What do you wish someone had told you when you started your college search with DC?

[Anonymous]

Naviance data is gold.

Legacy and donor hooks don’t turn the needle anymore for T25s.

Schools are businesses, most manipulate the heck out of their stats to appear prestigious. Don’t fall for the fake prestige.

Don’t fall in love with a school, it will never love you back.

$90k+/year is not worth the price for most schools, even if you are wealthy. Your kid is smart and will appreciate this.

[Anonymous]

You be apply to an Ivy as a humanities/Social Sciences major and then declare a STEM major as a sophomore. What a waste of time it was to stand out in STEM!

[Anonymous]

"It doesn't matter".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You be apply to an Ivy as a humanities/Social Sciences major and then declare a STEM major as a sophomore. What a waste of time it was to stand out in STEM!

Actually you can't. No humanities major at any T20 is stumbling into an engineering degree sophomore year. That ship has sailed.

[Anonymous]

If at the outset, several things are good to know.

The first is money. There are about 15-20 schools that will make it work for nearly all families. They are generally the schools with the highest per capita endowments. And they are almost all highly selective. If those schools aren't realistic, do the NPC at a wide variety of schools to get a sense of what college is going to cost your family. And tell the kid at the outset what's possible and what's not. MIT and Pepperdine are roughly the same listed cost. But one works for the middle class, and one does not. So get informed. Be realistic. And share what's possible and not possible with the kid.

Treat it as a game. Tell the kid you love them and everything is going to work out. But here are the rules. If you want to shoot for a top school, here's what it takes - grades, rigor, scores, ECs and so on. If you want to go to State U, here's what it takes etc etc. And so forth. Become informed about what it takes. And check college admissions from your high school over the past three years to get a sense of which students are having some success.

Don't sleep on the PSAT. Especially if you are looking for grants and scholarships. If you are looking for merit, start grinding for the PSAT as soon as possible. So many awards and even full rides are possible with a high PSAT score.

But mostly - once you've explained admissions reality, the rules of the game, and the financial parameters - let the kid take charge. They need to own their decisions. And everything has consequences and opportunity costs. No one ever had to tell a kid now at MIT or Princeton to work harder or study longer. If they are well informed, they will do what's needed to get to the best place for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You be apply to an Ivy as a humanities/Social Sciences major and then declare a STEM major as a sophomore. What a waste of time it was to stand out in STEM!

Actually you can't. No humanities major at any T20 is stumbling into an engineering degree sophomore year. That ship has sailed.

Well, no, it depends. At schools that have engineering undergraduate degree but do not have an engineering-admit undergrad school (ie brown, princeton, others) you apply to the one undergraduate school and anyone can register for the engineering classes. No different than being a secret physics or CS male who pretends to be interested in english and philosophy to get in, then starts the physics or CS major prereqs once it is time to register for freshman classes.

If you are at a top school requiring admission to Engineering undergrad ( Penn, Columbia, Northwestern, etc) then sure it is hard to transfer over to E-school but nothing is stopping any "humanities" kid from becoming a physics or math or other stem major from the start. Anyone admitted can start freshman year with all the pre-reqs for whatever science major they want(physics, calc, etc are often taken with the physics or chem major college kids) and some T15s allow this as a path for a small number of freshman each year to transfer into the E-school with no graduation delay and maybe only a summer class or two to catch up.

Schools especially T15/ivy know this very well. They 100% understand stem is popular and students know that interest makes it harder to get in.
They look at interests and ECs carefully to try to have more balance among students, but it still happens all the time. It is another reason these schools expect the "humanities" interested kids (real and faux) to have taken at least a couple of the hardest stem classes at their high school. They want to admit students who can have a change of heart and have a good chance of success in what will be a competitive stem peer group once they are on campus.
True humanities-interested students are relatively rare in the applicant pool especially males and it is definitely an admissions boost even at the top.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You be apply to an Ivy as a humanities/Social Sciences major and then declare a STEM major as a sophomore. What a waste of time it was to stand out in STEM!

Actually you can't. No humanities major at any T20 is stumbling into an engineering degree sophomore year. That ship has sailed.

Well, no, it depends. At schools that have engineering undergraduate degree but do not have an engineering-admit undergrad school (ie brown, princeton, others) you apply to the one undergraduate school and anyone can register for the engineering classes. No different than being a secret physics or CS male who pretends to be interested in english and philosophy to get in, then starts the physics or CS major prereqs once it is time to register for freshman classes.

If you are at a top school requiring admission to Engineering undergrad ( Penn, Columbia, Northwestern, etc) then sure it is hard to transfer over to E-school but nothing is stopping any "humanities" kid from becoming a physics or math or other stem major from the start. Anyone admitted can start freshman year with all the pre-reqs for whatever science major they want(physics, calc, etc are often taken with the physics or chem major college kids) and some T15s allow this as a path for a small number of freshman each year to transfer into the E-school with no graduation delay and maybe only a summer class or two to catch up.

Schools especially T15/ivy know this very well. They 100% understand stem is popular and students know that interest makes it harder to get in.
They look at interests and ECs carefully to try to have more balance among students, but it still happens all the time. It is another reason these schools expect the "humanities" interested kids (real and faux) to have taken at least a couple of the hardest stem classes at their high school. They want to admit students who can have a change of heart and have a good chance of success in what will be a competitive stem peer group once they are on campus.
True humanities-interested students are relatively rare in the applicant pool especially males and it is definitely an admissions boost even at the top.

I'm learning that people on dcum just don't have many interests. I started in English and Philosophy and moved into physics after taking an intro then liking it. A lot of people here need a liberal arts education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You be apply to an Ivy as a humanities/Social Sciences major and then declare a STEM major as a sophomore. What a waste of time it was to stand out in STEM!

Huh?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If at the outset, several things are good to know.

The first is money. There are about 15-20 schools that will make it work for nearly all families. They are generally the schools with the highest per capita endowments. And they are almost all highly selective. If those schools aren't realistic, do the NPC at a wide variety of schools to get a sense of what college is going to cost your family. And tell the kid at the outset what's possible and what's not. MIT and Pepperdine are roughly the same listed cost. But one works for the middle class, and one does not. So get informed. Be realistic. And share what's possible and not possible with the kid.

Treat it as a game. Tell the kid you love them and everything is going to work out. But here are the rules. If you want to shoot for a top school, here's what it takes - grades, rigor, scores, ECs and so on. If you want to go to State U, here's what it takes etc etc. And so forth. Become informed about what it takes. And check college admissions from your high school over the past three years to get a sense of which students are having some success.

Don't sleep on the PSAT. Especially if you are looking for grants and scholarships. If you are looking for merit, start grinding for the PSAT as soon as possible. So many awards and even full rides are possible with a high PSAT score.

But mostly - once you've explained admissions reality, the rules of the game, and the financial parameters - let the kid take charge. They need to own their decisions. And everything has consequences and opportunity costs. No one ever had to tell a kid now at MIT or Princeton to work harder or study longer. If they are well informed, they will do what's needed to get to the best place for them.

Tell me more about the "so many awards and even full rides" that are possible with a high PSAT score. Are you talking about NMF or something else? If so, how does one find those? My kid - rising senior - has a very high PSAT score - high enough to be NMSF. Have not heard a thing about awards or full rides.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If at the outset, several things are good to know.

The first is money. There are about 15-20 schools that will make it work for nearly all families. They are generally the schools with the highest per capita endowments. And they are almost all highly selective. If those schools aren't realistic, do the NPC at a wide variety of schools to get a sense of what college is going to cost your family. And tell the kid at the outset what's possible and what's not. MIT and Pepperdine are roughly the same listed cost. But one works for the middle class, and one does not. So get informed. Be realistic. And share what's possible and not possible with the kid.

Treat it as a game. Tell the kid you love them and everything is going to work out. But here are the rules. If you want to shoot for a top school, here's what it takes - grades, rigor, scores, ECs and so on. If you want to go to State U, here's what it takes etc etc. And so forth. Become informed about what it takes. And check college admissions from your high school over the past three years to get a sense of which students are having some success.

Don't sleep on the PSAT. Especially if you are looking for grants and scholarships. If you are looking for merit, start grinding for the PSAT as soon as possible. So many awards and even full rides are possible with a high PSAT score.

But mostly - once you've explained admissions reality, the rules of the game, and the financial parameters - let the kid take charge. They need to own their decisions. And everything has consequences and opportunity costs. No one ever had to tell a kid now at MIT or Princeton to work harder or study longer. If they are well informed, they will do what's needed to get to the best place for them.

Tell me more about the "so many awards and even full rides" that are possible with a high PSAT score. Are you talking about NMF or something else? If so, how does one find those? My kid - rising senior - has a very high PSAT score - high enough to be NMSF. Have not heard a thing about awards or full rides.

Many have been cut down to partial but Alabama and USC have big merit scholarships based on PSAT.

Top25s don't have large numbers of freshman getting merit money like these but if you are willing to go lower it is a great deal.

[Anonymous]

Here is what I would and did say to my super type A high strung athlete when she wanted to stress over this at the start of 8th grade.

1. It’s wayyyyy too early to worry about college.

2. You can work harder than anyone around but odds are stacked against you for genetics. Look at your parents. We aren’t pro athletes.

3. Stop stressing over D1. It’s way too early. There’s always a place to play later.

4. Do your best in school and enjoy it. College is a long time from now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Naviance data is gold.

Legacy and donor hooks don’t turn the needle anymore for T25s.

If your donor hook isn’t moving the needle, you ain’t donating enough.

[Anonymous]

It’s too soon to be looking and discussing this beyond a general concept that there’s an expectation of higher education. Do NOT pressure your child academically or athletically. I wish someone had just told me it would all turn out ok so I didn’t stress. I wish I had understood that there is lots of merit aid available if you aren’t brand conscious. And some of those off brand schools offer wonderful opportunities. Even the most perfect students stand only a tiny chance of admission to elite schools so don’t make decisions based solely on that goal. Let your daughter enjoy HS.

I have a student athlete in the midst of recruitment. College wasn’t a consideration when mine was in MS. There is nothing to be done in MS with college recruiting. You can begin reaching out to college coaches after winter break freshman year, but depending on sport and division many coaches won’t be able to communicate until summer between sophomore and junior year. When it’s time to reach out, your player is the only one who should be communicating (never the parent). Cast a wide net - do not limit to D1.

[Anonymous]

If you have realistic goals, it all has a way of working out!

Enjoy high school. It goes by fast.

College admission is about finding a good match, not winning a race.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Tell me more about the "so many awards and even full rides" that are possible with a high PSAT score. Are you talking about NMF or something else? If so, how does one find those? My kid - rising senior - has a very high PSAT score - high enough to be NMSF. Have not heard a thing about awards or full rides.

Alabama and USC have been mentioned above, although USC has recently reduced scholarships for NMF to just 20k. Other schools include (but are not limited to): UT-Dallas offers full-ride to NMF. Tulsa for NMSF. Oklahoma gives near full-ride to NMF. For OOS NMF, Texas A&M gives enough to reduce cost to in-state. Texas Tech, U of South Florida, Washington State are some other very generous ones. Of course, DCUM folks don't think much about these places, but for aspiring pre-med/law students on limited budget, they are great choices financially as families can save undergrad cost for med/law school.