<p>MereMom!!! Thank you for your words of encouragement and sound advice. Sounds like a great plan for my D. I will show her this post and I am certain it will make her feel more confident! Amazing how an earlier poster raked me over the coals and accused me of being “out of control” and others, such as yourself, have been so kind and helpful. Much appreciated!</p>
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There are science fiction and fantasy novels that are very well written–an example might be “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell” by Susannah Clarke. She might like “Dracula” and “Frankenstein.” Arthur C. Clarke’s books are well-written (in my opinion). Stuff by Neal Stephenson is good, too.</p>
<p>The “Twilight” series, not so much.</p>
<p>I agree with Meremom. After freshman year, my daughter took a SAT 1 test at home just to see where she was. I think she scored around 1800-1900. Fast forward to junior year, her scores jump a lot more due to all the honors and AP classes. They made her worked much harder than she would have on her own speed. She has never been a reader anyway, yeap she loves the “Twilight” series and Harry Potter.</p>
<p>Thanks Hunt! She already read Dracula but I will definitely mention the others to her. No, she despises the Twilight series. She will be reading “Anthem” by Ayn Rand for her online English class so we will see how that goes.</p>
<p>I think she will be intrigued with Neil Stephenson! I just looked at his Amazon page and he has a very interesting background. D is interested in Physics, Cryptography, Computer Programming and Cyber Security and is a bit of a space/NASA/Star Trek nut.</p>
<p>Ugh (again, I can’t help expressing my opinion)–Anthem is awful; Rand is not a good writer. I think it’s only assigned because it’s short. If she’s interested in dystopian fiction, much better choices are “1984” or “Brave New World,” both written by good writers.</p>
<p>I agree with the parents who advise that you encourage her to just relax and do what she enjoys. My daughter is a rising senior at Princeton, and she’s constantly asked what she did to get in. She did absolutely nothing to prepare (outside of going to classes and participating in clubs she enjoyed). After taking the SAT once in middle school for a gifted and talented search (and then deciding not to attend any of their programs), she didn’t take it again until her junior year in high school (and she took it just once, plus SAT IIs once since the schools to which she was applying required them). She didn’t get a perfect score, but kids don’t need a perfect score (and she was accepted into every school to which she applied, including Yale early action). When she read for fun, it was FOR FUN–Twilight series, Harry Potter, etc. No classics. It’s unfortunate that students feel so much peer pressure that they think they have to be perfect. I remember that, while she was awaiting her application results, kids on college confidential were stewing over whether they’d given the “right” answers to Princeton’s short application questions (what’s your favorite quote, what’s your favorite website, what’s your favorite movie, etc.). I still chuckle about that, because hers were so different from the “academic” kinds of things most of the kids were putting down–most of her answers came from pop culture (in fact, teenage pop culture). I think what top schools appreciate most is kids who can relax and just think that “enough is enough.” As one admissions person told her, “I pick kids I’d want to go to school with, and I wouldn’t want to go to school with anyone who sounds pompous or sounds like no one is good enough unless they’re perfect.”</p>
<p>I hope that helps your daughter feel she can just be herself.</p>
<p>Sadly, the only choices for the honors unit were “Great Expectations” or “Anthem”. She had to read “Enrique’s Journey” last week and said it was painful! Not only poor writing but multiple rape scenes. I wondered why this was selected? I had heard it was listed for a college freshman lit class but English 2 in high school??? Anyhow, she is trying to get through the English quickly so Anthem won out.</p>
<p>Thanks again everyone!</p>
<p>If she’s as good as she seems, she’ll get 2300+ with no problem by the summer of junior year. But, scores are not that important, as some girl with a score lower than hers got in Harvard this year while others with perfect scores didn’t. Tell her be happy.</p>