Parents of the HS Class of 2014

Parents of Class of 20xx
1441

<p>Thanks for the welcome all! We have 2 weeks left of school and the kids are in melt down mode. I guess I am too :slight_smile: We have family coming in and I have to a) get the house in MIL inspection shape b) figure out how to feed these people c) entertain those that are staying over the weekend to visit.</p>

<p>@AvonHSDad - I’ve been reading the archives of '11 thread to figure out what’s next for DD. You’ll keep us on task for the upcoming milestones!</p>

<p>@pdxSuzanne - I could argue both sides. I was a first gen, low income, miracle I found my way to college student. I’m very thankful for all the opportunities I was provided. On the other hand having made it to middle class status , the EFC calculation has been not in our favor of all. What it looks like we can afford and reality are two wildly different figures. I do think I should contribute to my children’s education but really BC? You think I have $60K per year? That was our biggest slap in the face.</p>

<p>@Classof2015 - thanks! We actually hadn’t expected her to get off the waiting list. It would have been even worse if we’d been on pins and needles waiting for that. It turned out to be a nice surprise.</p>

<p>@evornadine - we are in the same boat. We are all a bit traumatized from DDs drama. DS is quite a different kid too. He went on many of the college visits with us, but I’ll have o reset his expectations to target schools that won’t require lottery winnings. </p>

<p>Our school has the kids take PSATs fall junior yr. DS is planning to peruse DD’s SAT study guide this summer. I’m not overly optimistic.</p>

<p>Have a great day all!</p>

1442

<p>Hi All - I’ve been enjoying reading all the posts. S 14 will be taking SAT2 tomorrow in Math 2. I hope it goes well for him. I’ve heard conflicting advice - some say to take it after ‘PreCalculus’ no matter what age one takes the class. Others say to take it towards the end of Junior year, because all Math builds on itself, and the more time for maturity and advanced math the better.<br>
I’ll bet a dollar it varies from kid to kid, but I wish I knew which would be best for my kid.
I’m glad for compulsory community service. I think it’s hard for some parents (me) to create a separate culture in the home that is so different from the peer culture so I appreciate group standards whenever I can get them. My husband was born in 1955, and I can see what a difference it made to him to grow up with group standards. I wasn’t born that much later, in 1962, but I perceive a big difference.
Good Luck to all the HOBY participants. It sounds like a great program. I hadn’t heard of it…um…is it more active in politically conservative areas?</p>

<p>Smiles,
PS</p>

1443

<p>@ParentSparkle - We’re in Massachusetts and DD is attending state HOBY (not the national one - just can’t swing that timewise). So definitely not a politically conservative area :)</p>

<p>I admit I’d never heard of it before she was selected to attend. Maybe because it’s only for sophomores and if you didn’t know anyone else who had gone before, it’s not a name that’s out there. It doesn’t seem as well known as Boys/Girls State for juniors.</p>

1444

<p>The organization has been around for over 50 years and has alums such as Mike Huckabee and James Van der Beek (Dawson from Dawson’s Creek!) My daughter did not feel that there was a political or religious agenda. Both gay and straight, city and country kids attended from all over Oregon which was great exposure for all of them.</p>

1445

<p>My DS is a “math kids” and did well on the Math 2 exam after finishing precalc in January of sophomore year. I’ve heard that the kids who take the regular SAT when they’re well past Algebra have trouble with forgetting some of the basics that <em>don’t</em> really get used much in the higher-level math courses, so I’ll try to encourage him to practice, even though he assures us that he could never forget those basics. He was supposed to try to take SAT 2 Chemistry this year, but did not prep for it, so he hasn’t taken it. He won’t take AP Chem until senior year. I’m not sure what he’ll do for a science if he needs one (and he might, as he wants to pursue engineering in college) as he won’t be well-prepared for any of them (unless he preps on his own) until the end of senior year which is too late. The physics he will take Junior year (AP Physics C mechanics) doesn’t align well to the SAT 2, and he’ll take AP Chem and AP Bio senior year when it’s too late.</p>

1446

<p>Like mathmomvt, my S took the Math 2 after precalc, which in his case was January of freshman year, and did fine. I tend to agree with the people who recommend taking subject tests right after the peak of the applicable course material; things seem to be freshest then. S was also supposed to take the Latin test at the end of freshman year but forgot to register for it (!). He wound up taking it in December of sophomore year and his score was lower than it should have been because he was 6 months away from the classroom experience of the tested material, especially the intricacies of grammar.</p>

<p>I think it depends on your kid, though, and how pressured they feel by the standardized tests. My D’11/'15’s high school did not encourage much testing before junior year, so it built up into a crush of things they had to take that year: PSAT in the fall, SAT in March, Subject tests in May AND June. S’s school, on the other hand, encourages spreading out the testing, which seems healthier to me. That said, S took the Physics and Spanich subject tests yesterday, and I have my fingers crossed for good scores on those as well as the two AP’s he took a couple of weeks ago.</p>

1447

<p>Hi, there. It seems I just found the nice folks at the Parents of the Class of 2012 thread, and now I must join you as well. My D2 starts her college search in earnest now. She’s a budding runner (distance), and is still narrowing down her interests/potential majors. She’s visited several colleges as a “trailing sibling,” but now it’s her turn.</p>

1448

<p>Well, ds finished his sophomore year with a 3.9 unweighted/4.4 weighted GPA. I hope that is good enough for anything he wants to do. I really can’t picture it getting any higher later. He is highly capable and likes to challenge himself but he is never going to grovel to get perfect marks.</p>

1449

<p>Hello all. This is my first time here. I am a bit overwhelmed. DD, 15 years old, sophomore is at a highly competitive magnet, governor’s school. In 8th Grade her SAT was 2190. We saved her score. Her 9th Grade PSAT was 216. Her 10th Grade PSAT was 219. (her school gives EVERYONE the PSAT). She has taken two subject SATs this past weekend… math 1 and bio. She has had four AP classes. AP Psych (5) as a freshman. AP BIO, AP MACRO and AP CALC AB as a sophmore (we are awaiting scores). She is a section editor on her school newspaper. She is on JV Soccer - captain. She is in French Honors Society - historian. She does some other activities at school - but not leadership roles. She has a 3.8 unweighted - a 4.3 weighted as of 3rd quarter - sophmore year.</p>

<p>She is “melting” down. She “claims” she has done NOTHING compared to her classmates. The school PRESSURES the kids beyond belief. I don’t think it is good. (she was homeschooled until high school)</p>

<p>She is completely overwhelmed on where to apply… her guidance counselor has told her she is “adequate” …</p>

<p>She is thinking of reaches - which she isn’t expecting acceptance - but they are dreams - Brown & Princeton.</p>

<p>She is realistically looking at W & M, Syracuse, Univ of Chicago, Duke, U of M, Tufts, Brandeis, Rice, U of NC - Chapel Hill, Georgetown, BU…</p>

<p>I would love ANY GUIDANCE… I have no idea “realistically” what she can do - where she can get in…</p>

1450

<p>Any of those schools is awesome - it just depends on what she wants to study and what kind of college experience she wants. My son has attended a very mediocre public high school where he was in the top 10/600+ and took the same courses as juniors and seniors but he has no idea what he wants to study in college. He is taking next year off to study Chinese at a boarding school in Beijing so he won’t actually graduate until 2015. I’m hoping he’ll start getting some ideas about college next year. </p>

<p>I can’t believe that your daughter’s counselor told her she was “adequate”! She sounds quite phenomenal to me. The challenge is to stand out from the other talented students at her school. College Confidential posters have many ideas about that but some of the best ones seem to be to find a unique “passion” and run with it or to focus on the college application essays.The other train of thought is to just not stress too much, knowing that there are many excellent schools out there and a child with so much talent will be sure to get into one of them… Welcome to College Confidential.</p>

1451

<p>onlyone2014 - The first thing to get your DD to do is breath. One of the greatest difficulties of going to a magnet school is that you are no longer a big fish in a small pond. It is very hard to stand out. Obviously the academic benefits usually outweigh this, students push far harder surrounded by high achieving peers, and admissions understand the high school they are coming from.</p>

<p>It sounds like she has a great list of schools. Are you in-state for any of the publics (W&M, UNC)? You will obviously want to make sure she has at least one or two academic and financial safety schools. Does your school use Naviance? This gives you a data of where students from your school with ‘X’ stats have historically been accepted, giving you a good idea of where you DD stands. As it only takes into account GPA & SAT/ACT it is only a rough guide for the tier one schools that use holistic admissions.</p>

1452

<p>blueiguana & apollo6 … yes, W & M is a state school. I am trying to get her to consider UVA; however, for students at TJHSST it is like “Grade 13” and she has no desire. She also feels it is way too big (which I agree!) for her taste. </p>

<p>Getting her to relax is a daily struggle. I encourage play. Encourage her and her friends to just hang out and go out. In fact last night - I pulled out my yearbooks to get them all to laugh - because they were stressing about their last finals. They had a blast going through the 80s…</p>

<p>I just asked DD if the school has Naviance and they do = however, she really gave me the “mom…” voice so I didn’t go further. My fear is her school emphasizes college etc too much that discussing it at home is over the top.</p>

<p>We knew by her going to TJHSST that she would become the “middle” of the pack; however, she wanted to go. She also wants to stay. Plenty of her friends have left because of grades etc. She says she enjoys it enough (for public school) - she was homeschooled through grade 8. </p>

<p>I would love ideas of schools - suggestions.
For now she thinks she wants to study International Relations - Poli Sci however, this can change quickly. She LOVES writing (and is very talented). She loves philosophy, cultures/religion, pysch… She is a humanities kid; however, she doesn’t want to tie herself down to that quite yet. </p>

<p>She likes smaller intimate groups; however, doesn’t want a school of 1400 … she ruled Swarthmore and Brynn Marr out already because of size. </p>

<p>She enjoys discussion based learning. She hates, HATES when teachers/professors wastes her time with useless work. She would rather be reading and learning on her own.</p>

<p>She wants to travel abroad for a year (or semester).<br>
She wants to have some fabulous internships.
And as of now - she prefers the east coast. (we live in Metro DC/N.VA)
If people can throw out a list/suggestions - that would be great!</p>

<p>Thanks,
Eva</p>

1453

<p>I think one of the problems DD is having is that she feels like she hasn’t stood out - this is in her mind; however, it is real to her. She hasn’t made her mark. I keep telling her she is only in 10th grade. Right now she is feeling she isn’t good at anything.</p>

<p>That is the part about attending a magnet school - which sucks!</p>

1454

<p>onlyone2014 – welcome! Your daughter sounds like a wonderful kid! </p>

<p>In the hopes of helping you avoid my mistakes, let me relay my sorry tale: my daughter graduated HS 2011, was a smart kid but not supersmart, did sports but wasn’t recruited, did ok on SATs but never broke 2100; had leadership positions, but it was a blood bath – of the 13 schools she applied to, she got 2 acceptances, 7 rejections, and 4 WL. One of my friends used the term “nice girl, with nice grades.” Basically, when it came to admissions, she was nothing special. You daughter has a lot going for her. It all comes down to making up the right list (which I didn’t do all that well). Here are a few schools that might appeal to her given her preferred size and location:</p>

<p>George Washington
American
James Madison (safety)
Northeastern</p>

<p>You mentioned these schools are already on her list: W & M, Syracuse, Univ of Chicago, Duke, U of M, Tufts, Brandeis, Rice, U of NC - Chapel Hill, Georgetown, BU…</p>

<p>I would think Syracuse, BU, and Brandeis are all solid matches/safeties. </p>

<p>Do you want to add some more northern LACs to the reach list? Sometimes, the geography works in your favor. Thus perhaps she would like: Middlebury, Amherst, Dickinson, Lehigh? Last 2 being more match/safety.</p>

<p>I’ll post more if I think of them…</p>

1455

<p>onlyone - Helping your DD navigate the application process from a school like TJ is going to be an experience outside what most others don’t experience. For example the rule of needing to be in the top 10% doesn’t always apply because the caliber of students is so high. This isn’t just any magnet school…it’s arguably the number 1 magnet school in the country. Your DD’s GC said she was adequate as s/he was comparing her to her classmates. Arguably at any other school she would be outstanding.</p>

<p>Advise we can offer here is going to be helpful only to the extent that it applies to any other college applicant. You have to understand that your DD isn’t any other applicant. In comparison to her peers she may not look as shiny, that does not mean you should not reach higher. At this stage I would recommend focusing on finding out what she really wants. Try to visit some of the schools she has identified as things can change as she actually tours and sits in on classes. Oh, and get linked in to Naviance. It’s going to be your holy grail of information. Seriously. No where else are you going to be able to find data on where kids like your DD have been accepted.</p>

<p>One thing to note…while I can totally appreciate your DD feels UVa is too large of a school for her and it isn’t going to make the list, making comments such as “TJ students feel it’s just grade 13” can be a very divisive statement. All of our students come from different backgrounds and will strive for different educational goals, be they elite colleges, state flagships, directional U’s, or community colleges. This may be a combination of academic and financial necessity. For example, my S2 just finished “grade 13” at UVa (it’s called ‘first year’, btw), where he was very successful and couldn’t be happier. We are beyond proud of him. You never know who your audience is on CC so it’s best to consider that before you make disparaging comments.</p>

<p>Best of luck.</p>

1456

<p>@OnlyOne2014
Naviance can be reached from your home computer with the log in info from the guidance counselor. Get on there and look at the scattergrams! Read ‘Colleges that Change Lives’ if you haven’t already.</p>

<p>Summer is a great time to get out in the world and see what she likes. I think it’s better to have an exciting goal and change directions later than to have as one’s only goal: getting into College, peferably one that will impress other people. Not that I think that this is her goal. At this point her goal may be to avoid closing doors. For most of us, it takes going down a few ‘blind allys’ before we get an idea of what we ‘really’ want. (And then for us who decide to become primary caretakers of our own children, it’s almost sure to change after that experience!) So trying anything new is a good way to get used to that ‘successive iterations’ view of life. And yes, I think that small Liberal Arts Colleges with great Alumni networks and great training in being able to think and communicate are absolutely the way to go for folks on the successive iterations path.</p>

<p>Lots of kids feel that they need larger schools because they feel like so few other kids (or adults) ‘get’ them. But a school of 500 or 2000 can feel huge if you land in a place where everyone gets you. My highschooler has BTDT and that’s what I’ve seen.</p>

<p>Smiles and Welcome - so glad you posted -
ParentSparkle</p>

1457

<p>Good morning, HS2014 parents!</p>

<p>A quick question…</p>

<p>Did any of your sophomores have a grade slide this year after being a straight A student in 9th grade? I know freshmen grades are taken with a grain a salt by some colleges because high school can be a big adjustment for kids but what about the kid who hit the ground running in 9th grade and then decided to test the “study less” waters in 10th grade? </p>

<p>We’ve just been through something like this with our current sophomore. The last trimester grades of this year did pop up(4As, 2A-) from the first two but there was a low point of 2 B+s on the report card. And no laughing about the slide being to two B+s. :slight_smile: Yes, I absolutely know it can be a lot worse but for a kid who has already demonstrated earning As are doable, the B+s can be a bit puzzling. </p>

<p>Do kids have some sort of wake-up call going into their junior year where all of a sudden they realize now is not the time to drop the ball on the grades?</p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

1458

<p>College4: My D14 did :frowning: 4.17 Freshman year and 4.0 1st semester of her Soph year. The time commitment to team was much to blame as there were many travel trips and practice 4-5 days a week. It also didn’t help the Coach would not give time off to catch up on HW or get tutoring. She has been working her heart out to her grades back up, but will most likely end up with a 3.8 for the 2nd semester. Not bad, but still frustrating for her.</p>

<p>S13 says that his Soph year was MUCH harder than his Jr year. He was in many Jr classes as a Soph (just like D14) and balancing everything was an issue. Praying that D14’s Jr year is much smoother…</p>

1459

<p>Onlyone2014 - For political science, classics, languages, study abroad programs and internships, have her look at Georgetown. The undergrad population is around the 5,500 - 6,000 mark, It is local to you so a visit should be easy to schedule. Our S just finished his freshman year and loves the school. He is so glad that he picked GU from his admitted schools list.</p>

1460

<p>Ugh - Just picked up D14 from school who got in the car with “I have some really good news and some bad news!” Good news is she was elected Jr. Class President! She’s thrilled as it tends to be a popularity contest and since she doesn’t play sports any more, she didn’t think she had all those votes. She actually didn’t think she’d be elected anything and was going to spend another year attending the Leadership meetings as just a (very involved) Member. So happy for her on that front!</p>

<p>Bad news is she has conflicts in her schedule that now need to be figured out (and the last day of classes is tomorrow!) After agonizing over whether to stay with Band or take AP Biology because Guidance didn’t want her to take AP Spanish (skipping Spanish 4), it now turns out the Spanish 4 and Band conflict with each other! Her Spanish 3 teacher (who also teaches 4 and AP) says she can take AP and skip 4 - he’s not worried about her as she was the top Spanish 3 student in the school this year. Her options are to fill the space in her schedule with AP Bio (not interested now if she can take AP Spanish), Honors Forensics (she’s interested) or a study - not an option as far as I’m concerned! Unfortunately when her guidance counselor told her today, she didn’t have all the options available for D to look at and try to figure out and we have many more questions - but I’m trying to stay out of it. I suggested she put down all her various choices and get them to her guidance counselor to see what works with all the other classes. She doesn’t know if AP Spanish will even fit into her schedule with everything else. There’s only one Band class and only one Spanish 4 class so that’s the issue. She really doesn’t want to take Spanish 4 next year because most of the current juniors who would be in the class with her are really not that interested. There would only be about 6 or so of her current classmates in her grade but many more of the class above. Another option may be to take the study but do band during it - but only if Band would show on her Schedule and not a study. Or transfer to Chorus, but only if she could get honors credit for it, not regular credit. She sings in the two school select choirs, so she’s got the ability and it’s the same band/chorus teacher so she may be able to pull that off.</p>

<p>I just wish they’d let her know last week when they were telling other kids that there were scheduling conflicts! Tomorrow is her last day of classes and on Friday she heads to HOBY so she can’t even try to deal with it all after exams on Friday because she’s missing them and making them up on Wednesday.</p>

<p>Just my rant for the day - thanks for listening!</p>