<p>Goodness, these kids are ALREADY on CC? And I thought I was a genius for planning to tell my future children to get on CC in middle school…</p>
<p>So you guys want to be HYP competitive eh?</p>
<ol>
<li>Take a practice SAT/ACT every other weekend.</li>
<li>Join as many clubs as humanly possible as SOON as you can so that by the time you’re a junior/senior, you’re elected president.</li>
<li>Do something productive with your summers. Check out CTY. That program changed my life.</li>
<li>REGULARLY scan over the “what are my chances” forum to see the things that other students are doing to make themselves competitive.</li>
<li>Friends in HS are overrated. No, seriously. The reason the “popular” kids in HS get nowhere in life is because they’re too distracted to get anything done. Just be sure to be friendly and likable so that you can get elected into leadership positions.</li>
<li>High school sucks. You’re going to have orientation events telling you that “these are the best four years of your life.” Lol, no. It’s the most horrible, blood-sucking machine that separates the boys from the men. Suck it up, put your big boy pants on, and go take another practice test.</li>
</ol>
<p>That actually sounded pretty solid @Carotid. </p>
<p>If you’re going to do summer programs I’d recommend looking for free selective ones. The expensive ones usually aren’t prestigious. </p>
<p>How many of you are looking forward to driving? I know I was when I was going into high school.</p>
<p>How old do you have to be until you can drive by yourself?</p>
<p>In my state, you have to be 16 and a half. That means I won’t be driving until November of my junior year :(</p>
<p>I will be driving Sophomore year, which makes me feel old.</p>
<p>I live in Ohio, where you can get a temporary permit when you’re fifteen and a half. You can get a driver’s license as soon as you’re sixteen, and then you can drive on your own. </p>
<p>(I looked forward to driving back when I’d never done it before, but I turned eighteen in March and I’ve had the temporary permit for almost three years now. I don’t like driving and I hope to avoid it as much as possible…I’ll be okay in college because I can take the bus, but I don’t know about after that.)</p>
<p>When I drive I will have to get glasses, my current vision is like 20/400 + and I don’t use glasses.</p>
<p>How do you see at all without them? xD My prescription is only -2.5 and without my contacts/glasses, I have some trouble seeing. I don’t know what my vision is in 20/x form, but I’m guessing it’s around 20/80 to 20/100.</p>
<p>@LosingCrayon the thing is I don’t, but I survive, as long as the teacher doesn’t ask me to read the board…</p>
<p>@Cookiesandcreme - It varies by state, but most have 16. Some have 16 with restrictions. You can start driving with a parent at 15 if you get a permit, but some states have requirements that you have to fulfill to get the permit, like taking an online course.</p>
<p>CT is 16 for permit, 16.5 for license with restrictions and then like 18 for full access.</p>
<p>CT has some really good/cool laws, like gun control and medical care</p>
<p>In my state its 15 for permit, 16 for license. </p>
<p>Freshman year is so much fun! Everything changes and you just feel so much more mature and adult-like</p>
<p>@needtoboard
It also confers a huge amount of responsibility that some just aren’t ready for</p>
<p>I love summer school because we get a taste of high school before actually starting 
We get used to walking around the huge school and being on our own. It honestly really does make me feel a lot more mature and adult-like xD There are also some upperclassmen in my classes. There’s a rising senior in my Speech class, and a rising senior in my P.E. class! (Kind of weird though, as freshmen are required to take P.E…) I also started making some friends 
There are also quite a few familiar faces at summer school, too. It does have some disadvantages, though 
If you enter the classroom 5 seconds after the bell rings, you’re counted as tardy. (This happened to three people today.) Usually, the teachers are really lenient about freshmen being late during the first week of school (because it’s easy to get lost).</p>
<p>One thing I’ve realized, though, is that the teachers don’t really care if you pass or not. If you can’t handle the class, they’re not going to go easy on you. The teachers are also a lot more strict on the quality of your work. I’m glad I only picked one academic class If I took Speech and a history like almost everyone else, I’d have a lot more homework to do during the summer. My school’s summer school is mainly meant for people who failed, so the rules are really strict. Like, you’re only allowed 2 absences and after that you’re dropped from the class. I looked at the class roster thingies, and I saw a few seniors retaking Algebra 1…</p>
<p>Overall, it was a great experience I really look forward to going here during the school year!</p>
<p>@Apollo11 that is very, very true.</p>
<p>@LosingCrayon </p>
<p>Welcome to the horrible public school where it’s too good to let you get an A in any class but too bad to teach you everything for the finals/AP</p>
<p>^I wish I went to those schools, At my school we actually have to learn, so getting A’s is hard.</p>
<p>Ok guys I have a dilemma. I’m going into ninth grade and there are two schools to pick from and I am stressing out.
- This school would mean I have to wake up by 5:00 just to get to the bus route so the school bus can pick me up to take me to school. It would take two hours to get back home on bus and I plan on doing extracurriculars like sports and music. The bonus is the engineering magnet and I would be able to take biomedical sciences</p>
<ol>
<li>This school is 5 minutes away from my home walking and I will still do all the extracurriculars. I would be enrolled in the math science magnet. </li>
</ol>
<p>Both schools send of kids to Ivy League every year but more the second school. Also the second school has more like awards in music and academic decathlon. I just don’t want to make a mistake. I didn’t pick the second school in the beginning because most kids from my middle school are going there and I didn’t want the drama from middle school. But now I’m just thinking about the distance for the first school and I don’t think I’d be able to get a lot of things done. </p>
<p>What school do you guys think I should pick. My family is cool with both schools but is worried about the distance for the first school since they can’t pick me up because of work. </p>