Worth thinking about how the writing system works with your child. I speak multiple languages pretty well but Arabic writing really didn't click for me. For others it made great sense. Agree that study abroad is crucial. Look into what opportunities there are for an immersive experience, and how it would fit with time to degree. Arabic proficiency does open alot of doors in a limited number of areas related to diplomacy and nat sec, so if this is a career interest I would do it if possible over something like Spanish if proficiency is possible.

I recommend looking at the statistics by course. There is a huge difference between CS and earth sciences or material sciences. https://public.tableau.com/views/UniversityofOxford-AdmissionsStatistics2022ByCourse/Applications?:embed=y&:display_count=yes&:showTabs=y&:showVizHome=no I would tailor APs to a particular course's recommendations: Ie, https://www.earth.ox.ac.uk/teaching/admissions/undergraduate-admissions/ Highest Calc possible, physics, chem, and a fourth from the list. A 5th wouldn't be amiss and would help with progression. Getting four done in JR year wouldn't be bad if possible, because its pretty nerve wracking to be depending on a 5 or worse 2 for admissions to the college you want. Remember for Oxbridge, you also have to apply for a college. Look at the differences in colleges and the focus of tutors at a given college, which can be important. Visit if finances allow (and go to Cambridge too, just in case. Yes, I'm biased). Also remember that the intl fees are now massive for foreign students, particularly for sciences courses (ie 44,000 GBP just for tuition) and there is practically no funding available for undergraduate degrees. I generally recommend anyone who needs aid of any kind to apply to UK for postgraduate (graduate in US english) rather than undergraduate for this reason. But obviously finances very. A US-national STEM student who is able to get admitted to MIT or Caltech is almost always better off there than Oxford or Cambridge unfortunately. I think the tutorial system is probably the best in the world, and I certainly think an undergraduate at Oxbridge gets much better access to the tutors, which are sometimes (but not always) real world-class professors, as opposed to at many (though not all) elite schools with PHD programs. But access to this for intl students has become very financially challenging.

I graduated early, largely for $$$ reasons. I might have benefited from another year but not in the circumstances I was in. In general students who are mature and ready for life I advise to graduate early, students who have either personal or academic things that would benefit from more work/time in a "safer" environment I advise to stay. She sounds more like the former. I have sent lots of students to law schools, including some of the top 14. Law school, even at the top, is much more a undergrad GPA/LSAT (or GRE if accepted) matrix than a lot of other graduate and fellowship applications. Time to get a high LSAT score needs to be part of the plan, and for a lot of people this is more than expected. Graduate school will likely not help unless it is accompanied by something quite prestigious (ie Fulbright) or adds a particular skill (ie an accounting ms for a tax lawyer) Also, worth remembering that L1 in particular is a grind. Whatever will put her in a good place to excel in this year is probably the most important part (some people need a more relaxing year, some people need not to stop moving). The competitive scholarships depend on the scholarship particularly. A lot of them (take for example the Rhodes) are more age than when you've graduated.

Thanks, this is all quite helpful. I agree that finances can be confusing. I'm working with my financial aid office to develop a FAQ for the website that will at least address the most common questions. To kokotg's point, I've seen some private schools profit to a significant degree on study abroad programing. A lot of good direct enroll programs are much cheaper than a semester at a normally priced private even when accounting for financial aid. It is difficult to put up information about every possibility for every major and program--I'm trying to get students to fill out a questionnaire that helps me narrow down their interests so I can make suggestions that fit what they need, and we are small enough (3500 or so) that this is manageable. For example I had a student who wanted to study Indonesian which didn't fit with our usual menu of programs but wasn't hard to find options for.

In order to get an assistantship, the best place to look is large universities with strong music schools. Conservatories have (in general) very little money, but large universities tend to need lots of graduate assistants, both for teaching as well as with student life and administrative positions, and financially well off ones (ie state flagships and privates with $$) have no problem funding graduate students. Different universities have very different policies about this, so you will have to inquire at each university with a program of interest. But while many programs save research and sometimes teaching opportunities for PHD students many of the admin and student life positions are happy to have a good masters student and at the right university will provide a tuition waiver and a decent stipend.

I'm working on revitalizing my university's study abroad program. I haven't been on this board for many years but I thought this would be a useful place to ask parents what they and their children are looking for in a study abroad experience and how a school should present this information on their website. In return I'd be happy to answer any parent questions about study abroad from a director perspective.

My perspective as both a former athlete and a former assistant coach. Academic fit is key in any college athletics quest, but particularly the case for D3. So students should make sure the college is an academic fit. Avoid institutions that hire coaches in their early to mid 20s and pay them very little. This indicates exactly how much the college values the sport. Also, while I've met a couple of very young coaches who were excellent, many of them, like a graduate assistant in the classroom, will make a lot of mistakes on your son or daughter and then move on to a better job. Avoid places that recruit lots of freshmen every year and lose more than half by the next year. This is a sign of either a school or a program with serious problems. One school was notorious for telling 10 freshmen that they would compete for a starting spot, and dropping 5 of them by the end of year one. Find out how long the coaches tend to stay. Unless the team is CalTech terrible, you can have a good time on a mid-level team, if the dynamics are right. Also, a coach that understands how the school works can be a very valuable asset (even down to which professors might be a good fit for a particular student's interests or learning style. A veteran coach I worked with knew almost every prof on campus and could tell you what to expect from each of them). On the other hand, if the coach doesn't know much about the school, this suggests that academics aren't very important to him or her. Try to find out if the team is a good athletic and social fit. Many teams do informal pickup games or captain's practices where recruits can see both the quality of some of the players as well as a social fit if that matters (it wasn't really important to me, but it can be an important peer group). If possible, try to find a way for the coach to see you play (could even be a practice if fairly local). This will help the coach give a realistic sense of how your daughter or son might fit. In some places, coaches can be very helpful at finding extra financial aid (hey, there's a special scholarship for women from X county and for students who are interested in major Y Why don't you call financial aid and ask....) for a player they want, which is worth exploring. My sense is that a coach recommendation can help a bit to push someone from high on the wait-list to acceptance at some schools, but in general, you have to be close to the standard.

Corban has not had a strong reputation for academics in the region, though I met with a professor there a few years ago who said the newish administration was trying to work on this. I also met a couple of Corbin seniors about 4 or 5 years ago, who gave the impression that they had not learned much during their education. This is a small sample size though. They have allocated a fair ,amount of money for a leadership program, which might be interesting. The college is very small, even for a small Christian college, and very conservative, including a position about literal creationism in their statement of faith which limits their pool of faculty. My impression is that this also is negative for teaching in the sciences. It might be a good fit for someone seeking a conservative christian ministry type degree with a Baptist flavor. It also is probably competitive on cost with other Christian colleges in the PNW. If someone is looking for a general Christian liberal arts experience, I would not rate it that highly on my admittedly limited experience. However, many of the stronger academic Christian colleges in the region (George Fox, Seattle Pacific) have become inordinately expensive, which I know is a concern. I would strongly recommend asking about outcomes of students in the anticipated major as well as accreditation if interested in something like social work or ed.

Sorry for the long delay in replying--you are correct that a lot of scholarships for study abroad will not help with overall cost, but are good because the prestige offers opportunities later and funding say summer study abroad might reduce costs (if you had to pay for study abroad, this could swap a funded summer experience for $$ or a funded semester in place of time in the US). The Kentucky option sounds like a great one if she gets the scholarship. I understand that foreign medical care can be scary (speaking from experience), but good planning and perhaps expat insurance (which might be affordable if there are not tuition costs) which could include medical relocation costs might help with this. If she is good with Advanced High Russian, 1 semester would probably be fine. One thing to consider in looking for backup schools from a financial perspective is that a focus on graduate level classes may not be essential, but rather the actual opportunities to take meaningful classes using the target language. For example, my undergraduate college did not have a graduate program in my language, but did have plenty of in class and out of class opportunities to use the language. Also, don't completely discount courses that are in English with assignments in Russian. I've taught a class on say economics of country X where the class was in English but language majors wrote their papers in the foreign language and had an oral exam with me--this is actually exactly the sort of professional switching someone in say an embassy will do in their job and something I'd wished I'd done more of. Its been a few years since the student I know got the full tuition at American, so things may have changed. There are absolutely schools like this with lots of scholarship aid, but the Russian is the challenge given the relative paucity of departments. I know Tulane has a number (maybe 100) of full tuition scholarships and Russian (I think they call it something else like Slavic studies). Some of these schools may not be ideal with language two, but usually the abroad experience is the most important part of attaining true fluency, so given good opportunities to work on the target language abroad a weaker department in the states might not change her proficiency outcome.

I have been away from this board for a long time but am returning because I wanted to reply to this 1) Have you considered schools in Texas with Russian and full-rides for MN finalists? Baylor, in particular, might be a good choice. UT Arlington, I think, also has Russian. 2) Have you looked at good but not elite liberal arts colleges (ie, American University) who may want to up their rankings. I know of people from a middle class background who have received a full or nearly full ride there on the basis of academics. IF the tests scores are high, some of the $$$$ liberal arts colleges might not be bad. 3) In terms of planning, if the goal is ACTFL superior in speaking (not just writing), study aboard is essential unless she is a heritage speaker. I don't think I've ever met someone as non-heritage speaker who achieved superior level language without going abroad or immersion in a local (usually Spanish) community. Further, as an adviser, it would be hard for me to take a language major seriously without time abroad in the target language. I would recommend at least a semester or summer abroad of both languages, but two years would have a lot of appeal for future opportunities--French early, Russian late. 4) One other thing to consider is areas of the country with a lot of Russian heritage speakers (ie, Boston, PNW etc), which might provide an avenue for conversations that are hard to get on campus 5) I would think about a minor linking her language skills with possible future opportunities (ie, international relations, business or economics, development, ESL etc). Given the language skills she is entering with this should be doable. 6) She should look into Boren, CLS and other scholarships (https://www.borenawards.org/boren_scholarship/basics.html) (http://clscholarship.org/)