@ASKMother We are not using one for S21 nor do we plan on it for S23 twins
Didnāt use one for D17. Just educated myself and I was the CC. Basically as long as you get the first rule right you canāt help or mess up too much. The first rule is everything drives from your budget.
No college coach or counselor for us either. S18 could have used the pushing and nagging they provide but part of being ready for college is being able to handle getting out all done. We help with research and guidance but they need to drive the ship.
No college coaches here. The counselor at my D17/19ās high school was pleasant and helpful enough, but not really useful for searches focused on, as mine respectively were, selective LACs and big lower-48 state flagships, but weāre pretty well plugged into the higher-ed world, so no ned for anything beyond what she could give.
Now, if the target is HYPSM (or WASP), then yeah, you might want to hire a packager specialized counselor for your kid, sure.
No college coach for my older two. However, I did hire someone to help my oldest with his essays. He is on the autism spectrum and asking him to write about himself was very difficult. The short essay on the NMF application was by far the hardest part of the entire process for him.
I donāt plan on hiring a coach for the twins, but if they go the music route I will probably change my mind.
The older sons both applied to and attended schools that are well known on CC, but few (and none in the other sonās case) applied from their HS. Information on CC was very helpful.
I had to do a deep dive on all things college admissions with D17 because she was my first and the guidance counselor at our podunk HS was well meaning but fairly useless for the kinds of schools my D was interested in (small rural LACs.)
Early on in the process I did consider whether it would be worth it to hire someone, but after spending some time here on CC I felt like I was equipped to handle it and I actually wound up being the person other parents of my acquaintance turned to for advice because they knew Iād done the research and that I was happy to freely share what Iād learned.
I think things will be easier with D23 because sheās more clear on what she wants to pursue and less restrictive about the size/location of the school. Knock wood!
First a comment on a coach, we didnāt use one for my S20, however for the hours I spent researching and spreadsheeting I could have paid a some sort of advisor. My S23 may end up being a Div 1 baseball recruit (for sure D3), if he trends towards the D1 level we may look for some help with the recruiting process.
Question for the forum, have do any of your schools utilize standards based grading, and what are your thoughts? Our HS is rolling it out this year (piecemeal) S23 has high Aās for all of his classes but no grade for English, and all we know is that he is āwhere he should beā. Iām sure it will all work out, but is a big change for the parents.
Just got an email from DSā23ās class counselor - all freshman will be required to take a PSAT next week (National testing Day). Iām okay with that, but a little more heads-up would have been nice.
Our high school has decided to try the CERT route for testing preparedness and the entire freshman and junior classes will test 10/15. I didnāt know what it was and had to research.
https://certforschools.com/about
They didnāt do this with D18 so it will be interesting to see in conjunction with the changes that ACT is making, for retesting in just particular subjects, how S23 and his class will fair as far as ACT scores in the future. Last year they also started a 30s Recognition Club to honor those making a 30 or higher.
Had to share this chuckle from last nightā¦the first 9 week grading period ended last week and was discussing report cards with S23 twins (affectionately known as Thing 1 & Thing 2)
Thing 2: Iām Asian Failing
Me: Whatās That?
Thing 2: You donāt know?! Itās when you have less then a 95 on your report card
Me: Well, then I guess you are
Thing 1: You clearly suck at Asian Parenting
ā¦this is what I get for being enlightened and breaking free of my cultural chains lol
(We are Indian/Pakistaniā¦the class being discussed was AP Bio, which both twins are takingā¦they both ended the grading period with an 84ā¦I was ecstatic lol, considering they are both in marching band and have been balancing their heavy loads beautifullyā¦both are taking pre AP Geometry, Pre Ap English and AP Human Geoā¦low Aās in everything else!)
I have to ask what is āPre APā? Is that just like an honors class?
@racereer our school district has 3 levels of classes
regular (gpa multiplier of 1.1)
Pre-AP (gpa multiplier of 1.15)
AP (Gpa multiplier of 1.20)
The āPre-Apā could be seen as Honorsā¦it has a slightly higher gpa multiplier then the regular on level class, and sometimes (depending on the subject and grade level) is a prerequisite to AP classes (like in middle schoolāhighest level 8th grade math is Algebra 1 for high school credit but they had to have taken Pre-AP math in 6th and 7th).
Our high schools have accelerated block scheduling, only 4 classes a semester (2 nine week grading periods)ā¦you only take 4 classes and are done at the winter break, next semester 4 new classesā¦caveat would be AP Bio (or band/athletics etc) which is a year long class both terms wheres Pre-Bio is only one semester/18 weeks.
Freshman & Sophomores are only allowed 2 AP optionsā¦juniors and seniors can take as many as they want.
My 3 boys have only taken Pre AP classes since 6th gradeā¦they are now in 9th & 11th gradeā¦for my junior if he doesnāt take the AP class for that subject heās in Pre-AP. Unfortunately, since weāre in Texas with its top 10% rule for public schools, you have to be in all pre-AP or AP classes to have a shot at auto acceptance to our flagship colleges.
So interesting to hear how different all our schools are! D23 also just finished first 9 weeks and did really well. Only 1 AP offered to freshman - AP Human, the rest are honors or CP (college prep). Weāve been super busy recently with D20 and all her college applications. We keep teasing her that she is our guinea pig and weāll do better and know so much more when it is D23ās turn. ?
@Momof3B that sounds like what we call honors. We start with a base of a 4.0 A for a regular class with honor being +.5 and AP/Advanced Dual Enrollment being +1 and their gpa is calculated each semester. They are not limited on # of APs any year but have certain required regular or Honors classes so there in no way to get a 5.0 gpa. S19 was Valedictorian last year and he ended with a 4.64 and that was with a B one semester in AP English 11.
D23 is also taking AP bio along with AP World history, since she took honors world geography in 8th grade. She has 3 other honors classes and 2 regular that they donāt offer in honors. They do at least offer some of the music classes as honors as her brother and now her both made it into honors show choir. VA dosenāt have any auto admit criteria for its state flagships.
@Momof3B, am I understanding that correctly that every class has a GPA multiplier? If so, thatāsā¦intriguing.
Hi everyone,
Is this thread for HS freshman who will be graduating in 2023? And when you said D21, what does that mean? it means you have a daughter who is 23 years old? Or you have a daughter who will be graduating (HS or college?) in 2021?
I have a daughter who is a freshman in college (UC Berkeley) and a son who is a freshman in HS). They are very different kids. I had no issues with my daughter whatsoever, she did everything on her own and god forbid if i even advised her anything. I stopped asking her if she did her HW since she was 6th grade because she told me āmom, please donāt ask me again itās so annoying. You asking me will NOT make me do HW faster. And if I did HW itās because I needed to, not because you āmadeā meā.
With my son, I still ask him if his HW is done. I never had to help my kids with HW, ever. But I know I need to stop asking but UGH, the mom in me! Parents do you ask your kid if they finished their HW?
Anyway, my son seems to be so bored with HS. He is constantly on his phone, but I rarely see him do school work at home (granted he is in his room so i may not see everything). He is taking all honors (Algebra 2, biology, English, History, Spanish, Computer, and 3D art(art is not honor)). His GPA is 99 out of 100 so far, not weighted. But the fact that he seems so bored and constantly on his phone all the time really worries me. I think that although he does well with his classes, he doesnāt really get deep into the subjectsā¦
@dfbdfb In my school district, GPA and class rank are determined by weighted numerical GPA from core subject classes and foreign language only. Our school district found that students were dropping out of band/orchestra/arts/electives etc to play the GPA game due to Texasā top 10% rule, so they adopted a holistic approach to keep students well rounded and no longer include those in GPA calculations.
Of the science, math, English, foreign language and history classes yes, each has a different weight or multiplier:
Regular
PreAp
AP/Dual Credit
To play the GPA game and remain competitive in North Texas school districts of my area, most students will not take any core class that isnāt PreAp or AP.
@Nhatrang - hi there!
this is the thread for those with kids who graduate in 2023 from High School. My daughter is a D23; sheās 14 years old.
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I have a S15 and D16; and boy was I confused back then on these forums when when they were 15 & 16 yrs old and graduating those years! But it seems that most people use the HS grad dates for their kids.
As far as phones and kids, I have seen a huge change in my kids - weāre on our 9th year of high school. 9 years ago, I didnāt worry about phones; my oldest kid didnāt have a smart phone, and it wasnāt a thing. Crazy how much things have changed since then with snapchat, instagram, tik Tok, etc. etc.
I donāt have an answer about phones, but I do have my D23ās phone set to not have access to her apps starting at 10 PM every night til 6 in the morning. I password protected that so sheās not up snap chatting or whatever all night. Both my S20 and D23 are hooked on their phones; they canāt go without. But they are getting their work done; so Iām not forced to do anything drastic yet.
hope to hear from others about this too!
Our DSā23 has one AP Science class, 4 Honors classes and 2 unweighted classes, one of which is required Theology. He is busy and happy. So far, so good.
Introducing myself. Mom to two. One DC is at Phillips Exeter, class of '23. This first year is going well for DC23. Theyāve adjusted nicely to boarding school life. Wish I had more to say, but looking forward to learning from parents who have more experience/prior experience with high school and beyond.