I’m clapping for the kids who get into the Ivies. As a parent I would be super proud. But I’m also cheering for the “average” kids too. I don’t think those parents should be less proud.
We are all on our own amazing journey.
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The average high school graduate goes to college but doesn’t graduate.
This is non-optimal to say the least, but is, I think, reflective of the paucity of postsecondary options in the US system—it’s college or an apprenticeship in the trades, nearly full stop.
I agree. We’ve had one go to a small public and another go to an ivy. Who knows where D23 will go. They are each so different.
D23 just got back to sports and suffered a major injury. Had to have surgery. After missing sophomore year athletics, she will probably miss another year as it’s a long recovery. Feel bad for the missed experiences, but she says she’ll have more time for studying. Guess that’s something and she may need it too. Junior year looks tough.
AP Bio
AP Lang
AP Psych
AP Calc
H Physics
H World
Micro/Physio
We had a dual enrollment informational meeting recently. She’s interested in at least looking into classes offered. May be a good use of her summer if the other things she’s applied to don’t come through.
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Well, it was a big day: D23’s application to the dual-enrollment high school went in, and she had her first (official) date. (Which she tells us was conducted, given the weirdness of the world we live in, with masks and social distancing in place.)
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So back to the drawing board for us looking at schools. My D and I had a miscommunication and I thought she wanted to go West, when the opposite is true. So I am now shifting gears to focus on smaller, most likely LAC schools east of the Mississippi. She’s got a good starting list so now we are just hoping that some of these schools start opening up for visits.
She did sign up for her classes and decided to go with AP Calculus AB and save AP Statistics for her senior year. I don’t think she needed to take the calculus but we struggled with what she would do her senior year. We thought it might not look so good to have no math in process while she was applying to schools. She also decided she wanted to do AP Bio her junior year and AP Environmental her senior year. She has no desire to take AP Chem and our class is notorious for getting good grades and bombing the actual exam.
pretty impressive your D knows what she wants for college. does she have a major in mind as well?
My D23 is taking AP calc AB jr year and saving stats for senior year too. NO bio/chem for her.
so, how do you guys get your kids to discover potential career ideas/pathways? I’m feeling the covid blues on this one with lack of activities in person, not many people working at businesses to shadow, groups not being held, etc. Hoping something next year will spark her.
She has no clue what she wants to study but she knows what she doesn’t want to study. Has no interest in STEM/Medical/Business programs. Which is why we are leaning towards LAC. She also benefited from going on tours with her older sister. She knows what type of campus/environment she doesn’t like.
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Which is, honestly, gold.
D19 touring colleges as the trailing sibling meant that she learned very firmly that the LAC experience the older child was after simply didn’t have any appeal, and she’s now happily ensconced at a state flagship she never saw until orientation—she knew she wanted a big school, she found one that offered her (not widely offered) major, and picked it.
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Hi my D is rocking her grades and has a love affair with performing - singing, dancing, drama,- and wants nothing else than to get a BFA in musical theatre. She is grounded and we have talked about a plan B major. She just accepted her admission offer to the NYU summer musical theatre pre-college program! It’s virtual but she is looking forward to this amazing opportunity, and getting 6 hours of college credit. If there are any parents whose kid are attending there or who plan on auditioning for university musical theatre or theatre programs, I would love to talk and keep in touch through the process. We live in South Texas, FYI.
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The summer program at NYU sounds great! I hope she loves it and learns lots!
My son loves music but knows he isn’t vocally strong enough for musical theater as a career (although he does perform for the school musical).
My sons summer will be filled with summer school, weightlifting, football practice, marching band camp, voice lessons (and adding in some piano) and working his job. There’s a couple of summer music camps that are of interest to him however his schedule is always jammed full as it is.
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Thanks @2plustrio for your reply. June looks like driving lessons, piano, dance and vocal lessons for our kiddo besides NYU in July. I haven’t decided whether to throw SAT prep in there. She needs to sleep this summer too 
Don’t forget Summer Assignments for next school year!!!
Next summer I want my son to quit his job so we can travel a bit more. A mom can dream right? I know he wants to earn money and thats a good thing. Its just that the place he is working basically has him working every weekend and it really sucked last summer not being able to bring him up to the lake house. I should be proud that he has a strong work ethic but the mom in me wants time with my son too.
My son is planning on a BFA in musical theater. NYU is definitely not on our list for college though. Too expensive. I am strict about the cost, because he has prepaid tuition at any state college in one state and free tuition at one good state college in our state. None of those have MT programs, so he refuses to even apply. He has no plan B. He is young for his grade, so a gap year will not kill me or him. My son is doing one virtual (Nexus at Texas State) and one live program this summer. We are west coast, so east coast virtual summer programs do not work for us because of timing. If he doesn’t get his grades up, he will be enjoying summer school to replace at least one grade 
Not that his grades are bad, but he is going to need merit aid in order to attend college within our budget.
Every year, I am reminded of how lucky my kids are to live in a school district where required summer assignments for courses aren’t allowed.
I’ve mentioned before, I think, that we’ll be spending the second half of the summer driving around the lower 48 for two family reunion, one summer day camp, and about a dozen college tours. If I’ve retained my sanity through all that, I’ll report back afterward.
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My son is taking summer school by choice. He’s taking one of the few “required” courses that is offered in the summer to give him space during his junior year to take an elective he is interested in.
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Hey all – yeah we are in south Texas and that “no summer assignments” trend hasn’t hit here yet, so she will be busy with that, too. @Theaterforme I have no idea if we will be able to afford out of state tuition, much less the private school tuition, but we will have her apply for scholarships and hope for the best. Lately she has said she wants to go to school far out of state, but I plan to have her apply at least to Texas State because it’s just 3 hours from here, and so affordable. So glad he is going to Nexus there. Sounds like a great opportunity. I might be able to get her to apply to some Texas schools, hopefully. She has some cousins in New York city and an uncle in the LA area so we are keeping it open for now. I understand that for a female wanting a musical theatre admission , you have to apply to a lot of schools, like 10+ to find a spot sometimes. Let’s keep in touch!
My S23 is taking Summer gym class to clear up his schedule for next year. We’ll try and squeeze in some SAT/ACT prep as well.
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First time visitor to this site that I just heard about. How I wish I’d known you all existed before today! My husband & I were both born in England and are learning as we go with the US education system since it is vastly different to what we experienced growing up.
I’m a mom of 3 children living in GA, the oldest just finishing up his IPSE program at KSU, our first daughter about to make her college decision (deciding between Uni of Pittsburgh/Uni of Tampa/UMass Boston - WL at Boston College)
Our youngest daughter will graduate in 2023 & isn’t at all sure what she wants to do right now
Just wanted to introduce myself & I’m looking forward to learning from everyone here.
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@UK2USAMomof3 - Welcome to the class of 2023 parents group. I look forward to sharing our collective journeys. I discovered this board for my D19 and it was a great place for just sharing thoughts, getting advice, etc
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