Advice for sophomores

[Anonymous]

Grades are more important than ECs, not that they will listen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Enjoy this year before the rat race begins.

+1
My kid did everything right and still didn’t get into reaches. Keep your grades up and don’t do anything else. Set realistic expectations.

Sad that you learned this lesson from your kid's experiences.

Reaches are BY DEFINITION, unlikely. That is called realistic expectations.

Doing NOTHING but studying/schoolwork is unhealthy.

I would say to help your kid understand that the rank of the school they attend is not a measure of their worth as a human being.

Here is a book to consider: https://www.amazon.com/Where-You-Not-Who-Youll/dp/1455532681

Also, catch the Colleges That Change Lives talk, if it is in your area (our school had their panel come, as many do). They give TONS of great advice about how to approach the college search from a healthy place, how to support and not pressure your kid, etc. There is a Sad Sack who always jumps online to say that CTCL is a marketing scam, but you could glean a lot of really valuable advice about how to carry out the search from this panel, even if you have NO interest in attending one of their schools. Be sure to bring your son to the talk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they have a challenging load in the Fall, and will have finished at least Algebra 2 this year, do SAT/ACT prep in the summer and take the test at the end of summer (there's an SAT on Aug 28).

Plan for time to do some low-key visits to different types of colleges -- big, small, urban, rural. Some kids will come away with a clear type preference and if so that's really helpful in narrowing the search. Don't fixate on any specific schools at this point.

Run the numbers and get clear on what your budget is and how much debt, if any, you are willing to take on. Educate yourself about need vs merit aid.

We were planning to visit a variety of schools within a 2-3hr drive to get a sense of size only. Is that a valuable use of the summer before Jr year or no? With other kids and responsibilities we need to spread out visits if possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they have a challenging load in the Fall, and will have finished at least Algebra 2 this year, do SAT/ACT prep in the summer and take the test at the end of summer (there's an SAT on Aug 28).

Plan for time to do some low-key visits to different types of colleges -- big, small, urban, rural. Some kids will come away with a clear type preference and if so that's really helpful in narrowing the search. Don't fixate on any specific schools at this point.

Run the numbers and get clear on what your budget is and how much debt, if any, you are willing to take on. Educate yourself about need vs merit aid.

We were planning to visit a variety of schools within a 2-3hr drive to get a sense of size only. Is that a valuable use of the summer before Jr year or no? With other kids and responsibilities we need to spread out visits if possible.

I think it's hard to get a sense in summer when campus is empty. But you could do it late August when colleges are back and HS hasn't started.

[Anonymous]

SAT scores GPA interests can change so I’d focus more at this age on safeties. If you visit JMU and your kid goes to UVA they won’t be disappointed. If you focus on HYPMS, other Ivy or Ivy adjacent they might.

Tell them to focus on GPA. It’s the first cut for most schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Enjoy this year before the rat race begins.

+1
My kid did everything right and still didn’t get into reaches. Keep your grades up and don’t do anything else. Set realistic expectations.

Sad that you learned this lesson from your kid's experiences.

Reaches are BY DEFINITION, unlikely. That is called realistic expectations.

Doing NOTHING but studying/schoolwork is unhealthy.

I would say to help your kid understand that the rank of the school they attend is not a measure of their worth as a human being.

Here is a book to consider: https://www.amazon.com/Where-You-Not-Who-Youll/dp/1455532681

Also, catch the Colleges That Change Lives talk, if it is in your area (our school had their panel come, as many do). They give TONS of great advice about how to approach the college search from a healthy place, how to support and not pressure your kid, etc. There is a Sad Sack who always jumps online to say that CTCL is a marketing scam, but you could glean a lot of really valuable advice about how to carry out the search from this panel, even if you have NO interest in attending one of their schools. Be sure to bring your son to the talk.

NP here. Is it not?

[Anonymous]

In retrospect, I wonder if for my older child, we started thinking about it too early. Hired the private counselor sophomore year, spent spring break driving through colleges campuses while on vacation. She didn’t even rennet the schools later and it ended up making high school merely a stepping stone to college. With our second, we are waiting until junior year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ Go Dawgs!!

My kid almost chose UGA, actually. He thought the campus and the girls were as impressive as Bama's. In the end, the Honors dorms (and the red carpet treatment of Honors College students in general) and nearly full ride scholarship won him over. I told him hopefully Bama will have an away football game in Athens while he's there so he can visit the campus again and watch Nick lay a beatdown on his old protege Kirby. Roll Tide!