Sophomore Starting Search... Any Suggestions?

College Search & Lists
1

<p>Gender: M
Location: Palo Alto, CA (Stanford is ~6 blocks away)
College Class Year: 2016, graduate HS class of 2012
High School: Public
High School Type: Top 100 in nation
Will apply for financial aid: No, Income > $200,000
Legacy: Harvard undergrad, U Chicago / Stanford Graduate</p>

<p>Academics:
Sophomore Year (guess, still haven’t had finals)
GPA - Unweighted: 3.71
GPA - Weighted: 3.85
Class Rank: not a ranking school (I think…not really getting a lot of resources from the school this early in the process)
Class Size: ~400
Honors classes- 1, I think. (Not honors in the GPA sense, they just put H after it because it is really hard.)
AP- 1 </p>

<p>Hardest classes possible, also Java and Spanish 4AP.</p>

<p>Freshman year was 4.0, with no honors / AP classes.</p>

<p>Tests—</p>

<p>All I have are the California public school tests</p>

<p>ERB (writing)- 99th percentile
STAR(NCLB)- 90th CR, 99th Science, somewhere in the 90s for History and Math</p>

<p>ECs</p>

<p>Debate-- on the varsity National Circuit as a sophomore
Scouts-- “Vice President”, help run meetings with 50-100 people
Tennis-- both on the school team and out of it
Medical Explorers-- attend meetings at local Post
Comm. Service – 50 hrs now, hoping to get it to 100 over the summer.</p>

<p>Interested in a LAC
Not especially interested in Ivy League
Interested in all areas (even Europe, if I really match) except the South (again, unless I get a really good match).
Would prefer not to go to a tiny college (<250 undergrad)</p>

<p>As a start, I’m thinking of the UCs, as well as LACs like Carleton as a bit of a stretch.</p>

<p>So, any ideas for colleges / things I should work on?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>What kind of school, exactly, are you interested in going to? You mention the UC’s (I assume Berkeley and/or UCLA are one of your choices), which are huge state schools-but, you have an interest in small LAC’s like Carleton. You certainly are on the right track stats-wise (and those legacies will come in handy!), but perhaps you should narrow down some basic aspects of a school first.</p>

<p>It’s a lot easier to help when you say “top midwestern LAC’s,” for example, vs. “any ideas for colleges.”</p>

<p>Maybe sit down with the Fiske Guide, read the descriptions of all types of colleges, and see what kind of school interests you. Good luck! :)</p>

3

<p>well, i cant think of a school with 250 or less so that isn’t helpful really (except deep springs). it is hard to give suggestions without knowing where you can get in. also, it is important to decide what size school you want. do u want a small (under 4000), medium/small (4000-10000), medium/large (10000-15000), or large (15000+) school. also are you against religous schools, do you want a big city, and what are you interested in?</p>

4

<p>For your own sake, push your search off until summer. Now is when you need to focus heavily on your EC’s, grades, and standardized testing.</p>

<p>All you need to do now is prep for and take the SAT. If you are in Biology or Chemistry, I would also suggest taking subject tests in those areas, along with a Spanish SAT II since you are already to your fourth level of study.</p>

5

<p>Although I’m not completely beyond the “I like them all” stage,
I’m not interested in religious schools, and I think that I would prefer a small school over a large one (although that wouldn’t be the greatest part of my decision).</p>

<p>I’d prefer a suburban (born and raised) setting, but an urban setting isn’t a “no deal”</p>

<p>And, I definitely will take the Chem SAT I this year (taking AP bio junior year, so I’ll wait until that year for bio). I’m not the world’s most talented Spanish student (B in that class), so I’m not sure I want to take that yet.</p>

6

<p>1) You have given out too much personal information for a public board!
2) You have finals starting on the 19th and you should be studying.
3) An “H” after the course title does not mean “hard”, it is the Honors designation for your district.</p>

7

<p>I think it’s perfectly fine to start the search now but you just don’t know enough about what your S wants to be able to get specific advice from the parents yet. Instead do the college board search or perhaps one of the others out there…I think CC now has a search feature. </p>

<p>Doing those searches gives you lists of place you may want to casually visit this summer and that will give you and your S an idea of what he may want. Then you will find more help here. Good Luck!</p>

8

<p>I think it’s a great idea to begin a general search. I’d recommend concentrating on size and location. When you get a chance try and visit nearby colleges of varying sizes and just sit in the middle of campus. Don’t take the tour, just sit there and try and get a feel for what it would be like to go to school with that many people. Mills in Oakland has ~2,000 students; St. Mary’s closer to 5K; Stanford & Santa Clara 8-10K and UC-Santa Cruz 16K. </p>

<p>I’m not recommending those schools, I’m just using them as a examples of close-to-Palo Alto options. </p>

<p>Second, watch the Weather Channel. Get a sense of what it’s like to spend winter in less temperate climates. Carleton is a great school but are you prepared for a week or three of sub-zero temperatures? </p>

<p>At this stage you should be worrying about assembling a list in the broadest strokes. After you get a sense of your size and location preferences, the list will start to come together.</p>

9

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<p>These statements seemed to describe my initial thoughts when searching for colleges, and I soon began to give serious consideration to Brown University. I find it to be the best combination of everything one would want from an LAC with a major research university.
This post does a great job of explaining what makes it so special: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/brown-university/385841-brown-curriculum-university-college-explained.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/brown-university/385841-brown-curriculum-university-college-explained.html&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

10

<p>I suggest starting with 4 things only:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Consider signing up for SAT II for June.</p></li>
<li><p>Lurk on here often. Due to my lurking, my neice’s list expanded to Mid-West & Southern schools she would have never considered.</p></li>
<li><p>Make a list/Excel chart of schools that strike your fancy and why. You may wind up with 50 schools but you will start seeing patterns to the “why” – may be location, size, or study body vibe (laid back; studious, etc). This should be an on-going list for a year until you are ready to do some visits.</p></li>
<li><p>Consider taking both the ACT and the SAT in 11th grade.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I think it is great that you are starting your search early. But, as others have said, don’t lose focus of the present. Continue your hard work at school and participating in ECs of interest as well as a part time job.</p>

11

<p>I think its a great idea to start the search now. I would even look at nearby colleges that you may have an interest in maybe during April/May while classes are still in session. I’m a firm believer that visiting a college while the students are there is so important. I don’t think you get the same feel if you visit during the summer or if the school is on a break.</p>

12

<p>Thanks for the advice!</p>

<p>(SVmom, you’ve got a point)</p>

13

<p>“Will apply for financial aid: No, Income > $200,000”</p>

<p>Sit your parents down and find out just exactly how they expect you to finance your college education. Do they have four years of the cost of attendance (COA) at Harvard/Berkeley/Wherever socked away somewhere for you? Do they have nothing? Are student loans OK with them, and if so how much? Are parent loans OK with them, ditto? How much money do they expect you to make during the summers and school years?</p>

<p>Don’t let yourself be one more “I got into my dream schools but now my parents can’t/won’t pay” statistic in April of 2012.</p>

<p>Wishing you all the best.</p>