Need help with the selection process
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Anonymous
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Hi. I’m a single parent navigating the college process for the first time. My kid is in 10th grade so while it’s early I figure I need to get a jump on things since I’m doing it solo. Where do we start? My kid has no idea what kind of college she’s looking for. She’s mentioned getting into finance but isn’t completely sold on the idea. She’s also brought up dentistry. I think she’d be great at engineering but I don’t think she has the grades for it. I find college confidential frustrating and overwhelming to use.
Here are her stats: -2 sport year long athlete, decent but not d1 -3.9 weighted -abysmal test scores, 1020 PSAT -black -likes math/legos -adhd but managing School suggestions appreciated! |
Anonymous
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What is your home state?
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Anonymous
Md |
Anonymous
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A good starting point would be to do a search on schools that have directed admit to Dental programs. For example, if you if you want to go to Rutgers dental school, there’s a list of colleges where you can do your undergrad plus your dental program at Rutgers. Also, Howard and University of Maryland both have dental schools, so you might want to look at those to see where they bring their undergrads from.
Even if she doesn’t choose Dental, the undergrad that’s connected to will have other majors, obviously, but that will leave the dual degree Dental school Avenue open to her. |
Anonymous
| She needs to determine her major first, I doubt she has the grades for dental school unless she can really improve SAT scores but maybe dental assistant or dental technician. |
Anonymous
Your admission to dental school isn’t determined by your 10th grade GPA! That’s just bonkers. This child may be able to go to dental school if she wants. It’s a hard road, sure, but if she is determined there is a path. But she’s what, 15? She doesn’t need to decide now. There is zero, zero reason for her to pick a major now. If she doesn’t have a fixed major when she is choosing a school she should choose one with a variety of majors. Any major can be a road to many professional/graduate schools - you just need to do the pre-recs. At 10th grade I wouldn’t do a thing, OP. Have her work hard at school and revisit this all in a year. |
Anonymous
+1 one all of this, but maybe add in some low-pressure test prep. With a 3.9 weighted, she can probably up that score with some help. |
Anonymous
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Omg ignore the first two posts OP
Your child does not have to pick a major in 10th grade. 1. Nothing wrong with instate schools in MD like Towson, UMD (PSAT is low for this), UMBC (fabulous for women especially math/stem), or Salisbury. 2. Start with the instate schools first look at tuition with your child do not just do this on your own. Your child will be an adult at age 18 they need life skills this is a good way to start that. 3. Pick a few majors ie careers they are thinking of explain that college costs and majors can go hand and hand. For Example, if your child decides to apply to OOS schools the cost will skyrocket where are they getting the funds for this? Can you afford it? Or will they need loans? Do they want to be in debt more by going OOS? 4. Have them look at the instate schools websites as to course work required for a major for example Engineering would they enjoy those classes or does the business track interest them more? 5. Look at all the school's career web pages see if Internships and what companies come for career fairs for the major they might choose. Some schools have very little in this area and the career center isn't that helpful so college is about getting out make sure they understand that process. 6. Once they narrow down a major you go to the school on a tour. These are free and do as many as possible instate and out if your child is interested in OOS. 7. Ignore the trolls about the PSAT there are colleges for everyone. 8. Pick up a Barrons book or Princeton version to have a frame of reference. They give you all the stats on all colleges. 9. Learning the term Matriculation which is extremely important in terms of completing you major. It is always better to be able to enter a college in your major than to matriculate or change majors while there. Many schools have limited enrollment programs and changing majors is hard once at school. 10. The web is your friend it's free every college has a website have your child, not you go to the ones they are interested in and start making a list. Good luck and remember again there is a college for everyone. Most importantly make your child own the process. If you can get them help for the SAT or ACT. There are tons of tutors at all price points and Montgomery College or any other community college will have a class highly worth it to improve scores. |
Anonymous
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Few questions
- What is the budget? This will drive the suggestions because either the full price has to be affordable out right, or the school offers enough merit to put it in range and your kid is competitive for that merit or you’ve run the net price calculator for the school and you likely qualify for enough aid and the CDS (common data set) for that school shows it meets all/most need. - what type of school are they interested in - large, medium, small, Liberal Arts college or not, urban,suburban or rural and geographic location? - what type of diversity are they looking for at the school and/or with location of the school and are they open to HBCUs? Just super quick with the process in general it seems that schools with good business programs are competitive to get into and the STEM programs are also competitive. Colleges may be looking at coursework and ECs that support the interest. This isn’t to say they can’t pursue this options but they may need to find more of the hidden gems where the school accepts more than 50% of applicants and preferably the graduation rate is at least 75% and there is a pathway for finance students and also doe STEM/pre-med and pre-dentistry students but it’s not like every 4.7, 8-10 AP student is applying there. |
Anonymous
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My nephew recently graduated from Harvard. He has ADHD and test anxiety.
His mom advised me to have my kids look at the ACT instead. In many ways, it is a better test for exceptional learners. It has more sections and you can add your best scores together to get a higher score. |
Anonymous
| I’d first start with budget and then size of school that she is interested in. She will probably have a better idea of what she wants to study next year but there are summer programs to explore different interests (eg Stanford has one on overview of engineering). In the meantime, tour some closer schools to get an idea of what she likes. Obviously, locally UMD but also GW, American and then a SLAC like University of Richmond. You could also do a NYC/PA trip to Fordham, Muhlenberg, Drexel, Lafayette. |
Anonymous
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Do some test prep, either online or in person or DIY at home with a test prep book. That really can raise test scores a bit, and every little bit helps.
If interested in Engineering, but weak in math, then realize many of the top students have been supplementing math outside school (again, online, in person at Kumon, Mathnasium, or whatever, or DIY at home with math workbooks). This also can be strengthened in the time remaining. Last, please realize that college admissions today is a lottery. So apply widely to many colleges. Yes, apply to several in-state publics, but also apply to nearby OOS publics where DC’s future GOA and future test scores look like a fit. |
Anonymous
| You need memory memory |
Anonymous
| Bowie State |
Anonymous
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What is uw gpa? 3.3ish?
She will have options, go TO. Choose larger schools that have various majors she can try (as opposed to SLAC) Temple U Delaware URI UConn UCF Hofstra Pace |