@SammoJ S19 was motivated because fall is so busy for him. Running 60+ miles a week, back from school by 6:00 and homework until 11:30 was common with a good deal of homework on the weekends too. He hardly had any free time in high school and writing solid essays with multiple revisions just wasn’t going to fit. We also hired his English teacher to help him with his essays that summer and he set deadlines for S to get the work done.
We have the exact same plan for D. There’s really just no reason at all to wait until fall to write essays if you’ve got your list set. Supplemental essays are sometimes not confirmed by the school officially until Aug but S19 emailed all AOs in June to ask if the prompts will remain the same as the prior year. It was a good question to ask and showed interest.
In hindsight, he knows it was the best plan because he had only two essays left to write in the fall and he would say those were his weakest essays. He was so exhausted from practice and homework and studying in general. He’s already told D to get those essays done early.
I would just flat out tell kids that writing these essays is their job this summer. Kids and parents underestimate how long it takes to write a good essay.
@inthegarden I hear you! This summer is already shaping up to be a busy one, I don’t know if we’ll be able to sneak in a family vacay in June or not! S21 is going to the out for a band leadership position and if that’s the case than band camp starts in a July for leadership team!!! Our camp schedules are “two-a-days” 6:45 am to 1:00 pm then a break from 1-4:30 (but individual sectionals scheduled during this block) and then back for full band from 5:30 to 9:00. I really am in awe of our band kids!!! Since we start school so early now (Aug 12 this year), they have band camp on Saturdays too.
S21 is going to register for a dual credit class this summer at the community college to knock out either govt or econ, and is also applying for a summer camp at TAMU…between that and his part time job, he’s going to have to work on his essays in June/July and hopefully get them completed before school starts. Apply Texas app opens up July 1. He’s really only applying to Texas public schools, on the fence about a couple of neighboring out of state, so I don’t anticipate a lot of heavy essay writing quantity wise, just concentrating on quality!
I’ve read posts about band camps in TX on CC. They sound like a big deal! How many of these kids end up in college marching bands @Momof3B ? I bet it’s competitive!
@homerdog it’s a huge deal lol…football and marching band is ingrained in the culture here, Friday Night Lights…nothing like it!! Our North Texas school district and it’s Fine Arts Dept is known for being a band powerhouse…one of our high schools marched in the 2018 Pasadena Rose Parade and three of our high schools are consistently taking the top
3 spots at Bands of America competitions.
As far as continuing with marching band in college, a good many from our band program do, off the top of my head I personally know of kids that continued marching band at UT Austin, Iowa State, UTSA, Univ of Arkansas and TAMU.
AP Calc AB
AP Environmental Science
AP French
AP Gov (first semester) and Psychology (second semester)
Honors Writing Seminar (creative non-fiction writing class)
Yearbook
Gym (required all four years)
She feels good about it. Will not be a cake walk. Not taking Physics but our GC says that’s ok. She will have taken four years of lab science (Bio, Chem, Earth Science and then AP Environmental). She doesn’t have to choose a major for any of the schools she’s applying to but most ask for area of interests on their application and none of those will be STEM for her.
@homerdog - thanks for the tip on emailing the admissions office to see if prompts are going to be the same for next year. That’s really helpful - my D is talking about writing her Common App essay over the summer, but I didn’t think she could write any others until the applications came out. Standard English IV and creative writing work on common app essays at the beginning of the year as part of the curriculum, so the kids can get feedback from teachers, etc - but the AP English courses can’t take the time to do that.
My D picked her courses this week too -
AP English Literature
AP Spanish Literature
Multivariable Calculus
Symphonic Band
Physics H
AP Biology
AP Government (1/2 year)
PE (1/2 year)
She gets PE waived in the fall for marching band and can take AP Government then (which stinks because the test isn’t until May, but if she took it in Spring, she’d have to drop a Science, which she doesn’t want to do).
New developments here: D has talked to a few seniors who have serious senoritis and now she wants to take the English Language AP test. We hadn’t registered her for it because she knew she was taking two English AP classes and two Spanish AP classes and the college credits are often duplicative so it really doesn’t make a lot of sense to take both tests (in our district, we pay out of pocket for the exams). She thought she’d take one English test and one Spanish test per year and call it a day. Now, she realizes that she may not want to take the English test or the Spanish test at the end of senior year - and she might want to give herself the ability to do that by taking both tests this year. It’s fine with me. I don’t really care if she takes any AP tests, I just go along for the ride on that topic.
@3kids2dogs i think that’s a wise move to take AP Lang test this year. I agree that seniors get senioritis. She’s more likely to be in AP mode this May.
My S21 is still working to finalize his schedule - so far:
IB Math HL
IB Physics HL
AP Literature
AP Economics
PE
He’s thinking about Culinary Nutrition or Anatomy for his last period. He’s decided against AP Spanish - he’s taken through Spanish 4 and is not a fan. Hopefully the scheduling will work out.
AP Gov
AP Calc
AP Physics
Public Speaking (college credit)
Gym
A few computer science electives and a sewing class because she has to be in school until a certain time.
S21 will be finalizing his senior schedule at the end of this month
Accelerated Block Scheduling
Semester 1:
Dual Credit Eng 4A/Eng 1301
Pre AP Physics
Band
**Undecided, Elective or open period
Semester 2:
Dual Credit Eng 4B/1302
AP Calc AB
Band
**Undecided, Elective or open period
**these spots will depend on what dual credit classes he takes in the summer…he needs to take govt & econ still to fulfill graduation requirements …if takes one over the summer, the other he’ll take senior year and still have space for continuing Debate.
He only needs 3 credits of history which he’ll be done with this year…I think he’ll be fine not taking AP Euro History, so no history in 12th grade. He should have taken Physics this year to get his third year of lab science but didn’t for whatever reason (Chose AP Env Sci instead) so Senior year it is!
PE & Fine Arts requirements have all been satisfied through marching band.
A bit of a different class-picking process for S21 as he homeschools but does so through a hybrid school…they are more flexible in terms of timing for course selection but also have fewer options. He is not applying to any super selective schools (I see Denison and Dickinson likely as his biggest reaches) and is not a STEM kid at all so I think his schedule is going to shake out as something like:
AP Latin
World Literature (one semester Asian, one semester African)
Honors History (one semester Asian, one semester African)
Philosophy (one semester Asian, one semester African)
Physics
Pre-Calc (or maybe Statistical Reasoning)
He will end up with only 2 APs throughout high school (the other being APUSH) and his honors level classes are all focused in history, Latin, and government/politics. The philosophy classes are quite intense in terms of reading, critical thinking, and writing even without being honors level. He’s had to read full books by Aristotle, Lucretius, Kant, etc. over the past few years. He sort of dislikes doing it while also enjoying the big ideas and class discussions about them (and loves tying it all to episodes of “The Good Place,” haha).
My DS hasn’t been enthused to tour colleges either. I thought if I took him to a few it might jump-start his interest. Instead he liked them so much he told me doesn’t need to see any more! Good thing I picked the ones I liked best for him to start with.
On the bright side, that frees up Spring Break for an actual vacation. But it’s been so long since we’ve gone anywhere that wasn’t tied to college tours or dance camps we don’t know where to go.
@nichols51, your son looks perfect for St. John’s in Annapolis if he can stomach a tiny school. Annapolis is a beautiful place, too. Look at the website if you haen’t already!
I don’t know why I keep plugging St. John’s so much…I just think it’s such a cool place for the right person. I know of four people who went there…a former supervisor’s son, a daughter of someone else a few years ago and a couple who named their daughter Xoe (with the X) because they were so enamored with the ancient Greek that they learned there. Everyone spoke highly of the school. It’s ALL seminar-style, and professors (I think called tutors there) really do have philosophical discussions with the students in and out of class. If your son thinks he may eventually be drawn to a career in law, history or public policy, I don’t think he could go wrong with it. I understand that the admissions are extremely holistic there in terms of academic record…while it’s obvious that only “smart” students would be drawn to a school like that, I think it’s evidence of curiosity, ability to do the work and a desire for that kind of education more than a specific academic record/stats that they look for. Plus, I think they’ve drastically cut tuition cost to make a college education affordable (and reflect their commitment to egalitarianism).
@Momof3B, My D is a night owl and would hate to get up for 6:45 band practice but it makes total sense to take advantage of the cool early mornings to do it that way, especially in the Texas heat! I think when it heats up too much in the middle of the days on the worst days here, the band goes inside to practice instrumental stuff in the cool of the A/C. D’s Freshman year in a very old school building the band room was steaming hot, so no help.
Our band plays some Friday night/Saturday football games but not all…they see themselves as primarily a competitive band that plays for games when it doesn’t get in the way of the competition schedule. More than half of fall Saturdays they pratice all morning at school, then travel up to three hours away to compete and often get back around midnight. Homework gets done on the bus and on Sundays.
I know athletes work very hard but I think some people don’t realize how demanding and physically exhausting band (especially marching band) can also be! I’ve sometimes thought our marching band should be given credit for being an athletic sport as well as an art. The band is essentially a team that takes an extreme amount of coordination, and they compete fiercely with other teams. They do something that is physically and mentally very challenging… D’s band does a ton of jazzy body work/movement/choreography as well as creating the dynamic marching formations…while holding a heavy instrument (try a trombone, baritone, sax, tuba without a strap) in correct position…while keeping breath steady with hearts pounding …and actually producing music! Their muscles are sore after practices! And their practices last for three hours several times per week all fall. What’s different between that and any sport? Rant over
@inthegarden yea, we do the two-a-days because of the crazy Texas heat. Our bands are an integral part of every football game…lots of tradition and pomp and circumstance with march ins and such. We preform parts of our Contest Shows at halftime. We also have a huge Homecoming Parade and community pep rally…the band is a big part of many City festivals as well. August through November are absolutely insane. We usually have 1-2 Away games that fall on a Thursday…chaperones make sure that the bus ride there is “quiet time” to finish homework.
Once school starts practices are every day after school 4:30-7:00 (except Wednesdays). Marching Contest season starts last week of September and continues through October…every Saturday is a competition.
I am in completely awe of band kids…the sheer grit and determination and talent, on top of keeping their academics high…I don’t know how they do it!!!
I don’t think my D has to submit her schedule for next year for awhile. But she will definately take
Honors Band
AP English Lit
AP Calc AB or AP Stats
She will likely take
AP Spanish
AP Env or AP Bio. Bio covers two class periods so something would be cut.
AP Psych- Just cuz…she has been wanting this class!
Honors historical methods (already took AP GOV/US/World)
This morning she could have knocked me with a feather because she said she’s considering another AP Physics class for her science. Not a STEM kid and has complained about AP physics 1 almost every day this year!
Honestly, @homerdog, reading about your D’s schedule (and I know your D is a strong student applying to competitive schools) I wonder if my D needs to take a science at all. Because of some strange pressure at our school for honors-tier kids (somethig about state science testing) she took both honors bio and honors earth/space science freshman year. She had honors chem and doing AP physics 1 now. So, technically she has hit all her bases with four science credits, one being an AP.
I’m wondering if she would do just as well taking another elective or doubling up math …calc (AP-AB or honors) along with AP Stats instead of science. I’m thinking if she is remotely up for taking Physics again she must not hate math too much (a LOT of math in physics) and I’d think AP Stats would be easier and more useful to a non-STEM person who might major in social sciences. I heard several times on CC that some students find calc AP easier than pre-calc. Does anyone with kids who have taken pre-calc and AB calc already have an opinion?
