<p>Happymom~ D is also stressing about the APUSH exam. It will be the first AP test for her, so she is nervous both about the “test” and knowing all that information!</p>
<p>My dd is taking AP Euro tomorrow and she’s a nervous wreck! She’s done well in the class and has been reviewing pretty intensely for the last 10 days or so, but when she takes the practice tests from the review book, she doesn’t do as well as she’d like and gets really frustrated. She finally talked to her teacher today and he said that the practice tests for Euro are generally harder than the real test, so that calmed her down a bit. I think she’s putting extra pressure on herself because her older brother has always done very well on AP exams. I’m glad her teacher brought her “back from the ledge” because everything I said seemed to make her more upset. Ah, the joys of parenting teenagers!</p>
<p>Update about my stressed tennis player that had to miss school today. He won his late morning game and played a second match. Not only did he not make it to school for the last APUSH class, he didn’t get home until 6:30. Showered and drove off to study with two guys.</p>
<p>The great part was that there were lots of kids in the other team’s tents, studying and talking about AP tests and we saw lots of review books and notes laying around. He team mates were calling him a nerd for studying.</p>
<p>How did your kids’ APs go this week? The only one my son had scheduled this week was AP Spanish but it’s a redo because the proctor didn’t know how to operate the language lab. S was aggravated. I hope the May 24 session goes well! He has some other ones scheduled next week. He seems to be studying. Crossing my fingers… I hope everyone else is feeling good about their exams and that they have been free of mishaps.</p>
<p>No AP’s for D to stress about this year but this morning she is taking a full ACT practice test that is administered by the local county educational service. This will expose her to the ACT without having scores reported and is a step above the PLAN test as this test is the full 3 hour real deal. She gets results immediately following the testing session and will know which areas she will need additional study and/or practice.</p>
<p>It looks like we will begin the first wave of campus visits this summer as we will make some stops on our way to and from a week at the beach. How quickly the time will go. Our Class of 2014 kids begin their applications in just 15 - 16 months! :eek:</p>
<p>Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there! :)</p>
<p>Sounds like a great idea, Avonhsdad! There was a free SAT practice test with report here last weekend. i would have loved to have had my son take it but he was cramming for APs so he just didn’t have time. </p>
<p>Just left my son’s school’s awful awards program. He was annoyed that they were holding it in the middle of the AP weeks. I was annoyed that it was not well planned and seemed to weigh athletics and military activities over most other things. I am happy for the students who have gotten into service academies or taken ROTC and Reserves scholarships but his school doesn’t send kids to competitive colleges because the kids just aren’t prepared. Fortunately, this is his last year there. Next year he will be in China and then he will go to a boarding school for his last two years. I’m just trying to decide whether to stick it out with this school for my younger kids just so they can continue Spanish immersion. I may be making a run for the nearest charter high school.</p>
<p>@avonhsdad–actually it’s 141/2 months… lol but who’s counting? LOL DD14 took her first AP exam last Monday. She studied very hard ALL year/did well and studied like a mad women for the exam… so no matter how she does, I am very proud of her. It will be interesting to see how she scores. </p>
<p>This year is the first year that the school is offering World History and she wants to take it next year. But the teacher has only taught it one year. Should that be a concern of mine? </p>
<p>She is taking </p>
<p>AP LANG
H Chemistry
Anatomy & Physiology(they will go to Yale anatomy lab 2x/week & work on the cadavers w/med students + professors)
AP Stats
Pre Calc
AP US History
H Spanish 4
She will take a dual enrollment class @ one of the local colleges which the school district will pay for. Either Yale, SCSU, UNH or Gateway Community College.</p>
<p>She may drop one of the AP classes in lieu of the dual enrollment class.</p>
<p>She will spend July @ a college in New Hampshire in a Nanotechnology/biotechnology program and earn 4 college credits for it.</p>
<p>And she applied to a journalism program @ Yale Daily News. Its only a week in August… she will hear word next week. Wish her luck!</p>
<p>She will also give some time to Habitat for Humanity building houses.</p>
<p>Busy, busy summer… I can’t believe that this school year is almost over… they are almost juniors. It’s a little sad…</p>
<p>S has finished his two AP’s for this year. Big sigh of relief! The BC Calculus was fine, but the Physics B was a bear. His complaint: it was all conceptual, there wasn’t enough math. Oh, well, different strokes. Now only two weeks of classes, a week of finals, and then SUMMER!</p>
<p>He’ll be away for a month doing a “so you think you want to be an engineer” program, and will do at least one week-long sports camp, but he has 3 full weeks in June and the same in August just to relax. I think he needs that. As Avon points out, it’s not that long before we start down the college applications road, combined with the junior year workload and all the required testing. Not sure I’m ready for this again.</p>
<p>D has no AP exams this year. No AP’s are offered to sophomores and next year is the first year any juniors will be offered one - APUSH. She was also offered the opportunity to do AP Bio next year but chose to continue with Band as she would have had to drop that. It was a tough decision for her at the time but I think she made the right one for her. She’ll have a lot of AP’s senior year but will still keep band as a breather and she enjoys it…unless she changes to chorus but no need to worry about that now!</p>
<p>Summer plans include auditioning (this Sunday) for her theatre company’s summer production now that she’s 16 and finally older to play with the big kids! She’s so excited and loves all the directors. She’s doing a week at BU’s SummerLab right after followed by a week of family vacation. And hopefully will find a summer job! Oh yeah - and getting in her driving lessons so she can get her license next fall!</p>
<p>Best news is she finally found out today she’s been selected as a coordinator for her school’s food pantry. She’s been very involved for the past two years co-managing the cafe part of it and this is what she wanted to do for the next two years. It’s a great community service leadership position for Jr. and Sr. year and she loves the work and the project. Of course, it means arriving at the food pantry at 7AM rather than 8AM the one Saturday a month they distribute food! Did I mention the driving lessons and hours so she can drive herself later in the fall!</p>
<p>Hi All - I recently joined CC and am the mom of a 15 year old son who is interested in Engineering. I’ve read several pages in this thread, but am overwhelmed!</p>
<p>Here’s my ‘wish list’ of things I wish I knew, I’d love advice or suggestion about this or any other topics you think might be helpful to someone in my situation.</p>
<p>1) Unweighted GPA. (weirdly enough explainations for weighted GPA makes seems to make more sense) I’ve read some thread and seen some poster suggest that a 3.5 unweighted GPA just isn’t good enough for the most competitive schools. This calls into question my understanding of how unweighted GPAs are generally calculated.</p>
<p>Last year I ‘just assumed’ that if a kid got all 96% in all their classes for 4 years, they would have ‘straight As’ which would be a 4.0 average. </p>
<p>This year I asked my son’s school, and they explained that to get a 4.0 average <em>unweighted GPA</em> they would need all 100% in their classes for 4 years.<br>
a) do you think perhaps I misunderstood and should ask again?
b) is this the normal way things are done? (Does it put my child at a disadvantage? Should I be nagging him to bring up those 92s in subjects he has no interest in?)
c) When College ******* does their graphic that looks like naviance, are they refering to weighted or unweighted GPA, and if weighted, why does it only go to 4.0? (and can those be trusted anyway?)</p>
<p>2) Engineering - narrowing the school search. </p>
<p>It seems to be that Engineering departments are different enough from their overall undergraduate schools that they should have their own ‘guidebooks’ - So is there a ‘The Best 376 Colleges, 2012 Edition (College Admissions Guides) by Princeton Review’ for Engineering Departments? I also wish there was an Engineering version of the book’Colleges that Change Lives.’ Any suggestions of books, or Internet Resources? (I found US News and World Report, but they seem to want me to spend 30$ a year to see their goodies - is it worth it?)</p>
<p>4) Deepining S’s ability to know/talk about what interests him in Engineering. When I ask S what got him interested in Engineering, he mentions his amazing Freshman Physics teacher who sat him down at the end of the school year last year and did the hard sell, how much he loves the beauty of Math (he’s finishing PreCalc as a Sophmore this year) and how he likes to solve interesting problems. That seems good enough for me, (I saw him drooling over the AMC 10 problems a few months ago) but I wonder if that is ‘enough’ for a college interview. Also,it seems that by Senior year, a lot of kids know what branch of Engineering they want to go into, and that it does help them narrow the field a bit. Any advice or suggestions on what sorts of experiences to persue to learn more about the various fields or build the bridge between the world of feelings and instinct and the world of being able to talk about it.</p>
<p>4) Summer Experiences - I’d love to hear what folks are planning for their children’s summer experiences, this summer, but particularly for the summer between Junior and Senior year. If possible, please talk about what your child is doing now, or will be doing to get ready for these experiences.</p>
<p>5) How ‘confidential’ is this actually? Am I going to say something stupid here that will wreck my kid’s future?</p>
<p>6) In comparing my real life experience with talking to other parents and kids, I kind of get the idea that the folks posting on CC are the cream of the crop, and folks who are interested enough to be posting here are probably amoung the most savy of the CC folks. It’s wonderful to be with parents who won’t look at me as if I’m crazy for being interested in the process when it seems to them to be so far into the future. But I will admit that when I read about the achievements of other kids, I get a nervous feeling that my son will never catch up or measure up. Any advice being a part of this wonderful resource without all my insecurities being activated?</p>
<p>Thanks in Advance,
PS</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>My son’s HS does things this way as well. I’ve never heard of any other school doing it like this before – it’s definitely unusual. However, I don’t think it really disadvantages our kids as colleges are used to the fact that every HS in this country seems to have their own quirky way of computing GPA. Each application is reviewed by someone who reviews the apps from a certain geographic area, and gets to know what the GPAs from different HSs mean. They will also be able to see your S’s complete transcript, and his class rank will also help put his oddly computed GPA into context.</p>
<p>I think the parent forums are less anxiety- provoking than the “chance me” threads. Lots of the kids are exceptional, but the parent forum also shows their “human” sides, where at least they all do something we’d like to change. ; )
S’14 took the AP World exam today. He said it was ok. It was his first, so I’m hoping he is right and not naive! He’s not a straight-A kid by the way. That would be my D, but don’t ask about her SATs (and I’m not one of the people fretting about a 2100, either).
I’d just say WELCOME, and prepare to filter the bits that help from those that don’t, get some laughs, take some ideas from others, and use this forum to vent when you can’t really say what you’d like to around the house!</p>
<p>@Parent Sparkle–Welcome!! You will pick up some great info here. What I have learned here is priceless!!</p>
<p>When I discuss college issues with other parents, they think I am nuts as well… but dd14’s school is in the inner city and most of the parents have no idea how important college planing is! From freshman year… especially to those who are first generation! Most kids arrive @ senior year woefully unprepared…having no idea where they will apply, only to end up not completing app’s and going to community college…you are in good company here. Lots of smart/knowledgeable folks.</p>
<p>My dtr just recieved word that YALE Explo is looking to give a scholarship and they want her to apply/attend… but I’m not sure if that will be a good move on her part. The program sounds like its too much “fun” and not enough academics… the classes are taught by college and graduate students. Its 3 weeks long… they are not affiliated with Yale, they just use the campus for the summer…</p>
<p>She also has the option of doing a biotechnology program @ Uni of New Hampshire. Same amount of time(3 weeks).she will have lectures, do research, projects etc… and recieve college credit… </p>
<p>My feeling is if you are going to do a summer program… shouldnt it count for something? What do you guys think?</p>
<p>Summer: my oldest went to summer camp, went to Israel with his summer camp friends, was a CIT at summer camp and finally a counselor the summer between senior year and college. (He wrote his common app essay about about something that happened when he was a CIT.) I don’t think they have to do something “that counts” in the summer – the summers should be for them to enjoy, de-stress, etc…</p>
<p>That said, my class of '14 S, we’ve told him that he has to do <em>something</em> for the month he won’t be at camp this summer – find a job or do some volunteer work or whatever. He can’t just sit around the house 24/7. But I don’t care too much what it is.</p>
<p>Hi all of the parents of 2014!
Thought I would say “hello” as I usually spend my time on the 2013 board :)</p>
<p>Since the current topic is Summer, our D14 will be busy with Cheer practice (She is a competitive Cheerleader, like the kind that you see on ESPN), Camp Counselor for VBS, summer homework and our family trip to Jamaica. She has no desire what-so-ever to go with us to Harvard for S13’s recruiting trip, but hoping she will change her mind.</p>
<p>Hope everyone is ready for the road ahead…it goes by WAY to fast…
:)</p>
<p>Hello there, Sparkle.</p>
<p>Honestly, any of the cc boards can be anxiety causing. Just look at the summer to-do lists! Camp X, educational experience Y. Mine’s getting a job. Not an internship. Not tutoring. Not anything to do with any perceived field of interest, a plain-old ordinary, hourly wage job. And come college admission time, I don’t think it’ll make a snowball in heck’s difference. In fact, those admissions reps might even find her app in the pile of super-exceptional educational experience kids and say, “Wow, look! Here’s one who’s had a job!” Or at least that’s what I’m telling myself (and don’t knock off my rose-colored glasses). </p>
<p>Oh, yeah, and next summer, I expect her to go back to her job. I’m not made of gas money, after all.</p>
<p>I’ve done this once before. After careful selection of the right school (price, location, etc) for my d1’s very narrow area of interest, she changed majors about a month into school! So, yeah, this time around I’m way more laid back. </p>
<p>Some great tips here. And when you find yourself feeling that “Oh no he’s so inadequate and so far behind and he better have AP everything with 5s on all the tests” feeling, stop. Take a deep breath. Remind yourself that lots of these kids throwing around name brand schoosl wind up at the State U with a whole lot of other kids. It’s not a race. It’s not a competition. It’s about getting your kid to a school where he can succeed and finish with minimal debt.</p>
<p>Thanks NewHavenCTMom, and Ordinary Lives, and Mathmom VT, and 89wahoo, and MDmom1314! Great thoughts on how to get the benifit without loosing perspective.</p>
<p>I like the idea of a place to vent with other parents who don’t think I’m crazy to be interested in this experience.</p>
<p>MathmomVT - it’s reasurring that our GPA system is odd, and that it’s harmless. Just one more thing to ‘translate,’ eh?</p>
<p>NewHavenCTMom - I know what you mean about Explo. My son has attended CTY for several summers, and this summer is his last. I’m super-grateful that he’s been able to spend these summers with kids who he feels at home with mentally, and I attribute a lot of his school year success to these summers, but I’m slowly experiencing more of that feeling of ‘you are too old to be a consumer of summer camp.’ So, I’m not thinking about it as a ‘resume builder’ but more as a chance for him to be a more balanced person.</p>
<p>If I was talking to a child who was underachieving, or ‘bright but hated school’, I would certianly suggest a summer at CTY or Explo at age 16 to ‘increase motivation’ and ‘help a teen see their strenghts.’ If your daughter feels sort of ‘alien’ in her home environment, it might be worth a summer. My S describes CTY as ‘a chance to learn social lessons that most kids learn by going to High School.’ But to me, her UNH plan sounds more appealing. Good luck with the decision.</p>
<p>Welcome ParentSparkle! It’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the “superstar” kids on CC! The parent threads are the best and people have so much information to share.</p>
<p>GPA: It’s very true that high schools have so many different ways of computing GPA. Weight Honors classes? How about AP/IB? Only core classes? Colleges look at the whole transcript and calculate it however they want. They also look at the rigor of the student’s classes. If your school only offers a handful of APs they don’t expect your child to have taken ten. </p>
<p>I’m not sure that significant “worthwhile” summer experiences matter all that much to admissions officers. My ds '12 never did anything all that worthy during any summer and it didn’t hurt his admissions one bit. A job is just fine! That said, my dd ‘14 is going to the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio this summer, but she’s going because she lives and loves to write. She doesn’t care at all what colleges think about it. She’s also looking forward to spending time with other “writing nerds.” I think if your kid is doing something they care about during the summer (or at any time), that’s what matters.</p>
<p>Welcome ParentSparkle, you bring up a lot of good questions. I think in general unweighted GPA’s are more realistic, and colleges usually unweight schools that weight, and mostly they look at the particular course load a student took.</p>
<p>A high GPA, with no honors or AP classes, is very apparent to a selective school.</p>
<p>I have no reason to believe that CC is “not” confidential. If you want to get know someone personally you can private message them. And people on CC are full of advice and great ideas. </p>
<p>Enjoy the ride, try not to stress. I just finished with S2012, and he and all his friends are very pleased with the various schools they ended up in. I will next focus on D2014. But I am giving myself a little break!</p>
<p>ParentSparkle: The USNWR rankings usually show up on here fairly soon after they come out (probably not legally, but nonetheless here). Also the engineering rankings, too. For engineering, take a good look at your state flagship’s engineering program–most seem to have a pretty good one. My S looked around and decided to go to our flagship, UMass Amherst, for mechanical engineering. He just finished his first year and found it challenging, but generally enjoyable. Unless it’s for MIT or handful of other similarly-ranked schools, I’m not sure it’s worth paying full private tuition for engineering, even if I could afford it (which I can’t). If your flagship doesn’t have the particular “flavor” of engineering your student is looking for, check to see if there’s a regional exchange with other state U’s in the area. For example, a friend of my S’s wanted to do biomedical engineering which isn’t offered at UMass. He was able to go to UConn on the regional exchange program and pay a reduced tuition (about half way between in-state and OOS).</p>