An article from CollegeConfidential was very helpful about the factors that make a real difference in college admissions. The question that generated the article was from a parent of a tenth grader who wants to go Pre-Med.
In a nutshell, this is what the article said (CC won’t let me link it) Prospective college students and their parents have to always remember that academics must always come first in high school.
Here is my additional observations….everything else must play a secondary role (i.e. sports, part-time work, etc). Students from lower-income areas of suburbia and rural locales often spend an inordinate amount of time employed after school and over the weekends in dead-end jobs to keep a car with insurance on the road.
Students who live in urban areas have a decided advantage in avoiding this temptation because of the ability to walk and use public transportation. The problem a lot of these students face is that they attend hellish schools where academic achievement is not only unpopular, it is downright dangerous.
Who has the best situation? The relatively rich kid in a suburban/urban area whose parents either pay outright for the car and insurance and provide gratis spending money to boot, or underwrite such costs–and the young person works to buy cute shoes and concert tickets, while concentrating on their studies and high impact extra-curricular activities.
The strategy of success for relatively unwealthy kids in suburban rural or rural areas? Jettison the dream of driving and having a car as a teen and ride the yellow bus. Bite the bullet and work hard in school. Urban kids? Get out of a school where you are considered a freak if you actually want to learn. If you have to, go to a Cyber Charter School. A sad outcome, but one that might be required.