Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The lack of strong extracurriculars would make much of the T20 unlikely , especially for a girl and especially for the sciences. Her best shoot likely is ED at somewhere like Chicago or Wash U.

Not from a top private. It doesn't matter what your extracurriculars are. if you are one of 5 kids with a 3.9+
that will be enough.



I wish people who don't know what they're talking about from direct experience would not opine.


no, this kid doesn't need to stoop to Chicago. no, they don't need a million extracurriculars. If you are top 5 at Sidwell or STA or NCS that will be enough. The grades are what set you apart because almost no one gets them.

Your opinion just got devalued, my friend.

at our non-DMV (feeder) private, this girl got into Stanford in RD.

Anonymous wrote:What year in high school is she in right now - junior or senior?

If junior, she needs to work very hard to maintain that GPA. For girls, grade 9/10 are much easier to get a 3.9 since their brain/exec function is way ahead of boys at that stage but the curriculum is not yet that rigorous. Grade 11/12 is more of a leveler. Boys start to begin to come into their maturity brain-wise, although they still lag girls, but the coursework is far more rigorous if they are taking top rigor.

If she's a junior, find one EC to go deeper in based on what she's authentically interested in, but know that deep involvement or leadership will take away from her time devoted to academics. So it's a balancing act.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The lack of strong extracurriculars would make much of the T20 unlikely , especially for a girl and especially for the sciences. Her best shoot likely is ED at somewhere like Chicago or Wash U.

Not from a top private. It doesn't matter what your extracurriculars are. if you are one of 5 kids with a 3.9+
that will be enough.



I wish people who don't know what they're talking about from direct experience would not opine.


no, this kid doesn't need to stoop to Chicago. no, they don't need a million extracurriculars. If you are top 5 at Sidwell or STA or NCS that will be enough. The grades are what set you apart because almost no one gets them.

Totally agree with you.

Anonymous wrote:The lack of strong extracurriculars would make much of the T20 unlikely , especially for a girl and especially for the sciences. Her best shoot likely is ED at somewhere like Chicago or Wash U.

Not from a top private. It doesn't matter what your extracurriculars are. if you are one of 5 kids with a 3.9+
that will be enough.



I wish people who don't know what they're talking about from direct experience would not opine.


no, this kid doesn't need to stoop to Chicago. no, they don't need a million extracurriculars. If you are top 5 at Sidwell or STA or NCS that will be enough. The grades are what set you apart because almost no one gets them.

Bowdoin? It’s a great school.

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t tempt fate by trying to figure this out now. It’s too early. Just have her concentrate on doing well junior year.

+1

Focus instead on helping her find an EC that interests her that she could begin this school year and then build into something special during junior summer.

Ideal if it is somehow connected to her academic interests/ intended major but not the usual school clubs. Find something not school-related and truly different than what other private school kids are doing.

Finally, as for figuring out where to ED, it’s way too early to decide this! Talk with your DD’s school counselor to identify schools to research and visit this spring, when school is in session. You really want to visit Junior spring and Senior fall - seeing schools in the summer isn’t as helpful.

Finally, I’ll emphasize the point above: talk with the college counselor or advisor at your DD’s private school!

They will know which college tend to accept kids from your private school with DD’s profile.

Also, this type of bespoke advice is very much what you’re paying for!!! Use the resources you’ve purchased.

The lack of strong extracurriculars would make much of the T20 unlikely , especially for a girl and especially for the sciences. Her best shoot likely is ED at somewhere like Chicago or Wash U.

What is the rigor and how many courses per year is this student taking. I know some kids who take bare minimum of 5 classes of low rigor with a 3.9 and some who are taking 7 classes with high rigor with 3.9. I would think rigor would count for a lot.

Anonymous wrote:Why the 3.9? What classes did she struggle with? Science, math, English, history, foreign language?

Struggle? My kid goes to Horace Mann, and perhaps 5 of the 150 or so students in a class get a 4.0. I wouldn't characterize the rest as "struggling."

Just a Swat anecdote. My high-stats DD was deferred after applying ED but then accepted RD . . . apparently that was a pretty common experience among her friends who aren't recruited athletes. Unless it's your DD's #1 choice, I wouldn't consider it a a strategic move. There are other SLACs where ED gives more of an advantage.

Anonymous wrote:Why the 3.9? What classes did she struggle with? Science, math, English, history, foreign language?

3.9 is top of the class, no more than five people usually. Are you serious? Struggle?

I think people are assuming you’re at a well known feeder private high school. If that’s not the case, these are extremely optimistic possibilities.

Anonymous wrote:Is this kid a junior or a senior. At our private school this kid would likely ED to a place like Northwestern or JHU or U Chicago or Brown.

Our private would steer an unhooked white girl far away from ED to Brown. . .

Why the 3.9? What classes did she struggle with? Science, math, English, history, foreign language?