@ccprofandmomof2 I don’t really disagree with anything you say, but you asked for some positive experiences and I was just trying to provide one - it’s not all doom and gloom. You are right to think about finances, we underestimated that because costs went way up about 10 years or so ago. We did not have AP classes when I was in HS, so I was really surprised how many the top kids are taking nowadays. That was one adjustment we made for our younger child to get him to take more and higher quality APs. Include Cal Poly in your list with the UCs because it has a nice residential experience too. There is a site called admitguide.com that has info from UC that will show how kids from your HS have fared at each of the UCs - number of applicants, number of acceptances, etc. That and some of the Naviance data can give an indication how your child compares. Things will really start accelerating her junior year. Best of luck to her.