S24 is still the camp for one more week. He seems to be very busy and enjoying the time with peers. He says he is trying to work on the essays but he has not made as much progress as he would like. There seems to be lot writing involved in research camp and he says he is too tired to write again after that. Hopefully he will have better progress after he is back home.
Before he left for camp he did noted down a few ideas for various essays and he needs to expand on them. Most people I have talked to have said prepare for multiple drafts. Goal is to have first draft of the common app and the UC PIQs done before school starts but we will see where he ends up.
Similar situation here. S24 is still at the camp for one more week. He is so busy with his research and writing it up. it has to be when he is done with the camp.
We are just in brainstorming mode here and starting to get an activity list draft. Kid has a pretty big leadership role starting this school year so that will add to some of the essay content. I think their essays will be better waiting a little bit to have more experiences to add.
We are also in just a regular public school with one college counselor for all. We only have around 10 kids who apply to competitive schools outside of the UCs so they can get a bit of personalized help but I donât know the quality.
School starts in 2 weeks and most of the AP summer homework is done and all of the summer classes and activities so I suggested devoting 20-30 minutes a day to application prep.
In a shocking move, D24 finished her summer AP physics work - she has never done summer work until the very last days of summer before! Was such a pleasant surprise, and Iâm happy to not have to nag to get the work done. We donât start back until after Labor Day, so we thankfully have a lot more of summer to enjoy before things get intense. I wish for a smooth start to senior year to all the 2024s who start back soon!
Iâm fascinated by all the references to summer AP work. My kidsâ school had no such concept. Just threw them into the deep end when school started in the second week of September, already weeks behind the other schools working against the same AP test dates.
Physics and lit are the only 2 classes D has summer work in - her other 2 AP classes donât have any summer work, so I guess itâs teacher dependent?
I agree that starting in September has always worried me in regards to the timing of AP exams in May, but so far both of my kids have been successful in their AP classes and exams.
Our school does the same. In fact, this board was the first Iâve ever heard of students doing AP work over the summer. We have plenty of 4s and 5s earned year after year, so at least here there doesnât seem a need for the extra work over the summer. But everyoneâs mileage may vary, I suppose.
Our school has AP summer work for almost every course. And we start early August so plenty of time for instruction before the tests.
It is usually read and outline the first chapter, review necessary math concepts, or read a book for English. I guess the reasoning is the teachers can jump right in to instruction without a long into or catch up unit.
I wish it would go away, the kids need a break and it can just be busy work.
Our HS has AP homework for most of the classes. D24 might have started⊠Almost certainly wonât finish as she is at camp for the next 1.5 weeks and then school starts 3 days later.
Our school has hw for most English and math classes regardless of level. Some science, history and foreign language also have review packets or more. Ap classes no more or less than others. This year s24 probably has less than usual, typical English assignment reading 2 books and writing a reflection and one for ap physics c that is rather simple and a short project for Italian but no math hw! He says he is working on it at his summer program, fingers crossed!
Our AP summer work is primarily review (of past concepts) for math, reading a couple of books for AP Lit and reviewing the first chapter of next yearâs textbook for the other two. Given the timing of the exams in May and our school schedule (wonât start until Labor Day), it would be difficult to get through the material otherwise.
Well, whoâd have thought it possible? After I gently suggested âyou might want to start on your personal statement before you go to camp on Thursdayâ (sheâll be gone most of August) my D24 came out of her room a couple hours later and shared that she now has two drafts complete for two different personal statements. This process might be easier than I had anticipated, and she seems fairly calm about the whole thing.
Here some AP classes have summer work but thankfully this year D24 has none. She starts after Labor Day so always behind when it comes to AP curriculum. However, I am glad she doesnât have to do schoolwork over the summer.
In our school few AP classes have AP home work. Last year he had Homework for APUSH. I hear they have for AP Lit also but S24 is not doing that so he has no homework.
Toured NJIT on their summer visit day last week and its a nice campus tucked in an urban setting in Newark surrounded by 4 other college campuses (Rutgers-Newark, Essex County College, Rutgers school of Medicine and Berkeley College?). The tour guide was barely audible but the facilities are all modern and D24 liked the overall vibe.
Brought DC24 home from their summer program at Northwestern today. They absolutely loved their time there, and tbh Iâm a little starry-eyed about how nice Evanston is. We both know darned well that Northwestern is basically a lottery school, but I do find myself hoping theyâll get in. Weâre taking them to tour 4 more schools in the next few weeks, and then summer will basically be over. They seem focused and ready to get cracking on their essays/apps/audition tapes, so hopefully theyâll be in good shape before school starts.
In general, Iâve been cool about the whole âleaving for collegeâ thing, but today at pickup it really hit me that in a yearâs time, weâll be dropping DC off somewhere for real, and for much longer than a few weeks. Iâm still way more excited than sad, but I had to take a moment.
