Reply to Are there certain tracks/results that will prevent a kid from getting into a good college?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I assume we all agree that a low GPA and low SAT/ACT score would likely prevent a kid from going to a good university.  However, are there other more subtle problems that are 'the kiss of death' for students?

For example:  taking a language for the first time as a freshman in high school?  Not taking any AP classes throughout high school?  No sport or significant extracurricular activities?

What do you think is the *most* damaging to have (or not have) when applying.

FWIW I have 3 elementary school kids and am trying to understand the college admissions process more clearly.
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As a parent of four students who successfully navigated the process, I can say this. Not having a sport or other significant extracurricular activity is the least important of these factors, followed by the number of years of a foreign language and the number of APs.

The rigor of the high school classes taken and the test scores, in that order, continue to be by far the two most important factors in the admissions process. You do not have to be a superstar athlete or anything else to get into a good college, and being anything else without the grades and test scores mean very little unless you are a recruited athlete.

It’s really less complicated than people think.

When it comes to foreign languages, good colleges would prefer four years — no doubt about it.  But if you start in middle school you can stop at the end of sophomore or junior year of high school and it’s fine IF at that time you replace a language with another rigorous course.  Replacing rigor with “fluff” in the junior and senior years is a recipe for college rejection. Note also that most public high schools in our area DO offer years 5 and 6 of a foreign language.

Finally, when it comes to math, again colleges want to see four years, but even good colleges don’t necessarily require calculus if your application makes clear you’re not going into STEM.  Going as far as pre-calculus is often plenty good IF your transcript is otherwise loaded with rigorous courses.

Our kids’ results were basically (1) VCU for a kid with no extracurricular activities and checkered grades but very high test scores; (2) UVA as a non-STEM student for a virtually straight A student with 10 APs, solid but not spectacular test scores and a member (but not a great one) of the crew team; (3) UVA again for STEM for a child with a virtually identical record to (2), but with slightly lower grades and slightly higher test scores AND calculus and (4)  William and Mary and a top-five liberal arts college for a student with very high grades, at least eight APs, and major involvement in theater but no sports whatsoever.

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