<p>Here’s what I’m trying to understand:
I’m trying to help my daughter make a list of colleges that we can research, visit, and seriously consider this spring, while she is a junior, so that she is ready to get her applications in by the Early Decision deadline of whatever school turns out to be her first choice. </p>
<p>One of the most important steps seems to be trying to figure out where she would be a competitive candidate. I need to figure out which schools are reach/match/safety, right?</p>
<p>If all we have now to work with is her freshman/sophomore grades, is it simply too early to do this? If she had a 4.0 UW for these first two years, I can see that, yes, it’s reasonable to start considering top schools. But she doesn’t. She has a mix of A’s and B’s, has taken challenging, but not always the most challenging option in all of her academic courses (e.g., we have honors and GT/AP levels and she has taken a mix).</p>
<p>So, we can calculate a GPA but have NO IDEA what her class rank will be, and I honestly do not know how to assess whether or not Brandeis should be on her list.</p>
<p>If she would be a competitive applicant, we think Brandeis would be her first choice. If it’s a reach/dream, we need to start steering her in other directions and not get her hopes up about Brandeis.</p>
<p>What I’m hearing here is that there probably isn’t a way to know without her final junior year grades, and possibly class ranking?</p>