Best driving tracker app? Life360 seems to be popular.
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I have life360. It seems to work well. Except it does tag him as moving locations when he has not
My D21 looked at many of those same schools (Bates/Bowdoin/Vassar/Macalester) plus others on your list that they looked at but didnāt apply to. Iād recommend checking out Oberlin which was the final choice even above a couple of the others mentioned. Best of luck.
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Thanks for the suggestion! If you would be willing to share what made Oberlin stand out for your D21, Iād love to hear.
Sure: Bottom line they felt most comfortable there, plus academics, plus some sports. Iāll explain.
They are part of the LBGTQ community and found Oberlin to be a very accepting environment.
On the academic side, they are planning on studying environmental studies, but also have strong interest in international relations, German, and Women and Gender studies. Oberlin is very strong in environmental studies and also has a German house which would help them achieve fluency. Women and Gender studies is also a strong suit for Oberlin.
They will also play field hockey at Oberlin (as a walk-on player). They had the opportunity to meet with many of the field hockey players prior to deciding on schools and found them to be a great āfitā.
Bottom line is we visited Oberlin, Kenyon, Bates, Colby, Vassar. Didnāt visit Macalester but accepted there. Didnāt like the vibe at Colby and was waitlisted at Vassar. Came down to Oberlin vs. Bates. Ultimately based on fit and feel while on campus it was Oberlin in the end. Hope that helps.
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Thanks for that info. I know Oberlin also has Creative Writing which my D23 has an interest in. Weāll keep it on the radar!
Thanks for your review on Oberlin. My D23 also is LGBTQ and acceptance is a big part of her decision making process. We are planning on making a swing through Oberlin, Kenyon and Denison and your review helped confirm doing that.
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Does anyone have any online recommendations for help on the ACT math section? My D did well on every other section but that one. Or, does anyone know if schools really scrutinize individual section scores? Sheās not looking into going into a STEM related field and overall scored a 33 but a 27 on math. She isnāt looking at T20 schools so Iām not concerned with overall score but wondering if that 27 will stick out. Sheās already decided she wants to take it again so trying to find some inexpensive ways to help her.
for my D16; we had her take the dec test and ordered test score information. It showed exactly what she needed to work on in the math areas. (geometry). We got a math teacher/tutor to go over those areas, gave her practice problems, and worked with timing. 28>>34 in math after that. well worth it!
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End of week 3 here. My S23 is doing well so far. Heās more laid back than my older Ds, which actually helps because heās taking a fuller class load than they did. He never really ate lunch in school ā the lunches we used to send always came back with just a few nibbles, so he decided (I was reluctant) to skip lunch this year so he could take another class. He really wanted to take AP Music Theory, and that was the only way it would fit.
So my otherwise STEM-oriented son has 2 musical classes a day (band + the AP), and also does a jazz ensemble two days a week after school.
Heās doing a Architecture/Engineering program outside of school called ACE. He did it last year as well, but it was virtual. Anyone else have a kid that does ACE? I know itās a national thing.
We also had to go through a bit a work to get him signed up for the PSAT next month. Months and months ago we bought tickets to a broadway show for 10/16 (and book travel for our two adult daughters to meet us there too), only to discover this fall that our district is using the Saturday 10/16 PSAT date this year instead of the in-school Wed date. It took some of searching to find a neighboring school district that would take a student in for the weekday PSAT date.
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Question about AP Music Theory. My son was advised not to take the AP exam for that class. They said if he chooses to go into music he will need to take the colleges schedule of courses so there is not true testing out of anything with AP Music Theory. Have others heard similar?
(eta: He has AP Music Theory this semester. He takes choir during school. Does an EC male accapella group in the morning before school and a different EC choir one evening a week after football practice. 3 choirs. Plus band and a private voice/piano lesson once a week).
@stencils ā did they say why the Saturday date?
also stencils, - my d16 took AP Music theory, jazz band and band her senior year (along with AP studio and AP art history) sheās artsy. The AP class was called āzero hourā and before school. She loved it, she now studies architecture (but not AE). I think your son will like that AP music class if he likes music. There is certainly a mathematical and formulaic side to music.
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Every school is different in terms of which AP classes ācount,ā and what scores they need to receive credit. Our D21ās LAC offers credit for AP Music Theory, as does our in-state flagship, which are the only two I checked, but Iām sure there are others that donāt give credit. Even if he takes the AP exam, there may still be a separate placement test depending on school or major. Our D21 chose to take Intro Psych this semester, even though she placed out with her AP score, because she is majoring in Psych and wanted to be sure to have a strong foundation.
Because your son a junior and likely hasnāt finalized his college list, I donāt know why he would not take the exam (barring separate issues, like cost or test anxiety).
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It all depends on the college.
But yes, it is common for a music major to not be able to apply AP Music Theory credit to the major and to have to take the college version of music theory. Similarly, but less common, physics majors sometimes need to take their collegeās version of physics.
But since the kid is not a senior, that should not be a reason not to take the AP exam
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@2plustrio - weāve been through this. Iād say take the AP test.
our d16ās first college wouldnt take AP studio art nor AP art history credits for her design major. she didnt take the AP tests or do the final projects. 2 yrs later, she transferred schools; and her new college took AP art history for credit for the same design major. you just donāt know!
she did take the ap music test and got credits as both colleges took that score, but she didnt major in music; just used the credits as elective fillers.
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@2plustrio Looking at the schools where my older daughters went, a good result on the AP Music Theory test would have resulted in a 3 credit hour gen ed elective credit. My son doesnāt plan on majoring in music, so we assume that heāll get a similar gen ed elective credit wherever he goes. So the value in the AP credit is additional schedule flexibility in college ā perhaps making something like a study abroad easier.
So I think it depends on both university and expected major whether taking the AP test makes sense.
The short answer isā¦ it seems to be random. I have two older daughters. One of them the school did the test on a weekday, the other, three years later, they used the Saturday date.
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Yes! My STEM kid who also loves music says he thinks about some of the Music Theory problems mathematically when some of the more natural musicians can just āhearā the differences in their head.
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ACT math: My D19 (now an industrial engineering major, which is all math all the time even more than other engineering fields) and D23 (not interested in math-heavy fields at all) both do really, really well in math classesāto the point that (parental brag alert!) D19 couldnāt figure out why all the other students were complaining about differential equations, theyāre fun and easy!ābut do horribly on math standardized tests. D23 is more extreme than D19 on this, but both of them had ACT math subscores of 25 or 26, with the rest of the subscores high enough to bring the composite above 30.
Some colleges do look at math subscores, though mainly just for math-heavy fields. So, D19 was accepted into WVUās engineering program, but only into their five-year track (with only four years of scholarship money!) due to her ACT math subscore. Now, they would have automatically moved her into the four-year track when she transferred in her DE calc I class, but still.
So @1923girls, if your kid has the option of taking DE math classes to demonstrate math ability above the ACT math subscore, sure, that could be a plus. However, since your kid isnāt going into a STEM field but has a weirdly pointy set of ACT scores like mine do, I would say not to worry about itāmost schools (as opposed to some programs) only care about the composite. I mean, sure, it wouldnāt hurt (and boosting a single low subscore is a lower-effort way to boost a composite score), and it might be worth trying the SAT as well since their math section is markedly different, but on the whole, not an issue.
AP music theory: Lots of majors at lots of colleges (not just the more selective ones) donāt accept AP credits as fulfilling major requirements, or accept them for placement only without reducing the number of credits required. There isnāt any harm (probably, see below) in taking the test, thoughāif the score is high it looks good and if the score is low then just donāt report it.
The one issue for your kid, @2plustrio, would be if your kid simply doesnāt want to take the exam. My D23 didnāt really mind her AP world history class, but the concept of taking the exam sucked all the joy out of her life (until we cancelled it). And it wasnāt just the AP exam idea (she took the AP German exam in the same cycle and enjoyed it), it was specifically that one. If your child doesnāt want to take an AP exam, thereās little value in putting pressure on them to take it, and no (or even negative) value in forcing them to.
(No AP music theory here, so my D23 will be taking music theory I plus the aural skills co-requisite next fall as a DE class. She and I figure sheāll still have to take theory from the beginning when she gets to college, but itāll give her a more solid foundation. I figure your kidās AP class could be a similar thing.)
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My son has no issues taking tests or classes that have what he views as ātrue benefitā to him. He has now heard that there is a high liklihood that the AP exam would likely not decrease required classes in college thus not saving him time and money. So his view is paying to take a test that only shows he is āskilledā isnt a huge benefit. His view is his A he will likely get in the course along with 3 hs choirs, 8 years of musicals, plus basic proficiency on 3 instruments is likely enough so show he has some basic knowledge of music. (His music teachers are actually the ones saying the AP test is not truly required based on their experience with past students college choices.)
He is stubborn and doesnāt want to take an exam just to say he passed it. He has literally slept through half a preACT, forgotten his calculator for another preACT and in middle school, selected all choice Cās on aspire tests just because he said āthey werenāt real.ā He only puts effort in and shows his true potential āwhen it counts.ā Yes its painful. But yes, he has historically been able to perform quite well when it does matter and he enjoys the content.
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