High Stat kid, no interests or leadership, where to apply?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Full pay boy. High performing suburban HS of a major city (Boston/DC/NY). No legacy.

Going into his junior year of HS. In the top ten of his class, may end up being valedictorian. He’s very smart, has no leadership or interesting ECs. Minor volunteering, 2 JV sports, not recruitable and may not even make varsity. Ship has sailed for ECs, they would be meaningless at this point and I would not expect joining a club would have any impact on his results.

He is really smart, and likely would do fine at an Ivy, but he won’t get in as he doesn’t stand out at all. Where can a kid with high test scores and top of class at a strong suburban public get into that is still prestigious? What’s his best bet for ED? Could he possibly get into a rice or Cornell?

He has multiple 5s on APs and will have 1500+ on SAT (if he doesn’t get there initially, he will be tutored).

As a dyslexia person, I initially read it as "he will be tortured."

LOL. It may feel the same for him.

Op, please stop saying “very smart”. There are thousands of high stat kids out there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks all - he is interested in science. When discussing college he IDed “marine biology” as a possible major. He has zero experience with marine bio other than he took AP bio this year and got a 5 on the exam. I encouraged him to do a two week marine bio program this summer and he wouldn’t do it. He has no motivation aside from doing well in school, which isn’t overly hard for him. This summer he is sleeping in, hanging out with friends at the beach, and golfing. I honestly don’t think he would start a club, or volunteer - he has no interest in spending his time that way and I don’t want to fight over it even if it means getting into a rice/wash U instead of a lower ranked school.

Desire for prestige is coming from him - when he was brainstorming a college list he said his first choice was MIT and then would like to either Penn or Brown. That isn’t realistic.

Marine biology, UCSD or U Florida hands down.
If he wants prestige, Bowdoin has research centers on islands. Be sure to visit there, he will be impressed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks all - he is interested in science. When discussing college he IDed “marine biology” as a possible major. He has zero experience with marine bio other than he took AP bio this year and got a 5 on the exam. I encouraged him to do a two week marine bio program this summer and he wouldn’t do it. He has no motivation aside from doing well in school, which isn’t overly hard for him. This summer he is sleeping in, hanging out with friends at the beach, and golfing. I honestly don’t think he would start a club, or volunteer - he has no interest in spending his time that way and I don’t want to fight over it even if it means getting into a rice/wash U instead of a lower ranked school.

Desire for prestige is coming from him - when he was brainstorming a college list he said his first choice was MIT and then would like to either Penn or Brown. That isn’t realistic.

Yea no. My kid had almost perfect stats, and some activities, with one being in a national org, and they were rejected at MIT.

DC also thought their high stats, and meh activities were enough. They aren't.

Penn State is a good choice, and he will more than likely do great academically there.

[Anonymous]

Northeastern apparently has a good marine biology program, and they would take him in a second.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks all - he is interested in science. When discussing college he IDed “marine biology” as a possible major. He has zero experience with marine bio other than he took AP bio this year and got a 5 on the exam. I encouraged him to do a two week marine bio program this summer and he wouldn’t do it. He has no motivation aside from doing well in school, which isn’t overly hard for him. This summer he is sleeping in, hanging out with friends at the beach, and golfing. I honestly don’t think he would start a club, or volunteer - he has no interest in spending his time that way and I don’t want to fight over it even if it means getting into a rice/wash U instead of a lower ranked school.

Desire for prestige is coming from him - when he was brainstorming a college list he said his first choice was MIT and then would like to either Penn or Brown. That isn’t realistic.

Ok that's a start. My 2 cents:

Skip "marine biology" - it's actually quite competitive, and he has zero demonstrated interest. There are better options:

- Applied Math/Statistics (hot field, less competition than pure bio) - does he love math? How would his math LOR look?
- Environmental Science (broader than marine bio, easier to fake interest with urban gardens, gardening, sustainability drives, working in plant nurseries over summer etc)
- Geology or Atmospheric Science (its less competitive STEM major but still STEM - which is a concern)

But. He needs to do something. He'll go to your state flagship otherwise. Truthfully, his application is NOT compelling AT ALL.

What he can do RIGHT NOW (with minimal effort required):

- Get a job - lifeguard, Home Depot, plant nurseries, botanical gardens, camp counselor, anything that shows work ethic
- Online courses in his intended major (Coursera, edX) - shows interest without leaving the house. Rice has some pre-college online programs that start on Monday and the week thereafter (https://precollege.rice.edu/)
- Science fair project next year - he's smart enough to do well with minimal time investment

Without ECs or personality, he's banking everything on stats. There's a minuscule chance that might work at Rice or WashU ED, but MIT/Penn/Brown are pure fantasies.

I'd ED to Rice or WashU (have him register online now and do some online engagement, apply broadly to schools that love high-stats kids (Case), and hope his personality comes through in essays. He needs to understand that "really smart but unmotivated" doesn't impress anyone at elite colleges. Love your state flagship.

[Anonymous]

Can you set him up with a college counselor who can be the bad cop and let him know he needs something more than good grades for the schools he wants to go to?

[Anonymous]

I don't think Chicago, WashU and Rice are realistic, even with ED. All three do look at ECs closely.

BU loves high stats, if he can get 1550+, ED BU is more realistic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do we have high stats no ECs boys keep popping up recently? So many.

Because they stay in their rooms and play video games.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think Chicago, WashU and Rice are realistic, even with ED. All three do look at ECs closely.

BU loves high stats, if he can get 1550+, ED BU is more realistic.

I think if he does something with himself before he applies, he might ED1 WashU and ED2 BU? But if he continues on this course, I agree. Nothing will work.
Also, he's not from a private HS, and this strategy (WashU/Rice/Chicago) is usually reserved for full-pay privates, where most of those schools take a few (boys in my experience). OP has to check her school's Naviance to see the track record.

Everything wrt college admissions is high school specific.

[Anonymous]

Why not public Unis? State schools are more stats driven.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do we have high stats no ECs boys keep popping up recently? So many.

Because they stay in their rooms and play video games.

Sad. Where are the parents? This is a parenting failure imo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Full pay boy. High performing suburban HS of a major city (Boston/DC/NY). No legacy.

Going into his junior year of HS. In the top ten of his class, may end up being valedictorian. He’s very smart, has no leadership or interesting ECs. Minor volunteering, 2 JV sports, not recruitable and may not even make varsity. Ship has sailed for ECs, they would be meaningless at this point and I would not expect joining a club would have any impact on his results.

He is really smart, and likely would do fine at an Ivy, but he won’t get in as he doesn’t stand out at all. Where can a kid with high test scores and top of class at a strong suburban public get into that is still prestigious? What’s his best bet for ED? Could he possibly get into a rice or Cornell?

He has multiple 5s on APs and will have 1500+ on SAT (if he doesn’t get there initially, he will be tutored).

Maybe ECs might not make a difference in college admissions, but they could still be very important for personal growth. He's going to learn differently from debate/Model UN/etc. than from classwork.

[Anonymous]

Agree on the parenting point.

This kid needs to be pushed out of the house for to get a part time job. Make it a requirement he reads a bunch of books (can join a book club or volunteer at library), and join small clubs at HS that are underenrolled. None of these are necessarily "impressive" and can be described well and leaned upon for essays.

Someone needs to tell the kid:
Find a problem you identify with in your community. Work on something - anything - to solve it.
and
Get a hobby. Anything.

If the hobby is golf, volunteer to teach golf at local courses/parks or with a national org (google showed lots of search results for that). Sign up to be an instructor (get a job at mini-golf).

If there's no motivation, apply to something like CU-Boulder, Miami-Ohio, UNC, Case (show some real interest) and see what happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks all - he is interested in science. When discussing college he IDed “marine biology” as a possible major. He has zero experience with marine bio other than he took AP bio this year and got a 5 on the exam. I encouraged him to do a two week marine bio program this summer and he wouldn’t do it. He has no motivation aside from doing well in school, which isn’t overly hard for him. This summer he is sleeping in, hanging out with friends at the beach, and golfing. I honestly don’t think he would start a club, or volunteer - he has no interest in spending his time that way and I don’t want to fight over it even if it means getting into a rice/wash U instead of a lower ranked school.

Desire for prestige is coming from him - when he was brainstorming a college list he said his first choice was MIT and then would like to either Penn or Brown. That isn’t realistic.

Stop talking your kid down and look at the positives. He is smart with fantastic grades in the top of the class. He is a multi sport athlete and volunteered.

He hasn’t identified a school of interest do you need to find some with bio programs and schedule some trips.

About a year ago, my son randomly said he could get into Harvard. He might have said he was going to be in the NBA or the next Taylor Swift, it was that unrealistic. Rather than crushing him, I found some realistic places and we’ve spent the last year low stress occasionally going on tours when we traveled. He’s the same age as your kid.

He’s figured now, kind of like Goldilocks, which places are too big, which are too small and which he sort of likes. We didn’t tour schools he couldn’t get into but mine didn’t actually care about prestige.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why not public Unis? State schools are more stats driven.

OP was asking for ED options. Are you thinking UM ED? God forbid, OOS is really expensive for a marine biology major there.