<p>Rocket, I don’t know which school district you’re in, but several publics in that area - Fox Chapel, Taylor Alderdice (sp?), Franklin Regional, Mt Lebanon, Upper St. Clair to name a few, aren’t really that much worse, if at all, than the ones you mentioned - Winchester Thurston, Shady Side, Ellis, or Sewickly. We had several in DS&DD’s graduating class who took the full ride at Penn State Honors College and I don’t think they’ll come out any worse than the ones from the private HS who went to Duke or BC. (DS, DD1, DD2 adamantly refused to consider privates when we were shopping 5-10 years ago). In fact I know a fair number of parents who are not sure if their decision to put their kids in private (K-12) school was a wise one.</p>
<p>What I’m saying is don’t get discouraged - many of the public schools around Pgh have a track record in placing students in great colleges.</p>
<p>maybe this is being a bit off topic, but can anybody else not stand “vanilla”? I want excitement in my life. I guess “switching can be fun”, especially if your significant other gives your permission to do so</p>
<p>Hmm…maybe I’m just being a bit too anal about all this</p>
<p>Dad-I live about 40 minutes outside the city. I go to a Podunk high school where very few kids go to good colleges(we had maybe 7 go to good schools last year). I, sadly, don’t go places like Upper Saint Clair or Mt. Lebo…my school is nowhere near the strength of those schools</p>
<p>^not for nothing Rocket, but you know I’ve been following your posts on some of our common threads - your lack of high school whatever is obviously not going to hold you back. Quite honestly, I think it has helped you to become much more proactive about the whole picking a college thing - you are going to shine wherever you end up.</p>
<p>^ rocket, are you ready, willing and able? Nothing ventured, nothing gained. YOu might want to add a few extracurricular activiteis to your application. You might be onto something.</p>
<p>Rocket, I don’t know what grade you’re in or how interested you are in math, but if you have a couple of years left in HS and math is your passion, consider going to the ARML (American Regional Math League) practice sessions held either at Winchester Thurston or in the new SCS building at CMU over the weekends. You’ll be in the company of the top math HS kids from the Pgh area and it’s mentored by students and profs from CMU. I used to take a few kids from our neighborhood and even do some teaching together with DS a couple of years ago, and at that time it was all free, including the cookies.</p>
