<p>^^Does your S’s school report all those quarter grades on the transcript? D’s school only reports the two semester grades and the final grade.</p>
<p>I believe they do. We are on a quarter system here with finals at the end of each quarter.</p>
<p>Blueshoe, we are finishing field hockey season this week also, but no chance of playoffs (it will be a relief to be over!) D will have time to do something other than school and sports (we do have 2 weekend lacrosse tournaments in November, but not daily practices)</p>
<p>Our school is on the 90-100 is an A, so easy here for D to keep all A’s (No plusses or minuses) My S was a master at getting B’s that were 89’s.</p>
<p>kelowna, I would tell you that your S is obviously a very bright and talented young man with passions in several activities that will carry him successfully through college admissions and not to worry about a slate of B’s in one subject on an otherwise terrific transcript…however, I would feel a bit disingenuous because I also can’t help but wonder how B/B+'s would effect my D. Of course I keep this to myself and am keeping the message positive with her.
She is not reaching for Ivies and the like, but is concerned about our very selective state flagship.</p>
<p>Mamabear, as much as I enjoy watching my D play hockey, I am ready for the season’s conclusion as well. We have not had a weekday family dinner since August. She will play at least two more weeks in district and regional championships. If successful in the region, they will win a berth to the state championships which would keep her playing into mid November. Couldn’t possibly root against them, but oy vey!</p>
<p>I love all sports, especially when my kids are playing, but I am counting the days until cross-country is over. Ten days until the last meet!!!</p>
<p>For me it isn’t sports I’m looking forward to being over but theater competitions! But D loves them and is enjoying herself so no biggie. </p>
<p>She seems to be focused on her grades this year though was grumbling because he AB Calc teacher was on her about having a B (this teacher is a former college cheerleader who is very competitive and wants all students to ace everything which is how to fuel my D’s fire to not do as well, LOL).</p>
<p>Thanks for the review of JMU and UMW - both will be on D’s list. Older D is at UVA and LOVES it but it was/is the perfect fit for her and so not D2’s style which is just fine. I also want to put VCU on the list for her - though my problem with both UMW & VCU is dealing with 95 lol though that could likely be I got stuck in way too much traffic last weekend on 2 separate occasions for other trips we took.</p>
<p>D2 still doesn’t seem to really be interested in touring but I’m hopeful she’ll engage on that front soon enough. I’m just happy she seems to have her life fairly balanced right now with decent attention placed on school which for her is progress :)</p>
<p>Kelowna: I think that the B in Spanish shows your kid is human. He is obviously spectacular in other ways. </p>
<p>Mamabear: My older son was the king of the A-. He would ride the 89/90 line all semester and we never knew what would show up on his report card. S3 told me the other day “I learned that studying actually works”. EUREKA!!! He is aceing AP BIO which was torture for S2. Although it took S2 until the Spring of his first year in college to learn how to really study. </p>
<p>Cross Country is winding down. I think we have 2 more weeks. S3 has not had the best season. He has not really improved a whole lot from last year. Production Drama is amping up with the first play in early December. He is our first kid to do drama so it is very new to us and kind of fun. I am very glad he dropped basketball. Tennis isn’t until the spring, but likely he will practice every day with the team until then. Last year he ran track and played tennis, I am not sure if that is his plan for his year.</p>
<p>tx5, cross country is just a tuneup for ds2’s soccer season. He’s dropped more than 1:30 from his time in his first race, and he’s hoping at district to drop almost another minute. One thing x-country has done is made him much more conscious of what he eats. His main sport, soccer, there really isn’t such a quantitative measure of progress as there is in cross-country, where, for him, you run against your own PR and try to best it. He’s dropped several pounds since the season started.</p>
<p>Had a crazy dream last night and none of my other friends understand egt what I find so hilarious about it. I dreamed my son got a 210 on the PSAT and became a national achievement finalist. lmao. It felt like one of those dreams where you find money in a coat pocket or purse and you wake up searching for it.</p>
<p>Sounds good to me!</p>
<p>What I have learned having been through this once: My oldest daughter graduated college last year and is now working toward her masters while working full time. I have a son graduating high school this year and we are knee deep in this whole “getting into college” nightmare. I am trying to remain focused on what I have learned is most important. </p>
<p>In the end, all that matters is that your child ends up at a school where they can be happy for 4 years. I have friends whose children called home crying because they were so unhappy. I know a few people whose children dropped out of school because in the end, it was not a good fit for them. I know we are all lead to believe that our students get to pick the college, but the truth is that the college picks them. Make sure you take your child to schools that are truly within their reach and have them pick several that they know they can be happy at. Do select some high reach schools, and do try to get in, but do not lose sight of the fact that that school is a reach. Be sure your child focuses on “can I be happy at this school” and finds one that is a good fit that they have a true shot at getting into. </p>
<p>We have been through this with sports and college. Be realist. Look at the big picture. The school they attend, in the end does not matter. The grades they get in college, in the end when apply for jobs, does not matter. The fact that they made it through, got a diploma, get a job, and thoroughly enjoyed their college experience, is all that matters. And to that end— encourage them to join clubs while in college, it helps them make friends!</p>
<p>So, are you a parent or a kid, webb?</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1218756-chances-uva-william-mary-johns-hopkins-university-richmond.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1218756-chances-uva-william-mary-johns-hopkins-university-richmond.html</a></p>
<p>At our school an A is 92 and above, with 92 as the A-. </p>
<p>We are heading into soccer playoffs the next couple weeks. By end of Oct we will be done- bliss!</p>
<p>Homework grades are hurting my son! yesterday, i was going over some of his homework assignmnets after knowing he has 6/10 etc for APchemistry homework. My original thinking was that he didnt complete it. When i was checking with him to see what is going on…his teacher has graded all teh homework like test questions and he made few mistakes in many of the homeworks…In one way, it is good, but few such 6/10 has hurt his grade, He has excellent test grades, but now going with an A minus.</p>
<p>Blue…so we have the district championship tomorrow in FH. How weird would it be if our team actually won, got a good seed in the killer-northern regionals and actually made it to state tournament where little-blue and little-FAMM would end up on the same field? LIkely my D would NOT play because she is walking wounded…not sports injury but victim of high heels at Homecoming dance (not hers but of others’ that stepped on her) and is taking oral antibiotics for a nasty infection in her cut feet. I think the sweaty shoes from FH contributed mightily to the infection so perhaps she can plead sports injury. I don’t think our HS has ever gotten beyond the first round of regionals so this is very speculative but…you never know…Good luck in district and regionals!</p>
<p>DONIVRIAN: S2 went through the same thing a few years ago in AP Bio the homework FRQ’s were graded just like FRQ’s on the test. It was definitely a wake-up call for him.</p>
<p>FAMM, that would be so cool! D’s field hockey team has traditionally been strong in the region. They have won 4 regional championships in recent years. However, they are a relatively young and inexperienced team this year. They have battled through a tough out of district schedule and have struggled against some district foes they normally defeat soundly. The coach is tough, and they have endured some marathon conditioning sessions after lackluster play. They have been through a lot together to get to this point and have already earned a berth into the regional tournament due to their regular season district championship. It is hard to predict how well they will do because there is a great deal of parity in the region. You never know though, maybe our D’s will meet! Good luck to your D with the feet and the rest of the season!</p>
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<p>in response to post #2371</p>
<p>I am sorry I did not respond eariler, but I did not see your post before today. You raised some good questions. our thinking was to encourage S to take the most technically difficult courses offered in his school, so he could know if he would like engineering. We thought we would rather, that he get Cs in high school, change his mind and go into something less technical, than trip and fall in engineering college (when we will be paying for those classes). So, far he is getting mostly As. So, he is doing okay. However, he is having to work harder than anytime in his life. This might be a good thing. He also took the PSAT and SAT this month (Oct). Basically, using the SAT as practice for the PSAT. He scored 690 math, 690 reading and 620 writing in the SAT. He says he did not prepare for the essay because the PSAT does not have essays.</p>
<p>Regarding foreign languages, he has two years of Spanish and plans on taking a third (AP Spanish) in his senior year. This year, he took Computer Science II instead of Spanish to demonstrate (to himself and colleges) that he can handle a technically demanding curriculum and to see if he likes it. He had to get special permission from the school to do this. Do you think this was a mistake? Senior year he plans on taking a less technically intense course load and work harder on developing his ECs.</p>
<p>He will probably take SAT II subject tests next summer like you suggested and repeat the SAT Reasoning next October. He thinks he can do a little better on the SAT by working on his essay writing, memorizing some SAT words and practicing some math problems. (He took the SATs and PSATs essentially without doing any word lists and essay writing practice.)</p>
<p>I read with interest your thoughts, perazziman. My only advice about the standardized testing is to try the ACT. DD is taking ACT and SAT in spring 2012. Why wait until next October? My feeling is that D should use the spring for testing, and use October of senior year only if she needs a few more points. Lots of applications are due November 1.</p>
<p>Regarding piling up on science for someone planning to major in the sciences: D will be picking her senior classes in January. She is planning on majoring in neuroscience. She took Honors Chem freshman year, Honors Bio sophomore year and is taking Honors Physics now. She did very well on SAT II Bio (Molecular) after sophomore year. I vote for AP Chem in senior year and NOT AP Bio, since her SAT II score should tell colleges something about skills in Bio. Does she really need TWO AP sciences? LOTS of kids in her school really pile on the science (lots of scientist parents in our town, I surmise). </p>
<p>Her older brother did NOT pile on the sciences, did NOT take honors chem or physics (just regular) and is doing fine in highly rated engineering program. Thoughts?</p>