<p>My son and some of his friends (who happen to be girls) have been figuring things out. My S will be valedictorian and he and these two girls are trying to figure out a way for all three of them to get it. They all have been taking the hardest schedule possible and He doesn’t want to take an easier class load to let them catch up. Unfortunately the two girls did not take one of the honors classes offered to freshmen-freshmen year and then they took PE at an independent charter school over summer between freshmen and sophomore year. That gives them two more non-honors classes in comparison to my son. This year they are all taking 4 AP classes and two honors classes. On another note, I recently told my S that I won’t pay for the SAT until he has been studying for it for at least 4 months. </p>
<p>@seal16 - When I took APUSH it was by far my hardest AP, and my worst score. In comparison, all the maths and sciences were a breeze. However, I don’t think it’s that way for everyone; it might just mean your D is a STEM kind of person. :)</p>
<p>When I tell my colleagues how hard APUSH was in comparison to, say, BC Calc, the humanities people kind of laugh at me.</p>
<p>But I agree with @AsleepAtTheWheel that it would be best to lower the stress if at all possible. If it makes her feel better, a lot of our kids aren’t back to school yet, so your D has more time to prepare for the AP than they do!</p>
<p>Hi everyone!</p>
<p>I haven’t been here since around page twelve. I looked back and found my last post was right before the final admitted student’s days visit with S '13…so late April. What a crazy ride that was! And that was followed by 5 graduations in a 12 month span, so I guess I just needed a break. I have followed along with a good bit of the reading but I know there is still a big gap in the middle. This has turned out to be a very prolific bunch!</p>
<p>Anyway, I am ready to get going again with our now juniors. He’s our youngest of five and we have done the selective college thing many times now with decent ‘success’ by conventional standards so maybe I can add here and there. (I noticed many of year are reading the previous class of threads. We’ve lived too many of them at this point!) Hello again to those of you that are also '13s…Dragonfly…MomofZag…etc.</p>
<p>Someone mentioned Harvey Mudd. Seal, maybe? Lots of experience with Mudd and the Claremonts in general. D '10 went to a Claremont college and Mudd was high on S '13’s list. Lots of interaction-we know the place and process well. Great place! Let me know if you have any questions. Maybe I can be of some help.</p>
<p>S’ 16 is a band kid (as were my three youngest). At our school the band kids tend to be in the ‘smart kid’ classes.</p>
<p>Let’s see, AP’s? S '13 applied at very selective schools with very good results and his HS had only two APs offered. He was, however, very proactive about other learning opportunities. As far as AP USH…he took the offered honors class and then studied some on his own and I helped him a bit with the DBQ question prep as he’d had no exposure. He’s a STEM kid but he got a 5 that way…but my kids are used to having to prep themselves in our district. Our 3 youngest all took Calc AB (top of the math line at our HS) as freshmen and then studied for the Calc BC test sophomore year. S '13 also self-studied the Physics C AP and SAT 2 and was even able to use that credit at his university, which is very persnickety about such things. I know D '10 was able to use the history credit at her LAC, which is also a top-rated school and quite fussy. But I think the real value of the AP (and SAT 2 stuff) for my kids was being able to show that they could do the work at said schools, coming from a less than stellar school district. We ended up talking for some time with S '13s admissions officer at his frosh orientation and he said that made a huge difference. Other admissions folks have confirmed his sentiment. It also helps them prepare for the work to be done at a place like that and to understand what it will be like for them with peers that come from much stronger academic preparation/schools.</p>
<p>seal-</p>
<p>re physics SAT 2- S '13 took this test after a year of physics and self-studying AP Mechanics C so your D should be ok but some of the topics on the SAT 2 are not in the curriculum so she should get a prep book and make sure to cover them. He used PR and did very well on the test that way. Good luck!</p>
<p>petrichor11-</p>
<p>About the val/sal thing…I think Asleep at the wheel gives excellent input on this subject. We never let the school touch music in our kid’s schedule and we have not had one valedictorian in the bunch. I think it is a blessing as well-so much less pressure. Son’s gc recently said to me that he thinks the few true standouts he has dealt with in his career have had that in common…no 4.0. They just seem driven to learn and do all sorts of interesting things in the process which involves risk, for sure. They just need to feel it is ok to go for it! I will say they can be standouts and have a 4.0 but often where we come from those kids are what they call ‘grade grubbers’ that just want to know what to do to get an A. </p>
<p>3scoutmom-</p>
<p>One last post for tonight. Our kids have something in common- S '16 is very interested in meteorology as well and has looked at both TAMU and OU. Unfortunately he is not enamored of that part of the country. (No offense-I believe you are from Texas?) My boys think it’s “too dry” and I suppose compared to what they are used to, that’s a fair assessment! S '13 applied to MIT and they flew him out for their admitted students ‘party’-that’s what it’s like-they do it up well! He’d never been to Boston/Cambridge either and his reaction was similar to your d’s except maybe grad school? In the end, while he totally eliminated rural schools and applied suburban to urban, the suburban locations were the ones he preferred. Still, 2 urban schools made it into his top 4-5 for other factors.</p>
<p>fretfulmother-</p>
<p>Ok one last, last post tonight!</p>
<p>S '13 went through a similar process re tech schools and were they worth it for a very well rounded, intellectually curious kid. In the end he only applied to the two tech schools he thought might be social enough that encouraged and interest outside of STEM: MIT and Harvey Mudd. But he did not choose those places and I can tell you, probably his two favorite courses he took as a freshman were seminars. One was philosophy with just him and one other student meeting in the profs office. The other was English with the preeminent Mark Twain expert. He also had a seminar in physics with an outgoing Obama cabinet member/ Nobel prize winner but even so, that came in 3rd! So I wouldn’t underestimate the importance of the opportunity to study classics etc for STEM kids.</p>
<p>Interesting following your college list and those of others here. I agree with Asleep- things change a lot over junior year and we all need to stay flexible. I just pulled S '13s list he had at this point for his brother. There were 18 schools listed and half of them did not make the final cut-not even one of the 5 safeties made it onto the final list! He dropped 9 and added some others and some of that was expand horizons via peers from his junior summer experience. I’m not sure he would have applied to the NE colleges sight unseen otherwise. It sure did make for quite a scramble that April but we thought he would just wait and visit where he got in. Hmmm, the best layed plans. Things rarely go the way we think they will. Fortunately they tend to work out is spite of all of our planning!</p>
<p>Oh and fretful mom- 35 ACT is great. Congratulations! You are done!!! (We have been told to retake a 35 is to look totally neurotic and that your kid could make much better use of their Saturday!) </p>
<p>Guidance counselor at our school says that APUSH is generally considered to be the hardest AP, at least at our school.</p>
<p>My DD13 would agree.</p>
<p>The fact that APUSH is so hard is why S’16 is planning to take it in senior year. If he gets a B 2nd semester it is no big deal. </p>
<p>@critter - wow, so helpful with all that info for all of us - THANKS!!! I’m sorry you took such a long hiatus. 
Now that we know you, don’t go away again.</p>
<p>Thanks for the additional perspective on tests, college lists, being well-rounded, and all the rest!! :)</p>
<p>Our school doesn’t have APUSH, just honors. D16 is taking US history at Ohio University this fall (distance course) so hopefully she’ll ace it.
They told her basically she can not take AP calc and honors stats together senior year. They say it is far to stressful. Some of her peers took info tech in summer school so they are taking stats this year. We’re considering stats at the college level via distance. Its a 100 level and in the psych department. I took the same class about 10 years ago when I got my BSN, it was doable in that setting and I have only one college math class (college algebra) for my four degrees. Any perspective on this?</p>
<p>@kandcsmom - I don’t think calc and stats together is too stressful for a kid who likes math. It really depends on personality. Some kids might find that too stressful, but do great in APUSH and APEnglish and an AP foreign language, all at once. And others could load on the math and science and CS and groove on that but have trouble with the normal level History. If your D is interested, I might pressure the GC to let her try the two math courses. At the school where I teach, there are many kids who take two of their favorite senior year, whether that is math, or science, or English, etc.</p>
<p>@Critter – Welcome back, and thanks for adding the perspective of a parent whose not only undergone the admissions/choice thing, but whose kid has a year of college under his belt. And I love the multiple ‘one last posts’!! It would be great if you stuck around.</p>
<p>But after all that there’s one obvious question: Where did your S13 end up? I ask not just out of prurient interest – you’re obviously not bashful in terms of commenting (this is a good thing), and knowing where he is helps in terms of seeing where you’re coming from.</p>
<p>@Critter : Pleased to meet you! </p>
<p>Agreed on the 4.0 kids, at least insofar as my kids’ school-- the top couple of kids have no school-based ECs and no major community involvement (this is a small town, they’d be visible), though they may have volunteer work or something church-related that S doesn’t know about. The widely-acknowledged #1 just dropped out of the running to do Early College (she’ll graduate with her AA, but is ineligible for val/sal). About a dozen kids do that (well, about a dozen succeed, some try it and quit) each year. If you’re headed for the state unis I guess there are some major arguments to support that; I’ve counseled both my kids not to. Mine are young juniors, especially D16 (they’re summer babies) and are really not ready to be adults any sooner than strictly necessary.</p>
<p>We had assumed S16 had been taken out of the running for Val/Sal after last semester, but when we had our appointment with the GC she said he was ranked second (after the Early College kids were pulled from the list). Unfortunately she said that in front of him so we’re off to the races again. I liked it better when he was a solid 5th-- less stress, yeah? D16 is ranked around 20th (still top 10% but back in the pack) and she just kind of does what she pleases. </p>
<p>@critter welcome back. Thank you for a very helpful information.</p>
<p>Wow! This thread had taken off! I want to thank everyone for all of the great information. @critter welcome back!</p>
<p>I hope the stress is held to a minimum this year, by my daughter stresses too. She is taking APUSH. We mananged to visit 2 of her safeties, a match school and a reach (high reach) this summer. We are southern, but she is looking in the midwest too. </p>
<p>Where is everyone located?</p>
<p>Gulf coast South. I will breathe easy when hurricane season is done.</p>
<p>I’m in VA.</p>
<p>@critter Welcome Back!</p>
<p>Snapshots from a recent college campus visit: Hmm. It’s move-in day. Everyone here looks really, um, buff. Within the piles of dorm gear dumped from SUVs on the sidewalks in front of dorms: a clutch of fishing poles, flats of Gatorade and boxes of cartons of protein drinks, a box lid filled with Bell jars of canned produce (is that pickled okra?!). — Later we learn it’s "<em>athlete</em> move-in day - mainly the football players.</p>