<p>MomofNEA: It is not too late to have free test scores sent. Just have your S log on to his College Board account and he can add up to 4 schools for free reports with his January scores. You can add them at any time.</p>
<p>I guess I have to make that item 4 on my learned-today list! Thank you!<br>
And now how very real all this is about to becomeâŠ</p>
<p>You can add schools up until the test AND even a couple of days after, for the ACT at least.</p>
<p>It annoys me that you canât see what the scores are before you send them (without paying extra). I forget the SAT cost but the ACT is $10 a school if you want to know what youâre sending first.</p>
<p>(Iâm a mom of a '12 and a '15 so just looking in on this thread occasionallyâŠhi)</p>
<p>Iâm another one with a senior math class decision to make for my D. She is in regular (non-honors) Pre-Calc this year, and in honors or AP for all of her other classes. Math is just not her subject, although she gets reasonable grades (A-/B+) in the non-honors math classes, with the help of parental tutoring. (Sheâs struggling in Honors Physics, as it is so math-heavy.) </p>
<p>I had always assumed that she would take AP Calc AB next year, as it is the only Calc class offered. In fact, it never occurred to me that she would take anything but Calc next year. But her teacher recommended her for AP Stats, and not for AP Calc. Should she just stick with the recommended AP Stats, or try to waiver into AP Calc? </p>
<p>I think taking Stats instead of Calc could be slightly negative for college admissions. But Stats would probably be more useful, as she is much more likely to major in a subject that requires Stats but not Calc. (Undecided on major at this point, but psychology is a likely prospect.) </p>
<p>For good math students aiming for very selective schools, I think taking Calc in HS is important, regardless of what they plan to major in. ( Iâm an engineer and took AP Calc BC in HS and more Calc in college.) Iâm less sure for OK math students aiming at selective but not tippy top schools and a non math related major.</p>
<p>At this point, Iâm leaning towards Stats. Her teacher said that AP Calc is harder than AP Stats. She will have a rigorous schedule next year with 4 (possibly 5) APs.</p>
<p>(~waving at Ohiobassmom!) I am also the mom to a '12 and '15.</p>
<p>sacchi: if sheâs in regular pre-calc and needing tutoring, Iâm not sure why sheâd want AP Calc especially if sheâs planning on majoring in a humanities field. Sounds like a good way for her to be miserable senior year. And AP Stat would be more practical.</p>
<p>Neither of my kids will have taken any type of calc in HS, and probably wonât in college either. Itâs one of those things where I think: whatâs the point of taking it? Where did the common wisdom come from that itâs necessary? Frankly, all other things being equal, if the fact that they donât get into a particular school is just because they took AP Stat instead of AP Calc, well, then itâs not the right school for them anyway. </p>
<p>Good luck with all these upcoming decisions!</p>
<p>Mom24boys
My son sent his Nov SAT scores to National Merit. We didnât even know his PSAT at that time, but figured this way if he makes the September cut-off, 1 less thing to think about. He also sent one to Bama and another school that has generous merit.</p>
<p>Son is all over the place with grades this year. He has never been steady, but this year is a real roller coaster. His school also does the +/- which makes me insane because it fluctuates the GPA. He has left the Easter college visits up to me to plan. Actually, I offered since he didnât have a clear idea as to what to see. Now I am sorry. His fluctuating grades, vast list of schools and logistics are making the planning seem like a chore vs. the fun road trip I envisioned. Hmm, now I know why he handed my the reins.</p>
<p>Any recommendations are welcomed.</p>
<p>Time line is Monday - Thursday before Easter. I want to keep the budget low. Maybe a night or two in a hotel. Driving instead of flying. Weâll probably have to take my 5th & 6th graders along for any overnights. We canât do more than 2 schools in a day. I know he really really wants to attend a class, but due to the holiday timing it is not offered at many schools. The biggest issue is that he wants to be out of our region â warmer climate, different attitude, outdoor club. He wants to focus on LACs, but given his essay & writing issues, Iâm not sure that is a good idea. I really want him to apply to some schools close to home. We visited 4 CA schools and 1 TX school in August. He has already decided to apply to Bama (for financial reasons) and Colorado College (one of his top 2 dream schools - the sunny weather and 1 course more than makes up for cold weather. He needs to play guitar, so schools with a decent music scene or practice rooms open to non-music majors are a plus. Schools must have plenty of grass areas â Drexel is not âgrassyâ enough; ironically USC was ? </p>
<p>Stats - 3.6 or 3.7 UW (based on our calc - school doesnât release until spring); 4.1 W
school doesnât rank
SAT 2100 (720 CR; 760 M; 620 W) He did not finish the writing section - WMC = 670
Needs Merit aid or meets full need school
No idea what to major in â doing great in AP Calc AB & Engineering, loves Philosophy, horrible at essay writing and long papers
Schools I was considering for visits:</p>
<p>Ursinus (1 hour from home)
Arcadia (for the travel abroad and the likely good merit)
Haverford (may be too intense for him, but would be a nice contrast to Pomona)
Susquehanna and Bucknell (in one trip)
Lafayette </p>
<p>St Maryâs of Maryland looked good until I got to the financial issues. U of Richmond looks good, but unless we can find another school nearby, I donât think it is worth the drive.</p>
<p>If his EC permitted us to leave on Friday night and travel for a week, he would have wanted to see Charelston, Elon, Ashville, Warren Wilson.</p>
<p>Loving this thread as more jump into the pool! Waving to all ~~~</p>
<p>Just got back from ds2âs soccer game. The opponent played dirty, and the fans were obnoxious. We won. I LOVE when that happens. :D</p>
<p>We carpooled with dsâs bff home from the game, and there was much college talk and discussion of senior schedules. They are super-excited that next year soccer might be a class, making their schedules much easier. Ds knows we donât allow free periods, but right now heâs got required courses that are pretty fluffy, such as health and soccer, that will balance out the APs. </p>
<p>We might take his bff with us next month when we visit schools in Cali. Someone did that for ds1. They knew we couldnât afford to take him all over the country so my friend offered to have ds fly up and meet her and her son, dsâs good friend, for the Midwestern portion of their tour (Macalester, Grinnell, Carleton). They had a great time. Ds got to see schools he wouldnât have seen otherwise, and her ds got to have fun with a friend in the middle of a 14-college tour! The highlight was riding roller-coasters in the Mall of America. 
Ds ended up at one of those schools (and the friend ended up at another), and I am forever grateful for her generosity as Iâm not sure ds would be at his school if not for that initial visit. Anyway, you might think about including a friend on the trips. Dsâs bffâs mom is going through a divorce and canât get the time off to see schools during the school year. I want to pay it forward, I guess. :)</p>
<p>^^ Soccer as a class. That would be my Sâ15âs dream high school!!</p>
<p>All varsity sports (and most JV) are a class period here. Either 1st period (with before school practice) or last period (with afterschool practice). It works out well.</p>
<p>Wow! My kids both did fall sports every day after school for 2 hours. Not only was it not a class, but we had to pay sports fees as well. :(</p>
<p>Dsâs school had to cut several sports classes a few years ago for budgetary reasons. Only football and basketball survived. This year, we added back baseball, even though that team stinks! I can say that because ds1 was on it, lol. Boys soccer is second only to girls basketball in terms of success, year in and year out. Fingers crossed!</p>
<p>Another fan of sports as a class -Brilliant! Our school days have gotten longer, ECs are expected at our school, leaves little time to get HW done or decompress.</p>
<p>Oh wow, sports classes would never fly here. When the economy went south, our school system had to cut millions from its budget, positions were eliminated, and teachers were handed a pay cut. Some very conservative tax payers think that no public monies should be spent on sports and parents should fund these activities for their kids in the private sector. Of course that is shortsighted and will never happen, but many would be upset if funding for sports classes prevented additional sections of academic classes from being offered allowing for smaller class sizes. </p>
<p>MomofNEA, there is a list of the best 2011 college admissions blogs you might want to google. Some that come to mind are Vanderbilt, University of Virginia, University of Georgia, Cornell, and William & Mary.</p>
<p>SAT/ACT Scores: The consensus on past threads seemed to be to hold off on sending ACT/SAT scores until youÂve seen the scores . . . the reason being that colleges might claim that they only use the highest score, but they canÂt Âun-see lower scores once theyÂve been seen. Checking with each college ahead would probably be wise (it wouldnÂt matter for colleges that donÂt allow score choice.) If youÂre really uncertain about how your S or D will perform, itÂs also been suggested that you even opt out of allowing the HIGH SCHOOL to get the scores if they add all test scores to the transcript (ours does); in this case, even if you donÂt send the scores, all the colleges will see them on their transcript. I canÂt speak for the SAT, but like ohiobassmom pointed out, the ACT allows you to take the test and get a sense of how you did before you commit to sending scores; so if you leave the test feeling like you aced it, you have 5 days to get online and add your high school and four free colleges.</p>
<p>Senior Scheduling: S has a different dilemma  he knows heÂll be taking AP Calculus for math, but he isnÂt sure which English class to take. His options are AP Literature (not language) or dual enrollment Honors Senior English. He wants to read all the great literature, but he knows he could really benefit from the more writing intensive college course. Foreign language is another issue  heÂs only taken 2 years of Spanish and knows he should take a 3 (and should have taken 4), but he really dislikes the teacher (and heÂs a kid that had NEVER complained about a teacher), plus he really wants to study Chinese in college. </p>
<p>How many classes will your kids be taking Senior year? A full schedule here is 7, but IÂm thinking he should only take 6 next year with all the apps/essays heÂll be working on. HeÂll have AP/Honors English, AP Calc, AP Chem, AP Computer Science, Honors Economics/Government, and Spanish III (or Art III.)</p>
<p>Amazed here with schools offering ECâs and Sports as a period. ECâs and sports are before and after school. Hence Dâs start at 7:30 and end at 5:00 days. </p>
<p>Does this mean that you have more periods in a day? Are your school dayâs longer. I would love an extended day if it meant rolling in the ECs and sports.</p>
<p>MidwestmomâŠMy D is taking AP Stat next year. She is by no means a math kid. She has 4 years of HS math under her belt already since she was in accelerated math in 8th grade (with a huge amount of work). She hovers around a B avg in math. </p>
<p>She will likely never take calc or any other hard core math again. </p>
<p>Our reasoning with Stats is that she will likely have to take stats in colleg. This will at least give her a foundation. There are not many majors where you can skip taking stats.</p>
<p>Interesting that sports are not considered a class in other parts of the country. In my opinion, if choir and band are considered a âclassâ then why not sports? Plus sports teams count as PE credit. In our TX public system, almost every EC is a class period - dance team, cheerleading, debate, student council, etc. We have 7 periods for a full day - but jrs and srs usually take 6. No study halls, though.</p>
<p>My kid is planning his senior yr schedule and he only has to take 2 academic classes - English and Science. Plus he will take 4-5 music and theatre classes. </p>
<p>And people wonder why Texas ranks 48th in education!</p>
<p>nellieh, ditto on the length of my Dâs school day.</p>
<p>sendemsoaring, 7 classes is a full load as well for my D. At her school, you have to get special permission to reduce your schedule and they strongly warn college bound seniors against it. There are no study halls or free periods but there are some classes that essentially act as that. My D has always been counseled to take no less than 5 academic core classes and she has done that. This year, she had to double up on science classes to achieve that as she finished out her foreign language sequence last year. She will probably double up on math classes next year with AP Calc BC and AP Stat along with AP Lit, AP Chem, and honors government. She is also in a music magnet and has taken two music courses a year, but next year she is allowed to take a sixth upper level core class instead of the second music class. She is not going to major in music in college, so this is going to be her choice.</p>
<p>Longhaul, Randolph-Macon College is a small LAC in Ashland, VA just north of Richmond on I-95. You would pass it on your way to the University of Richmond. The University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg is also on your way about an hour north of Richmond.</p>
<p>Longhaul - The grades are a wild roller coaster here too. Son was sick before and after winter break and he has been having more trouble then usual focusing - just have to wait to see what yr end brings and hope Alabama and other places with merit are still options.
Have you looked at Washington College in MD, that would be good for merit and you could drive along the Eastern Shore to Richmond and avoid DC. My other two thoughts were Mary Washington and William and Mary - both would like more boys, but I donât think there is much OS aid.</p>
<p>We are having issues regarding math for senior yr here too. DS is very good at math and the HS has added Discrete Math for the first time next yr. He currently has it listed as an alternative, he wants to take AP Economics instead. The teacher with the best reputation in the school teaches AP Economics and DS has wanted to take a class with him for 3 yrs, but it is a hard class he has a hard schedule and it has a lot of writing and that is not his strength. DS will take AP Cal BC next yr (he is taking AB this yr - its the only way the county does it). I left it up to him and am hoping his schedule gets changed by guidance as it has every other yr due to class conficts.</p>