<p>I am a page late but S is ranked 2 and it is based on weighted grade point. The class of 2014 was the first year for minus and plus grades to count and kids weren’t ready. After freshman year, he was #2 with a 3.91. I was shocked. I would have expected lots of kids with all a’s and no one had weighted classes as a freshman. He has had a couple A- and a semester grade of B+ for euro. </p>
<p>Now, weighted grades come into play and he thought he would drop this semester but he didn’t. Honors aren’t weighted so kids still take music and art classes. </p>
<p>However, my 2016 kid is top 10%/out of 360 with a 3.6. I think that is pathetic but it is so early in high school. Are there so few A students?</p>
<p>We spent about $1200 on a six- month SAT class. It was expensive, but it was a longer period and very highly recommended. I can’t say I’m sorry as D had a 500 point increase too. She had great grades but low scores and I know with the amount of homework she gets she would never have studied in spite of good intentions. Using the same woman again for S14. It’s expensive but if it works to give them the chance to be admitted to their top choice schools, it’s worth it to me.</p>
<p>How important do you think it would be for my S to take 4 instead of 3 AP classes next year? He needs to show academic rigor for the schools he is considering, and he’s (currently!) planning to major in biochem, with a minor in Spanish (or possibly even with a double major in Spanish, because he loves it). The school is on trimesters, which makes scheduling really ridiculous and limits how much the kids can take. Right now, he is thinking AP Chem, AP Spanish, Honors Anatomy and Physiology, AP Calc AB, Multicultural Lit, and debating between Sports Med II or Creative Writing II as his one trimester elective. <em>I</em> think that if he is taking only 3 AP classes, then he should be taking AP Calc B/C rather than A/B. Or, if he really doesn’t want to take B/C (A/B is only two trimesters, instead of all 3), then he should take AP Multi instead of regular. Thoughts??</p>
<p>Collegefortwins, your S should ask his guidance counselor if the schedule he is proposing would be sufficient for the counselor to check the “most rigorous” box when doing his recommendation. I think most GCs have a threshold of what they will consider “most rigorous” that isn’t technically the very most rigorous schedule they could have taken, but if he is applying for very selective schools, he will want that designation, so he should be clear about what will qualify and what will not.</p>
<p>89Wahoo–I totally agree with you! But lets admit that $1200 is FAR different from $5000. I had never known anyone to spend that much money and it just caught me by surprise. As a parent, spending $5000, I would have hoped for an even greater increase in scores…My dd increased her PSAT scores by 400 by self studying alone! If I had that kind of $, I just might do the same! There are no limits to what I will do to prepare her for 8/1/13(all legal of course :)). You would be astounded by the things I have done to make sure my dd makes it! And not all financial either. I am relentless in the pursuit of her success and would shed blood if I had to!</p>
<p>Money spent on SAT is a good investment IMO. We could easily spend $1200 on SAT/ACT prep. The only reason we aren’t is because “THE” prep coach is grandma. My MIL did receive some very nice Christmas presents however. :)</p>
<p>And if one believes that spending $5000 will pay itself in merit money, and they can afford it, then I say go for it. That’s a lot of money but who knows, maybe it’ll pay off for them. It’s all about the long game in this house.</p>
<p>I am sure someone can correct me on this, but doesn’t the common app go live every year on 8/1? </p>
<p>And this young lady received 5,000 in the form of a loan at a state U(not our own). So her parents are on the hook for the rest. I believe she said that the cost is 45000/year.</p>
<p>NewHaven- I was thinking $1200 was a lot, but it did work here. I so completely agree about $5K. I’d want a lot more than an equal amount back, and let’s be honest, there is no guarantee on that. For one though maybe $45,000 isn’t an issue. It would most certainly be here though.
The common app does go live right about 8/1. You can find a sample version earlier for those who have kids who are very motivated though. :).
Collegefortwins, math on is correct- ask about the ‘rigor’ box. I’d aim for a variety of classes, not all the AP ones in math and science if he can deal with gov, history, or English too. That seems to be looked upon favorably. The key of course is to do well in the classes, so maybe asking his current teachers their thoughts would be helpful as well.its quite the tightrope, isn’t it?</p>
<p>Thanks, wahoo. He has taken a variety of Honors/AP throughout hs and has a 4.0… his entire justification for not taking 4 next year and for not taking AP Calc B/C is that he is afraid he would get a B! He’s not looking at Ivies, so I keep telling him that a B in one difficult class isn’t going to make a huge difference…but at this point, I think it’s all about pride! At dinner tonight, he threw out the idea of taking AP Stats, bc he heard it’s “super easy” and not time-consuming, unlike AP Multi, which evidently isn’t supposed to be hard, but requires lots of work… “Tightrope” is the right word!</p>
<p>I just got home from parent teacher conferences. I get so frustrated with our schools sometimes. My son’s English teacher tonight said “If a student gets a 28 on the ACT and have a great GPA, they can get a full ride anywhere.” Uhh… no. This school system really encourages kids to strive for mediocrity. Thank goodness my kids are self motivated.</p>
<p>We had a good visit today at Junior Visit Day at University of Tulsa. The school was very nice. They did an excellent job with break-out sessions and tours. And a very nice lunch. There were about 200 students plus families for the event, I’m guessing mostly in-state and bordering states just from name tags/license plates that I saw. We toured the Mechanical Engineering area - very nice! New buildings for the engineering department within the past couple of years. New buildings all over campus over the past decade. It’s a smaller school - around 4000 students. We heard several times that it is the smallest Division I sports school in the NCAA. Even though I think DS would have a good chance of getting in, I still consider it a “reach” due to the finances. I haven’t gotten a clear picture on how much is available for scholarships. If anyone is interested in Petroleum Engineering, I would highly recommend it! </p>
<p>Did anyone else take advantage of a day off school with a tour?</p>
<p>If you are within driving distance, I recommend Ole Miss’ junior visit day on March 23. We visited 3 yrs ago, went back and forth about choices for D13 (then D12), now it is seriously in the running because of outstanding selective programs, great honors college and excellent automatic merit plus additional selective scholarships. 40% of their students come from out of state. The junior preview day left us with a very good impression.</p>
<p>College4twins, my D13 was like that- straight As and didn’t want to blow it. She and I went to a meeting with the alumni liaison program at U V A and the counselor looked at her transcript and said, “you do realize we admit people with Bs?” D appeared completely shocked at this. I suspect (gasp!) the ivies do too. That said, while she took 5 APs this year, she took AB instead of BC since she didn’t want the B and is not super-strong in math either.
Apollo, I hear great things about Alabama and Ole Miss. Too bad they are far away; my kids have pretty firm limits on how far they want to be (not closer than 2 hours, nor further than 5).</p>
<p>I had a dream last night that S showed up at his test center on Saturday for the SAT and his photo had somehow slipped off his photo ID. It wasn’t there – just his name.</p>
<p>89wahoo: Since you are in VA, I can tell you that Alabama is only a couple hours away … by plane. And it is a very fine school. My oldest son has loved it, but may do grad school in Virginia (wants to take advantage of the in state tuition). My younger son ('14) is like his older brother – looks forward to going to school out of state, preferably in the deep South. He seems to like warmer weather and great football.</p>
<p>Class of 2015, lol…I can sympathize your dreaming about your sons SAT since I am also getting nervous about my son taking it this Saturday. Your dream would have been a nightmare in real life except that I recall reading somewhere that SAT will not start requiring photo ID until after the Jan 2013 test. Nonetheless, they suggest everyone still bring their photo ID for the Jan test.</p>
<p>Hi everyone, I’m the mom of a sophomore in college and, of course since i’m posting here, another S who is high school class '14. i’ve been periodically lurking but didn’t have much time to post. You seem like a nice group of parents, and certainly there are some here with whom I went through this process w/ our '11 kids. It’s so good to “see” all of you again! </p>
<p>For us, the process seems to begin in earnest this upcoming weekend when S takes his first SAT. He’s been working hard since the PSAT, which revealed that his relative weakness was in the math section. Hopefully he’ll pull through. Class of 2015, you gave me quite a chuckle w/ your dream!</p>
That said, while she took 5 APs this year, she took AB instead of BC since she didn’t want the B and is not super-strong in math either.