Parents of the HS Class of 2015 - Page 53

ErosZoti · 03-23-2012, 04:13 AM

Parents of the HS class of 2015/College class of 2019

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Ok, The thread has been started.
I have a class 15 D, very smart, loves languages.
Speaks two besides English, the big question now is weather to take Mandarin or French in HS (she is thinking about 2 foreign languages, is this wrong?).
Tomorrow is ACT test for the Talent Search. Off to bed now......

Hallo All,
don't know where we are in this thread anymore, but it started off for parents of HS class of 2015/College class of 2019. So, I have a question or questions, but please bear with me while I give some background info. My D15 is currently a 9th grader in a German gymnaisum (we are expats living in Germany since 2009), and she will be attending an International School for 10th-12th because she wants an IB Diploma instead of the Abitur. How would any college in the US look at her high school records? Naturally, her grades are mediocre in the Gymnasium because of the language barrier, but she is a smart kid and I think she will pull in all As at the International school. She was an A+ student back in the states before we moved to Germany. So, did we do her a dis-service by putting her in a German Gymnasium? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

herandhisMom · 03-23-2012, 09:05 AM

My D. told me yesterday that one of her facebook friends just posted this -
"Mother still thinks "lol" means "lots of love" and signs all of her emails with it."

LOL Apparently we should be re-educated.

mihcal1 · 03-23-2012, 11:13 AM

Welcome ErosZoti!

The IB diploma is very well respected by US colleges. Her first-year underperformance at the German school in her first year is unlikely to hurt her in US college admissions. First, they place greater weight on grades achieved later in high school, and will forgive poor performance in the first year provided they see improvement. Second, the applications always offer a place to write about extenuating circumstances -- and moving to Germany and having to study in German definitely counts as extenuating! Indeed, her international experience may help her in admissions by making her an unusual and interesting candidate.

Will you still be returning to the USA before she finishes in HS, or will she be applying from Germany? There may be special hoops to jump through when applying from abroad, and different colleges may have different requirements. Once you get to the point of considering particular colleges, check their websites and also encourage your D to contact admissions if she doesn't see the info she needs online. Also, search the College Confidential forums for advice from others who have been in your D's situation.

Maxwellequations · 03-26-2012, 10:19 AM

@herandhis, I hope the mother didn't sign "lol" when she needed to express condolences. gee!

3rd marking period will end this week for D. Off to the last period. 2nd year will be another challenge.
My D. is going to take APUSH. She is excited and at the same time nervous about it.

TV4caster · 03-27-2012, 01:51 AM

Father of a D15 here. I have just starting reading this thread as I have been concentrated on D12 lately and her various options.

I noticed a few posts about kids being grade obsessed already. That's my D15. She told me the other day that since she didn't take an AP this year in 9th grade that she won't be able to make val, so she is intent on being sal. She is a very competitive gal and I can tell she wants to best her big sister (D12) who has been extremely successful. D15 started taking HS credits in 6th grade as an 11 yo and is the only one of my 3 who went to all magnet schools starting in elem school.

Her HS choice has been interesting. S10 and D12 went to one of our strongest HSs which happens to be our home zoned school. D15 wanted to blaze her own path so she goes to a medical sciences academy which is a school within a school. They take about 100 high achievers each year, while the other 300 in each grade are regular students who tend to struggle academically as a group compared to most of our city's other HSs.

She already takes a specialized health science course (she is now certified in CPR for example), and next year she gets anatomy which is a college level course and counts like an AP. After that she gets courses like microbiology, physiology, pathophysiology I and II (including clinical rotations, research, and preceptorships). They also get guaranteed admission to med school under certain circumstances (although I haven't seen those spelled out).

One of my worries has been that the overall ranking of this school might hurt her chances at a tippy top college, but I am told that schools supposedly love the best that come out of this program. I guess we shall see.

Anyway, that's a brief synopsis of my class of '15 kid.

PinotNoir · 03-27-2012, 07:25 AM

Welcome, TV4caster! Your kids are the same ages as mine!

The medical sciences academy sounds like a great program.

We're still focused on S'12's college choices here as well - S'15 is happily going about his business as a freshman. We're a couple weeks into final quarter and the weather is great so summer feels just around the corner!

suzy100 · 03-27-2012, 09:46 AM

Just popping in to say hello. Welcome TV4caster - yet more parents of the class of '12 here - good news for us! Your daughter's school sounds fascinating. No way my kiddo would do it though, she still has no idea what she wants to be when she grows up.

D15 just finished her 3rd quarter last week, and we're on spring break next week. Hoping this beautiful weather in the midwest holds. I can't believe she is already in her final quarter of freshman year. The time really has flown!

Good luck to all of you with '12 kiddos. I lurk in the 2012 thread because I have a stepson who is a senior, and I've learned so much there. I've also become invested in the outcomes for those kids. Hoping for fat envelopes for all!

WordWorld · 03-28-2012, 12:34 PM

Hey there TV4caster! We have exchanged a few PMs regarding our respective 12s, I was too late to that discussion but love coming here! D15's high school sounds fascinating, is she determined to go into the medical field?
S12 has some great choices and is narrowing options, so we are able to focus a little more on D15. She is doing a little better with turning homework in, the book "That Crumpled Paper was Due Last Week" has given some good tips if anyone else here has a S/D 15 with similar issues.
"Hoping for fat envelopes for all!" What a great sentiment, Suzy! Made me think of "May the Odds be Ever in Your Favor" from the Hunger Games.
On a different note, our house went on the market today in the Bay Area, we have decided to move back to Texas this summer! Oh please, let us get an offer.

TV4caster · 03-28-2012, 04:16 PM

WW- Hi too! Glad things worked out for S15. D15 isn't set on being in the medical field but that is usually one of her top choices, and I think she will at least go into something science related- Dr, astrophysicist, and astronaut are her top 3 right now

The HS program is great, but I do see one drawback. If a kid does not go into the medical field in college they would enter with fewer APs that if they did a normal hard curriculum. I think the most APs my D can get will be 4 or 5 versus the 9 that D12 has, because of all the high level physiology etc courses.

Pepper03 · 03-28-2012, 05:08 PM

Good luck to those waiting on the last of the college results. A year ago D Day was the worst academic day of my son's life-1 WL and 2 denials. It overshadowed his 8 out of 8 acceptances prior to that day. Whatever happens I can tell you from experience it can work out-he licked his wounds over that night, the brutal next day having to face everyone at school feeling like a failure, and the weekend, but by Monday the following week he was able to move past the disappointment and look at all the terrific options he already had-and is a very happy freshman at Northeastern with the world as his oyster. The school he ended up picking was one he was forced to apply to by his father in hope of receiving the NMS Scholarship there-he hated it and during the visit vowed to "never go there"! Wow was last year quite a rollercoaster! Good luck to all.

My HS freshman is doing very well in many ways. She listened to her big brother and hasn't wasted the first year of HS being afraid to do everything like he was. While she is shy she has really shown signs of coming out of her shell. It's been quite a year watching my son continue his transition into becoming a young man-he handles all his business up there and has really embraced living in a city and will be taking advantage of the tremendous opportunities they offer for studying and working all over the world. Meanwhile, he stays in touch with his little sister, encouraging her to read more, to take the hardest classes she can, to not let fear make her decisions but to try things she may not be comfortable with-great guidance and since it isn't coming from me she actually listens!

I have so much more peace about all of this than I did last year at this time. I know there are others here who went through that experience with me and I hope they are as happy with the outcome so far as I am.

Gibson1514 · 03-28-2012, 06:17 PM

Pepper- for us too! 3 denials from Ivies on the one evening. D had already pretty much decided to accept the Fellowship to our state flagship, but it still stung a little. We were talking on the phone at the weekend and remembering the stress this time last year. My d is also very happy and thriving on the opportunities that are coming her way. Hang in their 12's!

D2 so looking forward to spring break. I always feel this is a long stretch for them with not much down time from winter break till now. She has a heavy workload this week and is willing the week to be over.

We are heading to the beach ( Florida panhandle) with a few of her friends and their families. We have all rented our own places, but it will be fun for the girls to get together! Friday can't come soon enough.

Pepper03 · 03-28-2012, 08:31 PM

That was a very tough night wasn't it Gibson? I am happy to hear she is doing so well too!

mayhew · 03-28-2012, 08:52 PM

^^^Hello to fellow College'15 parents! This week , I have kept thinking about last year at this time, and am so grateful to have that roller coaster of emotions over with!! My D'15 is very happily settled into college life, and I feel so fortunate to have a break before D'15'19 starts the process

I think (hope?pray?) that we will be less stressed when D'15'19 goes through that experience, knowing that everything works out ultimately just as it is meant to, but in reality, I doubt that I'll be too relaxed.....!
My freshman D is loving high school so far, and I think that seeing her sister go through the college process has made her more aware of the need to apply herself now. That being said though, she is still living in the moment, not stressing about where she will be by her junior year, etc., which I am happy for.

mayhew · 03-28-2012, 09:06 PM

And I forgot to say: GOOD LUCK to all the parents here who are waiting for news from college admissions offices this week for older siblings!!!! My fingers are crossed for you all!!

sunnydayfun · 03-29-2012, 10:16 AM

Pepper-That is so sweet of your S to encourage and guild his sister. My S1 is thriving in college too and I can’t believe the freshman year will be over in 6 weeks! We did not really have emotional rollercoasters this time last year. He wants to go to our state flagship and the acceptance came before Thanksgiving. He had two rejections from top 20’s but we knew they were reach schools.

S2 wants to go out of state. We discussed about how much we can contribute to his college education and the travel expenses if he goes far. So now we all agree that we will look into schools in Missouri and Colorado. Since we did not do many college visits with S1, I am actually looking forward to college visits with S2.

Good luck to all '12s!