<p>Hi!
Just joined, so I’ve missed the 4000+ previous posts and doubt I’ll have time to go through them all. My DS is a decent student - 3.8 UW (his school doesn’t weight), 31 ACT, accelerated math, a couple AP courses, top-notch competitive entry high school, varsity athlete, other EC but nothing off-the-charts.
He was born in the wrong era - is one of 3 (out of 1000 students) who wears a letter jacket, newsies cap or fedora, listens to Sinatra, and signed his girlfriend and himself up for ballroom dance lessons. If he had his way he would be wearing a raccoon coat, carrying a megaphone and driving an old woody wagon. His college priorities: 1)big school 2)big sports scene so he can root for “his” team the rest of his life 3)engineering program 4)merit money 5)snow - although this is negotiable.
His top choices 1) The University of Alabama 2) Purdue 3) U of Minnesota 4) Mizzou.
He has stopped considering anywhere else, really, unless someone comes up with something amazing.
Anybody have any other suggestions for this modern-day Jimmy Stewart?</p>
<p>So that’s how you spell tukkis! I suppose DS is working hard, but it’s hard to tell with some of his classes, which seem to me to be more “play” than anything. But maybe it just seems that way since those are the classes DS truly enjoys and thus does well in. Having never taken robotics, prototyping, energy systems, and some others on his schedule, I have no idea if those classes are hard or not! </p>
<p>But it’s hard not to think of him as a slacker since I just saw an announcement regarding AP physics for next year, which referenced sophomores taking the class. AP Physics C, not B! </p>
<p>His GC won’t be able to check the “most rigorous” box on his apps, but hopefully the school profile will give enough context.</p>
<p>Welcome maryjay! Too bad your child doesn’t go to school with mine. They have a swing dance club and the orchestra puts on a Viennesse ball every year as a fundraiser, complete with waltz lessons beforehand.</p>
<p>Maryjay60, I have a freshman son at UA and a junior son at Minnesota if you have any quesitons about these schools (although I definitely am not an expert.) Alabama is a big school, has the big football sport scene, will give him full tuition IF he gets his ACT up to 32, will give him an extra $2500 p/year for engineering, but has no snow. Minnesota has plenty of it though. Minnesota is a big school, has alot of school spirit although their football team isn’t very competitive right now (but they have a good hockey and basketball team), has a great engineering department, and MIGHT give merit but not guaranteed. With a 31 ACT he PROBABLY will get into the College of Science and Engineering as I believe that is the average for their students there.</p>
<p>Not sure if Alabama has this, but Minnesota son’s freshman roommate was on a ballroom dancing team and traveled during weekends competing. Minnesota son was also a “gopher greeter” so he went to games 2-3 hours before and handed out buttons, gave directions etc. and had a good time doing this. (Greeters sit behind the band for football and stay for the games free.) Alabama football tickets are cheap - $10 per game this year, which encourages the kids to go.</p>
<p>Can’t tell you anything about Purdue except it is an excellent engineering school, and if you are OOS they don’t give much merit. I know nothing about Mizzou, but probably any of the 4 schools would be great for him.</p>
<p>I thought it was tuchus… and they are working them off, aren’t they!?</p>
<p>Welcome MaryJay 
Your son sounds like so much fun. When you describe him I think Mizzou for some reason. I know a gal whose son is there and LOVES it. He’s had so many excellent opportunities, loves all of the big time sports, etc.</p>
<p>Novamom - not sure if that’s the proper spelling of tukkis but it’s what I go with. ;)</p>
<p>Note: I crossed posts with Seattle mom. I’m a terrible speller so I’d go with her version.</p>
<p>kjcphmom - yeah, he thought he did better on the latest ACT, but his high school thought it was a wise idea to send the varsity team (with many juniors) to the other side of the state the day before and didn’t get the kids back to school until 3:00 AM. Yes, you read that right. I have hope he might improve that score on the June test when I wrangle him to bed early on a summer Friday night. Wish me luck on that. His HS has good rep and rapport with Minnesota, so he is a probable admit to their engineering program, though, of course, nothing is a sure bet! Also, he does have the full tuition, even with a 31, at Alabama, because the School of Engineering gives full tuition at 30, along with the $2500.<br>
He grew up thinking he was going to Purdue - have pictures with him with Purdue Pete and in the Boilermaker Special from little on - since his dad and I are alumni. I can’t tell you why he honed in on Minnesota or Alabama originally.</p>
<p>blueiguana - thanks for the welcome and yes, he is fun - sometimes too much fun! Mizzou would be great for him, but alas, it is OUR state school and he isn’t thrilled about going “where everyone goes”</p>
<p>kjcphmom - we visited Minnesota and enjoyed it. Haven’t visited Alabama yet. How has your son enjoyed his first year there? Is he in Honors College? My son probably does best in challenging, but not SUPER challenging courses. He is thrilled being in a high school where everyone is smart - likes the discussions and such in classes. He ISN’T thrilled with 5+ hours of homework a night when he has practice until 6:00 pm and a 45 minute drive home from school. He will work hard on academics, but I think he is already burning out on schoolwork and has all of college ahead of him.</p>
<p>S is taking zero APs, but his schedule is tight enough. Came home at 7:30 after winning a baseball game, then had 30 minutes to shower and eat dinner before tutor at 8. Me and H were like the pit crew – pulling tires off wheels, furiously refueling then suiting him up/strapping him in and GO GO GO!</p>
<p>Maryjay60: My oldest son graduates this Saturday from Alabama (ROLL TIDE!!!). He has loved his four years there and already has plans to return sometime this fall to see at least one football game. My younger son, the '14, lists Alabama as his No. 1 choice. It is a beautiful campus with lots to do (yes, there is ballroom dancing). Big football. Solid academics. Lots of pretty girls. My younger son has no interest in engineering, though. Wants to go the math/stat/econ/finance route. If you have questions about the school, send me a PM.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the good wishes regarding my son setting a new record in the 800. He’s trying to decide what to run at our district meet. A time trial is coming up, and that should nail down his decision.</p>
<p>Maryjay, I just learned something from you. S3 got a 30 on his ACT; I didn’t know that Alabama gave full tuition for a 30 engineering student. S3 is taking the test again in June and we were hoping to bring it up, but this is a nice fact to know. My Alabama freshman really liked his first year. He is a CS major in honors. He is taking 300 level courses and hasn’t found them too tough yet. Next year he has 21 credit hours so we will see. Good experience at Alabama and a Good experience at Minnesota so far for them. It will be interesting to see where S3 ends up.</p>
<p>@go2mom @worrytoomuch
Yup, her schedule is brutal, but she doesn’t have a choice but to take a lot of APs to stay competitive. Her schedule is really tight these past few days. She had finals on most of her AP classes last week. Good thing that her Academic League/Decathlon season is over before the AP tests. Last semester when she was playing Field Hockey, it was tough for her since game/practice is almost everyday including most Saturdays. I keep on reminding her to hang tight and that Junior year is almost over. 6 more weeks.</p>
<p>@blueiguana
My D also will probably get her first B+ this year as well (on AP Chem). The good news is that if she scores a 5 on the AP test, her semester grade will be raised one letter. That class is the least popular AP classes in her school. 20 kids started and 9 kids dropped out after the 1st sem. They all hate the teacher. I can empathize since I have a hard time in Chemistry (specially Organic Chem) too during my Eng’g undergrad.</p>
<p>Good morning all! Congrats on the perfect ACT score! Wowza! I wonder how many in the country do that. I believe only 1 in last years class did it.</p>
<p>As for my d - we were happy with her 4 point increase. She did a lot of tutoring and it really helped. Now she’s in the range for a lot of her schools. We’re going to have her take it again in June to maybe squeeze out another point or two. I think she’ll go back to her tutor and just do test review a few weeks before. </p>
<p>Prom is this weekend then I suppose the AP’s begin.</p>
<p>2018dad – I heard an admissions counselor say the best essay he ever read was called “D is for Chemistry”.</p>
<p>AP Chem has not been offered the last two years at our school due to low enrollment. S3 was one of only a dozen that requested it last year. When S2 took it three years earlier there were two classes of 27-30 students. What’s wrong with this picture??? Could it be the insanely difficult teacher that came in S2s year? He took that AP credit and never looked back! For mech’e that was fine, he’d never be building on it further. He was so glad when he saw his friends drudging through it again in college after they failed the AP exam. It was one of the most clear cut examples of seeing that even if you don’t get caught cheating it’s going to bite you in the rear at some point. </p>
<p>As for APs, I don’t think there’s any magic number, just one that’s right for your kid. Some schools don’t offer many APs but offer several honors. This can be good for a lot of kids. Our school offers a lot of APs but no honors past 9/10. This is a huge drawback IMHO. S3 would be much better off in honors Lit next year but will take AP (his insistence). He’d be much better off in honors Physics but he’s taking regular (our insistence). With this his schedule would still be strong, he’d be happier (not bored in physics or swamped in Lit) and overall his grades would be higher. This is the biggest mismatch for him but you get the idea. It’s all or nothing for them and I think that pressures too many kids to overreach.</p>
<p>When my son took AP BC there were only 3 of them in the class. Is it any wonder he was so happy to go to college where there were actually kids taking calc and he wasn’t some weirdo.</p>
<p>No APs at our school. There are some DE classes, but they are considerably easier.</p>
<p>Both of my older two were happy when they went to college and found academic peers. Youngest should be too. Being a (local) “genius” is nice, but only to a point.</p>
<p>Morning All
Just into my first cup of coffee…</p>
<p>K2 has a schedule for next yr–GC emailed it yesterday. IF K2 does better than expected in math–the math will change. Other than that–the schedule is reflecting more of K2s likes, personality etc.
Chinese is gone. Next year would have been yr 6 and Chinese AP. 
Still if K2 is hating it…better to be done.
The schedule is a variety of Math classes (semester long), Physics, and multiple history courses (one AP) and English and photography. </p>
<p>K2 wants to pursue marketing/business. At least that’s the thought right now.</p>
<p>No SAT etc this weekend --although the date was open–K2 just finished a 6 day a week/year long EC- banquet is Thursday night. And we knew there was no time for prep. So the June date it is…
Fingers crossed.
Also the ACT is on the calendar in June.</p>
<p>Best of luck for all taking the tests this weekend. K1 did the subject tests in May and June of Jr yr…along with APs… Its a lot -however worth it.
Only IF the sub tests will affect placement, along with APs will K2 take them. Otherwise the ACT w W and the SAT should suffice.</p>
<p>WIsh there were parents with snacks etc at the testing. Here they dont allow it. So K1 takes snacks etc – with accomodations it is a looooong day.</p>
<p>Hi all … Busy busy busy!! I wish this year would slow down already.</p>
<p>We have state choir finals this weekend. National Mock Trial competition next week.</p>
<p>I’m exhausted and I’m not even doing the work! Lol!</p>
<p>Happy May! Hope everyone is doing great!</p>
<p>By this time next year we should know where our offspring have chosen (except for any waitlist opportunities). The time will fly by - except for that part where they write essays and complete apps…</p>
<p>^I am really looking forward to this time next year.</p>
<p>I have never been convinced that any AP was a true college equivalent. I have no idea what to tell d to do with a passing score on AP Chem, should she recieve one. I’d say skip the test, but the district requires all students in AP classes to take the exam (and the district pays). </p>
<p>We have just 8 APs at our school, Creekland. The district prefers DE. The state dept. of ed does not allow both AP and DE to be offered. Most students go to state colleges, which will accept the DE credits, so DE is the most benefitial to the most students. Couldn’t say if they were easier or harder since we can’t have both. </p>
<p>And yes, I, too, am looking forward to the end of the search, until such time I realize that it’s over. The nest is empty. Just me and the h rolling around the house.</p>