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White family so no affirmative action.
My daughter seems to be on this track. She studies but is not studying 24/7. GPA looks to be around 3.7 or 3.8. Mostly A's with the occasional B. Regular classes, not advanced placement. She is in track but not the team captain and not a superstar. No SAT yet but assume she gets a sat at the median for said grades. Trying to understand the landscape she will likely find.
Obviously not even on Harvard's radar, but where does she fit as say a 50/50 shot reach school? Could someone give examples? FWIW she seems to be heading toward teacher or business.
Before you fork over some dough to any college or university, she (with your guidance) needs to make a written plan of what she really wants to do. I know sometimes people change what they want to do, but I would still have her make a plan. Prestige of a university is cool, but if that prestige is not followed up with a larger scholarship or grant, you are just paying for a name.
If after making her plan she decides to become a teacher, research the best state school in your state for teaching. You may want to have her talk with local teachers to get the scoop of what it is really like to be a teacher before committing to the degree.
If she is leaning towards business, determine if getting a business degree is really necessary for what she really intends to do or if she can work with any local business owners to get experience that way. Experience is worth FAR MORE than education. If she wants to be a small business owner, this hands on experience is invaluable. If she wants to go a more corporate route, than a business track will be necessary. Research a state school accordingly.
I recommended the counselor. It must be different in public schools I guess. My son goes to a college prep private school. They start with their counselor in 9th grade, thinking about what they might want to do, planning their classes, determining where to focus their AP/ACC classes. The counselors travel to universities. The universities come to the school. They have a pretty good idea of what kids are looking at. But, clearly the school is college prep with 100% going on to a university. I didn't really realize that might be different elsewhere.
I know I'm way late in replyng to this LOL, but here we go anyway.
Yes, what you describe is very common for independent shools with a college prep focus. There the entire curriculum from kindergarten to 12th grade is designed to give kids strong hard AND soft skills for college.
Also, they make their money on the promise to send every single student to a four year college, and not the crappy ones either.
So yes, independent school counselors often are pretty knowledgeable. A lot of money is put into their professional development and to make sure their skills stay sharp. They also are very deliberate about developing strong relationships with the best colleges in the region. The counselors will often start working with kids in some capacity starting at least from the 10th grade, if not freshman year.
But in public schools, that rarely happens unless it's a well funded school in a high income school district where the parents will practically riot if the kids aren't ending up in elite colleges. Also, public magnet schools will tend to put money towards college guidance (though not necessarily at the independent school level).
For the rest of public schools, it's usually 1 person serving hundreds of kids who they see for maybe 15 minutes apiece a couple of times. They will put on a few workshops and/or come speak in a class or two and that's about it.
White family so no affirmative action.
My daughter seems to be on this track. She studies but is not studying 24/7. GPA looks to be around 3.7 or 3.8. Mostly A's with the occasional B. Regular classes, not advanced placement. She is in track but not the team captain and not a superstar. No SAT yet but assume she gets a sat at the median for said grades. Trying to understand the landscape she will likely find.
Obviously not even on Harvard's radar, but where does she fit as say a 50/50 shot reach school? Could someone give examples? FWIW she seems to be heading toward teacher or business.
NYU! Give it a shot! Stern business school is very good and is considered a target school for many IBs. In addition, give your shot at Northwestern. Kellogg is a M7 business school. If you have a compelling application (extracurriculars, etc), you have a fair shot at EA/ED to Northwestern. In terms of teaching, I'm not gonna lie, I have not a clue what the schools look like for that.
Best of luck to you and your daughter!
To add to my list, in terms of public schools, UVA is the best for finance, as it's the only one considered a real "target school" for IB. UIUC is pretty good as well.
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