Rising Junior Seeks Merit: 32ACT, 4.0W/3.5UW, 19 AP/Honors, 4+2 FL. Public Policy/History

[PolllyDactile]

@beebee3

None of the three schools she ended up applying to were even on her list at this same time Junior year.

Our big takeaway was that doing the research about the ins and outs of each school was really important. I truly believe it was all the work done on the front end to figure out which schools were the best ‘matches’ for our daughter that helped make this process relatively smooth and straightforward this fall.

Don’t think you need to apply to 20 different schools to find the ‘right’ one. But figure out what is really important to you (and be honest as I think a lot of what trips people up with college admissions is a struggle with honesty/authenticity of what the student and parent goals are when finding the ‘right’ college).

If going into government is on your kid’s must have list, take the time to find out what those pathways actually look like…right now it sounds like this is more of a dream than a goal let alone a plan.

If prestige is important, accept & embrace that and figure out what you are willing to pay for the pleasure of being able to brag to friends and family.

If location is the most important aspect, or quality of life…define what that means for your child and help them find a good match.

I think you might want to examine your idea that you are a family “that can afford to buy a Mercedes but would be happy buying a Honda”. Because if you were happy to buy the Honda, you could just go with the three really good options you’ve already identified. The fact you aren’t satisfied with those options says you aren’t just looking for a Honda. Figure out what you are actually looking for, and then figure out if you are willing to jump through the hoops those choices present. Good luck, you have plenty of time to figure this out and it will work out.

Thanks very much! We tried to get a low stress, early start on all of this during spring of this year, touring schools after having taken the ACT scores, but now comes the real juggling. Our hope is to have, as a family, worked through some of these concepts before application time comes next summer… and y’all here are helping!

The government thing is something he envisions as a way to “serve” for a time, but hello - he is 16. Who knows how he will serve? He does gravitate toward DC and the midAtlantic in a big way, although of all places, he absolutely loved Sewanee (University of the South… in Tennessee). I cannot find diddly doo on CC regarding that school. Hmmm.

Here’s another little item he thinks about. One of the things he didn’t care for when visiting Rhodes that, of all those gorgeous gothic styled buildings, there wasn’t a single chapel or even a little room where kids could worship. Now, we only started going to church a couple years ago (hubby and I were force fed as kids) and when most local churches didn’t have accomodations for “this kind of child” (our older boy has autism), we blew it off until our 14 year old started to ask to go. He doesn’t talk about his faith, doesn’t pray before dinner, and a couple of his bffs are atheists, but he gets me up every Sunday morning to drive him. So yeah - there are little things that mean something to him that I’d never have even considered.

He isn’t concerned about prestige, but the hub and I are currently brain stained that certain schools/areas “might” be better for networking than others for the areas he is interested in.

As for the Honda, I’m literally talking about what we drive. A Honda would be a step up from my 11 year old Ford! We’d love to stick the kid in a Cadillac, if that’s the metaphor we’re rolling with. We just have to balance the massive cash out of pocket we’ll end up spending on our older kid’s group home and how we don’t want college bound boy to have to “sacrifice” for a Caddy.

Thanks for replying and reading! It is great to have other seasoned parents helping guide us!