Rising Junior with excellent grades and test scores but no great extracurriculars

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UCs do not verify extracurricular or voluntary information. He can make up whatever he wants.

Ah! So you're teaching your child how to be a scammer w/o morals. Different strokes for different folks. I am teaching my kids to have a moral compass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Public schools will take this kid.

Here are a few things to do now:
- get a pt job (can be as an instructor or kids/youth coach in his sport)
- Can he also volunteer with an existing non-profit for his sport locally?
- this fall, join or form 1 club related to an area of academic interest at school.

What is he interested in? What fields?
Any hobbies (fishing? - you can create a whole set of ECs around hobbies like that)?
Where does he volunteer?

Agree with this strategy. It's not rocket science. Or even that hard.
Also, don't major in CS, engineering, or business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a rising junior at a good DMV private- not one of the "Big 5", but the tier right below.
He has excellent grades (95+), and is scoring in the 1500-1540 range on his practice SATs so far.

The issue is that he is not motivated to do anything outside of what he needs to do at school and has no passion for anything yet. He plays a sport recreationally, volunteers here and there (no leadership position), and it's honestly been like pulling teeth to get him to do anything to stand out.

From everything I know about college admissions so far, they all seem to be after the kid who is great at one particular thing, has a great story, demonstrated leadership and impact ... of course grades and test scores matter but they don't seem to be enough.

What reach schools should he be aiming for?

Do you need merit? If not, ED will be very important.

Look at:
Public schools like UVA, UMichigan, UT, and UNC don't focus on ECs as much.
Depending on major, an ED at a school like Rice or WashU or UChicago could work with a bit of application finessing.

UMich and UNC are nearly impossible to get into OOS these days. This past year's cycle was not friendly to OOS kids and those schools definitely consider ECs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a rising junior at a good DMV private- not one of the "Big 5", but the tier right below.
He has excellent grades (95+), and is scoring in the 1500-1540 range on his practice SATs so far.

The issue is that he is not motivated to do anything outside of what he needs to do at school and has no passion for anything yet. He plays a sport recreationally, volunteers here and there (no leadership position), and it's honestly been like pulling teeth to get him to do anything to stand out.

From everything I know about college admissions so far, they all seem to be after the kid who is great at one particular thing, has a great story, demonstrated leadership and impact ... of course grades and test scores matter but they don't seem to be enough.

What reach schools should he be aiming for?

Do you need merit? If not, ED will be very important.

Look at:
Public schools like UVA, UMichigan, UT, and UNC don't focus on ECs as much.
Depending on major, an ED at a school like Rice or WashU or UChicago could work with a bit of application finessing.

UMich and UNC are nearly impossible to get into OOS these days. This past year's cycle was not friendly to OOS kids and those schools definitely consider ECs.

Depending on the high school, but UM loves private school full pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a rising junior at a good DMV private- not one of the "Big 5", but the tier right below.
He has excellent grades (95+), and is scoring in the 1500-1540 range on his practice SATs so far.

The issue is that he is not motivated to do anything outside of what he needs to do at school and has no passion for anything yet. He plays a sport recreationally, volunteers here and there (no leadership position), and it's honestly been like pulling teeth to get him to do anything to stand out.

From everything I know about college admissions so far, they all seem to be after the kid who is great at one particular thing, has a great story, demonstrated leadership and impact ... of course grades and test scores matter but they don't seem to be enough.

What reach schools should he be aiming for?

Do you need merit? If not, ED will be very important.

Look at:
Public schools like UVA, UMichigan, UT, and UNC don't focus on ECs as much.
Depending on major, an ED at a school like Rice or WashU or UChicago could work with a bit of application finessing.

UMich and UNC are nearly impossible to get into OOS these days. This past year's cycle was not friendly to OOS kids and those schools definitely consider ECs.

Didn't find that to be true for UMich this year - if for an undersubscribed major. They do LOVE high stats though.
Agree UNC is hard OOS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a rising junior at a good DMV private- not one of the "Big 5", but the tier right below.
He has excellent grades (95+), and is scoring in the 1500-1540 range on his practice SATs so far.

The issue is that he is not motivated to do anything outside of what he needs to do at school and has no passion for anything yet. He plays a sport recreationally, volunteers here and there (no leadership position), and it's honestly been like pulling teeth to get him to do anything to stand out.

From everything I know about college admissions so far, they all seem to be after the kid who is great at one particular thing, has a great story, demonstrated leadership and impact ... of course grades and test scores matter but they don't seem to be enough.

What reach schools should he be aiming for?

Do you need merit? If not, ED will be very important.

Look at:
Public schools like UVA, UMichigan, UT, and UNC don't focus on ECs as much.
Depending on major, an ED at a school like Rice or WashU or UChicago could work with a bit of application finessing.

UMich and UNC are nearly impossible to get into OOS these days. This past year's cycle was not friendly to OOS kids and those schools definitely consider ECs.

Depending on the high school, but UM loves private school full pay.

Especially true now.

[Anonymous]

I’m curious why you think you’ll get more information from people who don’t know the specifics about this private school, rather than asking the school’s academic counselor or college counselor?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The kids we know like this go to UVA.

When I was in high school, the smartest guy at my school had no extracurriculars. He went to UMich.

Thats where they go from our private, or UNC out of state. They never get into ivies/stanford/duke level but to be fair they likely would not enjoy schools like that with most students doing all the extra things all the time(clubs, volunteer, research, arts, TA ….). It takes a “doer” to thrive at the ivy/+.

[Anonymous]

Do you need merit? If not, ED will be very important.

Look at:
Public schools like UVA, UMichigan, UT, and UNC don't focus on ECs as much.
Depending on major, an ED at a school like Rice or WashU or UChicago could work with a bit of application finessing.


My son had top grades/scores but verrry mid ECs. He ED'd to one of the privates listed above will be starting there this fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a rising junior at a good DMV private- not one of the "Big 5", but the tier right below.
He has excellent grades (95+), and is scoring in the 1500-1540 range on his practice SATs so far.

The issue is that he is not motivated to do anything outside of what he needs to do at school and has no passion for anything yet. He plays a sport recreationally, volunteers here and there (no leadership position), and it's honestly been like pulling teeth to get him to do anything to stand out.

From everything I know about college admissions so far, they all seem to be after the kid who is great at one particular thing, has a great story, demonstrated leadership and impact ... of course grades and test scores matter but they don't seem to be enough.

What reach schools should he be aiming for?

Do you need merit? If not, ED will be very important.



Look at:
Public schools like UVA, UMichigan, UT, and UNC don't focus on ECs as much.
Depending on major, an ED at a school like Rice or WashU or UChicago could work with a bit of application finessing.

UMich and UNC are nearly impossible to get into OOS these days. This past year's cycle was not friendly to OOS kids and those schools definitely consider ECs.

Depending on the high school, but UM loves private school full pay.

IF Full pay OOS, just go to EU/UK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a rising junior at a good DMV private- not one of the "Big 5", but the tier right below.
He has excellent grades (95+), and is scoring in the 1500-1540 range on his practice SATs so far.

The issue is that he is not motivated to do anything outside of what he needs to do at school and has no passion for anything yet. He plays a sport recreationally, volunteers here and there (no leadership position), and it's honestly been like pulling teeth to get him to do anything to stand out.

From everything I know about college admissions so far, they all seem to be after the kid who is great at one particular thing, has a great story, demonstrated leadership and impact ... of course grades and test scores matter but they don't seem to be enough.

What reach schools should he be aiming for?

Do you need merit? If not, ED will be very important.



Look at:
Public schools like UVA, UMichigan, UT, and UNC don't focus on ECs as much.
Depending on major, an ED at a school like Rice or WashU or UChicago could work with a bit of application finessing.

UMich and UNC are nearly impossible to get into OOS these days. This past year's cycle was not friendly to OOS kids and those schools definitely consider ECs.

Depending on the high school, but UM loves private school full pay.

IF Full pay OOS, just go to EU/UK.

No. Michigan is better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a rising junior at a good DMV private- not one of the "Big 5", but the tier right below.
He has excellent grades (95+), and is scoring in the 1500-1540 range on his practice SATs so far.

The issue is that he is not motivated to do anything outside of what he needs to do at school and has no passion for anything yet. He plays a sport recreationally, volunteers here and there (no leadership position), and it's honestly been like pulling teeth to get him to do anything to stand out.

From everything I know about college admissions so far, they all seem to be after the kid who is great at one particular thing, has a great story, demonstrated leadership and impact ... of course grades and test scores matter but they don't seem to be enough.

What reach schools should he be aiming for?

Do you need merit? If not, ED will be very important.

Look at:
Public schools like UVA, UMichigan, UT, and UNC don't focus on ECs as much.
Depending on major, an ED at a school like Rice or WashU or UChicago could work with a bit of application finessing.

UMich and UNC are nearly impossible to get into OOS these days. This past year's cycle was not friendly to OOS kids and those schools definitely consider ECs.

Depending on the high school, but UM loves private school full pay.

Especially true now.

ED UM he will get in.

Somehow I think OP will not settle for UM. He didn’t say it but I think she knew she can get in UM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Do you need merit? If not, ED will be very important.

Look at:
Public schools like UVA, UMichigan, UT, and UNC don't focus on ECs as much.
Depending on major, an ED at a school like Rice or WashU or UChicago could work with a bit of application finessing.


My son had top grades/scores but verrry mid ECs. He ED'd to one of the privates listed above will be starting there this fall.

Good to hear. That was my recommendation (Rice/Washu/UChicago).

- private college counselor

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a rising junior at a good DMV private- not one of the "Big 5", but the tier right below.
He has excellent grades (95+), and is scoring in the 1500-1540 range on his practice SATs so far.

The issue is that he is not motivated to do anything outside of what he needs to do at school and has no passion for anything yet. He plays a sport recreationally, volunteers here and there (no leadership position), and it's honestly been like pulling teeth to get him to do anything to stand out.

From everything I know about college admissions so far, they all seem to be after the kid who is great at one particular thing, has a great story, demonstrated leadership and impact ... of course grades and test scores matter but they don't seem to be enough.

What reach schools should he be aiming for?

Do you need merit? If not, ED will be very important.



Look at:
Public schools like UVA, UMichigan, UT, and UNC don't focus on ECs as much.
Depending on major, an ED at a school like Rice or WashU or UChicago could work with a bit of application finessing.

UMich and UNC are nearly impossible to get into OOS these days. This past year's cycle was not friendly to OOS kids and those schools definitely consider ECs.

Depending on the high school, but UM loves private school full pay.

IF Full pay OOS, just go to EU/UK.

No. Michigan is better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a rising junior at a good DMV private- not one of the "Big 5", but the tier right below.
He has excellent grades (95+), and is scoring in the 1500-1540 range on his practice SATs so far.

The issue is that he is not motivated to do anything outside of what he needs to do at school and has no passion for anything yet. He plays a sport recreationally, volunteers here and there (no leadership position), and it's honestly been like pulling teeth to get him to do anything to stand out.

From everything I know about college admissions so far, they all seem to be after the kid who is great at one particular thing, has a great story, demonstrated leadership and impact ... of course grades and test scores matter but they don't seem to be enough.

What reach schools should he be aiming for?

If you can afford it, this is the perfect profile for the top UK/EU universities. If he can score 5’s on at least 3 AP tests and with a 1500+ SAT, he would be an easy admit at most UK schools (outside Oxbridge since that is a crapshoot and involves other testing/interviews).

In the EU: Copenhagen, Amsterdam, ETH Zurich, Maastricht, Science Po, Paris, Trinity College. If business, Bocconi. These are all top universities that focus on grades/tests. ECs are irrelevant here.

In the UK, just look at the typical top 10: Oxbridge, LSE, Imperial, St Andrews, Edinburgh, Durham, UCL, Bath, Warwick, Exeter

I would take UVA any time over any foreign schools.
Wisconsin and Ohio State are very solid schools, they will take OP easily. Why do we have to go to a fancy European country?

Same. I wouldn't pay for any of those.

Typical small minded American. I agree on UVA for in state. Not sure what OP kid wants to study. But lets say it is Econ or Business. You can get a phenomenal education at a EU school for the price of a SINGLE YEAR of an OOS tuition in the US. You would be saving a ton.

I agree. I don't know about a SINGLE year for a 3 yr undergrad in the UK, but definitely a saving on 4 yrs of in state college.
$160k total 4 yrs in state versus $90k total 3 yrs UK that's a saving of $70k

Not in the UK. My son is going to his 3rd at Bocconi. Tuition for this upcoming year is 16k Euros….times, That is about $55k DOLLARS for all 3 years. I’m sorry, but unless you are at a top school or in state school in the US, nothing compares to the cost benefit.