Parents of the HS Class of 2017 (Part 1)

Parents Forum Class of 20xx Community
1841

I am with an opinion that no one should pay or incur debt for PhD program.
For professional degrees like medicine, law, etc, you are expected to earn money afterwards (not always true) and the degree is a license to an occupation so it justifies the cost.
PhD is just another degree like BS and is not a license toward an occupation. Years of low income (okay, not so high) post graduation is expected so why add insult to injury?
For STEM/Economics PhD degrees, there were plenty of fellowships and assistantships (teaching and research) during my neolithic times, I do not know anyone who paid tuition or not received stipend.

Am I out of reach?

1842

@mtrosemom He would consider a small lac on the east coast I think. He would thrive in a small place like that. The confusion for me on the schools with full ride merit scholarships is whether it is smarter to decide on one and pursue it or to apply to several and pursue them all (because who knows what you can/will get).

1843

@crazym0m I think people chasing big merit scholarships generally apply to several or even many.

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@payn4ward You are still correct. For PhDs in STEM (not professional degrees), those should all be fully funded through stipends for teaching and research. I wouldnā€™t advise going to a STEM PhD program that isnā€™t fully funded. (Though ā€œfullyā€ still means ā€œliving like a college student.ā€)

Iā€™m also weighing the Gladwell theory in regards to DS. However, he wants to do plenty of undergrad physics research, and that usually means big research universities. Iā€™ve looked at the research done by physics professors at some LACs, and havenā€™t really found programs with a lot of research that would likely appeal to DS. Iā€™ll keep looking.

He also wants to have access to a good CS program for a 2nd major or minor. Thereā€™s a good thread where ucbalumnus has assembled lists of CS classes at LACs, so that helps to identify some STEMy LACs.

1845

@2muchquan LOL! With our oldest ds, his girlfriend definitely did acct for his #1 EC. She is now a wonderful d-i-l, so I guess she was his favorite interest. :wink:

1846

D applied to as many as she heard about or could get nominated for.

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@crazym0m Apply to several. The national/international competition for top awards is crazy competitive. You canā€™t think about what your student has accomplished compared to any other student you know. You have to think in terms of every top high achieving student out there. Unless scholarships are guaranteed, there is not guarantee.

1848

@Ynotgo If the courses he wants donā€™t work out, would Stanfordā€™s Online High School be an option? They have plenty of advanced options. https://ohs.stanford.edu/academics/courses

1849

@Mom2aphysicsgeek Heā€™s doing fine in the online multivariable class, but heā€™s realized that he doesnā€™t really like online classes. Iā€™m sure OHS would be more interactive, but heā€™s decided that he prefers in-person classes.

There arenā€™t any video lectures by the professor, though there are links to Khan Academy style videos. The professor will post solved problems from the homework if people ask about particular ones, but thatā€™s pretty much all there is in the discussion group. His work consists mainly of reading and understanding a section of the book, doing the homework problems, and entering answers in the online system. The online system is pretty unforgiving; no partial credit for things you might get partial credit for in a real class.

Iā€™ve looked into OHS and OHSX before, but they are difficult to get information about (like class times) and the lead time for signing up seemed very long. For this year, it wouldnā€™t have worked, because he needs 3 years of math on his HS transcript just to graduate, and they wonā€™t put OHS classes on his transcript.

1850

Like Mom2aphysicsgeek, I am homeschooling my D. Unlike her, my older kids attended private high schools.

My son took as many APs as he was allowed toā€”4 in junior year and 5 in senior year. He had to take those classes because they were either the next in a progression or were the only options for a student in the highest phase. His extracurriculars consisted of bands (marching, concert, jazz) and Boy Scouts (Eagle on the day before his 18th birthday). He only applied to 3 or 4 colleges and graduated in computer science this May. Heā€™s now working for a major social media company in Silicon Valley.

Older dd had a few more options at her school because she was/is not STEM. She was able to take two post-AP classes (child psych and critical & creative writing) in addition to the 4 APs she took. I vetoed AP Calc because, while she could handle it, I was afraid she would stress too much. She chased merit money, applying to 7 (?) colleges. Sheā€™s a junior majoring in English and French.

Right now younger dd does AP English Lang online and takes Arabic at UDelaware. Everything else this year is with meā€”AP Cal AB, AP Psych, AP Environmental, AP Comparative Government, and biology. She chose her schedule, though I insisted on either AP Lang or AP Lit and the biology.

Sheā€™s trying to figure out what she wants to study next year. Contenders include more Arabic at UD, a second language at UD, AP US Government, post-AP English with the same online provider, geology or astronomy (her favorite sciencesā€”weā€™ve done lots over the years), stats or more calculus (stats makes more sense to me but she wrinkles her nose ar the idea), AP Macro or Micro. It all depends on what she does this summer.

D does not want to attend a super-selective school. She wants the smaller school-within-a-school feeling, not being surrounded by hyper-focused people all the time. She does not want anything smaller than 5000 students. She is definitely chasing merit money so that the amount we will contribute could go toward multiple study abroad opportunities. Sheā€™s thinking International Relations/Studies with Arabic and either Russian, Chinese, or another critical language and an emphasis on security studies. That emphasis might change if she finds economics to be interesting :slight_smile:

I want her to apply to several schools early. Waiting until March just stinks.

My question*

Is anyoneā€™s kid considering a gap year?

D wants to apply to NSLI-Y and Kennedy-Lugar YES for their 2017-2018 year abroad programs. Part of our college consideration criteria (that sounds funny) is how the school treats deferrals for gap years, whether admissions and/or merit decisions are maintained for the following year. Advance planning is necessary because NSLI year and YES finalists arenā€™t announced until March and April, and the students are only given 2 weeks to accept or decline.

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@WhereIsMyKindle Have you looked at USC? The one in S. Carolina? International Relations is strong. Good honors program. Study abroad. Decent merit.

Not sure how they would treat the gap year.

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@ynotgo. Well, that makes it more difficult. I hope he gets into the program. One word of caution, though, Imwould check the pre-reqs for the courses he is looking at. I would be surprised if he can take circuits without having completed at least 1, if not both, semesters of cal-based physics. That might influence his AP choices.

Another fwiw, make sure he inquires about how much direct research UGs get to participate in. At one top school, when ds met with the dean of the dept, he was told he already had more direct research than most of their UGs. (He attended SSP and did research with profs at the local university which does not have a grad program (their physics dept exists as support for their engineering program). That info immediately removed that school from his list.

Ds loves research. He lives and breathes it. He has been doing non-stop research since Jan of his freshman yr. REUs are a great source (ds will be doing that this summer), but during the academic yr is important as well.

Does he need merit $$? If he does, I might have a suggestion.

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Does anyone know anything about the UT Southwestern Summer Stars Research program? D had wanted to apply but did not because application specifics say it is for URM, low socioeconomic status, etc. And now she has found out that someone from her school is a finalistā€¦and absolutely none of those things. Would love to hear more about the program and if those characteristics are what they are looking for, etc??

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Great advice @eandesmom. Hope you are right! Thanks! (Part of my issue is how much I really enjoy S17ā€™s company - most of the time! - so I will be very sad if he goes so far away that we will only see him maybe once during the school year!) Fingers crossed you are right!

1855

My gosh, busy day todayā€¦

Re AP: my D will have taken 13 and she has driven the bus on that topic. She wants to be in the top of her class (800 or so kids) and usually the top 30 kids are all neck and neck. Some kids even take online summer courses from the local college just to bump up their gpa. Luckily my D doesnā€™t feel that much pressure to do that and she still has lots of time for her varsity cheer which is practically all year. She gets a 3 month break from February-April and she now doesnā€™t know what to do with all of her free time. She realizes it keeps her focused to have more activities and school work. I told her to use the time to prep for the ACT so hopefully she will listen.

No conferences at our high school. They have an open house where parents follow the kids schedule for 2 hours, but thatā€™s at the beginning of the year. Iā€™ll just ask my D which teachers she really liked and liked her and hopefully they will give a solid LOR.

No gap year for my kid.

ā€¦my questionā€¦

What are your kids planning to do this last summer?
We are still trying to figure it out. Besides volunteering at the local hospital, I feel she needs to have something strong to help her stand out. She school she wants to apply ED to is very selective and she needs to catch their attention. Perfect scores and grades arenā€™t enough. Itā€™s so hard for these kidsā€¦they are special and they work so hardā€¦I hope the schools see it too.

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@greeny8 Re: summer, D has an internship lined up in the Genetics Dept. at a local childrenā€™s hospital. She did this last year, and enjoyed it. No research, but she gets to shadow and sit in on grand rounds when cases are discussed, and do a bunch of paperwork. Besides that, it will be essays and college visits :slight_smile:

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@ynotgo @Mom2aphysicsgeek Okay - thanks for the input - looks like his spreadsheet is about to get a lot more complicated with merit scholarship possibilitiesā€¦ not to mention the number of essays etc. he must write!

Re; gap - s is not interested in a gap unless he goes to Princeton - then he really wants to do their summer bridge program - Iā€™m not even thinking about that - we have so far to go before getting there

Re: summer - he has applied to two summer science programs (RSI and Jackson Laboratory) but I think we assume he will get neither because of their selectivity so he is planning to do research with a local university cognitive psychologist this summer with the hopes of producing a finished product i.e. research paper.

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@Ynotgo While chatting with a friend who is a renowned physics faculty at an Ivy, I mentioned LAC for my S. He did not recommend LAC for physics undergrad. Well, the grad/undergrad students he is used to seeing take many advanced classes as undergrads (many graduate classes) and come with many research experiences under belt. Those classes and lab projects are not available in LACs due to size. He did say, maybeā€¦ Harvey Mudd.
(I laugh because if one can get into Harvey Mudd, he/she can get into any other highly selective research universities.)
UIUC or UT undergrad physics is preferable to LAC physics in his opinion (if one plans PhD.)

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@morningside95 I feel your pain there. It hit me hard yesterday that there is only one school on S17ā€™s list in our state and then a few more that are within a relatively easy drive. 2 out of the top 3 will definitely limit how often we see him and that will be really, really hard on me. He is my great communicator and oh, I will miss that on a daily basis.

1860

@greeny8 My D is applying to several summer programs to explore a few more possible career paths. We assume she will get at least one as they arenā€™t all super competitive. Other than that, we are foregoing summer vacation this year (will do a Christmas one instead), so that she can spend the rest of the summer working on her college apps. She will also work some. It will be busy busy, Iā€™m sure.