<p>Good one SDMomof3! I often wonder how these kids manage to accomplish all that they list - and the cynic in me wonders if they did indeed do all of it. I’ve heard of girls being Girl Scouts (but never attending meetings and the like) - just to pad the resume. Why, oh why?</p>
<p>Anyway, SAT is tomorrow at our house. Despite strong nudges (almost shoves!), no big plans to stay in and study! Too late for that I guess! D has piano this evening and then will be relaxing (she even has a movie she wants to watch!). Here’s hoping everything goes well -I’d like her to be one and done…but don’t know if that’s going to happen.</p>
<p>Two nights ago, D stayed up all night to finish an APUSH project. I didn’t give her grief, but I thought to myself that she must have made a huge mistake and put off things until the last minute. Turns out, most of the class - even the super-diligent, always study, no ECs kids - stayed up all night to finish. Something is wrong with an assignment when virtually the entire class has to pull an all-nighter to finish.</p>
<p>Son’s school uses block scheduling so that each class is twice as long but you only have each class every other day. More efficient b/c start up time and end of class time plus hallway time cut in half. Much easier to plan homework and studying because he is rarely surprised by something being due the next day.</p>
<p>Yeah–those chance me threads–yuck—
I have a hard time believing the kids do all that–themselves–
Because I know what a big commitment and heavy academic schedule and sport looks like in our house. No way could DS have half a dozen or more ECs…</p>
<p>What is interesting are the threads from the different school sections here at CC with the results–how many were deferred etc… though a moderator told me that we can’t always expect the kids to be honest with stats–</p>
<p>Kumitedad, thanks for the school recs. I will look into them. S is really into the big, rah, rah schools with a stadium that seats 40K. OTOH, I am looking at schools that may give him some merit. I am thinking that there are a lot of LACs with sports that he may like. </p>
<p>I do believe that that you can’t believe everything you read here but I figure it doesn’t hurt to add a school to my list and cull it out later if it doesn’t look like a good fit. I think Naviance is going to be a huge help. </p>
<p>S is on an 8 day rotating schedule. How it remembers it is beyond me, but he does. </p>
<p>Just got S’s 1st qtr report card. It is a good thing the school only reports semester grades. He got a D+ in AP Euro. Probably his favorite class. A’s and B’s in the rest of the classes. Of course, he is away for 4 nights at a model UN confrence in CA. I could call him to “get it off my chest”. But, I won’t. Perhaps??? there is a reasonable explanation? </p>
<p>Missypie, I wish my son would stay up all night to finish a project. I never see that happening. He would turn in late or incomplete rather than stay up all night, I think. Just not very motivated. </p>
<p>I have been following this thread for a long time, and am finally going to pipe in -</p>
<p>SDMomof3 - I loved your summary of the typical “chance me” participant! I read those things, and it is so scary/overwhelming/horrifying to think that my D and the “chance me” writer might be hoping for the same schools!</p>
<p>My D did just take the SAT (no clue how it will turn out) this weekend to get a baseline - it was requested by a college she is interested in (she is an athlete). I hope it went well for everybody out there!</p>
<p>D1, who works in the college counseling office, tells me sad senior stories. Latest was a kid who kept trying to get an SAT fee waiver from the GC office, which for unknown reasons never released it. It’s now past the deadline, so the kid can’t get the waiver. I asked if we could somehow anonymously pay the fee. Turns out that wouldn’t make any difference, since some GC had scheduled the kid in the wrong math class at some point. So the kid is not eligible for Cal State, just for community college. You just want to cry.</p>
<p>AP chem saga switches again, with D1 now saying she wants to switch out. I’m waiting to talk to the teacher. On the one hand, she enjoys science, and may yet have at least a partial science major. The Honors course kids are the ones who don’t enjoy science, so she likes the AP course students better. She’s definitely not the worst student in the AP class. And if she switches out of AP she won’t be able to get a LOR from the teacher, who is THE science LOR writer (small school). Or at least she won’t get the best LOR from him.</p>
<p>On the other hand, getting a C is a problem. </p>
<p>The sad thing is that I think she’d get the most out of staying in the harder class, even if it means a C. But The Game being what it is, she really can’t afford it. And this for a kid who is not pursuing tippy-top schools. :(</p>
<p>My DS in this cohort is finishing up the testing — took the SAT and the PSAT - SAT scores were great, save CR which was a bit low compared to the diagnostic tests, so he’ll re-take in January, hoping to get the 700 CR score he’s been looking for… took SATII - those results are not back yet… classes are going well, save for APCALC, but that’s ok…</p>
<p>I am not looking forward to the ED go around this time next year…</p>
<p>Our school has semester exams after the holiday break, which I think is very unfortunate. You can’t really relax over the holidays with exams hanging over your head. It would be so nice to get them done and then REALLY be able to kick back over the break. Oh well.
My D is not taking the ACT and SAT until spring, per the advice of her GC (same advice given to all students) for the reason that test scores tend to be higher for those who wait until the end of jr. year to take the tests. The downside is that we won’t know her scores while we’re exploring college possibilities. We’re operating under the assumption that her scores for one or both of the tests will comport with her results on the standardized tests she’s taken in the past, where she’s done pretty well. A difficult call - we’ll see what happens.</p>
<p>Cooker
Our GCs advise the same–to not take the SAT until the spring of Jr yr–that scores are higher, less stress, etc…lets face it–the PSAT was less than a month ago so in Dec we will have maybe a little direction…but readng the CC boards…does make one nervous…</p>
<p>Our finals used to be before the holidays, with school getting out before Memorial Day. In an action of prostitution to the tourism lobbyists, the state legislature enacted a mandatory later school start date that has had some very unfortunate results. I called and emailed everyone I could think of to prevent this from happening, but the lobbyists won out.</p>
<p>However, the one good thing - for our family - is that exams are now a couple of weeks after winter break, so the kids aren’t studying for finals when they are also having recitals, concerts and parties. Of course, it’s bad for the teachers because the two weeks after break are spent reviewing instead of covering new material.</p>
<p>This has been an ongoing controvery down here in the land of sunshine and FCATS. Without making this into too much of a snide political comment, the timing of our finals and our school year are determined by the number of days our students have to prepare for the FCATS which are given after the holidays. </p>
<p>We also have a law requiring school to start no later than x number of days before Labor Day (I think it is two weeks). Combine that with the apparent general consensus of administrators, teachers, parents and students that finals be before the holidays, you can see the breeding ground for much discussion. The before holiday sentiment has prevailed in the past two years. Next year is anyone’s guess.</p>
<p>My S definitely prefers to finish his finals before the holidays. He generally uses this time for school projects, long-term papers, community service, etc. This year he’ll have to squeeze in SAT/ACT prep and researching colleges. He is taking the Jan SAT, Feb ACT. Hopefully he’ll be one and done. That’s the plan anyway. We’ll see!!</p>
<p>Spring of junior year is going to be so busy! Sports, concerts, ECs, AP exams, SAT II exams all are around that time. So, we chose to try and get the SAT I out of the way - D took it last Saturday. Of course, if she doesn’t get a score that she’s happy with, she’ll have to make some time in the spring to take it again.</p>
<p>Finals for the term here are in late Jan. Does help a bit since they are not stressing out about these during the holidays.</p>
<p>We have block scheduling. Kids take only 3-4 classes at a time, so I don’t think finals are as stressful because the kids don’t have as many classes to study for. Our first semester ended mid/late October, and the next one ends in late January. The holiday break is not too stressful because there are 3 weeks of class after they get back from the break.</p>
<p>I remember one particular day in the spring of my son’s junior year:<br>
morning: SAT IIs
afternoon: culmination of Eagle Project
evening: Jazz Choir show</p>
<p>On another note, D got her license yesterday! She was so thrilled - she begged and pleaded that she be the one to drop/pick up S from practice. I wasn’t too thrilled - but figured I had to do it sooner or later. So, she did drive to school by herself at 9pm to pick up her brother. I had her call me as soon as she reached school (7 min drive tops!) and then call me again once she was ready to head back. Scary letting her out alone on the streets - although she is a good driver.</p>
You just want to cry.</p>