How early to start preparing kid for attending a good college?
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Anonymous
| Let’s say a kid’s goal is to get into a school like Harvard, Duke, or Princeton. Is there any benefit to early prep for high school classes and standardized tests or is it too early? DD is in 8th grade by the way. |
Anonymous
| First -- recognize that you face extremely long odds (not a lottery per se) at these schools. If you have a hook (URM/first gen/under-represented state/moneybags donor possibilities/Olympic athlete/van Kliburn finalist etc), you have some advantages. But you still need a high GPA, with rigorous classes and stellar test scores. 8th grade is too early for SAT/ACT prep but many schools offer the 8/9 PSAT which gives you a good guide. I don't know what you mean by prep for high school classes -- that's what school is for. |
Anonymous
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I do not think that it is healthy for your 8th grader to be focused on specific schools, although my 8th grader is similarly susceptible to the kids around him and school obsession.
But if you are raising your kid from birth to 8th grade you are doing the things that you need to do to maximize their odds. Reading to them builds vocabulary and leads to better essays. Teaching them appropriate values and behavior and social skills makes them a success in the classroom and leads to better letters of rec. Etc . . . |
Anonymous
| If you're just starting in 8th grade your DD is totally screwed. You need to start, at the LATEST, by 4th grade to set them up to be doing Algebra 1 by 7th grade. Their writing skills need to be very solid - you can't just start now. You should readjust your DD's expectations to something more like Boston College or Northeastern. |
Anonymous
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Given the slim odds for even a student with perfect stats, it is way too early, at least from a standpoint that prioritizes mental health.
I would encourage them to find activities they enjoy and also to do some true service that benefits their community. Hands on grunt work, not creating a fake non profit. If those things translate into resume boosters, great, but if not, at least they did something more meaningful than test prep. - double grad of two schools on your list who won't be encouraging my kids to follow |
Anonymous
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First, you're in for an unhappy 4 years if you're targeting the Ivy League, no matter how profoundly brilliant your kid is. The mental gym is "target" lower tier, and apply to an Ivy (or a few - but there's work involved) "just in case you win the lottery". Because someone, somewhere, will win the lottery!
Second, if you really really want this, there are half a mil consultants in New York who can work with you starting from 8th grade, to craft an entire high school trajectory. Perfect grades and test scores are only the beginning. The work really lies in extra-curricular activities and measurable achievement in those, whatever they are, the more original the better, accessing valuable internships, creating the right community service aura (is your kid doing to have their own charitable organization, or not?)... Or easier, be a recruited athlete, plus have parents who attended the school. Third, if you don't want to hire a half a mil NY consultant, given you're here in DC, find someone here for a lot less who can shepherd your kid through the process. Maybe posters will share some names. Fourth, some intelligent anticipation might be needed: it's pretty clear the pendulum is swinging towards test-welcoming instead of test-optional for the more selective institutions. In 4 years, AI will be so good at essay-writing, I'm not sure essays will be required. Prepare to adapt. Fifth, and most important. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Burnout is real. Do not disgust your child with intense test prep now. The work should already have started years ago to place for the most advanced tracks, so she gets into high school ready to start Alg 2/Precalc/Calc (if engineering), or AP Gov/APUSH in public school, or whatever equivalent high level class her private school is doing. If that in-depth work hasn't been done, and you think your kid should change tracks, then yes, you will need academic tutors. And maybe after all that your kid will land a rare free ride to their state college, instead of an invitation to Boston. Please celebrate if she does. Free college means you can invest that money wisely, and pay for a down payment for her first home, or pay for medical or law school, or face your golden years with more equanimity. |
Anonymous
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You are ridiculous and setting your kid up to fail. There is literally nothing you can do to “prepare” because it’s a crapshoot even for the best of the best.
How about you back the hell off and focus on finding some joy in life. |
Anonymous
| OP: Is it your goal for your DD or your DD's goal? Do most 8th graders have a preference this early? |
Anonymous
| Umm, you've already missed the boat. Better prepare for a state school. |
Anonymous
| Your kid should work as hard as they can on academics, arts, and atheltics that they are truly willing to do |
Anonymous
+1 and be mindful of how you talk about college. Harvard, Yale, etc are not "good colleges" they are "elite" colleges. And a kid who does everything seemingly perfectly still is most likely not getting in. But there are a lot of good colleges out there which they should also consider. |
Anonymous
I’ve been on this forum for 20 years, have been through the college gauntlet with DC ‘21, and am preparing for two more shortly down the pike. This is one of the best posts I’ve read in my DCUM experience. Thank you, PP for posting. New parents- please take heed! |
Anonymous
| I will humor you, if you want your kid to get in and you are an upper middle class non-URM family, your kid needs a hook. Is your kid super athletic and do you have a ton of money to spend on travel sports? if the answer is yes, that is a good route (even better if you pick a sport that is less accessible - women's ice hockey is better than track in that regard). if not, does your kid have some special talent you can nurture - music, art - where you could plausibly see your kid winning national competitions? That is another possible route (although definitely less of a sure thing than sports). Do you have the bandwidth to start a non-profit and have your kid be involved in it? that can work too (just say your kid did it all by himself). |
Anonymous
| We've traveled quite a bit and if a college campus was nearby, we typically check it out. I just want her to get an idea of what's out there - she could go to Chicago or Boston or out west or stay close at a va school. We're not overly fixated on any one school or the ivies. On a practical note, she knows she'll have to get good grades and stand out somehow. She's a standout in one sport and good at another, and she has straight A's in intensified/AP classes and she tests well, so hopefully she'll have a few schools who want her. |
Anonymous
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I think the most important thing that you can do, is to temper expectations. Talk to her about what the acceptance rates are. What the colleges are looking for. Show her the resumes of winners of Regeneron competition, Coca Cola scholars, etc. Those are the kids that go on to get into highly selective schools.
Reality is that just about every kid applying is actually qualified to attend these schools, but there is a fixed number of seats, so the vast majority will get rejected. None of this means that your child shouldn't try their hardest, both in academics and anything else that is of interest to them. But it is important for them to realize that probabilistically, they will likely not get into any Ivies, but that isn't the end of the world, and there are hundreds of good colleges out there where they can go to get a good education. |