Daughter is a HS sophomore, and just starting the college search. She currently has a 4.2 GPA (weighted), I will hypothesize around a 1200 SAT (hasn’t taken them yet). Interested in Psychology/Dance, but is mostly undecided. Taking one AP course this year, and is scheduled for several next. Lives in DC Metro (NoVA) and wants to stay on East Coast, but within about a 3-4 hour distance. Smart, but social. Loves to dance. Values authenticity and substance. Loves Science and Math, though isn’t particularly interested in STEM-careers, outside of possibly pharmacy. Other potential career interests include law, marketing, dance therapy. Not into drinking. Involved in leadership and community service. What schools should we be looking at?
It’s way too early to focus on “I want to go to X” but it’s not too early for a few preliminary steps.
1- Budget. The single biggest gift you can give her is to take the time to figure out what you can pay. Not what you wish you could pay, but an actual dollar amount.
2- Type of college. Big, small, urban, rural, lots of rah rah or more artsy and cerebral; sorority is the center of her social life or she wants a wide range of friends and volunteer work? Dance- wants an actual, formal, disciplined ballet company or just wants to know there are opportunities to take classes here and there? Single sex OK? Religious life- important or not? Students heavily involved in the community or the college is its own world most of the time?
You don’t have to decide “Does she love Goucher or Skidmore more?” right now-- just get a handle on what the important criteria are likely to be for her before junior year kicks in to gear.
But most people ignore step 1 (budget) until it’s too late. Kid is hopelessly in love with a college the family cannot afford, and then it gets ugly.
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Building on the budget piece that @blossom points out - once you have a firm budget number (unless cost is no object and the sky’s the limit), start saving 1/12th of that each month NOW.
That way, you’ll already have two years of the college budget saved by the time your daughter is ready to go to college. You’ll also see if your number is easy to save, what happened if you aren’t able to save, and whether you need to re-visit the budget number you came up with.
If you really want to jump into the college search, I’d suggest looking at your in-state options. Virginia has a ton of amazing schools and they might end up being your most affordable as well. Start doing some weekend day trips to Christopher Newport, UVA, W&M, JMU…see what your daughter likes and doesn’t like about the locations, size and vibes of those schools. This should all be very low pressure, hey let’s just see what colleges around us are like and what speaks to your daughter, even if she can’t fully articulate it at first.
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I totally agree with Blossom’s points above (and @beebee3 about saving the monthly amount now…didn’t see her post while writing mine).
To help your daughter get an idea of what type of college she might be interested in, you can visit different schools, and you’re blessed with a plethora of closeby options. Your daughter doesn’t need to view these as to whether she wants to put these exact schools on her list, but to see how she feels about urban/suburban/small town/remote, or size of the school, etc. I would avoid visiting schools that are highly unlikely acceptances. (This is why I debated slightly about Bryn Mawr…not that it would be highly unlikely, but its admissions standards are probably higher than all of the other schools on this list, but it’s a great example of a women’s college.) Some schools you may want to consider that are all within 150 miles of your location (and most within 50) include:
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Sweet Briar: Women’s college of about 500 undergrads in a remote area or Bryn Mawr: A women’s college in a suburb of a major metro
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Washington College (about 1k undergrads) or St. Mary’s College of Maryland (about 1500 undergrads: in a more remote area
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Goucher: About 1k undergrads in a more suburban area of a city
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Shenandoah: About 2500 undergrads in a small town
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American: About 7900 undergrads in a more suburban area of a city
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George Washington: About 12k undergrads with a super-urban campus
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U. of Maryland - College Park: About 30k undergrads for a big state school experience
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Thanks so much! This is my first, and everyone tells me we need to start early - but NoVA is crazy, so I wasn’t sure how behind we were in all of this. We have a significant college savings - but sky is definitely not the limit. In-state tuition would be lovely, but I would also love to see what kind of scholarships she might be eligible for if she looked private (and not so highly competitive). She’s considering a Dance Minor, and a school that has a Dance Team (think poms and rah-rah dance at weekend football games) that isn’t too difficult to make would be a plus. DEFINITELY does NOT want single sex, haha. Religious life - protestant Christian background - not opposed to that background, but also not a requirement, and more conservative places (like Liberty) would be an absolute no. She has no idea if she wants big or small. I think she would prefer smaller, but not TOO small.
You’ve got tons of options- and combining a “hey, let’s drive through on our way to X” for a drop- in or to get ice cream if a campus is on the way to an actual destination is a nice way to start. Goucher, Muhlenberg, Skidmore, American, Wheaton, Clark, Delaware, Franklin and Marshall-- lots of good options in the “small but not too small” category!
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Take a look at Elon, too. Good for an undecided kid, flexible curriculum, focus on experiential. Not rah rah but super involved kids.
I can back you up on this for sure.
My daughter did a mix of in-person tours and virtual tours to a variety of schools in the summer when she was a rising senior. This gave her an idea of what type of school she was looking for. Some she really liked, some she didn’t. Summer was a good time for her because the deadlines and requirements were fresh in her head when it came time to apply in the fall.
I second Elon as a great choice to consider. Elon is likely within reach academically and has dance major and minor, dance science major and an excellent dance team that should be within reach for a trained dancer-i.e. competitive but not crazy hard to make. It is also less expensive than many other private schools and does offer some scholarships.
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Don’t let those hyper competitive NOVA moms make you think you are behind. You are just fine.
Tip from me, as you investigate schools, take a look at the club availability for dance. My son wanted to be able to sing but not major in it, so that was a large part of what made certain schools in or out on his list. His final school provided fantastic opportunities for non-music majors to sing, and he is loving school. Great classes, great kids, and lots of amazing singing. He’s in a Mens Glee Club of almost 100 guys. It’s perfect for him. Added bonus was instant group of friends/familiar faces on campus and older guys to act as mentors too. Looking at the singing group pages also gave an insight into the vibe of the schools.
Good luck as you start your search and school visits. Keep it casual and low stakes for the next year as her interests expand and she figures out the atmosphere and type of campus she prefers.
For example, a quick google search found these at W&M, JMU and UVA. Larger schools may have more than one dance club. Just something extra to look for at the schools on her list. Maybe she will try out for a cheer/pom dance group that performs at games, but these are lower stakes and lower time commitment.
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Our friends daughter is a senior at Point Park in Pittsburgh. You mentioned dance therapy. It is a very serious dance school and number of students go there with the the hope to dance professionally. Obviously not all of them do. Our friends daughter is trying to dance professionally but is also interested in a career that involves dance and working with kids with special needs.
Point Park is probably 5-6 hours from metro DC, right in downtown Pitt. I believe pyschology is one of their stronger programs and they offer a five year masters.
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I think having her do early tours of some local colleges could be really helpful. For us, UWi-Madison for a large instate public and Lawrence U for a SLAC were useful for him to be able to start to verbalize more concretely what he wanted in a college (even though we knew he wasn’t applying to either of those schools). Touring schools he wasn’t “interested in” for him was great as well as I felt he was more brutally honest with his opinions.
If you are on the bookface, there is a very active Dance Parents info board with a few pinned resources you may find useful as well.
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