College question....

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-27-2004
College question....
11
Tue, 06-05-2007 - 5:00pm

I don't belong to this board, just the tweens and the toddlers boards but...


...my daughter is 11 and a straight "A" student who's in the "gifted" classes. We're thinking that if she continues on this path she'll have a good shot at scholarships getting her through or partially through college. But we know there are other things that are necessary to achieve in order to get good scholarships, like they want you to be wellrounded. I'm wondering if anyone has any advice on things she can be doing early on that will look good for her down the road or if there are scholarships that you should sign up for this early. Any advice appreciated!!!

     

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Avatar for jbgattuso
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-29-2003
Tue, 06-05-2007 - 6:37pm

Hi there, In my humble opinion, the only thing that you should do with your dd at age 11 is let her be 11! The pressure has yet to come. She will have plenty of time to do all that is necessary to get those college scolarships. Really let her be a kid while there is still time. I wish that our society would let them be kids longer then they are, but believe me, 2 yrs from now, she'll have the pressure of a highschooler. That said, if you really must do something, volunteer work at a church or something is something they can start young. Girl Scouts looks good too. Any normal kid extra curricular is a good thing....but most schools really only care what you have done from the 9th grade and up.

Good luck to you and enjoy 11 :) It really is a joyful age!

Julie

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-06-2006
Tue, 06-05-2007 - 7:29pm

ITA with the previous poster. In just a few short years, your DD will feel serious pressure at school. My DS 13, in 7th grade and is also in the "gifted" classes. At this level, work in class in challenging and moves along very quickly. The homework load is huge, as are expectations from the teacher. My DS has commented many times this year, "no honors classes next year". He already feels the stress.

My 15yo DD hs sophomore daughter is also in honors/AP class and when school is in full-swing, she has very, very little free time. There wasn't a day off, weekend or school holiday (summer included) that she didn't have some sort of "homework cloud" hanging over her head. The pressure to succeed academically, engage in extra-curricular activities, community service (all to put on the college apps) and get accepted to college is enormous!

Of course encourage your DD to continue to do her best in school, but let her enjoy these last few carefree years as a kid.

 

 

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-14-2000
Tue, 06-05-2007 - 8:22pm
I agree with the other two posters.
Pam
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 06-05-2007 - 8:51pm

There are scholarship search sites like Fastweb. You fill out a profile but its not the sort of thing youd have to feel guilty about claiming your child was a HS freshman.

Then just look around

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-29-2004
Tue, 06-05-2007 - 9:34pm

Although I do understand your concerns and wishes to get a "heads up", straight A students at age 11 are not necessarily headed for massive scholarships. I know from experience.

The competition for scholarships are tough. They are many, many kids (gifted or otherwise) who graduated from high school with excellent marks, loads of extra-curiculums and all the rest. My advice is that you assume that your daughter WILL not get a massive scholarship
and take financial steps as required. Let her take fun activities but don't overload her.
Encourage her to pursue her interests and hopefully it will all fall into place when the time times.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-27-2004
Tue, 06-05-2007 - 10:31pm
Thank you very much for the words of advice and wisdom! I definitely didn't mean to sound like I wanted to get her into things that she didn't want to do and overload her with activities just to get into college. Someone had recently said there were things you could sign up for at this age, not her sign up, but us, that gives us a jump on certain scholarships. The person was so vague
     
Avatar for weberdns0
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-25-2000
Wed, 06-06-2007 - 7:58am
I agree with the rest of the posters!
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2005
Wed, 06-06-2007 - 9:08am

Extra curriculars and volunteer work are looked at very closely by most colleges.

My son is 13 and is also in the Gifted program in school. He'll be a HS freshman in the fall.

Outside of school he volunteers with the community theater, volunteers with our church (VBS, ushering, greeting, working in the preschool program), helps out at the local rescue mission, working with Elks Club to place flags on Veteran's graves, habitat for humanity (and similar programs such as workcamp), and works trail days repairing hiking trails in the state parks system.

In school activities include writing for the school newspaper, member of the student historic preservation team, Webmaster for student historic preservation team, volunteering to help teachers, drama club, and concert choir.

My advice is to help her find one or two activities outside of school that she cares about to volunteer with. I also suggest getting involved in a couple of school clubs or organizations.

stacy

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-28-1999
Wed, 06-06-2007 - 1:22pm

I think the most important thing that your DD can do when she gets to h.s. is to engage in activities that she is really interested in, not just stuff to pad her resume. I think that college admissions officers can really tell about that, in fact that's something I heard directly from a fin. aid officer who gave a speech at our school. So if she's athletic, have her play a sport, if she's musical, she can join the band, etc. I think it's better to have a high achievement in one or two things rather than have a bunch of activites she has joined just to "look good."

My DD concentrated on track, she was involved in class committees, did Best Buddies (a program to partner w/ special ed kids) and was in National Honor Society, which requires some volunteer work. Add in a part-time job and all honors classes and she was pretty busy.

You really can't count that much on scholarships, though, unless the person is a real sports star or something like that. My DD was in the top 10% of her class. She got one scholarship for getting a high score on the std. test that's required for graduation, one small scholarship ($500) among numerous ones that were handed out through the principal and one directly from the college for being accepted into the honors program. So for a tuition, room & board bill of approx $17,000 (state univ.), she is getting $3300 in scholarships and the $3400 Stafford loan, which is the max. for a freshman. So I would put as much as possible into college savings.

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-29-2004
Wed, 06-06-2007 - 6:42pm
I understand totally, I had similar thoughts when my kids were little.
Unfortunately, there is no sure way to quarantee a scholarship, And even if there were a list of activities that were better than others, things change. In 6 to 7 years, everything could be different.

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