Anonymous wrote:The most elite schools (e.g. Harvard, Princeton, Stanford) are actively looking for first generation college students and low income students. First generation may be as much of a tipping factor as legacy for a highly-qualified student. And for a family whose household income is 60K or less, if a student is admitted, room & board as well as tuition will be free. No loans to pay off after school.

So the biggest message for super-bright/highly accomplished low-income or first-generation kids is THESE SCHOOLS WANT YOU if you can prove you're capable of doing the work. It's not a matter of easing into college with a state school because your parents never went to college. Or looking for the cheapest option because that's all you can afford. Aim for the top if you're smart. Don't aim only for the top -- everybody has to hedge his/her bets. But it's a weird system right now where the previously most exclusive schools may actually be more accessible/welcoming to some low income schools than public schools (or private schools one or two tiers down).

This is a big deal at the elite schools. The Times has a long story about first generation students at the Ivies for this Sunday's print edition. [url]http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/12/education/edlife/first-generation-students-unite.html?
[/url] At the same time, the smartest student at a low-income high school is going to be facing some serious class and culture shock in addition to some really heightened expectations in the classroom.

School counselors are not trained to be college counselors. They are trained to assist with mental health issues and other barriers to learning. They do their best, and some are experienced or more knowledgeable than others, but don't use them as your primary source of info. Many high schools with a school counseling program ALSO have a college counselor.

Anonymous wrote:I think there is good advice on CC if you stick to the parents forum and ignore the rest.

This is the best source of college info, IMO:

http://www.thecollegesolution.com

+1. Of all the college info sites, this is the best.

Oops, meant welcoming to low income STUDENTS (not schools). Probably clear from context.

Another thing about resume-building, assuming your kid isn't the science-y type. Look at various national competitions -- Scholastic has them for writing and arts, Gilder Lehrman has them for history -- that allow an individual student to submit work and that either don't require school participation or would enable a school or teacher to opt in for free and don't require any involvement other than registration.

Also contact the admission people at the universities in and around DC. There are many universities and colleges here. You can set up interviews over the summer, bring you DC. In the interview, restate what you said here, ask what they think you should be doing and where else you can get help.

Anonymous wrote:Our public school is doing a good job encouraging kids to go to college, esp if low income or first in their family. They are not focussed on Ivies, SLACs, or more competitive schools. For example, they are very encouraging of SAT and ACT prep but never mentioned SAT subject matter tests, which I learned about from college confidential. The school does not have an established relationship or, apparently, many students who even apply to those schools. Appreciate suggestions about how to educate ourselves or what else we might be missing. DC is in 9th grade, so just starting to try to understand the current admissions system.

The most elite schools (e.g. Harvard, Princeton, Stanford) are actively looking for first generation college students and low income students. First generation may be as much of a tipping factor as legacy for a highly-qualified student. And for a family whose household income is 60K or less, if a student is admitted, room & board as well as tuition will be free. No loans to pay off after school.

So the biggest message for super-bright/highly accomplished low-income or first-generation kids is THESE SCHOOLS WANT YOU if you can prove you're capable of doing the work. It's not a matter of easing into college with a state school because your parents never went to college. Or looking for the cheapest option because that's all you can afford. Aim for the top if you're smart. Don't aim only for the top -- everybody has to hedge his/her bets. But it's a weird system right now where the previously most exclusive schools may actually be more accessible/welcoming to some low income schools than public schools (or private schools one or two tiers down).

It's also worth seeking out summer programs targeted to high-schoolers from underrepresented groups (which aren't always defined by race -- could be women in science, first generation college, low-income, etc.). Sometimes they'll be hosted by the colleges/universities themselves. Other times the military sponsors them (with no requirement of future enlistment) -- see, e.g. SEAP or GEMS for science and engineering. These programs can be useful in a variety of ways -- improving a student's academic skills, exposing students to fields they might not otherwise encounter in school, serving as an honor or credential for college applications. The military ones generally seem to include a stipend.

Hire a college counselor. The counselors at low income schools are so focused on getting kids into colleges they can afford, they don't or can't help higher SES kids. Some of the counselors don't even know about the highly ranked schools or have relationships with them, and some of them have biases that can affect where they steer students. A private counselor can expand your child's options in ways the school counselors can't.

Anonymous wrote:Our public school is doing a good job encouraging kids to go to college, esp if low income or first in their family. They are not focussed on Ivies, SLACs, or more competitive schools. For example, they are very encouraging of SAT and ACT prep but never mentioned SAT subject matter tests, which I learned about from college confidential. The school does not have an established relationship or, apparently, many students who even apply to those schools. Appreciate suggestions about how to educate ourselves or what else we might be missing. DC is in 9th grade, so just starting to try to understand the current admissions system.

College Confidential is a great resource. I am an immigrant and did not attend college in this country, yet I think we did OK when DC1 graduated high school.
Naviance is another great resource for finding the colleges that would be a match for your kid's GPA and SAT/ACT. It is a system that school maintains for tracking these parameters, where students apply, and whether they are admitted, waitlisted or denied. Students all have accounts, and parents can request one (this is how it works in FCPS).
Do not rely on the GC: in low-income schools a lot of their workload is dealing with the kids' ongoing issues, not college admissions. My DC's school was not low-income, but the GC still sucked

My kids attended a private high school, and honestly, College Confidential provided them with much important information and guidance.

Anonymous wrote:Poor kids can get a serious boost from Questbridge

You don't have to be poor for Questbridge. They use a flexible financial cut off of about $60,000 for a family of four. They offer a college prep program for juniors that helps students navigate the entire process in addition to the match program that provides a four year scholarship for the entire cost of attendance. The partner schools include 35 top tier schools - Stanford, Columbia, Yale, Princeton, Amherst, Williams, etc.

Poor kids can get a serious boost from Questbridge

A listing of highly ranked schools and their policies toward SAT subject tests:

http://www.compassprep.com/subject-test-requirements-and-recommendations/

I think there is good advice on CC if you stick to the parents forum and ignore the rest.

This is the best source of college info, IMO:

http://www.thecollegesolution.com

I went to a low-income public high school, and learned next to nothing about colleges from my guidance counselor, who encouraged me to go to our local state school, not even the best one in the state, because it was cheap.

Luckily, a friend helped me learn about financial aid at private colleges. If your income is low enough, and your child's grades and test scores are high enough, you can end up paying less in tuition for a private college or university than you would at the public university in your state.

I ended up at a very competitive, prestigious college in spite of my terrible college guidance counselor. I was guided by a friend who'd gone to Middlebury, and she encouraged me to apply to several SLACS and a couple Ivies, as well as our state colleges.

I chose the school that gave me the most Financial Aid, and it turned out to be a great choice.

Get the Fiske Guide to the Colleges (at the library if you can't afford it). It's about $40, I think. Look at the SAT scores, GPAs at the various schools. Look at location, the size of the school, the programs offered. Does your DC want a liberal arts college? Is she interested in a certain field? Is she a good student?

Go to your public library and ask a reference librarian to show you some books on colleges. There's a book called Colleges that Change Lives that lists colleges that are likely to offer a lot of financial aid to low income kids, where the kids will get a great education.

Once you've picked out some colleges, go visit some of them. Take the tour, go the the q&a sessions, look on the collge websites, get teh financial aid applications and look through them. Visit collges in your area first with your DC to get an idea of what type of collge your child wants to attend -- urban, suburban, rural, large, small, big university, liberal arts college?

You can get a pretty good idea of how your DC will do on the SAT by taking the PSAT. Or even get a practice test and take that.

Best of luck to you, OP! Do as much research as you can. Collge Confidencial is all over the place, so I'd start with the Fiske book, and the library.

NPR had a story on low income kids and the terrible guidance they get -- google it. Many of these kids are not directed to schools that would be good matches for them because the guidance counselors are not very well educated, and most of them didnt go to competitive schools. There's a sort of discrimination against low-income kids too -- guidance counselors think they aren't smart enough to get into the most competitive schools! Sad for these bright kids!

Our public school is doing a good job encouraging kids to go to college, esp if low income or first in their family. They are not focussed on Ivies, SLACs, or more competitive schools. For example, they are very encouraging of SAT and ACT prep but never mentioned SAT subject matter tests, which I learned about from college confidential. The school does not have an established relationship or, apparently, many students who even apply to those schools. Appreciate suggestions about how to educate ourselves or what else we might be missing. DC is in 9th grade, so just starting to try to understand the current admissions system.