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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Divorced mom of an 8th grade DS here. We are in CA. High school is competitive and highly ranked, with many well off and well educated families, but also some student population from low income,
mostly URM and first Gen families.

We are not URM, but low income (below $25k per year). I am an immigrant but the child was born here. His first language wasn’t English but now it’s his native language.
I have a degree from abroad so first Gen definition varies I guess.

I consider DS an average student; his GPA fluctuates between 3.25 and 3.75.
The goal is to have a close to full ride at any decent school really. Money is the greatest consideration.

I would appreciate any advice on HS strategy for him. Namely:
- does it make sense to take honors classes if they don’t provide a GPA boost in the UC system? (Some AP classes do but not all). He is bright and might appreciate the content and the classmates but it might lower his GPA
- DS likes to draw but other than that he isn’t too great or passionate about any extracurriculars. Would it be a good idea to develop a profile where he gets a part time job early on to help his family, rather than trying to excel at some extracurricular activity?
- he is free lunch kid (his whole school gets free food but he also is one by application). Will he be automatically identified as a low income kid in HS and maybe get some extra support for college admissions?
- one of the counselors from his school also works as a private college counselor. Does it make sense to reach out to her for paid consultations? Or will she have a conflict of interest?

To add, I am aware of programs like Questbridge but I am not sure how competitive DS is for them, and they don’t start until later anyway.

Grateful for any and all advice from knowledgeable people here! [/quote]

Most people here may not be familiar with CA schools. I'd recommend you create an account on College Confidential and read up on posts there/ask questions.  Another good source is the "Paying for College 101" Facebook group. You can post anonymously there as well and the responses are very good and much more useful than on this forum.[/quote]

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