Anonymous wrote:Full pay boy. High performing suburban HS of a major city (Boston/DC/NY). No legacy.

Going into his junior year of HS. In the top ten of his class, may end up being valedictorian. He’s very smart, has no leadership or interesting ECs. Minor volunteering, 2 JV sports, not recruitable and may not even make varsity. Ship has sailed for ECs, they would be meaningless at this point and I would not expect joining a club would have any impact on his results.

He is really smart, and likely would do fine at an Ivy, but he won’t get in as he doesn’t stand out at all. Where can a kid with high test scores and top of class at a strong suburban public get into that is still prestigious? What’s his best bet for ED? Could he possibly get into a rice or Cornell?

He has multiple 5s on APs and will have 1500+ on SAT (if he doesn’t get there initially, he will be tutored).

Oxbridge, LSE, Imperial, St Andrews, UCL, Edinburgh, Durham, Amsterdam, ETH Zurich, St Gallen, Science Po, Bocconi, etc…..

Multiple AP 5s
High GPA
Very high SAT

No ECs and you want prestige? Dust off the passport. The following amazing universities have primarily stat-based admissions:

Oxford
Cambridge
University of British Columbia
McGill
University of Sydney
University of Melbourne

And… several others if you start looking around. The American admissions game is silly. Other countries get it right.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, here's what a pricey college counselor would do for this kid - and yes ED1 to WashU:

Major: Undecided arts & sciences or Environmental Studies (not science)

The following for ECS:
- Club founder and president (native plant Org/club at school that rewilds areas with native plants) (11, 12)
- Organizer of local beach cleanup meetups (11, 12)
- Sport 1 (9, 10, 11, 12)
- Urban garden or botanic garden volunteer or instructor (11, 12)
- Sport 2 (9, 10, 11, 12)
- Putt-Putt job (12)
- Science Fair research (Research on iridescent plants)
- Botany podcaster YouTube channel
- At home greenhouse (woodworking done by applicant) and gardener planting 35+ varietals annually (10, 11, 12)
- Taught neighbor w/ learning disabilities how to read (improved 4 reading levels) (10, 11, 12)

Hobbies: cloud-watching (active member of Cloud Appreciation Society) and journaling would be the basis for a personal statement.

These are excellent ideas! Well done.

Agreed.
Just stole some of them

Anonymous wrote:So, here's what a pricey college counselor would do for this kid - and yes ED1 to WashU:

Major: Undecided arts & sciences or Environmental Studies (not science)

The following for ECS:
- Club founder and president (native plant Org/club at school that rewilds areas with native plants) (11, 12)
- Organizer of local beach cleanup meetups (11, 12)
- Sport 1 (9, 10, 11, 12)
- Urban garden or botanic garden volunteer or instructor (11, 12)
- Sport 2 (9, 10, 11, 12)
- Putt-Putt job (12)
- Science Fair research (Research on iridescent plants)
- Botany podcaster YouTube channel
- At home greenhouse (woodworking done by applicant) and gardener planting 35+ varietals annually (10, 11, 12)
- Taught neighbor w/ learning disabilities how to read (improved 4 reading levels) (10, 11, 12)

Hobbies: cloud-watching (active member of Cloud Appreciation Society) and journaling would be the basis for a personal statement.

These are excellent ideas! Well done.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do we have high stats no ECs boys keep popping up recently? So many.

Because they stay in their rooms and play video games.

The room and video games is real. But by the same token, teens are teens and are who they are. My oldest likes what he likes and isn't going to do what he doesnt want to do. So he works a nonimpressive teen job and does the 3 very common activities he does, and will probably get some modest recognition or a modest leadership role in ONE of those because he has some relative talent/skill in that one. Why would I push him to do more? It's not his personality or where he is at developmentally and he'll be a lot happier NOT attending a super competitive school. But he also likes school and is serious about learning.

So I think the OPs question about fit is a good one. Smart, academic, regular teens at a non T20 or T50 will be successful too. What are some good options for them?

(I am also cracking up from the fish EC comment because I agree it opens up a lot of EC possibilities but I know I couldnt in a million years convince my kid who loves to fish and aquascape aquariums to START any sort of fish-related club at school and could only imagine the conversation if I tried).

Anonymous wrote:Full pay boy. High performing suburban HS of a major city (Boston/DC/NY). No legacy.

Going into his junior year of HS. In the top ten of his class, may end up being valedictorian. He’s very smart, has no leadership or interesting ECs. Minor volunteering, 2 JV sports, not recruitable and may not even make varsity. Ship has sailed for ECs, they would be meaningless at this point and I would not expect joining a club would have any impact on his results.

He is really smart, and likely would do fine at an Ivy, but he won’t get in as he doesn’t stand out at all. Where can a kid with high test scores and top of class at a strong suburban public get into that is still prestigious? What’s his best bet for ED? Could he possibly get into a rice or Cornell?

He has multiple 5s on APs and will have 1500+ on SAT (if he doesn’t get there initially, he will be tutored).

Emory?

Anonymous wrote:Get a private counselor and get off here.

why?

Get a private counselor and get off here.

Anonymous wrote:op here. Thanks for the advice. I wish it wasn’t July. I should have made him get a job this summer. He did volunteering for CCD confirmation at a food pantry but I will make him start again this summer. I also don’t know if he will make his teams this year and if not I’ll force him to get a job. DS isn’t going to want to go to our state flagship - it’s strong but not a ton of top kids from our rich HS go there. It’s a perception thing, which is frustrating. Also re: marine bio - I also think it’s sort of ridiculous as he doesn’t even know what marine biology really is or what a marine biologist does.

Wants and reality are two different animals. Just based on your description of him, he needs a lot of growing up to do and find his own path.

Anonymous wrote:op here. Thanks for the advice. I wish it wasn’t July. I should have made him get a job this summer. He did volunteering for CCD confirmation at a food pantry but I will make him start again this summer. I also don’t know if he will make his teams this year and if not I’ll force him to get a job. DS isn’t going to want to go to our state flagship - it’s strong but not a ton of top kids from our rich HS go there. It’s a perception thing, which is frustrating. Also re: marine bio - I also think it’s sort of ridiculous as he doesn’t even know what marine biology really is or what a marine biologist does.

Well, newsflash for your son: if you have nothing but excellent grades and high test scores on your application, then you end up at your state flagship. It doesn’t matter whether he “wants“ to go or not. He’s not good enough for any of these top private schools that others are recommending. It is just not going to happen. So tell him to prepare himself.

Anonymous wrote:Just make up the activities. Many kids do this.

The things that don't matter, they don't verify. Cloud watching, putt putt job.
The things that matter, it's more likely they will find out. For example, AIME qualifier, Varsity captain, Student Council President.

Either way, it's not going to change anything.

The vast majority of colleges don't care about your ECs. With or without ECs, you are getting in as long as high stats.
T20 care about your ECs, but only the ones that matter. Putting cloud watching on the list does not make you a T20 admit.

op here. Thanks for the advice. I wish it wasn’t July. I should have made him get a job this summer. He did volunteering for CCD confirmation at a food pantry but I will make him start again this summer. I also don’t know if he will make his teams this year and if not I’ll force him to get a job. DS isn’t going to want to go to our state flagship - it’s strong but not a ton of top kids from our rich HS go there. It’s a perception thing, which is frustrating. Also re: marine bio - I also think it’s sort of ridiculous as he doesn’t even know what marine biology really is or what a marine biologist does.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Full pay boy. High performing suburban HS of a major city (Boston/DC/NY). No legacy.

Going into his junior year of HS. In the top ten of his class, may end up being valedictorian. He’s very smart, has no leadership or interesting ECs. Minor volunteering, 2 JV sports, not recruitable and may not even make varsity. Ship has sailed for ECs, they would be meaningless at this point and I would not expect joining a club would have any impact on his results.

He is really smart, and likely would do fine at an Ivy, but he won’t get in as he doesn’t stand out at all. Where can a kid with high test scores and top of class at a strong suburban public get into that is still prestigious? What’s his best bet for ED? Could he possibly get into a rice or Cornell?

He has multiple 5s on APs and will have 1500+ on SAT (if he doesn’t get there initially, he will be tutored).

Assuming he can test better than 1500, consider Oxbridge. They don't care about leadership or ECs. He'll need to take a specialized subject exam, though, and do really well on them.

HIGHLY unlikely. Oxford and Cambridge require intensive interviews with professors in the field of interest (it would also require him to pick a specified field and, at this moment, it sounds like he’s not there yet). Selected students have to show a very deep understanding of their interest areas. That doesn’t describe OP’s son.

Just make up the activities. Many kids do this.

Your state flagship is made for boys like this.