Imagination, arts and sense of play. Op, you sound like some of the parents in my kid's magnet program. Those parents thought there was a recipe for top school admits (which they considered the key to success), and now their CS, high stats, strings or piano playing, science bowl, pres robotics club, aime kid looks like a whole bunch of others. Firstly, move past this notion that it's top schools or bust. If your kid is interested in stem, umd is excellent! Secondly, schools want to see an interesting story. They get thousands and thousands of applicants. They don't want kids that seem prescribed or who don't stand out in some way. So if you want to push your stem boy into something to make him more attractive, get him into theatre or dance!

Let your kid fail at something in middle school. Don’t parachute in and help them out. They will learn a valuable lesson. Middle school grades really don’t count for much, except math and world languages.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's extremely difficult to get into the top colleges. Don't view that as the only way to success. I think grad school is the new college.

Totally disagree. Not sure what kind of “grad school” you’re talking about but most master’s degrees and PhDs are a waste of time & money. If you’re independently wealthy, which is the only way you could disregard the discussion of ROI, carry on.

Do undergrad the right way, and you won’t need grad school.

Disagree. Very few undergrad majors lead to major success without some type of grad program. Yes - some engineering and CS might get good salaries right away, but will they be able to advance?