Anonymous wrote:OP, you are clearly astute with a smart kid and an ability to navigate systems.


Kids grow up a lot between middle and high school. Also, the CA schools only look at sophomore and junior year grades. I would focus on figuring out what motivates your student to care about grades. I have a college freshman and a high school sophomore. Watching her high achieving sibling go through the college application nightmare really motivated my less high achieving student. She is working at an academic level this year I could not have imagined when she was in 8th grade.

Good luck to you and your son.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Divorced mom of an 8th grade DS here. We are in CA. High school is competitive and highly ranked, with many well off and well educated families, but also some student population from low income,
mostly URM and first Gen families.

We are not URM, but low income (below $25k per year). I am an immigrant but the child was born here. His first language wasn’t English but now it’s his native language.
I have a degree from abroad so first Gen definition varies I guess.

I consider DS an average student; his GPA fluctuates between 3.25 and 3.75.
The goal is to have a close to full ride at any decent school really. Money is the greatest consideration.

I would appreciate any advice on HS strategy for him. Namely:
- does it make sense to take honors classes if they don’t provide a GPA boost in the UC system? (Some AP classes do but not all). He is bright and might appreciate the content and the classmates but it might lower his GPA
- DS likes to draw but other than that he isn’t too great or passionate about any extracurriculars. Would it be a good idea to develop a profile where he gets a part time job early on to help his family, rather than trying to excel at some extracurricular activity?
- he is free lunch kid (his whole school gets free food but he also is one by application). Will he be automatically identified as a low income kid in HS and maybe get some extra support for college admissions?
- one of the counselors from his school also works as a private college counselor. Does it make sense to reach out to her for paid consultations? Or will she have a conflict of interest?

To add, I am aware of programs like Questbridge but I am not sure how competitive DS is for them, and they don’t start until later anyway.

Grateful for any and all advice from knowledgeable people here!

Most people here may not be familiar with CA schools. I'd recommend you create an account on College Confidential and read up on posts there/ask questions. Another good source is the "Paying for College 101" Facebook group. You can post anonymously there as well and the responses are very good and much more useful than on this forum.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apply for UC and Cal State schools. On $25K a year you should get full financial aid.

I keep reading stories about high achieving kids not getting in. He is not URM. Not sure if he is going to be top 9% as the high school is strong.
Does not have any big hardships except for surviving on this income in CA lol

He's doing great. CA has tons of schools, some that take the majority of kids. He may not get into the one you want him to go to but he'll get in one.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apply for UC and Cal State schools. On $25K a year you should get full financial aid.

I keep reading stories about high achieving kids not getting in. He is not URM. Not sure if he is going to be top 9% as the high school is strong.
Does not have any big hardships except for surviving on this income in CA lol

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apply for UC and Cal State schools. On $25K a year you should get full financial aid.

I keep reading stories about high achieving kids not getting in. He is not URM. Not sure if he is going to be top 9% as the high school is strong.
Does not have any big hardships except for surviving on this income in CA lol

Anonymous wrote:Divorced mom of an 8th grade DS here. We are in CA. High school is competitive and highly ranked, with many well off and well educated families, but also some student population from low income,
mostly URM and first Gen families.

We are not URM, but low income (below $25k per year). I am an immigrant but the child was born here. His first language wasn’t English but now it’s his native language.
I have a degree from abroad so first Gen definition varies I guess.

I consider DS an average student; his GPA fluctuates between 3.25 and 3.75.
The goal is to have a close to full ride at any decent school really. Money is the greatest consideration.

I would appreciate any advice on HS strategy for him. Namely:
- does it make sense to take honors classes if they don’t provide a GPA boost in the UC system? (Some AP classes do but not all). He is bright and might appreciate the content and the classmates but it might lower his GPA
- DS likes to draw but other than that he isn’t too great or passionate about any extracurriculars. Would it be a good idea to develop a profile where he gets a part time job early on to help his family, rather than trying to excel at some extracurricular activity?
- he is free lunch kid (his whole school gets free food but he also is one by application). Will he be automatically identified as a low income kid in HS and maybe get some extra support for college admissions?
- one of the counselors from his school also works as a private college counselor. Does it make sense to reach out to her for paid consultations? Or will she have a conflict of interest?

To add, I am aware of programs like Questbridge but I am not sure how competitive DS is for them, and they don’t start until later anyway.

Grateful for any and all advice from knowledgeable people here!

Anonymous wrote:Do not pay a college counselor.
There are MANY free programs for students of low income. You might be able to see them promoting themselves in the local high school so if they have a website or newsletter sign up for it.
Your child may also get a bump / 2nd look at some colleges if they know the applicant worked with these programs.
Also - California does not consider race in applications. So if you are applying to a CA school -it does not matter that your child is - or is not an URM.

Anonymous wrote:Also: UCs like students who have adversity, a job, who are engaged/volunteer in community. He may also have to take a summer class before 9th grade to get a class like PE/Health out of the way. This will allow him to take an extra elective or A-G class.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s better to take more rigorous courses even if the grade is lower. That’s the whole point of weighted GPAs. Even if your school doesn’t weight the courses, admissions officers see the rigor.

You need to be a little nuanced about this since UCs cap APs. So take APs or Honors in classes he excels at. UCs/CSU also love students who take DE classes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apply for UC and Cal State schools. On $25K a year you should get full financial aid.

I keep reading stories about high achieving kids not getting in. He is not URM. Not sure if he is going to be top 9% as the high school is strong.
Does not have any big hardships except for surviving on this income in CA lol

He definitely won’t qualify for 9% and he will likely not get into a UCs, but apply anyway. It’s sometimes random, so you never know. Concentrate on the PIQ. Target UCSC. Cal States are a really good fit for him. As mentioned, CSU and UCs will be tuition free for him. What is his intended major? You have good choices. I am in California too. If all else fails, he can do CC and transfer. But since you are low income, and he has your support, you can do better than that. I would not bother with anything OOS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP we're also in CA. There are enough CS and UC colleges that your son will get into at least a few of them. Look at Sonoma, it claims it has the best housing of all the California colleges and certainly looks that way. Long Beach & Fullerton. Also look at UC Riverside, and Merced. They're all possibilities.

As for your kid, if he enjoys art, let that be his EC from now through HS.

A part time job or paid internship is always considered favorable. He’s only in 8th grade. Next year in HS, he should check with the business department or even the art department. If he’s passionate about art he can start out at a local studio or workshops for kids. If he finds something business related like a shared work hub, he can work his way up with more responsibility plus meet many types of business owners. Local l businesses tap into high schoolers looking to intern. My son had a paid internship throughout HS related to his major. It definitely boosted his essays and EC’s. And he easily got internships in college from summer of freshman year to now junior year because of his high school internship. Bonus: he’ll have some money to contribute or for his own needs, taking a bit of the edge off for you.

Anonymous wrote:OP we're also in CA. There are enough CS and UC colleges that your son will get into at least a few of them. Look at Sonoma, it claims it has the best housing of all the California colleges and certainly looks that way. Long Beach & Fullerton. Also look at UC Riverside, and Merced. They're all possibilities.

As for your kid, if he enjoys art, let that be his EC from now through HS.

Anonymous wrote:I was a free lunch kid. Your child should qualify for full financial aid at any decent private college. The MC/UMC are the ones who get squeezed with tuition. Your child should be able to get need based aid.