@2muchquan - You are correct, lot of students from other schools take Calc BC exam only and it does have AB sub score, His teacher encourages them to take both the tests. They don’t have AP Calc BC class, but IB Math HL. AP calc AB is a class usually most take during sophomore year and IB classes in junior and senior years.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek Are the other kids in non-biology STEM fields? It seems like there should be lots of summer opportunities in CS and engineering.
The physics professor that DS does research for says he can pay DS a fellowship this summer if DS doesn’t get into either of the summer programs he applied for. So, he has a good backup plan. He would have done research in that lab as his backup plan anyway, but getting paid would be a nice bonus. Anyway, if a few professors can pay high school students, you’d think there would be lots more opportunities for undergrads, even undergrads in their first couple years. (Though DS’s professor generally seems to tell physics undergrads who don’t have any programming experience to go take the CS intro course and then come back to see about working for him. DS sometimes gets assigned to give tours of the lab to prospective undergrads who want to work in the lab, so he sees these emails.)
Re: Calc AB/BC, schools do handle it differently, but I also agree that it is odd to take both when the BC class (roughly equivalent to college Calc I and II) includes the AB material and the AP test has an AB subscore. My D is taking BC right now and will take Calc III next year at the local community college since she has now run out of math at her school. They spent the first semester covering the AB material. Then they moved on to the BC material, and they’re done and just reviewing for the AP test. D is very stressed right now with lots of projects and 7 AP tests to prepare for, but she’ll have a month after that of mostly free time until school ends.
D reads for pleasure regularly, but, don’t laugh, its fan fiction. I wish she’d read something else.
Full spectrum of majors. Fwiw, I completely agree with you. Our oldest was recruited by professors for working for them for the summer on their projects. Ds had no problem last summer, either. I think the fact that they both perform in the top of their dept helps. That was my Gladwell comment.
@brindlegreyhound glad she liked both Seattle U and UW. I agree with the comments on UW, you need to get involved in something as a freshman or it can be a lonely place even if you live on campus. It’s just huge and some of the class sizes are insane, you might never see the same person twice. Greek isn’t for everyone but it works really well for some. Seattle U is urban but self contained at the same time.
@2muchquan, @srk2017 Our school falls into the “must take A/B first” category. A/B and then B/C. Which means depending on the math track at our school, very very few kids take B/C unless they were in a higher track contained program in elementary or they doubled up.
Our school requires you to take the AP test if you are enrolled in the class so S17 will have AP Lang and AP Physics and a UW pre-calc test for college credit there and then the June ACT.
S17 doesn’t read for pleasure anymore but S19 definitely still does. I hope that lasts.
That’s interesting. Our HS (large public) seems to be ‘either/or’: AB or BC. My daughter is taking BC, never took AB. She will take MV next year, luckily it is offered by our HS.
I don’t know how these admission officers can keep all this stuff straight!
@itsgettingreal17 I don’t even know what ‘fan fiction’ is, but I feel if they are reading, it’s all good. My D20 is into every dystopian novel on the shelf. My D17 is all over the board…not really sure what she likes to read, besides Dr. Seuss. :(|)
DS17 and DD21 both read some fan fiction, DD21 more than DS. DD even writes some. DS has read most of the classic dystopian novels along with more recent YA dystopian stuff.
Fan fiction is like riffing on a world created by an established author or TV show. A lot of it ends up R or beyond rated with pairing between characters not supported by the original (Kirk+Spock, for example). DS tried to get me to read “Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality” where Harry is a smart kid who uses science, technology, philosophy, and knowledge of Latin to defeat the same villains. However, it seemed to be about the same length as the HP series itself, so I wasn’t up for that–too busy reading all the Game of Thrones books. (Eeek, I can imagine what the fan fiction for GoT is like; don’t want to look.)
Right now older D is in AP Calc AB. They just told her she won’t be allowed to take AP Calc BC her senior year because she has to have a 94 average or better to take BC. She has an 87 average.
This seems like total bull puckey to me and I was all ready to go to town on it, but she said she’d rather take AP Statistics next year, anyway, so I’m simmering down and quietly grumbling at the ridiculousness of it all, especially since her Calc teacher told her “anything over an 84 and you’re fine”, and then the admin says “no, no, 94 or better”.
Whatever. We’re sort of over it at this point. Her senior BF says he can do stats in his sleep, and he’s not a mathy kid, so I think it’ll be a less stressful class for D, but it goes against all the battling I’ve had to do EVERY year to keep D in high math classes (oh she’s such a nice young lady, why put her through all those boring math classes? GAAAAAHHHH!)
Books for fun-they only have time over the summer.
Hey, is this the support group for “Parents with Grumping, Sleep Deprived, and Academic Overachieving Juniors”? If it is, I’m grabbing a donut (got one with sprinkles?), coffee and pulling up a chair. ~O)
@MotherOfDragons I think that’s a healthy attitude. I tried to talk my D into AP Stats instead of MV, and I had her hooked up until the day of class selection, when she switched back to multi-variable. She likes that stuff, so I didn’t attempt to dissuade her anymore, but I think Stats is so darn useful. I have also heard that some kids are Stats kids, and some aren’t, so hopefully she’ll find it as easy as her BF. I wouldn’t let her assume it’s a given, however. I had a horrible time with it in college, and I’m a math person.
Welcome, @Gator88NE. We (ok, I) can always use another parent with some experience!
I will say, though, I wish I could get as much sleep as D! I hate to go to bed before her, even though I can’t help at all with her homework. She sometimes just reads me stuff, and I nod my head and smile.
Hi all so much to catch up on! We just finished our Duke and UNC tours. I found no info for pre med and mcat or much else for that matter. (Except that they said 90% get Into med school) My D loved Duke and the campus was beautiful. We didnt see the freshman campus as we were pressed for time after the tour and we had to leave, but everything else was great. UNC started off quite rocky with getting to the information session. They checked us in and pointed out the door to go to an auditorium. No signs, there were people not knowing where to go and it ended up taking 20 minutes to find it. Quite frustrating. By the end of the session my D wanted to leave. So since we walked around for 20 minutes prior we left and walked into the cute town and had lunch. I’ll read all posts when I have more time. Sorry I’m not much help
@Mom2aphysicsgeek , Thank you for sharing your DD and her boyfriend’s experience with Mega Bus. I cannot believe an hour to two hours delays happen frequently. We did check out the drop off point in NYC. We were going to take the nearby subway to our hotel.
I will discuss it further with my DD tonight. Thanks!
@brindlegreyhound , I was wondering when to arrive at the airport. Thank you for telling us about the long security check point. I will change the shuttle service pickup time accordingly.
Too bad you missed the Seattle U’s campus tour, but I’m glad your DD liked Seattle!!
@greeny8 Sorry your UNC tour turned out that way. Will post here once we tour those universities
@greeny8 I am so sorry!! I hate those kinds of tours. Makes me mad b/c you wasted your time and $$. A similar situation happened to us on a NCSU tour. We drove their specifically to meet with the physics dept. Our tour guide couldn’t even tell us what building we should go to for the general meeting before our meeting with the dean. We went where she thought we needed to be.
Inside of the building where we were directed, I asked someone at a desk who was no help. A gentleman walked by while I was asking her if she could please try to find out and he offered to help. Turned out he was the registrar and he took us on our own private tour of campus and drove us directly to the dept. 
Nice turn of events, but I would have been fuming if he hadn’t intervened.
@MotherOfDragons as long as D is happy with it, I’d leave it alone too but I find that number absolutely ridiculous and would throw a fit. I can respect not setting up kids for failure but 94? Give me a break. There’s an agenda of some sort there for sure.
My ds is required to complete Calc A/B before B/C - seems silly to me but it is a requirement - he took AP Statistics last year and absolutely loved it. My dd14 took Calc A/B as a senior and seriously regretted that she didn’t take AP Stats as well once she got to college and realized that she needed stats so much more for her major than Calc.
My ds is taking 5 AP tests this year - AP Lang, APUSH, AP Calc A/B, AP Biology & AP Micro - his school requires the test if you take the class.
Has anyone toured Baylor? Thinking about adding that to ds’ college list - he’s required to find at least one place that will give him tuition based on merit and this might just be that place.
My ds loves to read and tries to sneak in several books over his Christmas, Summer, and Spring break holidays. He was horrified when he began this semester’s English class (they take semester literature classes - not a year long class) that most of the kids in his class hadn’t read a book “for fun” since middle school Harry Potter days. I think this is a reflection of all the required reading in the summer more than the fact that kids don’t want to read. When you have to read a history, science and English required book, most kids don’t make the time for fun reading. Shame.
Regarding the summer research thing - I wonder if some of that is expectations of the kids or even perhaps their unwillingness to look very hard. My son fairly easily found a research position at a local university through one of the department chairs. He just read a bunch of her scholarly articles, contacted her, and set up a meeting. Maybe some of these kids are just expecting people to come looking for them? Initiative is a very attractive characteristic…
My D’s school offers the option of AP Calc AB/BC as a double block. They take Calc for two periods, usually 1st and 2nd, all year and cover the material of both classes then take the AP Calc BC test in May. This is the preferred method, and the one my D is taking next year, mainly because the teacher is better and students like the pacing.
DD reads for pleasure on her phone! I caught her doing that a couple of times!! The fonts are too small!! Last night she went to volunteer for a presidential champaign, and had the distinct pleasure of being the only volunteer who can’t vote yet! This is one activity that she wants to do, but probably will not put on college application, as she said the country is so fractured…and putting that on her application may hurt her chances. She wants to do econ/ pol Sci.
Stat didn’t come easy for DD first, she had low A at the beginning, then she somehow figured out and had maintained over 100.