The pressure, if any exists, may actually come from the parent(s) and the parent(s) hires a 3rd party to handle the entire college process.
Also, some parents around here in my neighborhood are very busy/over scheduled with all sorts of business and personal endeavors. They simply don’t have time to meet with their kids, keep them on schedule and make sure all the “t’s are crossed and i’s dotted.”
Regardless of the source, I feel like it’s still a lot of pressure.
Not everyone is brilliant and can do it on their own. The CC crowd skews higher than the general public.
What happens if after all that kid doesn’t get into any of their top choices? Too much pressure on kids.
My son is in the top 1%, but he needed some Math tutoring for OnRamps precalc. His math teacher passed away at the beginning of 10th grade and they had subs the rest of the yr. He was missing a lot of the content and tutoring helped him catch up last yr. He only did it for about 3 months because it was expensive for us.
Yes we have a few really bad science teachers (mostly physics) and few bad precalc teachers and the parents with the tippy top kids didn’t want their kids not getting an A so hired tutors and most went overboard and had them all four years. But our kids just went in early or stayed late or used Kahn and figured stuff out. We told them that advocating for themselves is a better lesson to learn and, of course, getting Bs is fine in such hard classes. Both of our kids ended up with six Bs in high school and it really didn’t make any difference in their college search.
Those kids we know who had tutors the whole time were very stressed out. Lots of pressure from their parents. They did do well in admissions so I’ll give them that. I sometimes wonder how they’ll do next year when they might not have the same sort of support they’ve gotten used to but these are super bright kids so I hope they’ll be fine. Most had tutors as more of an insurance policy to not drop to a B because God forbid!
Life sometimes has pressure and can be stressful.
We pay for an hour of weekly 1:1 tutoring for pre-calc for my son and augment it with quiz and test pop-up sessions at the local tutoring service. The 1:1 is fortunately only $50/hour while the other is $45 to watch virtual with no ability to ask questions. $55 if you watch virtual with questions and I think $80 in person. Amazing business. Many of those getting pre-calc tutoring are seniors and are headed to SEC schools, not Vandy, UGA or UF.
For test prep and counseling, I have friends who recommended a counselor that charges $200/hour so it can certainly add up. I went with online Princeton Review classes for my S22 and overpaid relative to the amount of usage.
As a whole, CC is a special group of on the ball kids and parents.
Wow, sometimes I forget how some people are able to take privilege to a whole new level. I wonder if they got their money’s worth this year.
Btw, speaking of double depositing, remember ‘Cherokee’ girl that I told you all about? Word on the street is that she double deposited at Clemson and Pitt. Hadn’t visited either one and wanted more time. Can’t say I’m surprised.
I’m not sure it’s all brilliance. I just don’t think that the blue collar families that we know would consider it a valid expense, especially since most don’t expect their kids to go off and have a college experience anyway.
Same here! My D21 is in top 6% of her class of 850 ( well regarded school) and never had a tutor and neither did her friends( one was salutatorian) and they all tutored elementary kids for volunteer hours. They did meet twice a week to get homework done because it was less painful to do it in a group than alone.
So I discovered this site when admissions were rolling out this spring bc I have a senior. I don’t even know how I found it and am curious why your assumption is CC crowd skews higher because I’ve noticed that as well, but I don’t understand why it seems to be true.
A lot of tutoring goes on in our high school. S24 has friends who have multiple tutoring sessions a week for $150 a session, for honors and AP classes. Our family’s answer is to encourage S24 to take the regular classes, which he is happy to do. He still needs significant help due to dyslexia, and poor visual memory. But we’ve found that the best tutors are juniors and seniors who have had the class. They are wonderful, and they charge $20-35 per hour.
I would not hire a tutor for a child to raise a B to an A. I’m talking about bringing up a D or an F. (S has gotten E’s which means he is failing with effort.) I do feel very lucky that we can provide him with student tutors, and also that I have the time to help him study. Together we are figuring out what methods work with his deficits.
They did not say that. Please do not spread misinformation. They said that the student needed to inform the college, but that no acceptance would be rescinded.
Both my D’s had the same really poor Physics teacher. And they both had a few sessions with an academic tutor. IME, academic tutors helped relieve the stress of having a crappy teacher, who seems to be able to keep his or her job somehow every year.
Short story about this teacher. We went to our HS’s open house, maybe 4 years ago, and D18 was taking Physics from this teacher. My DW and I entered his/her class a few minutes late, because his/her class was completely on the other side of campus from another class we visited. This Physics teacher said something derogatory about our tardiness, in front of all the parents attending. Of course, not one to take any S, I sarcastically responded back with something along the lines of “maybe they HS could build us a tramway to take us from A building to Z building in the 5-minute passing period that’s allotted us.” Of course, other parents came in after us.
@dar222 My listed 4 APs and skipped all 4 (yeah for my refund!). He wrote to his AO and the AO said as long as he didn’t drop the class and his school performance is solid, they didn’t have a prob. We wrote to them to make sure. I know UCs have similar policies, although you have to submit a formal form. Check with your college
Running between buildings during Open Houses, Parent-Teachers’ meetings was not fun for sure. And for some reason it would always be heavily raining on those days, and finding nearby parking has always been tough. I remember how nice it was to have Zoom calls for all of this last year. The teachers felt the same way too.
We didn’t hire an academic tutor to achieve a specific grade. I just wanted them (my kids) to understand the material, and feel comfortable in class and with quizzes and tests, which the teacher failed to do.
In my D18’s case, in her Physics courses at Michigan this past academic year, she received A’s, and it wasn’t easy. So, I have no idea what the heck was going on with this teacher back at her HS.
@Picklenut6 as someone with a S21 that skewed low for most of high school (2.5 coming out of Junior year in regular level classes) I can speak for myself and say that this main thread for our kids on CC becomes an echo chamber and it’s very easy to feel less than if your kid doesn’t fit the high performing mold. So we stay mostly quiet and lurk. There are a few threads that are more comfortable and so you see some of us active there more often.
If I walk into a dinner party and everyone there is talking about whether the new BMW is better or worse than the new Mercedes, I don’t contribute with information about the search I’m doing for a top-rated Kia 
because the sense is that the crowd likely isn’t going to be that knowledgeable about Kia’s.
My experience only.
I completely understand that. I don’t know why but I am usually the one that talks about the Kia. I am completely open because otherwise people don’t realize that there are perspectives so different than their own. I don’t feel any negative feelings toward my daughters struggles and disinterest with academics at all.