Parents of the HS Class of 2013

Parents of Class of 20xx
3681

<p>I checked on the Collegeboard site, and there is a PDF document which lists many colleges and whether they superscore or not and if you should send all scores to the school. So I am going to use it as a guideline. I hope that works!</p>

<p>DD will be registering for next year relatively soon. I’m not sure what to advise her to do and hoping for some guidance here (although she has usually made these decisions on her own, with some parental comments/input)</p>

<p>So, here goes…advice cheerfully accepted!!</p>

<p>First, I believe (but am not 100% positive) that dd’s school is fairly competitive…13 National merit Finalists and 34 commended scholars for the '11 class. 33 Honors and AP classes are offered. About 400 kids per grade.
Including this year, dd has taken 2 AP classes and 5 honors. Definitely not in the upper echelon, but given her school profile, INO, a reasonable rigor. Her elective this year was 2 semesters of English electives.</p>

<p>Next year possibilities:
Religion (it’s required. Some courses are UC approved. Since most schools OOS don’t count the religion courses at all, I suggested to dd she take what interests her most…(all classes senior year are one semester each) rather than just taking the UC approved courses.
Spanish: she’s taking a 4th year and plans to take Spanish 4, not AP. I don’t think she’ll do that well in this particular AP class, and I think she gets a reasonable boost taking a 4th year of language, even if its not AP.
Science: she doesn’t know what to do…marine biology, AP Environmental Science? She never took an honors or AP bio, chem or physics, just regular.
Social Studies: she’s thinking AP Government but regular Economics.
Math: Not sure what to do. She’s in Precalc this year, and can’t take an AP course, because she ended the semester with a 94% and needed a 98% or 99%. Statistics maybe? Is AP Stats alot harder? She can maybe petition for an AP calc class, but don’t know if that would be successful.
Elective: She wants AP Psych. Tried for it this year but didn’t get in. Most seniors who try for it get it.
English: She can take an AP course, but thinks the electives look good too. </p>

<p>Will taking 2-3 AP courses (APES, ENG and PSYCH) help her out much for rigor? Is Senior year too late to add much to rigor? </p>

<p>In terms of college apps for next year, the university she is applying to that has the “toughest” profile (in terms of SAT scores and admit rates) is University of Georgia, if that makes any difference in deciding a schedule for next year. </p>

<p>Any advice gratefully accepted.</p>

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<p>VBCmom~ Wow! Your school sounds great! 13 NMF and 33 AP courses blows ours out of the water! I’m jealous:)</p>

<p>I hope that the 4th year of language will be a little boost, my DD will be in 4th year as well. The only reason she will be taking honors is because that is what is offered.</p>

<p>That amazes me that your DD can’t take AP Calc with a 94%. Does she want to take AP Calc? Is she planning to be a STEM major? My DD will probably end up an english major, so AP Stats for her I think. </p>

<p>My DD hope to take pscyhology for her final elective second semester, although it is not offered AP here. </p>

<p>I think it is wise to still take rigorous classes senior year. My DD needs the boost since she has only had two HN courses. We don’t have many APs or HNs here, but DD could have taken AP Language and APUSH this year, but needed to regroup so decided not to. She has done very well, grades look good, but definitely need some rigorous classes on her transcript for next year.</p>

3683

<p>D2 is taking the SAT in Jan, I’m have not select to send her scores to any school but I’m rethinking this process, I might send them to the UCs. In the past, you can select individual UCs but that has changed since D1 applied to college.
Is there a central place to send SAT scores to UCs now instead of individual school?</p>

<p>Found the answer to my question from this post.
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/13505035-post6.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/13505035-post6.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>We live in a college town and have a very diverse high school from both an ethnic and economic perspective. 17 NMSF this year and 3 perfect ACT scores. Most years the grad class will have around 20 NMSF. About 425 kids in S’s class.</p>

<p>Senior year schedule will be probably be…
AP French
AP Econ
AP Stats or AP Calc AB
Physics
Honors Am Lit
Visual Basic or some other elective</p>

3685

<p>I don’t think I ever posted the actual schedule she registered for:
AP English Lit
AP Biology
AP Statistics
AP Government/AP Economics (each 1 semester)
AP Spanish
Journalism
Study Hall</p>

3686

<p>MidwestMom: Just to clarify, it’s 33 HONORS and AP classes…not 33 AP classes (are there that many?)
DD is definitely NOT planning to be a STEM major-she’s considering those majors that would allow her to work in early childhood (early childhood special ed, speech therapy and psychology). IMO, the ideal school will have all 3 majors, so all three can remain options and she doesn’t have to choose immediately. So, not sure an AP calc class is necessary.</p>

<p>I’ve always let dd choose her classes…but the reality is, at her school, she had very few options anyway! When she wanted to take “Social Dance” as her FA requirement, I did remind her it wasn’t UC approved, so to consider that…and she ended up in drama. Other than that, my input has been minimal. But there are a lot more options for senior year!</p>

3687

<p>Haystack~ I used to live in a college town and I loved it! I loved the diversity, the approach to education, the schools…DD went to an elementary school where most of the instruction was art based, which was perfect for her. Learning science through art was amazing for her. Instead of dressing up for Halloween they had a Renaissance theme day so everyone could dress up Renaissance costumes, and they did such fun activties that incorporated the theme. Her school served the kids from university housing, so it was very diverse. It was always fun and interesting having an international food night. Loved it, would go back in a heartbeat. </p>

<p>Sorry to digress…</p>

3688

<p>Discussed S2’s senior year schedule with him over lunch today. Here is the tentative plan (remember he’s part of the performing arts magnet). </p>

<p>AP English Lit
AP Environmental Science or Forensic Science
AP Music Theory
Acting IV
Theatre Production
Acapella Choir
Varsity Show Choir</p>

<p>I tried to talk him into AP European History instead of Acting IV - but no such luck! Oh well, as a music major most of his acceptance will be based on audition anyway so he might as well have a fun senior year.</p>

3689

<p>VBCmom ~ Gotcha! I think that there are 29, so you were close! Seven APs and 10 Honors course are offered at DD’s school. More than I though, actually.</p>

<p>I have been pretty involved with DD picking her courses, mostly because she has ADD and would love to take Jewelry Making and Ceramics every semester :slight_smile: While the school encourages college prep courses to some extent, I think most of the emphasis is on just keeping kids in school, so I have helped DD stay on track. She started band in the 5th grade, and intended to continue in HS, so she knew that she was going to have english, math, ss, science, band, and a foreign language all four years(my requirement). Throwing in her other requirements(PE, speech/debate, health), she hasn’t had much room to pick many other courses. Her electives have mostly been art/theater/english, except for last year when she thought she might want to be a chef and took a nutrition and then a baking class. She thought that they would be easy, they were not. Kids with ADD do not make the best bakers :)</p>

3690

<p>megpmom~ switch the choir courses with band courses and that would be my DD’s dream schedule! She would love AP Forensics, and it totally into acting and theater.</p>

3691

<p>MWMom…</p>

<p>S’s elementary school also included married student housing with mostly international students. He had some good friends from there unfortunately they all moved when the parents finished grad school.</p>

<p>We decided years ago that would not live anywhere else but a university town.</p>

3692

<p>You guys have been busy the past few days! </p>

<p>It’s so fun for me to read about what other people are thinking about and doing and what classes the 13ers are planning to take next year.</p>

<p>I don’t know that my D has decided on her classes for sure yet. I do know she was planning on AP Lit, AP Gov, AP Calc AB, Honors Spanish 4, Western Civ (required), And either AP Bio or AP Chem and AP Physics. Or something like that. I look at that schedule and it totally stresses me the hell out. I would like her to do something easier but I’m not sure what. She has only AP choices left for Science. Her math would be either AP Calc AB or Honors Stats and she is insistent on Calc, even though I think she would have to take Stats in College but probably not Calc. Her Science choices are also only AP. I just hope she can manage it. That being said, I was totally freaking about her taking physics, trig/precalc, APUSH, Humanities and honors english and she’s managed that well enough so far. </p>

<p>So we are looking at a college on Monday. We are back to the proverbial drawing board because she has decided that she only wants to apply to colleges that offer a Bachelors of Social Work. On the one hand, if she is sure, I want to support her choice- it’s her decision. On the other hand, that drastically cuts down on the list of schools available to her. So many schools I thought she would really like and be happy with are no longer on the list. I have to keep telling myself “it’s not my life, it’s not my life, it’s not my life.” The best news on that front, though, is that James Madison has a school of social work and she liked JMU and I liked it for her. :slight_smile: She also doesn’t want to go to really large Universities (25-30k people+) or too far from home. That is ruling out a lot too. One of the other things that I am struggling with is that I can’t seem to find a reference for the QUALITY of a social work program. I can see if it is accredited or not but other than that, I can’t seem to find a web page or some kind of rating system. If anyone has any advice on this, I would appreciate it so much. It’s just a little hard to be starting back over from scratch, with a list of schools that, honestly, I am not overly wild about for her. But again, say it with me: IT’S NOT MY LIFE!</p>

<p>Guess that’s mostly it. Crap, do I sound totally whiny or what? Geesh!</p>

3693

<p>My son has self imposed little choice in his schedule. He doesn’t need to choose his yet, but I already know what it will likely be:</p>

<p>Physics Honors (no AP offered - he has always wanted this class)
AP Calc BC (much to my chargrin - he keeps on insisting no STEM, yet keeps taking em)
AP English Lit (he is terrible in English, but prefers the AP teacher over the World Lit teacher)
AP Psych
Latin V - honors - His FAVORITE class - loves the teacher & it has become a tight group of kids.
Band (hoping to be able to keep)
Ethics/Religion/Senior Project - requirements he has been putting off.</p>

<p>This year, the school went from a quarter system to a tri and changed to a “required” cycle of classes at each grade level. No official has told parents/students how 2013 kids are going to meet all the requirements. I’m thinking they will handle on a student by student basis and permit kids to opt out if the kid is not taking a blow off course. Otherwise my son will need to drop band. It isn’t in the school’s best interest to have him drop band. Right now it is a major selling point for the school (private) since most public schools in the region are dropping the arts.</p>

<p>He only needs English, Ethics, Religion and senior cycle (Senior Project & college counseling) to meet grad requirements.</p>

3694

<p>Thanks for all the VA school suggestions! It looks like Easter break will either go south to Richmond or west to Susquehanna/Bucknell area.</p>

<p>High School schedule</p>

<p>Our (private) school has required 7.25 hour school day (8:15 - 3:30) with 7 class periods. Band or Choir is a class.</p>

<p>No study halls permitted</p>

<p>No leaving school early for work (college prep only)</p>

<p>No PE - must play a sport
All sports are after school hours. The school is K-12 with 1 gym. The middle school kids get the 3:30-5 practice slot. So HS basketball goes from 5 - 7:30pm with boys/girls rotating the 5-6:15 or 6:15-7:30.</p>

<p>Starting this month an “activity” period was added to the end of day by shaving 5 minutes off each class. Advisors complained many kids couldn’t make meetings because of clashing after school ECs (very small school, so kids are involved in multiple things). Parents complained b/c no study hall + ECs = bad grades or kids falling asleep doing homework. </p>

<p>The first 20 minutes of the day is non-academic (Chapel services, community service, etc.) Now with the 35 minute end of day activity, 55 minutes of non-class. I have a feeling the school is not done adjusting the schedule & will play with it more next year. </p>

<p>I’m always amazed at how early dismissal is in other regions. If my son had a 1:30 dismissal that would mean a start time that he’d always sleep thru. Around here, Tech school is the only one with that early of a dismissal so the kids can work.</p>

3695

<p>vandygrad87 - I looked up Social Work in Rugg’s and this is a list of smaller schools in or close to MD
Adelphi (NY)
SUNY Albany
Bethany (WV)
Bennett (Women’s only NC)
SUNY Brockport
Catholic (DC)
Elizabethtown ¶
Elmira (NY)
Fordham(NY)
SUNY Fredonia
Hood
Juniata
Lock Haven ¶
Longwood
Mansfield ¶
Marshall (WV)
Mary Baldwin (Woman VA)
UMBC
Marywood ¶
McDaniel
Mercyhurst
Millersville ¶
Misericordia ¶
Radford
Ramapo
Richard Stockton
RIT
St. Francis ¶
Salsibury
Shepherd (WV)
Shippensburg ¶
Siena (NY)
Stony Brook</p>

3696

<p>My D13 will take her SL IB French exams this year and be done with French. Her courses next year will be HL English, HL Spanish, HL music, HL history, SL mathematics and SL environmental systems. She has previously taken HL psychology and AP world history -4-, psychology -5- (exam only), U.S. government -4- (exam only), art history -4- (exam only), stats -3-, human geography -3- and biology -2-:(). What will your kids be doing this summer? DD is hoping that she will win NSLI-Y’s scholarship to study in China this summer. Otherwise her plan is to work on the Mexican border doing humanitarian aid with No More Deaths/ No Mas Muertes [url=&lt;a href=“http://www.nomoredeaths.org/]Home[/url”&gt;http://www.nomoredeaths.org/]Home[/url</a>]. She’s 18 and determined. I’m kinda hoping the Chinese language study scholarship comes through. ;-)</p>

3697

<p>Wow, Apollo, I wanted S13 to apply for NSLY China for this summer but he was reluctant so I figured we’d wait until next year. I hope your D gets it! I never know how hard to push things that are my idea… But along those lines, since I was hoping to sell it to him as a gap year thing, I have been encouraging him to take a year off between HS and college. I think he is tired and I think he needs the perspective. My question is: do you tell colleges that you are debating this? Because I want him to apply to colleges with his peers–I feel like it is much easier when you are in school, the teachers still see you, the infrastructure is in place–but then defer. Is this not a good thing to drop in an interview?</p>

3698

<p>I’m not sure. When I was applying to selective colleges in the early '80’s I wrote that if I were accepted I planned to defer to be an AFS exchange student. Perhaps that helped me gain acceptance. I’m not sure whether it would be a good idea to mention it today, especially if the student was only considering the idea (not certain the way I was). Personally, I think a gap year is a great idea but you definitely don’t want to wait until you are abroad to apply to college. That would be far too complicated.</p>

3699

<p>Longhaul- your school sounds similar to the school my D and S attend. They go from 8 to 3. Chapel on Thursdays, small school etc. How many kids are in your 13ers class?</p>

<p>Mom24Boys- thank you SO MUCH for doing that! I really appreciate the time it took for you to do so. I knew of some but not all. I will take a closer look. Thank you again!!</p>

<p>Apollo6- Wow, those are some big summer plans! D wants to take a college class or two and get an internship at a social services agency. She did apply to one creative writing summer course that required a sample so if that came through for her then her plans could be subject to change. I think having her do some work with a social service agency would be good, so she can get a better idea if social work really <em>is</em> what she would like to do.</p>

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<p>Longhaul…I looked at Elon’s lit that they handed out at their info session and it sounds like your S could get merit aid there with those scores and a tough curriculum. My D is unlikely to get the scores but anything over 2100 has a good chance. I don’t think a visit is necessary since merit aid is a factor. Wait to see where he gets in and then go for visits. Other small schools that are very supportive of their students but also would offer aid to a bright oos kid–centre college ky (my brother went there and, despite dyslexia, majored in English while doing lots of STEM) but later did a MS in engineering. Swears Centre was the best thing that ever happened to him.</p>