Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid is a freshman, please calm down.

I don’t know why people say this. It’s not like she could just join a bunch of stuff as a junior. It’s worth OP asking if this is important and she should encourage her to find a thing for college applications. My kid is a sophomore and I am getting a little worried….from reading these threads it seems like your kid has to have basically set up her own lab at NIH to be able to get into the kind of schools that I was easily admitted to at her age (swarthmore, Amherst, Hopkins, gasser, etc.). My kid is way more accomplished and academically advanced than I was but it seems like she’ll probably be lucky to get into UMC college park.

+100 Ivy league family here and no way our next generation will get in, in my family. Exponentially more applications than in decades past. But I’m fine with it – it wasn’t actually that much fun.

Is she cute in an above average way?

Get her off the stress train that is the USA.

Send her to college in Europe perhaps guide her to build a life in the Netherlands where women are happier and only want to work part time.

Dutch women for example have no interest in working full time.

European colleges don’t care about extra curriculars.

Anonymous wrote:So DD is a home body and introvert. Has always done well in school, all As, GT, etc. does a few extracurriculars like model UN and a ref sport occasionally, but it seems like every kid has some dedicated passion like dance or a sport they have ramped up, or music. DD reads a LOT. She wishes her extracurricular for colleges could be reading I’d say.

What is her long term prospect her, smart kid, good grades, but ZERO hooks. Would William and Marg or VTech be options?

You are not your kid. She will get in somewhere. Just let her be!

Maybe she can start a book club?
What kinds of things does she like to read?

Look into colleges in Britain. They don’t care about EC’s. Just grades and test scores. Reading extensively will be seen as a plus.

Do ED and make sure she interviews at W&M when she's ready to apply.

Not necessarily on W&M. My kid is there now and all during the admissions process, tours, open house, HS visits, interview, etc. the reps from the school emphasized being involved in one’s community. One of the Admissions folks said the W&M community is too small to take in people who aren’t engaged in their surrounding community. She said engagement takes many forms and listed sports, clubs, community service, working a paid job while going to school, caring for family members like younger siblings or older relatives so that parents could go to work, etc. If your daughter likes reading, use that as a jumping off point. A job in a bookstore, volunteer at the local library, look for volunteer opportunities that involve reading aloud to others, etc.

Anonymous wrote:Your kid is a freshman, please calm down.

I don’t know why people say this. It’s not like she could just join a bunch of stuff as a junior. It’s worth OP asking if this is important and she should encourage her to find a thing for college applications. My kid is a sophomore and I am getting a little worried….from reading these threads it seems like your kid has to have basically set up her own lab at NIH to be able to get into the kind of schools that I was easily admitted to at her age (swarthmore, Amherst, Hopkins, gasser, etc.). My kid is way more accomplished and academically advanced than I was but it seems like she’ll probably be lucky to get into UMC college park.

Don't let this site be your window on the world please.

I could not pay my kid to read a book. Count your blessings.

When mine applied to Davidson (which asks for a list of books you read in the previous year)...she asked me if she could include required textbooks!

The goal is not to twist your kid into what schools are looking for, it is to find schools where a kid JUST LIKE YOURS will thrive.

Anonymous wrote:Doing nothing doesn't mean a few ECs and reading. It means doing nothing.

+1

Doing nothing means sitting around all day and be on her phone. Don’t be so dramatic.

Your kid is a freshman, please calm down.

Doing nothing doesn't mean a few ECs and reading. It means doing nothing.

Grades matter most for most schools. It’s really mainly the Ivys where the passion projects come into play. She sounds great. And it sounds like she has ECs.

Anonymous wrote:So DD is a home body and introvert. Has always done well in school, all As, GT, etc. does a few extracurriculars like model UN and a ref sport occasionally, but it seems like every kid has some dedicated passion like dance or a sport they have ramped up, or music. DD reads a LOT. She wishes her extracurricular for colleges could be reading I’d say.

What is her long term prospect her, smart kid, good grades, but ZERO hooks. Would William and Marg or VTech be options?

Yes on VT and W&M. Geez, first world problems. My Angel kid reads a lot vs being more of a jock-Waaaah.

So DD is a home body and introvert. Has always done well in school, all As, GT, etc. does a few extracurriculars like model UN and a ref sport occasionally, but it seems like every kid has some dedicated passion like dance or a sport they have ramped up, or music. DD reads a LOT. She wishes her extracurricular for colleges could be reading I’d say.

What is her long term prospect her, smart kid, good grades, but ZERO hooks. Would William and Marg or VTech be options?