Parents of the HS Class of 2014

Parents of Class of 20xx
5261

<p>I believe the area reps know their high schools pretty well. Some schools weight honors classes (in fact, my daughter took fine arts classes, received an A+, and it brought her GPA down, since the rest of her courses were honors level!). My son’s school doesn’t weight anything. Both are selective private schools, but the GPAs are vastly different. The reps are well aware of this.
I think you only might run into trouble if you/your child are/is hoping to attend a small regional college that is out of your region.
A rep told me that if they get an applicant from a school with which they are not familiar, they will research the high school and even take a trip to get a feel for the school in person. </p>

<p>@CT1417 I sent you a list of songs you might want to consider for your slide show via PM. </p>

<p>@novamom How maddening to lose in PK! Almost worse than a blowout! Hope they do well in the rest of the regional tourney!</p>

5262

<p>MaryJay—thanks for the weighting info and the list of songs. I am relying on our Naviance for the GPA info but realize that the data points that are five years old are really not all that accurate as the schools have become increasingly selective.</p>

5263

<p>Co2015 and BI. Can we add either Rum shooters or frozen mojitos in that new vending machine? :D</p>

5264

<p>Absolutely, Captain! :)</p>

5265

<p>Clarifying in our new hospitality suite the goodies are complimentary and laid out nicely on a buffet appropriate for the time of day, unless of course there is extreme crisis or celebration…then we just call the concierge (plus the emergency bottles of Jack and Grey Goose under the bar). Special orders are always accommodated, but agree that rum shooters and frozen mojitos should be staples. :cool:</p>

<p>I’m enjoying the fresh fruit and coffee this morning!! The scones are tempting…</p>

5266

<p>Thank you for stating that…get the school and life that you want. I’m gonna have to borrow that one as i guide D through this whole crazy time period. Hi all! First time posting!</p>

5267

<p>Welcome msquaredsmomma! We’re glad you’re here. Just in time for our new diggs! :)</p>

5268

<p>Ooops! I was responding to a post from a couple of weeks ago. Carry on, folks!</p>

5269

<p>Ah, found the group. It’s been a busy week, so I’m not responsible if I missed the detour signs. I’ve never had a mojito… they sound good, but if I had one right now at school I probably wouldn’t have to worry about our last 15 days - or future years.</p>

<p>Our school has done away with AP, but not for the reasons others might. We seldom had any kids do well on the test (GPA > 4.0 and SAT < 2000 is incredibly common here). Now we have DE classes instead so students can get college credit without having to take the AP tests. It’s not surprising to me that many colleges don’t accept the DE credit… the actual knowledge of the students hasn’t changed.</p>

5270

<p>I finally found the thread. </p>

<p>I just read this interesting article about enrollment shortfalls this year. Is this the pre-cursor of bursting the high tuition bubble? Granted these are not the tippy top schools, but sooner or later, it will trickle up (or down). Probably not soon enough for the HS class 2014 though.</p>

<p>[US</a> Colleges Face Enrollment Shortfalls, Offer Discounts, says Report](<a href=“http://www.voanews.com/content/us-colleges-enrollment-drop-discounts/1662626.html]US”>US Colleges Face Enrollment Shortfalls, Offer Discounts, says Report)</p>

<p>What say you?</p>

5271

<p>Over the past four years, our public schools have been cutting back on AP and upper-level electives. Not because of testing or teaching to the test, but because of budget cuts. Year after year our schools have found it necessary to bolster the support classes and cut the more rigorous. I fought this change because I think all students, regardless of rate, level, ability, etc., deserve a full and rich educational experience: support the strugglers, give head-room for those ready to soar, and please see those in the middle. Whereas I don’t think our public schools have made the choices they have for the right reasons, I am now seeing the AP, SAT, ACT, IB, SATII craziness for what it is. </p>

<p>Three years ago our family made the difficult decision to move to private. Such a hard decision given the many public school teachers in our families. D14 was able to take five AP this year! However, now my D14 feels that she is a cog in some monolithic money-making machine. She calls the machine “College Board.” </p>

<p>Her teachers are amazing. They prepared her well for the AP tests while keeping the curriculum engaging and provocative. But these past couple of weeks have been beyond stressful for her … and to what end? Are we indeed racing to nowhere? </p>

<p>Now that she’s in a school that offers AP, she feels somewhat obliged to take the most rigorous classes. After all, that is what she’s hearing from the adcons at college sessions. To the question, is it better to get an A in a regular class or a B in an AP? “Make an A in the AP.” To the question, how does your school define “rigor?” Answer: “If your school offers 10 AP, we want to see as close to that many on your transcript.”</p>

<p>There are two very rigorous (and spendy) private schools in town that do not offer AP or IB. And their graduates regularly get into top tier schools. Thank goodness the adcons know their territory high schools. But knowing what I now know about all this testing and the scrambling to sculpt the perfect transcript, would we choose our heavy AP high school again? I don’t know.</p>

<p>She wants the rigor of AP, but to her the tests feel redundant … a hoop to jump through. I told her that if she wants to take any AP next year, she can skip the testing. It’ll be senior year and the decisions will be made. I hope that’s not a mistake.</p>

<p>S17 starts high school next year. He’s a different critter altogether, but still, I hope we’ve figured out and can apply some of the lessons D14 has lived through!</p>

<p>Sorry for the rambling rant. As you can see, I’m conflicted.</p>

5272

<p>2018Dad - Interesting…This is my thought process…</p>

<p>Common App is made available, more students apply to more schools, schools have record number of applications, still only select X number of students for their classes, miscalculate the yield (because the students have been accepted at more colleges and have more to choose from), and are left with empty seats.</p>

<p>So, if ABC College has room for 1000 freshmen. In the past they received 4000 apps and they admitted 2000 (50% admit rate) students in order to expect 1000 to enroll (50% yield). So now, they receive 6000 apps, but they still admit 2000 (33% admit rate). BUT only 800 enroll (40% yield). Their admit rate looks more selective, but their yield rate has dropped - and they have empty seats! </p>

<p>It’s a vicious cycle!! How can you guess what the yield is going to be? I guess they have statisticians to do that for them! :slight_smile: And maybe they should put more on their waitlist? But who wants to be on a waitlist! Is the article saying that they have gone through their waitlist and still have openings? </p>

<p>My head hurts! I need a drink - where’s that mojito??? ;)</p>

5273

<p>Portlandia—I think your ‘rant’ was great and sums up how I feel about APs as a race to nowhere and another hurdle to jump.</p>

5274

<p>Portlandiaparent…we are in very similar situations and mindsets and agree wholeheartedly with your post…i too came from a family steeped in public teachers (including both of my parents). I second the notion that this is a monopoly game for The College Board…and they all own the properties.
I do think you might consider sitting for the AP test next spring if it works for your intended college. At DS school, srs are exempted from all finals, bit must sit for the APs.</p>

5275

<p>Students at D14’s school aren’t required to take the AP test but are advised to since colleges “wonder” why a student would take the AP class and not the AP test … and thankfully seniors are exempted from finals if they meet a certain grade for that class. Maybe next year will be different without all the other tests piled on top of the APs (SATIIs in June, finals-because-juniors-aren’t-exempted-from-anything, ACT, SAT). </p>

<p>I just got off the phone with her and feel some better. She took her last AP exam on Wednesday and flew out to the National Science Olympiad bright (actually, still very dark) and early Thursday morning. She’s in Ohio where it’s warm and humid, feeling a bit more rested and ready for the day. Sometimes it really is all about putting your head down and plowing through.</p>

<p>Thanks for the commiseration here … I guess it’s like everyone everywhere always say, Junior Year is one tough %$#@*& year! (pardon my language!)</p>

5276

<p>Welcome msquaredsmomma! Pull up a chair and join us! :)</p>

5277

<p>Portlandiaparent, I appreciate your thoughtful ‘rant’. I too have a DS14 and DD17 and feel that I learn so many valuable lessons at the expense of first child. The only comment I would add is that if your D14 take AP exam for her senior AP classes and get 3, 4, or 5. They could potentially be replace her college credit (depending on the college.) At least that is what has been explained to us as the benefit of taking AP exams.</p>

5278

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<p>Every single year in the past quite a few there have been oodles of colleges on that list - still accepting apps after May 1st. That doesn’t even count many rolling admissions schools that still take apps. So far, none I know of have failed. Many have repeatedly been on the list. I don’t think it’s much of an indicator of bubbles bursting. I think it’s either schools wanting to see if they can attract a few good students who didn’t have (or aren’t happy with) safeties or schools who can operate just fine not filled to the brim.</p>

<p>We actually have seniors at our high school who start thinking about college in March or April. It’s not uncommon - and it’s not due to not getting info. It’s just that the info never penetrated to the thinking part of the brain…</p>

5279

<p>Oh, and for my homeschooled senior who did some AP level classes, we only had him take tests senior year for those classes where he expected to use the credit. We had one “misfire.” I had him skip Bio since he’s going pre-med and would retake Bio 110 anyway - then, when signing up for classes, we found out a more in-depth theory “Bio 110” course was offered (both counted for basic Bio - different numbers), but the pre-req was a 5 on the AP test and they wouldn’t budge on that. He was ok with it. I felt badly that I limited his options. He had 5s on his other tests so I’m pretty confident he’d have done it on that one too.</p>

5280

<p>D’11 graduated without taking a single AP course. You can step off the College Board treadmill and end up just fine.</p>