10th grader with no interesting ECs, top grades and scores

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would suggest a well chosen summer camp/program/etc. that could align with a choice of major or area of focus. Even if it looks a little "pay to play" it could give vocational insight.

I would let your kid know that the lack of ECs is making him uncompetitive for top schools and that's his choice.

But he will probably be able to excel at a state flagship if he's a good student.

I would recommend you have him watch Youtube videos about schools that aren't the usual suspects (not Ivy, not UMD). Ask him to pick out some schools to take a closer look at over the next two years. Find out why he picks the ones he does.

I always recommend Pitt. It's my undergrad alma mater. You can go anywhere for grad school with a Pitt degree and high GPA.

He wants MIT and you are recommending #70 U of Pitt? We only use Pitt as a last safety on our list.

PP. Pitt is a great school. You can get into any grad school if you do well there. I got a free ride at Michigan's MBA after Pitt and some work experience. My best friend went to Harvard Law. My husband got a free ride to Georgetown for grad school. Lots of people want MIT. Only a few get accepted. I hear Pitt is popular with TJ students now.

You are free to decide what is a safety. But watch out for being rude. If your kid picks up that attitude, it may come back to bite them. Most high-powered workplaces have determined and excellent employees from a variety of backgrounds.

You hear this from whom?

Your experiences post Pitt are irrelevant unless you are 22 years old.

While I agree that Pitt has changed for the better, which of the the things PP said about Pitt are irrelevant?

Here is what they said.

It's a great school.

It sends kids to great grad schools.

It is a popular destination for kids from TJ.

It's rude to sneer at other people for applying to Pitt (or any other school)

Dismissing great schools as "safeties" can be a terrible thing for your kid to be exposed to.

All these things still seem true to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is a 10th grader at a suburban public. He is in all AP and Honors courses and a straight-A student. Just got back from PSAT and was in the 98th percentile without prep. He is a smart kid but seems to have no interests or EC that will make a different. He is on the golf team, and that's all he really does at school, and he isn't a great golfer/won't be recruited. I am trying to figure out how to make him interested in college apps and start to develop a passion or interest in general. Summer after 9th grade he did nothing. He wants to go to a place like MIT or an ivy, and that just won't happen even with good ECs of which he has none. I mentioned this to my friend who works at a top DC private and she bluntly said, well he will get into a school like UMD or BC/BU if he is lucky. I was taken aback as this is a kid who is at the top of his grade and views himself as "better than" a school like UMD or a 40/50 school like BC or BU. He won't be hooked for admissions anywhere, aside from us being full pay which I know is not a hook but she said it can make a difference at some SLAC. What do I do??????????

Easy. Let your kid do what he enjoys and let the college chips fall where they might. He’ll have plenty of awesome choices if his grades stay at that level. Maybe not Ivy+, but then again that would be a long shot even with the ECs. There’s negligible to be gained by forcing him to do things for performative reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would suggest a well chosen summer camp/program/etc. that could align with a choice of major or area of focus. Even if it looks a little "pay to play" it could give vocational insight.

I would let your kid know that the lack of ECs is making him uncompetitive for top schools and that's his choice.

But he will probably be able to excel at a state flagship if he's a good student.

I would recommend you have him watch Youtube videos about schools that aren't the usual suspects (not Ivy, not UMD). Ask him to pick out some schools to take a closer look at over the next two years. Find out why he picks the ones he does.

I always recommend Pitt. It's my undergrad alma mater. You can go anywhere for grad school with a Pitt degree and high GPA.

He wants MIT and you are recommending #70 U of Pitt? We only use Pitt as a last safety on our list.

PP. Pitt is a great school. You can get into any grad school if you do well there. I got a free ride at Michigan's MBA after Pitt and some work experience. My best friend went to Harvard Law. My husband got a free ride to Georgetown for grad school. Lots of people want MIT. Only a few get accepted. I hear Pitt is popular with TJ students now.

You are free to decide what is a safety. But watch out for being rude. If your kid picks up that attitude, it may come back to bite them. Most high-powered workplaces have determined and excellent employees from a variety of backgrounds.

You hear this from whom?

Your experiences post Pitt are irrelevant unless you are 22 years old.

PP. Pitt has only improved its metrics since I went there. This is true not only in admitted student metrics but also in trends in the amount of National Merit Finalists attending. I looked into it thoroughly last year for my kid who is now a freshman at Michigan (where we are in-state, so it's cheaper as well as my grad alma mater). Much of the core part of campus (ex. Cathedral of Learning) is historical and I have visited in the past 2 years.

I also get the alumni magazine and read about the current campus activities, building projects, and prominent alumni.

Pitt is a major research university with lots of STEM and medical activity for those who are interested. Many of the richest donors are engineer entrepreneurs who started their own companies out of Pitt Engineering. As in $10s of M gifts.

I get it, PP. You just want to be a snob. There's really no fighting that. Good luck to your child with MIT and please take Pitt off your list. Sounds like you wouldn't be proud to have your kid there, so truly no reason to have them apply as a safety.

[Anonymous]

PP again. If you are interested in TJ x Pitt, you can look at the school profiles on the high school's media site.

In 2021-2022, Pitt was listed as one of the 20 most popular destinations.

In 2022-2023, Pitt was again on the list as a top choice taking 10 or more grads.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://tjhsst.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/inline-files/2022-23%2520TJHSST%2520Profile_0.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwi076Hvs_iJAxWFC3kGHWX6APUQFnoECB0QAQ&usg=AOvVaw0dZSl4nY86s_ylfshm8o1T

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a 10th grader at a suburban public. He is in all AP and Honors courses and a straight-A student. Just got back from PSAT and was in the 98th percentile without prep. He is a smart kid but seems to have no interests or EC that will make a different. He is on the golf team, and that's all he really does at school, and he isn't a great golfer/won't be recruited. I am trying to figure out how to make him interested in college apps and start to develop a passion or interest in general. Summer after 9th grade he did nothing. He wants to go to a place like MIT or an ivy, and that just won't happen even with good ECs of which he has none. I mentioned this to my friend who works at a top DC private and she bluntly said, well he will get into a school like UMD or BC/BU if he is lucky. I was taken aback as this is a kid who is at the top of his grade and views himself as "better than" a school like UMD or a 40/50 school like BC or BU. He won't be hooked for admissions anywhere, aside from us being full pay which I know is not a hook but she said it can make a difference at some SLAC. What do I do??????????

He is not ivy level, nor MIT or any top 10. The unhooked kids at those schools are naturally 99th percentile on standardized tests their whole lives , without prep. A large portion are 99.7-99.9. Thats why that person is telling you not possible or atleast highly unlikely.

You have no way knowing any of this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would suggest a well chosen summer camp/program/etc. that could align with a choice of major or area of focus. Even if it looks a little "pay to play" it could give vocational insight.

I would let your kid know that the lack of ECs is making him uncompetitive for top schools and that's his choice.

But he will probably be able to excel at a state flagship if he's a good student.

I would recommend you have him watch Youtube videos about schools that aren't the usual suspects (not Ivy, not UMD). Ask him to pick out some schools to take a closer look at over the next two years. Find out why he picks the ones he does.

I always recommend Pitt. It's my undergrad alma mater. You can go anywhere for grad school with a Pitt degree and high GPA.

He wants MIT and you are recommending #70 U of Pitt? We only use Pitt as a last safety on our list.

PP. Pitt is a great school. You can get into any grad school if you do well there. I got a free ride at Michigan's MBA after Pitt and some work experience. My best friend went to Harvard Law. My husband got a free ride to Georgetown for grad school. Lots of people want MIT. Only a few get accepted. I hear Pitt is popular with TJ students now.

You are free to decide what is a safety. But watch out for being rude. If your kid picks up that attitude, it may come back to bite them. Most high-powered workplaces have determined and excellent employees from a variety of backgrounds.

You hear this from whom?

Your experiences post Pitt are irrelevant unless you are 22 years old.

While I agree that Pitt has changed for the better, which of the the things PP said about Pitt are irrelevant?

Here is what they said.

It's a great school.

It sends kids to great grad schools.

It is a popular destination for kids from TJ.

It's rude to sneer at other people for applying to Pitt (or any other school)

Dismissing great schools as "safeties" can be a terrible thing for your kid to be exposed to.

All these things still seem true to me.

I am in no way putting Pitt down. 100% great school in a great city. What I am saying is that what happened in colleges or after college years ago isn’t relevant to today’s admissions landscape. So saying Pitt grad’s go to highly competitive and low acceptance rate grad schools…isn’t relevant unless it is happening now. The implication was Gtown, Harvard, Michigan- largely for free- after Pitt…when now that it probably less possible than years ago, bc it is less possible for all undergrads now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP again. If you are interested in TJ x Pitt, you can look at the school profiles on the high school's media site.

In 2021-2022, Pitt was listed as one of the 20 most popular destinations.

In 2022-2023, Pitt was again on the list as a top choice taking 10 or more grads.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://tjhsst.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/inline-files/2022-23%2520TJHSST%2520Profile_0.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwi076Hvs_iJAxWFC3kGHWX6APUQFnoECB0QAQ&usg=AOvVaw0dZSl4nY86s_ylfshm8o1T

We don’t know how many but if it was 10, that was 2% of the graduating class…so I don’t call that a popular destination. I am not dissing Pitt…just what this poster claims.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a 10th grader at a suburban public. He is in all AP and Honors courses and a straight-A student. Just got back from PSAT and was in the 98th percentile without prep. He is a smart kid but seems to have no interests or EC that will make a different. He is on the golf team, and that's all he really does at school, and he isn't a great golfer/won't be recruited. I am trying to figure out how to make him interested in college apps and start to develop a passion or interest in general. Summer after 9th grade he did nothing. He wants to go to a place like MIT or an ivy, and that just won't happen even with good ECs of which he has none. I mentioned this to my friend who works at a top DC private and she bluntly said, well he will get into a school like UMD or BC/BU if he is lucky. I was taken aback as this is a kid who is at the top of his grade and views himself as "better than" a school like UMD or a 40/50 school like BC or BU. He won't be hooked for admissions anywhere, aside from us being full pay which I know is not a hook but she said it can make a difference at some SLAC. What do I do??????????

He is not ivy level, nor MIT or any top 10. The unhooked kids at those schools are naturally 99th percentile on standardized tests their whole lives , without prep. A large portion are 99.7-99.9. Thats why that person is telling you not possible or atleast highly unlikely.

You have no way knowing any of this.

Not PP but I am a professor at a T40-60 private and did a postdoc at a T10 after a phD at an ivy. TheT10/ivy students are completely different: well over half of them are similar to the top 5% at my current place. The T10 offered many workshops on teaching to highly gifted students and had data showing it has gotten much more skewed to the top 1% than it used to be, due to US being bigger, highly intelligent international students coming here, and the “name” /prestige factor that makes (t10) known to all in the US, whereas it used to be more regional 30 yrs ago. Anyone who has taught in one of these places understands it is very different than when (my peers) attended in the 80s/90s. The difference is why one of my high schoolers will be encouraged to apply to my university or similar, and the other one we will encourage ivy/top10. He needs more mental peers than exist in his high school. The other one is typical gifted kid (in our area that is >95th percentile in 2 of 4 areas, decided in 3rd grade). They might have a shot at the top but if they got in would flounder.

[Anonymous]

This is very late in the ballgame to be thinking of ECs OP. Mine knew in the 6th grade that they wanted to go to an Ivy so they practiced all day and night to be good enough to be recruitable. Even with all of that...it was still a crapshoot. They also started a 501 c3. I have taught some other people how to play the admissions game. You have to shoot for the stars. I won't be a total negative belly so will offer some ideas:

1 start a club to help First Gen kids get into college
2.Organize reading circles at libraries in the inner City for young children
3 Teach adults tech + write a mini " how to" guide for older people4. Teach immigrants how to sp

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is very late in the ballgame to be thinking of ECs OP. Mine knew in the 6th grade that they wanted to go to an Ivy so they practiced all day and night to be good enough to be recruitable. Even with all of that...it was still a crapshoot. They also started a 501 c3. I have taught some other people how to play the admissions game. You have to shoot for the stars. I won't be a total negative belly so will offer some ideas:

1 start a club to help First Gen kids get into college
2.Organize reading circles at libraries in the inner City for young children
3 Teach adults tech + write a mini " how to" guide for older people4. Teach immigrants how to sp

Mine did not do anything like these obviously planned by a parent ECs. They weren’t recruited(no sports at all actually), were unhooked. They got into four top10/ivy schools and a couple more at the 15-18 level. The ECs included academic endeavors some which were hard to get selected for, and visual arts ECs, two school clubs with leadership, and some volunteer work for many years at an existing community nonprofit. They also were top of the class 1560 one sitting, highest possible rigor and 5s on AP. Fake inflated ECs are a waste of time and not needed. Genuine ECs all throughout High school are all that matter in addition to standout academic credentials, which OP does not have. No EC will make up for that.

[Anonymous]

OP, your kid sounds like mine who is currently a senior.

We've told him that he needs to be realistic with his expectations, especially since there are many kids in his high school with the grades, test scores, rigor, AND interesting ECs involving time commitment.

The one thing he has going for him is his summer activities...one summer he was accepted to a free, application based university summer program, and he found a job through his HS relevant to his intended major (engineering) another summer.

He is also very strong academically, and his teachers likely wrote excellent recommendations.

See if your kid can find a job, volunteer, or be accepted to an interesting summer program to boost their application. Being very engaged in the classroom might also help your kid get fantastic recommendation letters.

We're hopeful that he'll get admission to a good state flagship but top privates are pretty unlikely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is a 10th grader at a suburban public. He is in all AP and Honors courses and a straight-A student. Just got back from PSAT and was in the 98th percentile without prep. He is a smart kid but seems to have no interests or EC that will make a different. He is on the golf team, and that's all he really does at school, and he isn't a great golfer/won't be recruited. I am trying to figure out how to make him interested in college apps and start to develop a passion or interest in general. Summer after 9th grade he did nothing. He wants to go to a place like MIT or an ivy, and that just won't happen even with good ECs of which he has none. I mentioned this to my friend who works at a top DC private and she bluntly said, well he will get into a school like UMD or BC/BU if he is lucky. I was taken aback as this is a kid who is at the top of his grade and views himself as "better than" a school like UMD or a 40/50 school like BC or BU. He won't be hooked for admissions anywhere, aside from us being full pay which I know is not a hook but she said it can make a difference at some SLAC. What do I do??????????

Tell him if he doesn't do something he will end up at UMD/BC/BU. Does he know what he wants to major in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a 10th grader at a suburban public. He is in all AP and Honors courses and a straight-A student. Just got back from PSAT and was in the 98th percentile without prep. He is a smart kid but seems to have no interests or EC that will make a different. He is on the golf team, and that's all he really does at school, and he isn't a great golfer/won't be recruited. I am trying to figure out how to make him interested in college apps and start to develop a passion or interest in general. Summer after 9th grade he did nothing. He wants to go to a place like MIT or an ivy, and that just won't happen even with good ECs of which he has none. I mentioned this to my friend who works at a top DC private and she bluntly said, well he will get into a school like UMD or BC/BU if he is lucky. I was taken aback as this is a kid who is at the top of his grade and views himself as "better than" a school like UMD or a 40/50 school like BC or BU. He won't be hooked for admissions anywhere, aside from us being full pay which I know is not a hook but she said it can make a difference at some SLAC. What do I do??????????

He is not ivy level, nor MIT or any top 10. The unhooked kids at those schools are naturally 99th percentile on standardized tests their whole lives , without prep. A large portion are 99.7-99.9. Thats why that person is telling you not possible or atleast highly unlikely.

Not sure about that. Some of those high scoring kids have had SAT prep since middle school or even elementary school!

Most have not. Mine are all 99th %ile and so were their friends from the high school who ended up at ivies and T10. These kids all discussed SAT and psat. None had any significant prep because they were already high scorers. There were several other high scorers who took the hard classes and who were still shut out of t20. The kids who prepped were the ones who were chasing the top kids, usually ones who got around 1300 on the 10th grade psat. These kids were the same ones who had tutors in middle school just to barely stay in math trVk that did BC in 11th and Multi and Modeling in 12th. Almost 25% of the graduating class was 98-99%ile. The school released all of this data on CTP/ERB testing throughout the years. The school placed into the top math group and top reading/latin group based on these tests in 4th grade. The superstars stayed the superstars for the most part, and the next group who got added to the top math later were the ones with the middle school tutors. Only the hooked ones in that group ended up at ivies/stanford/etc.
The Psat is easy for any true 99th percentile kid: no prep needed especially for math and for one who has any shot at MIT or stem at a t10. OP is quite borderline. Even if they got in, they would be in the bottom 1/4 on all the curves. That is a self esteem destroyer, to mostly B and C in college. Ivies grade inflate but bottom 1/4 is still B- and Cs in stem. It is B+ in humanities and athlete-easy classes but these are joke and employers and grad schools expect A’s in those. They expect more A than B in stem, as do med schools, in other words at least top half in ivy stem.
OP needs to aim for BC or Wake or the like for stem, or RPI or RIT for engineering.

The top kids are working hard to get straight As, get 5s on multiple AP tests, doing all these extra curricular to boost their resume. And then they skip studying for the SAT? Really?

Yes, because they don't need to study to get a top score

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks all for the advice. I do not think he will get into mit or the Ivy League schools. I am discouraging him from thinking with that mindset. With prep, I think it’s reasonable he will have over 1500 sat. He is a great test take and on track for 12 APs, he has 2 5s from 9th grade already. He is smart. He would be fine at a top school, at least academically, but I know he won’t get in since he isn’t special. I want to ensure he can at least get into a school like BC or BU at minimum. Thanks for all the suggestions.

He will probably get into Northeastern, and you can easily convince him it's prestigious based on its rank

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You could move him to a top private.

You can do well in college admissions from a top private with grades alone because there are very few kids who do well. There isn't a cohort of students with perfect or top grades like there are in public. A kid who has a 3.95% from Sidwell or similar is a true outlier.

Unlikely this kid would be a super standout at a top private. He’s benefitting from the grade inflation endemic at the local public’s.