@RoonilWazlib99 that’s the biggest benefit I think - lots of room for classes. Also, if you’re on a full block schedule, you only have homework in a max of 4 classes per night! My D says the days go by pretty fast, too.
@rhandco I wouldn’t put too much stock into my daughter’s schedule! She goes to the #2 public school in our state, but it’s a state with a historically low (212?) cut-off for NMSC. She’s just doing the best she can with what she has.
For anyone who didn’t use an alternate email address for the PSAT, it’s not too late. Last year I didn’t know either when D took it and we went in after she started getting bombarded, set up a new email (that we both have access to), and then logged on to her College Board account and changed the email address they have for her. It’s not an immediate effect, but it gradually switches over and I think she hasn’t gotten anything to her “real” email since last spring.
@3scoutsmom - so funny about the mail. I was thinking, wow! That’s a lot of college mail in the past few days and then I went to the mailbox just now . . . Guess what was in there?
Yup - tons of college mail, including RIT and Washington and Lee! Also got Washington University in St. Louis and yet another Johns Hopkins. They have been the most persistent. I think this is the fifth or sixth thing from them he has gotten through regular mail. I didn’t ask him if they have sent email to him, but I have to assume yes.
I do wonder what criteria the different schools send to College Board when they buy their lists - what the cut offs are, what ethnicities they ask for, etc. So curious how this whole process works behind the scenes.
I worked in admissions for four years in college, but it has changed so much since then!
Another free summer program! This one is just for 16-18 year-old girls. One is for those from the west coast and the other is for anyone of that age that is a girl.
I hope everyone on the east coast is staying safe and warm through this blizzard. We are at nearly 30 inches of snow and still counting. DD’s birthday celebration was supposed to be tonight but we rescheduled for next Saturday instead. She didn’t want a big party, so just dinner with some of her friends. We are making it a little bit more special by hiring a limo to take them to dinner and then afterwards to see the DC monuments at night with stops for photos. Hopefully some of the snow will melt by next Saturday!
@2014novamom We sure stayed! The roads were/are a mess though. At least it’s finally over!
@2014novamom yup, we got 32 inches and are pretty much stuck here since no plow in site yet. But it’s a nice weekend because our S16 and D18 just finished their semester exams last Thursday, so no homework or studying until they go back - which we found out today won’t be until at least Wednesday. Our biggest concern right now is running out of food with 2 teens in the house :). Hope your DD has a wonderful birthday celebration next weekend!
DS18 has to turn in is class request list for next year today. I think he’s bitten off more than he can handle but he’s sure this is what he wants. Now to find out his GC will approve it!
Chinese 3 Pre AP
Physics C AP
English III AP
Psychology AP
CAL BC AP
Comp Sci independent study 1
Chemistry Pre AP
DE U.S. History (fall 2016) HIST 1301 0.5 credit Distance Learning
DE U.S. History (spring 2017) HIST 1302 0.5 credit Distance Learning
@3scoutmom - that does look like a tough schedule! I am sure he wouldn’t have picked it if he didn’t feel up to the task.
He’s definitely challenging himself, 3scoutsmom!
We have the IB info night tonight at our son’s school and then I think they don’t have to submit course requests until the beginning of March.
However, because he is going for the full IB diploma, there’s not too much “up in the air”.
He will definitely take
IB English 11 - required
IB Spanish SL, but he will then go on to take the second year in 12th grade to sit for the HL exam - foreign language is required and he has been taking Spanish so he will do IB Spanish
IB American Studies - required
IB Math SL
Up in the air still is science. He is trying to decide between
IB Physics HL
IB Chemistry HL
Both are two year courses with the final exam at the end of senior year so he needs to make sure the science is what he wants before committing to two years!
Also up in the air is his elective. He is thinking about
IB World Religions SL
IB Film SL
As I mentioned above, he only has six periods in his day so he has to pick carefully!
@labegg He’s smart and driven but I just don’t want to see him burn out. Normal course load at our school is 7 classes, this puts him at 8. I’m very worried that he’ll get behind on the DE US History class. He has EC’s that take up a lot of time. Junior year is the most stressful time. I won’t see him until late tonight because of Scouts but I’m very curious as to what his GC had to say!
@3scoutsmom That is one heck of a schedule your son has got there. I honestly could never dream of doing a course load of that much rigour. I can see why your worried! If you ask me, I would highly recommend he choose only one of those Science classes. I would also take out AP English III as that will involve a lot of outside-of-class book reading and essays and, combined with AP Psychology and the DE U.S. History, a lot of textbook reading. I would try to see if his local community college offered DE U.S. History over the summer. Also, if Comp Sci will be independently studied at home, then I would highly recommend he have an Introduction to Java, regardless of whether it’s studied at home or school.
@3scoutsmom Just a guideline for the classes.
You don’t have to follow it all, just something I’d recommend for your son if I was in his counselor’s shoes.
AP Psychology, DE US History, AP English III - Choose two, preferably AP English III and DE US History
Pre-AP Chemistry, AP Physics C - Choose one.
Everything else seems okay. Junior year is usually a very stressful year for students and is usually the year that students use to get as much out of the way as possible.
Also, I guess, here is my proposed schedule if anyone wants to see it. I’m actually looking into dual-enrollment now for World History II.
Engineering Explorations I/Robotics
AP Economics (A combo of both Microeconomics and Macroeconomics)
AP Chemistry
U.S. and Virginia History
Functions/Trigonometry (Pre-Calculus)
Spanish II
English 12
Feel free to make any comments as you see fit.
Every kid is different. My DS15 did the following his junior year:
AP English
AP Chem
Multivariable Calc/Linear Algebra (did Calc BC as a spohomore)
APUSH
Orchestra
Spanish 2
Math seminar
It was tough but he did well.
My DD18 wants to do the following:
AP English
Biotechnology (2 hrs)
Pre-Calc
APUSH
Band
Spanish 2
I am more worried about this for her than I was for him. APUSH is the biggest question I have. She is in APEuro now and doing fine but APUSH at her school is much tougher. APEuro suggests reading the textbook at home. APUSH requires detailed notes from the textbook every week. DS15 spent 6-8 hours every
Sunday working on that week’s homework so he could keep up with everything else during the week. APUSH results are much better on the AP test than for APEuro in our school.
I told her I wouldn’t give my approval for her schedule until after I saw what her plans for senior year were. She has about 3 weeks until she has to finalize it.
I totally agree with @KSMom1518. Every kid is different and I’m guessing @3scoutsmom has a pretty good idea what S’18 is capable of achieving/handling. Some kids thrive with a challenging course load. Others not so much.
For what it is worth, my older son took 6 AP classes (really 5.5 since one was only a semester long) and French 4 his junior year. Time management was the key.
S’18 is currently signed up for a pretty tough schedule as well, but I have confidence he has chosen courses he wants to take and would be pretty unhappy/bored in classes that weren’t more challenging. He’ll be taking:
AP Calc BC
AP Chem
AP American Studies (which is AP Lang and APUSH put together - counts as 2 courses)
AP Capstone - Research
French 4
Percussion (counts as honors)
He’ll have to stretch his time management muscles to make it all work, particularly during marching band season.
I also think it matters what the student is interested in now and what they think they want to study in college later. There are far fewer AP classes in the fine arts, for example. Students whose interests run in that direction should, rightly, not be loading up on AP classes to impress colleges, but on classes and ECs that further their ambitions. Just my opinion, of course. But I think being able to demonstrate an interest through action counts for a lot.
No APs this year, but DD is signed up for 3 next year. The last two weeks has brought a lot of college mails - after the PSAT 10 reports. (She has finally started doing some practice SAT questions too. We will see how long that lasts.)
My DD just got her semester report on Edline. She got B+ on the two toughest and weighted classes (Chem H & AP World History) and decided that she will not take AP Chem next year cause it’s too hard. I think she was stressed out and lost interests due to hard tests. I’m ok if she wants to completely rule out AP Science subjects but surprisingly she told me that she will try AP Environmental Science next year, as well as taking AP Calc AB, AP US History d AP English literature plus Chinese 3H and play Golf.
@jjkmom - gosh it is time to start thinking about junior year courses isn’t it?