<p>We had AP English Lit in one semester, once EVERY OTHER day. I suppose it’s more like a university course in that sense- less supervision but it didn’t give us enough time to fit in everything. </p>
<p>Classof2015, that’s so nice of you! I’m sure he will really appreciate having a break from such a terrible situation.</p>
<p>I am really stressed about some deadlines for a few things that are very time consuming on top of ridiculous workloads. I wish the teachers would assign less busy work!</p>
<p>Wow, 1 trimester for either AP English seems really rushed. There’s a lot of reading and writing in that class. My kid is struggling enough and it’s a semester and a half here.</p>
<p>Stay warm and dry–those in the path of the snow.
K1 is in the thick of it…I know the U did not cancel classes today.
Dining hours are adjusted and the U makes arrangements for staff to stay in local hotels etc.</p>
<p>On the front is K2s spring break/college tour. We did 5 or so last year. This year we have 9 on the list–one is a drive through. I might add a second drive through.
We have to fly to the region and this is the second fly-to-go-look trip. The $ add up and yet the experience and feel of each campus differs so that it helps greatly.</p>
<p>K2s school grades cut off at a 93 per class for first honors…and that didn’t happen this semester. Different kid, different journey.</p>
<p>Right now K2 wants to drop Chinese next year…after having taken it since 7th grade. Since colleges don’t count 7th and 8th grades (the school counts those 2 years as a level 1), we don’t know what to advise. Lots of colleges like 4 yrs of a language and it would be Chinese AP… however hating it so much now…I wonder if being out of it would bring other grades up? Thoughts?</p>
<p>With the EC, testing dates are an issue. So K2 is in for March SAT and June ACT. I had hoped to get the first ACT in earlier…however there are conflicts in April so its a no go… </p>
<p>Does anyone know of any threads that discuss schools that meet need without loans? Looking at data etc I am not happy to see how many grads from some of the schools on K2s list that are taking loans.</p>
<p>Frankly I prefer a school to use the CSS and an institutional method… and with 2 in school… yikes…</p>
<p>Thanks for the reminder about the SAT! I made it just in the nick of time - she had registered a year ago or so to get the question of the day, and it became a bit of a nightmare trying to figure out how she signed herself up.</p>
<p>Tomorrow is the ACT, she just told us she was worried about disappointing us. I just want her to do her best, there is no disappointing me. After all, her dad took it back in the day and said he got a 7 on the history section - a clear sign of mis-numbering given the other scores - lol.</p>
<p>Sitting in front of the fire and watching the storm on TV. So far we still have power and have about 10 inches of snow, most of which has come since 5 pm. We’re in the part of MA that could get 24+ inches of snow in our little section. Luckily we’re not on the coast and don’t need to worry about coastal flooding. But the winds and snow are definitely picking up. I just had DD get a couple of flashlights out so we’ll have them handy if the power goes out but hopefully it won’t with our underground wires. DH just did first pass at the driveway with the snowblower as it’s not big enough to handle a big storm all at once! And especially this heavy wet snow! Hope everyone else is safe and warm.</p>
<p>akmom and all of you in the NorthEast, be safe and stay warm!!!</p>
<p>eyemamom and all of you not in the NE, good luck on ACT tomorrow! DS is doing it in April.</p>
<p>Did you see the video that was linked in another thread with the 5 admission officers fielding questions? The video is over two hours long, so find something else worthwhile to do while you listen to it! Had good info about essays and APs. Well, when they weren’t side stepping the questions! haha I got a lot out of it! :)</p>
<p>fogfog - wow, 9 schools! You must be a super organized person to be able to fit all that in! I’ve tried to figure out ways to do more than one school in a day, but I’ve decided schools are just too far apart in the South!</p>
<p>Checking in from CT. Pretty bad out there with the hail and sleet . Listening to Pandora. Direct TV is on the fritz . But thank God for CC and Pandora!! We picked up some of those handy rechargeable lanterns a few days ago from Target. A good friend had them for Sandy and they were much nicer than a flashlight and safer than candles!!! I had never even considered them before then. They were pretty inexpensive too. I hope we don’t need them! Be safe!</p>
<p>Thinking of everyone who is in the way of this storm, or has kids at school effected by it. We were surprised by ice and snow this morning with a 2hr delay. It was supposed to hit much west in the Shenandoah with us getting rain. We have friends in the eye in Boston where they are expecting up to 40+, several in NY and NJ. Keeping in touch via txt & fb. I’ll be keeping everyone in my thoughts. Keep us updated as you can.</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone taking the ACT this morning. S actually spent time looking at the red book last night. He had done a few practices tests but actually read the english strategies and essay part. He stayed home also. I was shocked. </p>
<p>He complained that he couldn’t read the sample essays because they were in cursive.</p>
<p>Hello everyone. I just stumbled upon this section of CC. Are you all parents of HS juniors? My son is a junior and we are gearing up for the college search. Problem is, he doesn’t seem very interested at all. Is this a boy thing? What do you do to get them motivated? He’s a very good student, but it seems all he wants to do is play video games! We looked at some colleges in DC this summer and also in the Boston area this fall, but it was like pulling teeth to get him to tour. He wants to study political science/government/history, but, so far, that is the only “given.” I’ve tried getting him to do “virtual tours” with me on different schools websites, but he seems indifferent. Any tips for lighting a fire???</p>
<p>Labbydog, welcome. My son was equally unmotivated until he decided what he wanted to do for a career (game programming). Now he cares about grades and the college search.</p>
<p>Welcome labbydog - If he’s laying the good foundation to keep doors open (grades/scores/ec’s) I wouldn’t panic that he hasn’t jumped on the bandwagon just yet. Many kids just don’t get really serious about ‘seeing’ themselves on a college campus, and what they really want, until the Sr’s graduate (ding! I’m a Sr now!) and friends start talking about school and filling out applications. The fact that he has a direction of what he wants to study is excellent!! That’s more then a lot of kids know and gives you some direction to work with. Visiting some schools as you have been can still be really useful even if your son hasn’t been showing a ton of interest. It gives him an idea to draw on when he thinks of what a large/small/public/private/urban/rural/research/LAC looks and feels like. I would encourage you, as he’s willing to look at the types of schools you’ve visited and try to very it somewhat in an effort to let him get an idea of what he does and doesn’t want in a school. Then when he starts getting serious about looking on his own and he reads stats on a specific school he can visualize size, urban/rural, university/LAC, and know which he felt more comfortable with and if it’s a school he wants to investigate further. Even when they’re not looking and appear to be protesting, they are absorbing, lol. I’m not saying take them on visits when they protest, but a lukewarm participate isn’t the end of the world in the beginning stages to determine fit as opposed to THE ONE.</p>
<p>Hi labbydog. Yes, we are parents of HS juniors. My son is not as into the college search as my daughter was. I think it is because he really has no idea what he wants. This spring, I’m planning on taking him to a variety of types of campuses around here so he can get a feel for big/medium/small, rural/urban, etc. as a starting point.</p>
<p>Welcome Labby! My son was pretty much walked through the entire process by me. He always knew he was going to college, he just was never going to put the thought or effort into the process that I did.</p>
<p>I narrowed down the choices and took him on the tours. Once he started seeing things he could related to on college campuses, then he started taking it more seriously. He still never came on websites and investigated at all, but he kept up with the school work, did well on the tests, then had opinions on what he did and didn’t like. But I did all the legwork. Some will be horrified by that, but he wouldn’t be in the school he is today if not for me, and he does tell me he’s so happy he is where he is and thankful I pushed the process. I made him do the apps himself, but we had deadlines of an app a week and done by November. I will say we’re all glad we did that long spring break college road trip because the schools I thought he’d love he didn’t, and the school we ended up finding and loving, was one thrown in because we were in the area.</p>
<p>Since this is my second I’m not as obsessive, she’s not the same kind of kid and she’s the type who would land anywhere and do well.</p>
<p>Welcome @labbyd! You have stumbled upon a very knowledgeable/informed group! I have learned alot here… :)</p>
<p>@eyema I am not horrified at all. Making the decision of where one will spend 4 years of their lives is HUGE undertaking and I think that many 17/18 year olds are not equipped to make that decision…seems so unfair to put such an adult task on such young minds. What would he be doing right now had it not been for your leg work? </p>
<p>How did everyone make out with the snow? We are knee deep… no, waist deep(I am 5’8 so that’s ALOT of snow) in snow…The street is inaccessible as are most of the streets in the area. I am so glad that I parked my car in a covered parking garage 3 blocks over. I had planned on parking it in the neighborhood schools parking lot but thought better of it. So glad that I did! How would I get it out of the parking lot once it was cleaned off? We haven’t seen this much snow at one time in a long time… I was a naysayer and didn’t think we were going to get this much. They were right for once. :(</p>
<p>labbydog: Best school I know of for gaming is Digipen in Redmond, WA. Very, very rigorous and difficult to get in to. That said, those who can last through the 4-year program will be highly sought after in the gaming world. I know two kids in it right now and they live, eat, sleep and breathe school/homework, etc., but they wouldn’t trade it for the world. If you have a kid that would thrive in that environment, consider it. Not a typical college. No dorms, no fancy campus. It’s in the middle of an industrial park, but minutes to Microsoft, Nintendo, Google, etc.</p>
<p>Just dropped D14 off to take the ACT. Whew, a little testy this morning…</p>