<p>@blueiguana, I am jealous of your iphone typing skills. I can’t believe you typed that whole post!</p>
<p>@eyemamom, my DS has taken the SATs twice and also is not a good tester. Anxiety plays a big issue for him so we’ll try again in June or in the Fall. The second time he was less anxious and getting used to the testing environment. As results scores went up too. So hoping that will happen again his last time around. Good news about the ACT practice for your D. I had the same talk with my S about the IQ. It’s all a matter of your confidence level and how it greatly impacts the way you test that day. I also believe in visualization/meditation before a big event, though my S will have none of this, lol. Though we use this on my D all the time before a gymnastics meet and it helps her to get rid of the fear and anxiety.</p>
<p>@29happymom, congrats on your S making NHS president! He sounds ambitious! My S would be happy to team up with him. He’s happy taking the vice position any time though he does try hard to get good grades.</p>
<p>@lulu, seems like the tables are turned around for your S13! He should be proud of himself that all his hard work has paid off. My DS14 is a quiet boy with average grades and scores. But he is ambitious and goes to a private boarding school and is surrounded by extremely bright, smart kids. It is tough for him and he works extremely hard so sometimes he gets disappointed when some of his friends don’t have to and get better grades. So his ambition doesn’t match his capability. So my challenge is finding a match school for him that he could handle academic wise but yet feel he is at a “good” school. He is a black+white type of guy and needs to be in a pre-professional career. He chose finance so pretty much the schools you were looking at for your S13 probably but one notch lower and that have a finance track. As a relaxed tigermom (is there such a thing!) I stay on top of him for the things he wants but he is very opinionated so I let him take the lead.</p>
<p>@cheermom, welcome! DS is also looking at UMD/College Park as well as his cousin! Your D sounds like a great candidate! Love the cherry blossoms in the DC area this time of year!</p>
<p>eyemamom – my S is in the same boat as your D. Took SAT twice; didn’t do well (after all that tutoring – it’s just not his test), now getting 2 sessions in before ACT this Saturday. Then I’ll let him chill until scores come out and we see where he needs to focus before June test. Trying to keep him motivated.</p>
<p>Welcome to the new posters!! The more the merrier!! :)</p>
<p>Re: decisions - I heard something the other day and it stuck with me. Flip a coin. It’s not the outcome of the coin toss that matters, but the choice you want when the coin is in the air. “Oh, I hope heads win because I want XX more!”</p>
<p>Good Morning, I haven’t posted lately but have been reading everyone’s wonderful college visit postings. We didn’t visit any college this Spring Break due to DS orchestra trip. He is taking the ACT on Saturday and took a few practice tests. He did well practicing at home (34-36) except for the essay. I asked him to practice more essays but he refused and said that colleges don’t care about the essays. He got a 8/12 for SAT essay so I am concerned that such score will hurt his chances.</p>
<p>I’ve heard something similar about the coin flip. How do you feel when it lands…relieved/excited or anxious/sad/can we go 2 out of 3? It’s the same general premise. When left up to chance do you have a gut reaction/response to the result. Lots of times we do. It takes logic, list making, pro/con weighing, out of it, and sees where your gut instinct is.</p>
<p>Stopping by to welcome the new posters (newer than I, at any rate :). DS has made a solid start to the 4th quarter, having newfound motivation from our Spring Break college tour. His GPA has ticked up every so slightly this year, and he can still give it a further boost (to ~3.5 UW)…let’s hope he keeps the momentum going. He took his first run at practice tests in Math2 and Chem SAT IIs, which he will take in June. The math will be fine; he knows the material well and just needs to do some more practice tests since he ran out of time and skipped 5-6 questions. (I used the analogy of conditioning for a runner.) Still scored in the mid 700s. Chem – ouch. On the one hand, he’s in the middle of a two-year IB Chem HL course and doing decently (high B/low A overall), so he’s at the level. On the other, there are some topics that he really hasn’t learned yet, or at least not in enough depth. So he’ll need to do some self-studying…</p>
<p>Speaking of 2013 kids and decisions: I have several friends going through that now…One is deciding between Notre Dame/UVA/W&M/Wellesley; another Williams/Tufts/Hopkins/W&M; still another Tufts/GWU. In two of the cases, money is not a factor; in the third, there are some good FA offers on the table. Here’s hoping that we all have such high-quality dilemmas come next April!:)</p>
<p>Beadymom - that is a really interesting thought. May have to remember that come springtime.</p>
<p>Been sorting paper and emails etc. Done some house cleaning .</p>
<p>One of the family pets died today. K2s bird. I have wrapped it in white gift wrapping tissue so K2 can buried it this evening. I have dismantled and cleaned the cage. Not the way we wanted to start the week. That corner of the room looks so empty.</p>
<p>I think the kids start planning schedules soon. At some point K2 will bring home the list from the GC re rec’s from teachers for next years courses. We promised K2 that this can be the last yr of chinese. Sad because it had been a fav course and now its “hated”.</p>
<p>Have any of you stayed at a hotel near Dickinson or Lehigh that you would recommend? I am looking at Residence Inn Harrisburg for Dickinson and Hyatt Place Bethlehem for Lehigh, but haven’t booked either yet. Welcome other suggestions.</p>
<p>CT1417, we had a lovely, shockingly reasonable stay at Hotel Bethlehem, right across from the Moravian Bookstore. We’re also looking for some Dickinson suggestions as we’ll be out there in late June. Only had 48 hours on last PA swing, so only as far west as F&M before we had to head back. So, yes, any Dickinson suggestions would be very welcome as well!</p>
<p>When we visited Lehigh we stayed in a Hilton in downtown Bethlehem. Very nice rooms, and walking distance to the restaurants and shops and breakfast in the lobby. I was really impressed with how nice it was in Bethlehem. It was pretty funny, usually people who see Lehigh also see Lafayette so you’ll see the same people. In fact the entire visit around NY/PA we continually ran into the same people.</p>
<p>For Lehigh, we stayed at the Comfort Suites University, which was right around the corner (walking distance) to Lehigh. Nothing fancy, but a clean room at a good price (and breakfast included). We ordered delivery to the hotel from Campus Pizza and it was pretty mediocre and very slow, so I don’t recommend that, but I do recommend the hotel if you want something simple and inexpensive.</p>
<p>fogfog, last year of Japanese for S. Sadly he has not loved it for many years now. He could have quit last year but would have had to take 2 years of Spanish to replace it; instead, he opted to continue with Japanese so he could take next year “off.”</p>
<p>Then when class registration time came a few weeks ago, the science courses he had hoped to take year were not offered. He could have switched to Spanish and avoided some pain. Regrets…</p>
<p>I am also sad because D11 absolutely loved Japanese, isn’t continuing with it, and now the HS is dropping the program and letting the teacher go. Really the end of a special program for many kids, and a tough blow to a good teacher.</p>
<p>4beardolls, for anecdotal reassurance, my DS11 got 8 on both the SAT and ACT essays and got in almost everywhere he applied (including Cornell where he now attends). He’s an engineering student, and they may care more if you are applying for a writing-intensive program, but I doubt his standardized test essay scores even came into play in any of his decisions. I think your son is right and most schools don’t really see that on-the-spot fast essay skill as one they particularly value.</p>
<p>Just realized one more thing to factor into COA – the cost of shipping care packages! Yesterday I sent off some baked goods to a friend of DS’s who is at Wash U and it cost nearly twice as much to ship via regular mail than the box I shipped via priority mail to another friend who is in school in Pennsylvania (priority and regular were the same to PA).</p>
<p>Languages - DS stopped taking Spanish after his third year. At first I tried to talk him out of it, but he persuaded me otherwise. The curriculum at his school is quite focused so the lack of a fourth year doesn’t really hurt him in the admissions race, and he filled up that period with classes that he truly loved and in which he excelled. But certainly there are plenty of kids he goes to school with who have continued to take languages up to the AP level because they love it. DS did not unfortunately.</p>
<p>Senior classes - DS chose his back in February. Rising seniors do it quite early because they have to apply for a senior research lab at that time and have to make sure they sign up for any co-requisites. They find out which senior research lab they got into in early March and then adjust schedules if necessary. DS had planned carefully and had prerequisites for five research labs so had quite a bit of flexibility. But luckily he got his first choice!</p>
<p>novamom – I feel your pain – D wanted 40 bagels fedexed for her birthday. Ka-ching! :)</p>
<p>S picked out his classes back in Jan or Feb. No more Spanish for him. He’s been taking it since 7th grade but somehow did not meet the 3 year requirement until this year. They do have some interesting “coop” type electives which include working for a local business.</p>
<p>My d is also dropping foreign language for next year. She’s taken Latin since 6th grade and took latin 1 in 8th, so this year she was in honors Latin 4. She doesn’t want to do AP. So many colleges require foreign language that I think taking a year off could hurt when it comes time to do the placement tests.</p>
<p>Anecdote about care packages - my son can barely muster the energy to even go pick them up - lol! So some kids care more about them than others. He also says there just isn’t room for stuff that he doesn’t really want in a dorm room. Of course food is always okay, but he really wishes I could fedex a home cooked dinner.</p>
<p>Mine is also done with Spanish. I suggested taking the CLEP test this year while the information was still fresh. What does she have to loose, right? </p>
<p>GC is out until the 15th. Or the 17th. I don’t really know because his email says “out until Wednesday, April 15th.” Anyway, no way to find out anything about d’s cancelled class or schedule. Oh, I did learn that the district was dropping all DE classes offered through the local LACs in favor of those offered at the cc. Cost was the reason. But at those courses offered through the LACs, the students had to pass the LAC’s course final to get credit. At the cc you just get the credit.</p>
<p>The sad part about dropping a language is that having 4+ years Should have meant some proficiency.</p>
<p>K2 started Chinese in 7th grade and so for the first fews years liked it…although we have had a few issues with this teacher. She says the politically correct thing that K2 has great speaking ability and composes sophisticated thoughts/sentences orally…
AND
we know k2 has not spent the time necessary to write characters nightly since 7th grade.</p>
<p>K2 now HATES the class. In part because of the visual/motor integration deficiencies battles for k2 daily. As a twice exceptional kid–some things just take a lot longer.
Also there are kids in the class who are chinese by birth and have native speaking grandparents–so these kids study ALOT. Far different from a kid who has none of that in their background and none of that access.</p>
<p>Also K2 has not traveled to China over the summer as some kids have–we just couldn’t afford the $$$$ for the trip…Yes it was a “good deal” compared to being a tourist, and it did help all of the kids - because they came back leaps ana bounds ahead of the rest…</p>
<p>So I am sad…for k2. otoh perhaps k2 will “start” over later in college. Right now the language choice for college is more “main stream” … IMHO I think k2 should start with Chinese 1 and perhaps travel during college to China. </p>
<p>sigh</p>
<p>In other news, the bird is buried.</p>
<p>and</p>
<p>some issues with an EC that were causing some personal frustration for k2 seem to be working out…as faculty leaders seem to be making some changes. So both K2 and we are hopeful.</p>
– it’s just not his test), now getting 2 sessions in before ACT this Saturday. Then I’ll let him chill until scores come out and we see where he needs to focus before June test. Trying to keep him motivated.</p>