What exactly are individual top colleges looking for?

mathmom
Fri, 09 Jun 2017 17:28:03 +0000

That’s true, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out optimally. My oldest was easy. He glommed onto math at 4 and computers at 6. We picked a few camps that seemed up his alley (science not sports) and gave him books and access to the family computer. Being a science family - there was a family computer fairly early on in his life, even though many friends did not have computers they could use.

Younger son ended up more in activities where his friends were. He played in two orchestras in high school all four years. He was never more than a servicable violinist, but he loved the conductor and being with his musical friends. He was involved in Science Olympiad, mostly inspired by his brother, but also because he liked that group of kids. He liked science and math, but they were his weakest grades in school. He did quite well at the event he chose though. Finally he got pulled into the literary magazine by friends as well. He majored in IR, but avoided the Model UN club, because it was run by helicopter parents of the drinking crowd. He got into good schools despite being the epitome of well-rounded!