Another 15/18 here. My d15 is in the home stretch, but hasn’t made a decision yet. D18 is a different kid from her sister–a good student, but very social, likes sports and parties and has no interest in the small LACs that d15 is choosing from. It will be interesting to see where she ends up–but I’m taking a break from all this for awhile as soon as d15 decides where she’s going!
@LMHS73 Thank you, thank you, thank you for that! Some days… I really worry about him. We just had another “Hey, it’s the end of the quarter …turn in of 9 weeks of missing homework and classwork” party . But this time, it was only two of his eight classes. 
I posted this on another thread earlier today. I thought I’d share with my new family as well. It’s about an experience I had with S15 over scholarship applications.
Those of you with kids that qualify as “bright slackers” will appreciate this one:
Several months ago when we were all waiting for NMF results, I noticed all of these scholarships from different organizations and companies – some for $500, $1,000, $5,000, etc. So I told my son that he should put in for some of them & his response was that it was too hard – “dad, they want transcripts, essays, blah, blah.” Like many others of his kind, DS is innately intelligent, but his organizational skills are just not there yet, his writing skills are a bit weak, and his motivation to do any kind of work is lacking.
Then we have the same old talk about how he needs to show some interest in this stuff, how college is expensive, blah, blah, and I basically made him do the essays and answer the questions for a bunch of these scholarships. To his credit, he did these tasks without too much resistance – guess he knew he wouldn’t win that fight. I then did all of the administrative stuff & told him when to pick-up transcripts from school or when to get a teacher recommendation, etc. I edited his work, put together the packages, and mailed them out. Same old story – I probably did 80% of the work.
Last night at dinner, we opened two letters addressed to him. One said he was a finalist for a $1,000 scholarship and that we needed to send-in a couple more bits of information. The other said he has been awarded a $5,000 scholarship that will be mailed to him in August. He looked at me and said, “we did it dad,” “can I buy a laptop?”
I congratulated him and told him that I was proud of him, and silently rolled my eyes…….
Congrats to your S’15 LMHS73.
AP mocks are under way. 2018 Son is feeling a bit overwhelmed. 2015 Daughter is helping him by talking him through it. I will miss this same-building collaboration.
@HeliMom74 my S18 only has one AP exam this year and his sister D16 is helping him too she is also molding how to handle prepping for 6 AP exams! I love the cooperation between them and I know S18 will do the same for S20 when he gets there:-) It’s great watching the kids work together!
I’m thinking of sending both sons to Texas Tech for a week long computer camp, I think they’d enjoy the camp but I also want to get them started thinking about different colleges but not in an official college visit kind of way.
Based on what I’ve been learn with my daughter I’m starting a college list for the boys now based on potential merit and what we can afford and will encourage them to to add to the list with their own choices as they get older. I think it helps to have a starting place.
No APs for our DD18. Summer is just a few weeks away! She has a job set up and she has an extensive reading list for sophomore year.
@LMHS73, so funny! I was debating whether I should do those work or should have my DD’18 do the research, I learned that she has absolutely no interests of finding money nor joining any contests. I did many research on some simple scholarship application for small amount… I guess I need to accept the fact to take the administration role if I want to see the result and fund her college. Thanks for sharing!
@3scoutsmom, your son prep for 1AP already? Wow! My first kid DD’18’s high school doesn’t offer any AP class for freshman, and we heard some students were preparing from AP on their own through outside institution. With 6 periods schedule, and being in school golf team on 6th period, she can’t take 0 or 7th period class. That means she will only have 5-class choices per year that include foreign language, English, math, science and History! I don’t know if any of patents are considering taking AP classes outside high school? What will be the Pros or Cons for this approach?
@3scoutsmom, I agree on the early planning part. 2015 Daughter’s college saga has taught me much. Poor first kid, they’re always the beta!
Hahaha, @HeliMom74, I tried all things to motivate my DD1 '18 to set goals, to keep good grades, and my DD2 '20 and DS '22 are taking easy and watching how their sister is doing with different course, activities, ECs, etc., even my DD1 told them it’s hard to be the first kid cause parents have no idea if their methods work or not, set high expectation but worry about giving her pressures… So hard… Some of her classmates already signed up for private college counseling services getting ready for college application! I just can’t believe time flies so fast and my baby is not ready (or I think my baby is not ready) to grow up yet!
WOW, college counselors for HS freshmen? To each her own, I suppose. 2015 daughter did well even without ever utilizing a private counselor, but everybody’s mileage varies. That’s a lot of pressure to put on a 14-15-year-old kid, though.
2018 son is alike enough and different enough from his sister that I don’t think I’ll be able to predict his college search path. Probably the best lesson I learned from 2015 kid I can apply to 2018 kid: taking the SAT and Math 2 SAT II after sophomore year, when the math is the freshest in his mind. For 2015 kid, she was too far removed from that math when she took the Math 2 SAT II in the fall of her senior year. She’d forgotten most of it. 2015 kid will take it earlier.
Ditto on the advice to take the Math 2 SAT II early. Same is true for whatever subject test applies if an AP class is taken in 10th grade. They’ll be most ready at that point.
We didn’t use a private college counselor for S’13, but as HeliMom74 said, “to each their own.” I’m thinking S’18 doesn’t need to be pushed along too hard or too early, but we can give him an appropriate nudge when called for at this early stage.
Another thing I will encourage for 2018 son: not falling into the trap of thinking he must be a member of dozens of clubs and organizations; rather, to become an enthusiastic member of a few clubs and organizations about which he cares deeply. And to shoot for a leadership role in those clubs. Not simply to check a box on a form, but to help enrich his HS years and to give him great experiences.
Anyone have a kiddo thinking of taking the new AP Capstone seminar and research program? Our school will start offering this program 2016/2017. It looks interesting but it also looks like a lot of work, I wonder what colleges will think of it? https://lp.collegeboard.org/ap-capstone
My S’18 is signed up to take AP Capstone starting next year in 10th grade. It’s the first year of it being offered at his school, so I expect there may be a learning curve for the teachers and school as well. I think it looks interesting and, if executed well, could provide significant research experience and, perhaps less importantly, a variety of subject material for college essays. The kids may find they really like learning in a very different way than is typical in HS classrooms.
@dadotwoboys please keep us updated on how this works out for your son. It sounds like it could be a very could program and I’d love to hear about the details as you S’18 goes through the program.
My D18 is also taking the AP Capstone program starting in 10th grade next year. She was very excited to sign-up for it and, from what I read about it, it sounds like it could be a really beneficial program.
@LMHS73 that’s good to hear! Can you also post updates throughout the year? Our school is starting a year late but S will have have 4+ AP’s done by 11th grade and then be able to take the seminar and research classes in 11th and 12th grade.
@3scoutsmom, I’ll try to remember to post D’s experience in the program at the end of the 1st quarter of next school year. By then, I’m sure we’ll both understand the program a little better and we’ll be better able to give an assessment of how things are going. If you don’t hear anything - remind me!