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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have a kid who has no clue what she wants to do or where she wants to go. She's very good at everything except sports (but does have one recreational sport activity): has quantifiable achievements in performing arts, drawing/painting, writing, outside of school, has a small part-time job showing leadership, and is in all advanced classes in school with currently the max GPA that it's possible to have in her school system. [b]She's particularly accelerated in math, and will take a class at a college nearby because she will run out of math classes in school.[/b] I am acutely aware that Ivies and assimilated each have a different vibe, and that they are almost impossible to get in. Her less high-achieving older siblings wanted very specific majors and got into their preferred schools, which are not top 10. But she doesn't have a specific major in mind, and so I'm thinking - maybe try a really prestigious school, so that she can have options once she's there?

What would you do to maximize her chances of getting into one of those in terms of ED or restricted EA,  as well as having nice fallback options with a lot of majors she could look at? I'm thinking not SLACs, as they might not have enough options, but maybe I'm wrong?

Finances are not an issue. We have no hooks.[/quote]
[b]This will only hurt her chances[/b]; it’s nothing special. Drawing/painting or performing arts might be. But it seems she might not be pointy enough in that respect to craft a singular narrative.

Such a well-rounded kid is probably better for SLACs. Certainly would not recommend an SCEA app.[/quote]

OP here. Really? She'd be looking for a class beyond multivariable calculus/calc 3, since that is the last class offered at her school.[/quote]

I think the lack of direction is the bigger issue when it comes to top 20 schools. Which is obviously unfair. What 18 year old knows what they are supposed to do? But the better schools are always cultivating and curating their classes and putting applicants into boxes. And there's no box here. I'd suggest looking into the honors programs at state flagships and SLACs, which are pretty good options for high stats generalists.

Regarding math, maximizing what's available at your high school is what matters. The rigamarole of going to community college really isn't worth the opportunity cost. From a college admissions perspective, it'd be better to use that time to develop some compelling ECs. But if you just want to use the stats, the Canadian universities are good for that - Toronto, McGill, UBC, Waterloo, Queens - all excellent options for the high stats applicants. [/quote]

This kid is not S or M material. Also, not P. Way too generalist/high achiever/well-rounded.

You need to reframe it all and apply to schools that reward interdisciplinary intellectual curiosity over narrow spikes (e.g., Yale, Northwestern, Brown). Being "good at everything" is an asset at these schools, which value "renaissance" students. She sees the math in her art and the art in her math (she literally applies knowledge from one area to solve problems in another - not just that she's good at both things separately.)

She should apply undeclared or undecided, or to programs designed for this:

Yale: Humanities + Applied Math
Brown: Open Curriculum is perfect for interdisc exploration
Northwestern: Humanities + Math

Reaches: Yale REA, Harvard, Brown, Northwestern, Columbia
Matches: Middlebury, Wesleyan, Vassar, Tufts
Safeties: Strong honors colleges (UVM Honors, etc.)

It would be great, though, if she could provide evidence of how she finds patterns or connections across disciplines (maybe she already has that in her ECs). If not, she might want to CREATE something this summer that demonstrates this connectivity:

- Could be a cross-disciplinary creative project (some sort of art that uses math or data; some type of math art exhibit, or writing mathematical stories for kids?)
- She might teach or mentor over the summer, which shows this connection (by creating a math + art camp/program or tutoring math students using art, or other types of local volunteering in this space?)
- Does she have time to do a research project on the mathematics in renaissance (or other period) art? That could be an amazing connection!

Any way that she can connect the two should result in something physical or tangible that she can add to the EC list or the additional info section of the application (art portfolio, exhibition, published work, or some sort of program she created).

This makes her a more cohesive candidate, who makes "sense". However, if it doesn't feel authentic to her, then it's the wrong narrative. She should do some introspection to see if she can see the thread line connecting her interests. [/quote]

New poster.

Great advice here![/quote]

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