<p>Welcome FindAPlace, and congrats on being post #400. Your S sounds like another busy junior. Just curious - won't it be harder to go into an advanced foreign language class if your S skips a year? </p>
<p>Lucky you, taking a trip to Egypt this summer!</p>
<p>I just joined up on this board (CC)- but I have a son in the class of 2010 and another in the class of 2011. So - can I join in???</p>
<p>First 3 days of school and my dear 11th grader is reeling!!!! </p>
<p>We have been overseas for 7 years (Egypt and Azerbaijan) in small schools and the last one was a VERY small one with a full IB school (with the Middle Years Program). Now, he is in a regular public school - in the marching band for the first time - and getting ready on Saturday night for his first ever football game!!! That - plus taking AP US Hist, AP Engl, pre-AP Physics, pre-AP World Geography, pre-AP pre-Calc....+ band and a web design class! He is feeling so swamped!</p>
<p>I have just tried to reassure him that he is a smart capable kid (which he is!) but that he needs to learn how to work faster (he tends to "plod" thru his homework). I think it's going to be a long year........................ :(</p>
<p>Welcome Grcxx3. Good luck to your boys in their new school. </p>
<p>Your 11th grader is taking a challenging courseload - a very full schedule. It will probably take him awhile to feel settled because he's not only taking some tough courses, but he has to make friends and adjust to a new environment. I hope he enjoys his marching band experience, as well as his first football game. At least those are potentially fun activities.</p>
<p>Queen's Mom -- AU does offer a very wide variety of international language courses, so that could work well for your D. Best of luck to her, as well, with her college search. :)</p>
<p>We're also in a school district that starts this coming Tuesday. Since D2 very recently wrapped up her summer reading assignments, she's now focusing on PSAT prep--particularly Math, which seems to be (like D1, and me) her Achille's heel.</p>
<p>D had almost no homework last night, so she sat down to do a section of the PSAT booklet. Let's just say that critical reading is not her strong point :( and I have no idea how to help her.</p>
<p>School started this week for D. (class of 2010) Interesting that she and her friends could not get on the "Sparknotes" site to read the condensed version of the summer reading .....;)</p>
<p>Good thing we are much more relaxed with the whole college admissions thing this time around! :D</p>
<p>Queen's Mom - your D's lucky she didn't get much homework last night. Mine hasn't started school yet, but I expect her to get a fair amount her first night. At least your D is willing to practice her PSAT! I wish mine would. She's still finishing up her summer assignments!</p>
<p>1sokkermom - why couldn't your D and her friends get onto the Sparknotes site? </p>
<p>Lucky you to be relaxed this time around! Is that just because you've been through the process before, or because your D is looking at different schools than your first one did?</p>
<p>To the posters about American U - how are they on financial aid and does the international relations program have a business (or just gov't) component?</p>
<p>MSU Dad - AU is very good about FA, but not sure about the stats needed - they may be high to qualify for merit money. The IR program is very good and I AU does have a business school, so I'm guessing international business could be an option, though I don't know for sure.</p>
<p>Hi LIMOM,,</p>
<p>They couldn't get on the site beacuse no one read the books, and the site was overloaded with everyone trying to access it at the same time! :)</p>
<p>We have been through the process and D will be looking at different type schools. Totally different personalities!</p>
<p>Plus, her brother is six years older and we have mellowed.....;)</p>
<p>MSUDad: FA at American U. can be a mixed bag. From what I've heard from other parents, and on the AU forum, American is rather generous with merit aid, but relatively tight with granting need-based aid. My understanding, and this is also anecdotal, is that an academically solid (but not necessarily stellar) candidate that "demonstrates interest"(visits the campus, interviews, etc.)has a better chance of being awarded merit aid, and my daughter's experience would suppport that assumption: She was awarded merit aid but was out of the running for need-based aid.</p>
<p>Regarding your second question, within the International Studies major a student chooses a field of concentration and one of the possible fields of concentration is International Business. You might also be interested to know that AU's Kogod School of Business offers a degree in "Business Administration and Language and Cultural Studies." It depends on which area the student wishes to emphasize: IR or Business.</p>
<p>I hope that this helps.</p>
<p>Hi sokkermom. Oops! I guess they'll read their books next time! </p>
<p>I know what you mean about kids having different personalities - my kids are complete opposites! I'm sure my S hopes that I mellow by the time his turn rolls around.</p>
<p>momonthehill - you gave a much better answer, so thank you. My experience with American U is quite old so I didn't want to say too much in case things had changed. I'm sure they have, but even back in my day, it was fairly generous with both merit and need-based aid if they wanted the student.</p>
<p>LIMOMOF2--Your input, as an AU alumna, is valuable. Having been through AU as a student, you have first-hand insights that I, as a parent, would only have second-hand. Regarding, FA, D1 was fortunate enough to be the beneficiary of merit aid, but not need-based, so any of my comments comments regarding need-based aid, are based more on anecdotal second hand info, as I mentioned in my post above, so they could be taken with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>Well, thank you momonthehill - but my personal info is pretty old. I have heard they offer a $27,000 merit scholarship which seems pretty good, I just don't know what the qualifications are to receive it.</p>
<p>LIMOMOF2:</p>
<p>If my S wasn't going to be applying to U of CA campuses, he would be taking AP Spanish V (Literature) this year, instead of the UC fine arts requirement. He's going this way to ensure maximum advantage for placement according to the UC rules, which we won't get into here but that CA parents take pains to understand.</p>
<p>Because S attended a language immersion elementary school, following by one class of Spanish each year in MS and HS to this point, and scored a 5 on the AP Spanish IV exam, he'll probably be fine to wait. At least his teacher from last year thinks so. AP Spanish was his easiest class last year (note: he's not a native speaker.)</p>
<p>LIMOMOF2: That dollar amount sounds like the Presidential Scholarship, which is generally awarded to students who make the Honors Program. </p>
<p>There is also the Dean's Scholarship, which is the scholarship that D1 was awarded, which usually runs about $15-18K/year. As far as the specific benchmarks needed to make either the Honors Program, or to receive the Dean's Scholarship, AU admissions was very vague, as I recall. One possible way to gauge this would be to go to the AU CC sub-forum, do a search back to this past spring (also to spring '07) for the RD admissions decisions thread. Several, but not all, of the posters, may mention whether or not they received any aid, and what their stats were.</p>
<p>Thanks momonthehill. I believe you're right. </p>
<p>Some schools really spell out their requirements for merit scholarships (BU, for one). I wasn't sure if AU did that as well.</p>
<p>If I recall correctly, my D was awarded the presidential scholarship/honors program at AU. She was very tempted by the $$ but ended up going elsewhere. Her stats are very good but not off the charts, and she did not visit the school. If that helps at all.</p>
<p>Congrats to your D, Peabodie. I'm sure that information is helpful to those considering AU.</p>
<p>Good news - my D finally finished her summer assignment. She goes back to school Wednesday which means she has 3 free days - I can tell she feels much more relaxed to have gotten that out of the way.</p>
<p>Boy they really can surprise you some times!!!!</p>
<p>Out of the blue this morning my daughter hits me with "lets talk about colleges" This from the girl who has been blowing me off all summer on this very subject. So we sit down to talk - and here is the opening statement. </p>
<p>"Here is what I am looking for:</p>
<p>Humanities
Smaller school (less than 5,000)
Small class sizes
West coast
Small city or town - not in an urban environment. Portland is OK, LA, SF are not.</p>
<p>I'd like to go visit the possibilities in the Pacific Northwest during the October break, then pick up the Northern California ones this fall over the weekends, and then do San Diego area in the spring."</p>
<p>I just sat there with my mouth hanging open.</p>