Reply to Insider Perspectives from a Highly Selective Admissions Office

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP, thank you for taking the time to post this Q&A, it has been extremely informative.  I'm wondering what advice would you give to the parents of a kid who has extremely strong academic credentials, but does not show a demonstrated passion?  My daughter is in 7th grade, and from how she is doing so far, I would expect she would be near valedictorian and have very high SAT scores.  However, she is interested in everything.  She is equally strong in STEM as she is in humanities/social sciences.  When asked what she wants to do as a career, she'll say she doesn't know, so many things are interesting to her.  Her activities are all over the place - soccer, theater, art, computers.  I can easily see where she will be the dreaded "well-rounded" applicant who doesn't stand out to admission offers.  And we can't be comforted by the notion that she will be accepted to a strong school somewhere as long as she casts her net wide enough.  Our budget only allows for instate colleges.  So basically if she doesn't get into the two top schools, she will have to settle for a school that is academically far beneath what she theoretically "should" be able to attend.  From a purely strategic perspective, should we try to encourage her to "specialize" in a certain area, so she will stand a greater chance of standing out to the admission officers?[/quote]

My honest advice for you is to to close the college and university forum and not open it again until your DD is midway through freshman year. Bye.[/quote]

Says the person whose budget probably doesn't limit them to only in state publics. [/quote]

Or says the person who knows many graduates of VA universities other than UVA and W&M who are thriving. The Harvard PhD economist in the office next to mine got his undergrad degree at JMU. My neighbor's kid who just graduated from UVA law got her undergrad degree from Mary Washington. Our successful business owner friend went to GMU. I don't think all will be lost if PP's DD doesn't get in to UVA and had to "squander" her talents at a lesser state school.[/quote]

DP.  And yet, here you are, ticking off people's second tier undergrad schools.[/quote]

Yes.  In two of the three examples, "all was not lost" because person eventually got into a top college for graduate school.  Isn't this basically supporting the notion that the value of attending a top college is great enough that it justifies the concern/focus that kids and families have towards college admissions?[/quote]

I used those three examples because I believed they would demonstrate that some outside, admired organization clearly approved of the undergraduate educations received by two students attending VA schools that are not in the top 2. I also know plenty of other people who graduated from JMU, GMU, VT, VCU, UMW who are gainfully employed and living comfortable, happy lives. But that doesn't tell you much--maybe my definition of gainful employment and comfort is Starbucks and mom's couch. I used those two examples because they provided a useful metric.

BTW, I also know several people who went to W&M or UVA who went on to not-so-impressive graduate programs. I'm one of them. And I know plenty of people who went to UVA or W&M and went on to not particularly impressive or lucrative jobs--teachers, journalists, civil servants (not even SES level!), librarians, accountants, SAHPs.[/quote]

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