<p>We had two kids on completely different vacation schedules for 3 years. After exposure to the Feb/April vacation vs 2 weeks in March I decided I liked the 2 weeks in March better. First kids really feel refreshed after 2 weeks off and second it opened up a lot of vacation options that couldn’t be considered with just one week.</p>
<p>Somewhere on these threads, someone posted a great site that allows us to look at the colleges stats–and I found I could plug in high schools and find their stats…
I was SHOCKED to find a nearby private–and that their school day was more than an hr shorted then our students–and the school yr was shorter as well…</p>
<p>I need to find that link and post it here. Its interesting stuff.</p>
<p>ah ha–back at post 1379
<a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/[/url]”>http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/</a></p>
<p>I just compared my son’s school and my daughter’s school, both private schools. I think I’d take the “days of school” data with a grain of salt-----my son’s school is listed at 160 days (6.7 hrs/day) and my daughter’s at 185 days (6.4hrs/day). I KNOW that the difference is not that large----they have the same general days off (Columbus, MLK, Presidents’ etc). LuckyBoy had one extra day off at Christmas, one at spring break/Easter, and a random day off in January. LuckyBoy finishes exams four school days before LuckyGirl. That accounts for 7 of the 25.</p>
<p>Most recent data is 2007-08 when LuckyBoy was a freshman. LuckyGirl’s grade school followed the same calendar as her current high school.</p>
<p>The difference has to be the way that early dismissal days (one period earlier than usual) are counted. Actually, I’ll <strong>bet</strong> it’s the A-G cycle of the schedule, with the “G” day dismissal one period earlier than the A-F days to accomodate club meetings.</p>
<p>I tried to compare their private schools with the big ol’ important math/science charter school nearby (always appears on Those Lists) but the public school data isn’t the same, at least where I looked. I couldn’t find length of day and I’m assuming 180 days of school.</p>
<p>Mamom, good luck to your S…hope he lands the camp job. Both my S (college junior) and now D (hs junior) have progressed through the counseling ranks at an overnight camp which they attended for years. In my son’s case, the experience provided excellent training for RA positions he’s held at his school (free room and board factored heavily in his decision).</p>
<p>For those of you who are veterans of this site/thread, has there ever been a place for parents to vent about their haughty counterparts who go on and on about their offsprings’ sports scholarship packages at elite colleges to which they’d never gain admission on solely academic criteria? Just wondering…if so, would enjoy perusing it for coping mechanisms. :D</p>
<p>Thanks everyone and best of luck to everyone still waiting on summer plans!</p>
<p>KLucky,
Yes, it’s a state wide program (OR), but is mostly concentrated in the west side of the state because that’s where most of the sci and eng opportunities are due to the location of universities and companies. D1 also did the program, it’s very well run, which is one reason that I like it. Kids have to submit a couple of general essays, then specific ones for the internships they’re interested in, then most of the mentors conduct interviews. If you get an internship, there’s a mid-summer conference about careers in sci and eng, and a the end of summer kids have to do both a poster and oral presentation about their work or project. All positions used to get a 1k stipend, but now some do and others don’t; they’ve also started to charge $200 to cover the cost of the conferences. So you definitely don’t do it for the money. I look at it as a good opportunity to get work experience, see what research is really like and if you’re lucky, as a bonus you might get an nice supplemental LOR. We live in a college town, so it’s not the easiest thing for HS kids to get summer jobs, so it’s nice to have this option.</p>
<p>Nickenzie, go the the Parent Cafe, there’s usually something along those lines there, and there’s always:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/319650-say-here-cause-yo-cant-say-directly-get-off-your-chest-thread.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/319650-say-here-cause-yo-cant-say-directly-get-off-your-chest-thread.html</a></p>
<p>^^Haha we’re in a college town too----VERY difficult for a teenager to get a job! My ‘13 girl does have a nice business babysitting professors’ kids :D</p>
<p>^Good for her, she sounds like a real go getter!</p>
<p>I don’t know if you guys already know the CollegeData website. </p>
<p>The most fun is to look at the scattergrams (under "college admission tracker) and see who was admitted where with what stats. You have to sign up but it’s pretty easy.</p>
<p>If you google it you’ll find it.</p>
<p>
I just saw this article right after saying the schools wouldn’t do that since we already had people upset by the OOS students admitted. This election cycle should be interesting…</p>
<p>I love the idea of having a week off in April. It would be so nice to use that tie to see colleges. :)</p>
<p>I saw the article, S is already considering U of SD (private) but now I am thinking maybe we should take a look at some of the UC’s. Although with all the cutbacks, I would be concerned he might not be able to graduate in 4 years.</p>
<p>UCSD has made a similar announcement: [Residents</a>? admission rate drops at UCSD - SignOnSanDiego.com](<a href=“http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/apr/15/residents-admission-rate-drops-at-ucsd/]Residents”>http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/apr/15/residents-admission-rate-drops-at-ucsd/)</p>
<p>According to the article, nearly 16 percent of the freshmen admitted to the UCSD for the fall 2010 are from another state or country, up from about 11 percent last year.</p>
<p>SDMomof3, OOS admissions rate may be up, but the real story will be what the OOS matriculation rate is. I love the UCs (I’m the product of two), but I just can’t wrap my mind around paying $50k a year OOS for them, especially with the budget situation.</p>
<p>Nickenzie; Not what you had in mind, but might be interesting.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/athletic-recruits/909674-parent-encounters.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/athletic-recruits/909674-parent-encounters.html</a></p>
<p>^^^ usually the nasty comments come from parents whose kids are not scholar-athletes and feel their little wonder was robbed by so-so’s success, or take pleasure in saying nasty things when a scholar-athlete doesn’t get into the reach school.</p>
<p>Imagine how these rude parents would feel if they were hearing things like " well, your student wouldn’t be able to keep up…so its just as well that he/she didn’t get in…"</p>
<p>I do not get parents who cannot be supportive of our youth in general.</p>
<p>Thanks, Shrinkrap!</p>
<p>While I’m unlikely to jump into the fray on that thread, it’s helpful to appreciate the perspective of parents on the other side…those with the dedicated, hard-working star scholar/athlete who have every reason to be proud and humbled by their S/D’s accomplishments, both on and off the field.</p>
<p>^Nickenzie; VERY nice! P S…this will be my daughter’s third year…paid…as a residential camp counselor…and I am from New York ( Bed Stuy, Bklyn, Jamaica , Queens, then the Bronx(Jacobi/Montefiore hospitals).</p>
<p>fogfog; Yesterday I checked out out the SAT’s on the nearby “CDA” soccer team. Most ( not MY kid’s ) were over 2100!</p>
<p>EDIT: Whoops, wrong thread!</p>
<p>^^ I guess that illustrates the pt–that many think scholar-athletes got in only for PRs and forget many of these kids have great stats…</p>
<p>For the reachy schools that use the Academic Index–the kids need to have 700s in the SATs and SAT2s plus a great GPA to be super competitive and get a good look.</p>
<p>Well for our house–I guess we will know “something” about the ACTs in about a week or so…
Anyone know how a school uses the ACT in lieu of the SAT on the AI? </p>
<p>Just suggested that our student go put in an hr or so on an SAT2 prep book–as there are 3 of those in June with our student’s name on them…</p>