@BusyNapping , This morning, I woke up earlier than usual and couldn’t go back to sleep thinking, “I should’ve registered for subject tests for my D tomorrow rather than SAT I. It makes more sense that she takes them in the middle of AP exams. Darn. By June test date, she might forget all the study contents! Oh darn oh darn.”
I thought I would be over worrying and waking up early over the college issue after D13’s admission cycle. I’m doing the same thing all over again…
The boy came home yesterday after the AP Calc test and promptly fell asleep while studying. We are all looking forward to the end of testing.
On another note, I was reading a blog on insidehighered about marketing the college experience. I found this interesting:
My DS had a long day - AP US History with extra time accommodation - tired but thought it mostly went ok. Only taking Math 2 subject test in June. Can’t see a compelling reason to take SAT subject test in history - are your kids doing it? 1 more AP to go - AP Lang. But state tests too in June – no light at the end of the tunnel yet.
Spykid will be taking Math ll, US History and something else, but I can’t remember what. He’s only taking the SAT subject tests to qualify for one of the reach schools on his list.
Test requirements are different in the college’s website and what the admission rep said during the college tour. Oh well, I paid for the test already, so I will have my D take them anyway. I won’t tell her that she might not need subject tests anymore. It’s a secret.
I feel good for having DS signed up for Math II Subject test in December (I paid the late fee as I realized it late,) and he is at least done with Math II.
Patting myself on the back :))
I’m not sure if DS will pass APUSH test. Should have saved $ and not take it. Oh, well.
He is not taking History Subject test obviously.
Now, about the Chemistry test, True True CE (Correct Explanation), they are tricky…
thanks – I hope no schools require English/Social studies SAT Subject tests. Know of any?? I do see that CMU wants Physics and many want Math 2. @payn4ward – nice to get it done in December (yes – pat your back on that one） but at least with June the AP craziness is over and some classes are easing up a bit so hopefully it will be ok.
@Agentninetynine I agree with the quote. I think a lot of success in life comes from individual differences that are not so easily classified as where one went to school. The high achieving, high energy, internally motivated top 1% kid isn’t going to turn into a sluggard b/c they attend a lower ranked school. Drive counts for a LOT.
I’m glad my son is not taking any AP this year. 2 for next year though, in subjects that interest him. He is so busy right now with school work, lacrosse 6 days a week, started studying again for the act,tutoring, refereeing for soccer games on Saturdays etc, that he’d have no time to study for the AP tests. We talked about this last year before figuring his schedule out, and I’m glad it worked out. The only AP classes he could take this year were some subjects he didn’t care enough about, so he just took the honors level versions. Seemed to go OK. He’s been able to keep his grades up and he is not super stressed out, just busy. I think the AP’s would’ve done him in. I think he’s looking forward to the end of the school year and some relaxation time.
For the summer, he’s playing more lax with his travel club team, and playing in a high school summer soccer league.
No work, he does that spring and fall. But I’m going to have him take a class to learn to create digital apps at a local adult learning center. He’s sort of interested in digital media and marketing. Understanding the app store and how it works might be helpful.
Good luck to all of your kids during this challenge few weeks!
Note to myself:
Schedule for AP exams in 2017 is out.
I put them in my google Calendar. None of DS17’s are on the same day. (Lit, Physics C, Psych) Yoohoo! Planning ahead :))
I don’t think DS needs/wants AP Lit, but the school is small and there is no other choice. (and there is the GPA hit issue if not taken 
)
@payn4ward, Are you already talking about 2017 and 2018?? You inspired me. I checked the 2017 AP test dates and about to write down in my notebook when I realized my schedule book doesn’t go that far. I use the one made out of paper, not an electronic one.
I can’t say I agree with that statement. I concur that there are many many schools that are comparable to what any given student is looking for. However, i cannot agree that they would fare “equally as well” regardless of culture and location. You put a LGBTQ teen at a conservative school, a very conservative child at a LAC, an introvert at a flagship where they are just a number…that’s a recipe for disaster and poor graduation rates. Could they survive? Probably. I would disagree that those things do not “reliably” enrich the learning experience. If you are unhappy, feel out of place, isolated, alone or actively disliked with no peers generally, most kids don’t just embrace academics alone and not care about the rest of it. Some will, not most. I strongly believe that my success in college as well as my SD’s to date is very much tied to location and culture. It is perhaps more important to some, I don’t know that it matters to S19 for example but as a broad stroke statement, I don’t agree. S17 would shut down in the wrong environment, or worse, quit. At the end of the day, to me, you are learning more than just academics in those 4 years.
Where I think kids and parents go wrong is getting too hung up on a certain set of schools that fit their culture and location requirements and not expanding their horizons to find alternatives that meet those needs…without the anxiety and debt.
@payn4ward that’s hysterical that you entered 2017 already. Not a bad idea though, might have to copy it.
I really need to look at these subject tests for S19. I don’t see S17 needing a single one at this point but really need to dot my “i’s” on that one as well. Neither of th older kids took any (or AP tests lol) so the concept is very foreign!
oh well, 0 for 5 for essay writing! DS applied for 4 summer programs and one scholarship. All competitive to super competitive. I guess have to reserve summer for essay prep.
@eandesmom I agree with your point about major cultural issues. My DD would not fit in on certain campuses.
I read it more along the lines of kids believing that only a small handful of schools could possibly fit their needs and goals vs the truth that there are probably numerous schools that can if they let go of certain names.
My daughter just submitted her application for Muhlenberg’s Brain Camp last night—curious if anyone else here has a kid applying to it.
If she gets in, her summer schedule will be: Get off school; that night start a 3-day retreat with her church group; less than a week of rest followed by a couple weeks of drivers ed classes; a two-day hike in the Chugach Mountains with some friends; the first of hopefully one driving tests to get her license; two weeks of being the one in charge during the day while my wife’s at work and I take one of her younger sisters on a trip to Germany (it’s partially a work trip for me, the child is in a German immersion program, and thus tagging along); a one-week camping trip in the Chugach Mountains (again) with a church group, with her as one of the co-organizers; if she gets into Brain Camp it will be this week; four days to relax; a trip with the entire family to the Lower 48 for about a month; a week and a half to relax; school starts.
I expect that at some point I’m going to have to turn to her and say, “You do realize you did most of this overprogramming to yourself, right?”
(At least some of it’s fun overprogramming—she likes the hiking and camping and such, and it recharges her, so there’s that.)
@dfbdfb - Good luck to your D. My son’s schedule is all open since he didn’t get into any summer programs he tried. Time to try local labs and volunteering opportunities, relax and focus on college essays,
@Mom2aphysicsgeek I believe that was the writers intent and I do not disagree with that at all. However they made it far too broad and really discounts culture as a valid influencer and even for the ivy kids…culture matters…it is just that there are others that could deliver it if they’d let go. The writer seemed to focus only on the academic enrichment and discount everything else in the college experience.
If that is true…we can all just go digital and take all coursework online. Heck, I could make my kids work at Starbucks and do their degrees online at ASU, for free. I know kids doing it. I cannot image that as a college experience. Does that mean theirs is less or more? Or just theirs 
@srk2017 I am sorry, that stinks!
@BusyNapping - I have not read all the way through yet, so someone else may have mentioned this…but, if your D truly feels she is unprepared and she does not need to take SAT I on the June test date, she could just sit for tomorrow’s exam and use it as a practice. She has until Wed at midnight (used to be the rule…confirm) to cancel the score. She will never learn her score, but it also won’t appear on her score report.
This is only an issue if she will be applying to any of the schools that require all testing history. Off the top of my head, and not an all-inclusive list: CMU, Cornell, Stanford, Yale, Georgetown, and I think Penn. If not applying to those schools, then take the test, and if unhappy with score, sit for it again in June. My son fears that he will forget all the material.
He just learned today that the USH teachers all plan to administer the final exam in school this Wed & Thurs. I have no idea why, unless they are convinced the students will forget the material. Last day of classes is June 8th so I do not know what they will do for the next month. This is a class of all Jrs, unlike Calc & Physics where the Srs will depart for internships after this week.
Sorry about the negative news @srk2017
@srk2017 Sorry for the 0/5.
We are 0/1 
It was a local unpaid/service STEM job, but I guess those are competitive too.