will tell.
I can also share that Hocakday has an integrated math curriculum starting in 7th grade. Between the grades of 7th and 9th, the students will have completed Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2. I’m not sure how they handle students who enter 9th and are coming from a different curriculum, but 10th graders take pre-calc and are leveled by achievement and ability. It is a very strong math program.
Wondering what an Ivy League aspirant really means in middle school? And without knowing what the student wants to major in, and without visiting any schools how can one aspire to specifically pick a random cross section of schools that make up an athletic conference?
I know. It sounds odd but kid is very smart with perfect grades since KG and scored 2300 in 7th grade SAT for JHCTY. She wants to go to top ranking college and be among high achieving peers.
She doesn’t want to pick any major until sophomore year of undergrad. Tuition isn’t an issue for parents, both earn well and she is an only child with trust fund. She is attending a top public school now and doing very well there, scored above state’s NMSF cutoff in PSAT as a freshmen.