Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion How to get noticed by college admissions officers?

My little people are far too young for me to be worrying about this but my friend has a daughter who is a freshman in high school. Her daughter is bright, great grades, and is an accomplished ballerina. She is currently planning for two futures. One where she joins a ballet co. right after high school and one where she goes to university.
What are the best ways to get on the radar of college admissions officers? I'd love to advise her on how to get a leg up.

By doing what she loves without thinking about whether others will, too.

It really shows in applications-- even in the cohort of kids who are well-rounded, great students.

It also depends on what she means by "college admissions officers."

WHICH colleges?

She's got that in spades!

I don't think she is thinking ahead to college yet. I sent her a list of the top ballet universities in the country and asked her to pick 5 to focus on. I will see what she chooses!

If she goes to college, will it be for dance? I don't have experience in the arts, but if she goes for dance, there will be auditions in addition to the regular college admission process. If she wants to get into a top school, she needs to be really, really good - not being good on a local/regional level, but being good on a national level.

If she doesn't want to go to school for dance, she should probably have some other ECs. Maybe something academic, like math team, quiz bowl team, Model UN, debate, etc. Being a part of student government is another good EC. Community service is big too - tutor younger kids, help out at a soup kitchen, etc. She needs to choose which ECs appeal to her.

Even if you do all of this, being "well-rounded" doesn't help much at the elite schools. If you can't do something well enough to be recognized at the national level, then best to do something really unusual (but best if you are passionate about it - not just something for college apps).

My eldest is a college freshman and she didn't get into any elite schools (waitlisted at one). She had pretty good grades, good SAT & ACT scores and was well-rounded, but there are tons of applicants like her.

If she lives in an area like ours, there are plenty of college consultants to guide you (for $5K). They start in 8th grade and plan your high school courses, ECs, etc. She should be able to figure out on her own what she needs to do. She can read posts on College Confidential if she wants to find out more about the admissions process. Good luck to her.

Do we think this is still true? I sure hope so.

DD has some unusual interests that she is genuinely passionate about. OTOH, she doesn't play a sport and is unlikely to be a leader in clubs or at school. She is not the type to amass a resume of frenzied extracurricular activities. If past performance holds, she will have exceptional grades and top achievement test scores. She is already a phenomenal writer.

I presented a similar package back in the '90s and got into some very good schools. But I understand that things have changed dramatically.

It depends-- as the previous post indicates, it helps to have an UNUSUAL package of genuine interests.

Like... hosting a tabletop RPG tourney at the local children's hospital... being a competitive fly-tying champ... being a competent recorder soloist who plays early music... someone who built their own full-sized trebuchet for a local museum...

that kind of thing.

I agree with this - you can try to fake a great college app or buy a great college-entry resume, but at the end of the day don't we want our children to be true to themselves?

JMO, but I think that the thing to do is not to look for advice from other parents but for the student to seek the guidance of people such as counselors at school or dance teachers who both know the student well and who also understand what is needed to get into the specific colleges they are looking into. My youngest dd attended a ballet school for a number of years that is a serious ballet school - i.e., their program is put together with the expectation that students who continue with it through high school are on the path for a professional dance career. The teens we knew at the school were all getting very specific guidance from the studio owners, who are professional dancers. So my advice if your friend's dd wants to pursue dance is to start now taking advantage of any dance opportunities she can where she is either working with or studying with talented professional dancers - and look to them for advice on how to put together the college app resume. I'll also add - the places that the good dancers went to college were places that were never on *my* non-dancer background radar

polarbear

I don't really have any additional advice from above. But you might want to suggest to her that her options are not A or B. They could be both. I know a young man who applied for both options as a h.s. senior, entry into a ballet company & university. He was accepted at Harvard in their dance program, but he deferred for a year and worked in a ballet company. He went to university for 4 years, I have no idea what he majored in but he continued to dance. And now in his mid 20's dances for a professional dance company.

I am not really in a position to judge his talent but keep in mind it is easier for men to get an entry into elite ballet because there is simply a smaller pool of male dancers than females at this level. And he had double legacy at Harvard so this might of influence his decision to go there, I have no idea how it's dance program ranks.

Long thread here
http://giftedissues.davidsongifted.org/BB/ubbthreads.php/topics/166813/1.html

RPG? Procket Propelled Grenade? I can't imagine that being a good idea.