Expert: Holly - 7/6/2004

Question
Dear Holly,

Thanks for your time. I will be a junior in High School in September. I live in Northern California. My top 6 choices right now are: Stanford, UC San Diego, UC Davis, UC Berkeley, Pomona College and UC Santa Cruz. Stanford has always been my dream, but I realize the chances are SLIM. I've been playing volleyball year round for 2 years, and I'm varsity team captain. I like quarter systems, where less material is tested on, but more frequently. I am ranked #1 in my class (out of 230), with a 4.0 GPA (no honors or AP are available frosh-soph year). Junior year I am going to be junior class senator, take AP US Hist, Honors English, Pre-Calculus, Chemisty, and Spanish 3. Extracurriculars are good: I'm member of 4 (Travel, Drama, Interact, and NHS) clubs, and I'll be an officer of at least one this year. I had one of the leads in the school play last year, and I plan to continue to be part of school plays. I love warm weather and the beach (hence, UCSD and UCSC), but I'd give up environment choice for a great school (and yes, I'm very attracted to big names :(.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much!!

--Tara

Answer
Hi Tara,
Well I'm not entirely sure what the question is here.  So if you're sure Stanford is your top choice, certainly apply and work towards that before giving up, but make sure you have other schools at which you'd be happy on your mind.  Since you are entering junior year this fall, whether or not you are Stanford material has yet to be seen; Junior year is a significant year for most high school students in which you will really start to realize if you are going to shine through as the best of the best or if you will be at the top but not that amazing Stanford-quality student.  So focus on your school during the course of this year.

As far as which of the other schools goes, I would just make sure to look inside yourself and decide what type of place would make you happy.  Do you one -on-one interaction with professors?  Would you like the school a little smaller or are you willing to take the initiative to meet with your professors without them being on your case about it?  How much does it matter to you whether you are in a city or a different setting?

Also I want to point out that you said you'd give up environment choice for a great school, but don't forget that an environment that matches what you like is part of a school being great to you.  UCSD is a wonderful school, and if you think you aren't interested in the environment or the student life or some other part at Stanford, don't fall in love with it just because of its name.

Good luck.