Anonymous wrote:My junior is hardworking and smart, but doesn't have an academic passion yet. He has ruled out the hard sciences and engineering. He is good at math but doesn't think he wants to focus on it. Writing is more of a struggle but one he works at and has gotten better at. He is extremely social and when he takes career tests, they point him towards working with people such as coaching, teaching, or politics. He is also interested in business but not exactly sure what that means...

Academically, he'll apply to UVA and W&M but they're in our "low reach" category...other schools on the list are Villanova, Wake Forest, Pitt, Delaware...also considering playing his sport at a Division 3 school such as Franklin & Marshall or Wesleyan.

In general, what advice do BTDT parents have for a kid like this in the college search? Should we be drilling down on schools' general education requirements to make sure he'll get a broad range of classes before declaring a major (although I'd imagine all colleges have that)? Should we be digging into how strong freshman/sophomore year advising is (my older son went to Syracuse with a declared area of interest but I was not impressed with their freshman advising tbh). Are there schools that make more sense or less sense for a kid like this?

thanks.

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Anonymous wrote:One of the great things about Pitt is their rolling admissions. If he applies in August, he should have an answer sometime in September or early October. It takes a lot of the pressure off to have a solid option in hand.

OP - yes this is our plan!

We can afford to be full pay anywhere but he's very practical and thinks he should definitely go to UVA or W&M if he gets in. I don't feel quite as strongly about that.

ED1UVA and ED2 W&M

OP here. See, I am worried UVA will not provide the teaching and advising my kid needs. The vibe I get there is kids should feel lucky to be there and they oughta figure it out for themselves...so I'd prefer he apply EA instead of ED to give him some time to consider other options, go to admitted students days, etc.

Anonymous wrote:My junior is hardworking and smart, but doesn't have an academic passion yet. He has ruled out the hard sciences and engineering. He is good at math but doesn't think he wants to focus on it. Writing is more of a struggle but one he works at and has gotten better at. He is extremely social and when he takes career tests, they point him towards working with people such as coaching, teaching, or politics. He is also interested in business but not exactly sure what that means...

Academically, he'll apply to UVA and W&M but they're in our "low reach" category...other schools on the list are Villanova, Wake Forest, Pitt, Delaware...also considering playing his sport at a Division 3 school such as Franklin & Marshall or Wesleyan.

In general, what advice do BTDT parents have for a kid like this in the college search? Should we be drilling down on schools' general education requirements to make sure he'll get a broad range of classes before declaring a major (although I'd imagine all colleges have that)? Should we be digging into how strong freshman/sophomore year advising is (my older son went to Syracuse with a declared area of interest but I was not impressed with their freshman advising tbh). Are there schools that make more sense or less sense for a kid like this?

thanks.

Anonymous wrote:Look for the strongest academics/school you can get into with a well-rounded liberal arts education and the best student-teacher ratio, where professors teach more than half of their classes. Look for real engagement with professors and active advising.

May lead you to SLACs?

Where does he hope to live post-graduation?

Given his lack of an academic hook and strengths in math, consider statistics or even possibly even sociology?

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Anonymous wrote:What are his ECs? Favorite subjects?

EC: Top player on high school sports team & outside sport as well, volunteers with the special olympics and officer at the best buddies club at school. Works as a coach and referee. Favorite subjects are the social sciences (AP Gov, history classes). Favorite subjects tend to be very teacher-dependent. One year it might be math and another year it's history.

My kids sounds very similar, although he's not not very good at math. Special Olympics is one of his very favorite things. He's decided he wants to be an occupational therapist, although if he was better at math, I think he'd have chosen Physical Therapist.

He decided to apply to dual degree programs where he can continue on to the OTD, and complete both degrees in one year less. Those degrees tend to be offered at regional universities, so his list of acceptances isn't one that DCUM would love, but he's thrilled with here he got in, and excited to go. He plans to major in Psychology.

Where is he going? Psych is oversubscribed at top schools.

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Anonymous wrote:What are his ECs? Favorite subjects?

EC: Top player on high school sports team & outside sport as well, volunteers with the special olympics and officer at the best buddies club at school. Works as a coach and referee. Favorite subjects are the social sciences (AP Gov, history classes). Favorite subjects tend to be very teacher-dependent. One year it might be math and another year it's history.

ECs are weak -- sports don't help much if not an athletic recruit. Try to get him a substantive summer experience, perhaps by volunteering in area of interest (i.e. working on a political campaign). Also needs some leadership. Is he a member of any clubs where he can run for a senior position or student government?

I’ve seen kids with these ECs and 3.7/3.8uw and 32/33 get into Wake / Tulane/ uMiami and SMU - using an ED option and listing humanities major.

Other than for engineering, which is its only direct admit major, Waks doesn’t consider major. As for all schools, Naviance/scoir is typically the best for school specific admission stats.

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Anonymous wrote:What are his ECs? Favorite subjects?

EC: Top player on high school sports team & outside sport as well, volunteers with the special olympics and officer at the best buddies club at school. Works as a coach and referee. Favorite subjects are the social sciences (AP Gov, history classes). Favorite subjects tend to be very teacher-dependent. One year it might be math and another year it's history.

ECs are weak -- sports don't help much if not an athletic recruit. Try to get him a substantive summer experience, perhaps by volunteering in area of interest (i.e. working on a political campaign). Also needs some leadership. Is he a member of any clubs where he can run for a senior position or student government?

I’ve seen kids with these ECs and 3.7/3.8uw and 32/33 get into Wake / Tulane/ uMiami and SMU - using an ED option and listing humanities major.

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Anonymous wrote:What are his ECs? Favorite subjects?

EC: Top player on high school sports team & outside sport as well, volunteers with the special olympics and officer at the best buddies club at school. Works as a coach and referee. Favorite subjects are the social sciences (AP Gov, history classes). Favorite subjects tend to be very teacher-dependent. One year it might be math and another year it's history.

ECs are weak -- sports don't help much if not an athletic recruit. Try to get him a substantive summer experience, perhaps by volunteering in area of interest (i.e. working on a political campaign). Also needs some leadership. Is he a member of any clubs where he can run for a senior position or student government?

Anonymous wrote:Wake's RD acceptance rate is less than 10 percent. Totally understand if he wants to apply ED1 UVA and ED2 WM if want in state tuition, but if Wake is at the top of his list, I'd recommend using an ED slot.