Parents of the HS Class of 2013

[CBGMass]

Welcome Galaxy - my S loved every.single.thing about Emory. We spent two days there and had a great time. It was #1 on the list until he decided he really wanted to get out of the south. It is still pretty high but I think he has decided not to do ED. I also think Furman may be a good school for your son. Sewanee also gives great merit but they are small and in the middle of nowhere. Also, want to add that on the NPC Emory number was double that of any of school I ran that met full need. I have heard that Emory FA packages are usually much better than the NPC.

AP scores finally arrived S is happy "enough" so I guess that will work.

Summer work - S has projected his summer work finish date as August 1st. He then plans to start on apps. We also have one more college visit to go.

State schools - S can go to any state school at this point with full tuition and most with free ride including the state flagship. He will only include one state school on his list and that is the flagship. He has no desire to go. Although he doesn't have a problem with other state schools as he has a couple on his list they just aren't in the south.

[Walker1194]

DD13a talked with an adcom yesterday. All the kids at camp can make an appointment. Both of our interactions with Centre thus far have been a bit stand offish

[momofthreeboys]

AP Scores arrived this week, also so S3 can close the books on junior year which is good. He was fine with his scores so the world is on an even keel. None of my kids did anything with their scores until they enrolled and then sent them. I like them as i've said before because they are Mulligans...the older two "used" them when they wanted a lighter semester where they wanted to take 12 credits. When S3 hits send on the applications I'll "read up" on what the classes means to those colleges and what he could do with his senior APs. Our high school doesn't offer many so they are sometimes abstract relative to the major or minor but sometimes they can replace gened classes. For my older son they also got them out of a placement test or two the summer before he started college.

[mommaof5]

L-dog: Sounds like a great trip. My niece attends West. Mich. on full track and academic scholarship and loves it. Just thought I would put in a plug!

Anniezz: I ended up finding a great local photographer. We booked early in May and got her session fee for $100. She spent 2 hrs 45 mins photographing him. She did all kinds of unique places all over our town (at one point we were in a back alley, but the pictures she got back there were amazing) including the special places DS wanted: on the hs track and on at the practice field goal post (weird, I know, but he is the kicker for football and holds a school record, so he has spent a lot of hours kicking through that goal post). Then she gave me all 214 pics on a cd, plus a back up copy and a release. I have been ordering the pics myself and found some really good prices. Walmart has 4x6 for 9 cents and 5x7 for 58 cents sent to home with free shipping. Mpix.Com[/url] is the other website I am ordering pics from: wallets (2.5x3.5 pre-cut with rounded corner) come in sets of 4. It is 70 cents for 1 -10 (of same pose) and 50 cents after that, so 44 wallets is $5.50. 8x10 are a $1.99, 11x14 $6.99....you get the picture . There is a $7.95 shipping fee with mpix.com. My moms pics (5 5x7s and 5 4x6s) was a grand total of $3.55 and I could have them shipped right to her.

[CBGMass]

One more tidbit about AP/IB scores. The Yale adcom told the group that it was dishonest not to send ALL scores when applying. The UNC Chapel Hill adcom said DON'T send any scores that will hurt your application.

Any other schools made direct statements about scores?

[MDMom1314]

Morning All!!!

Just got an email from Jr's school letting me know that payment is due for Graduation and Grad night....sigh....

CBG: Jr's CC told us not to send any scores for any tests. She said it was best to send the scores with the app's. Although Jr has given his scores to the Coaches that are recruiting him.

Welcome Galaxy!!

[Apollo6]

DD=dear daughter, DS=dear son, DH= dear husband. I have never seen DW.

Re. what math to take if AP stats is not recommended:
I think what colleges mean by that is that AP stats is not equivalent to a college statistics course in the math department of a school. At my son's school, AP stats was also counted as a dual enrollment option with our state flagship but would only count as a stats course in the psychology department, not math, so his teacher did not recommend taking it for dual credit. Still, this does not mean that AP stats should not be taken if your student needs another high school math credit. I don't think any school would say that you must take your last high school math credit at a university because you've already taken every option other than AP stats.

[Youdon'tsay]

Good afternoon,* all!

*I actually typed out "morning" and then realized it's after 1.

Ds is off to his 10-day camp. He texted to let me know that he arrived safely and found his ride. This is his first time flying alone and, other than a moment of panic when he realized he really didn't know that anyone would meet him once he got there, it seems to have gone well. We sent him with a camera, but I have no confidence that he'll actually take/share pics. The organization in charge of the camp has a FB page so I'm hoping that pics will go up on there.

Before he left, we finished that scholarship application tied to this same organization. One thing that I don't think kids get is how this is their time to be IMmodest, to brag, to toot their horns. Where it asks for honors and volunteer info, he left out so many important things. Nowhere did he even mention his internship.

In filling it out, we took a close look at his transcript. What he thought was his GPA was not what the school had. I went through all his old report cards, and the grades were correct. He had just miscalculated a bit, but it would have looked weird to have written in the wrong GPA when you have to provide a transcript and they didn't match up. Anyway, I really don't like the way this transcript is laid out. I don't think it shows him in the best light. I wish that, rather than broken out by subject, it was broken out by year so you could see that his GPA got better year by year. And the way some of the electives are coded are just crazy. Sometimes SS electives are under SS; sometimes they're under the electives category. Most of his electives are in the SS department, and I don't think that his depth in the category is reflected. Our school is known for its wide range of electives, but the names don't appear on the transcript; they're crazy codes. I don't know how adcoms figure it out. I mean, the HS profile has a list of all the crazy codes and what they mean, but that seems like a lot for schools to have bounce between to figure it all out. I'm not sure how to counteract some of the transcript oddness, but I'm going to give it some thought about how to highlight the best aspects of his transcript. I'd recommend that everyone get an early copy of the transcript and give it some thought, too, if yours are as wonky as ours.

Oh, and sometimes the "d" in ds or dd doesn't stand for "dear" or "darling."

[Galaxyfigment]

Thank you Haystack and CGBMass. I will look at those schools. I plan to take him to Sewanee, but I think he will not like that it is in the middle of nowhere. I have looked at Rhodes. A good school, but I have never thought Memphis was the safest city. The school is in a good area of town, but the rest of the city worries me.

One question about GPA. I have 4 different calculators for GPA. The state and the school system disagree on what qualifies as an A, B. and C. So which is the one to use on the applications - the one for the state, one for the School system, one that is weighed for honors/AP classes and one based on core classes required by some colleges.

[CBGMass]

Galaxy - we use the school and the school does both weighted and unweighted. One of the things that has been stressed in all of the info sessions we have sat through is that the school recalculates based on their criteria so it isn't really a big deal. Emory may have been the one school that said it doesn't recalculate but they look for certain classes and grades in those classes.

[Galaxyfigment]

UT recalculates, but that actually is to DS's advantage. He has mostly As in his core classes, his Bs are in elective type classes.

Thanks for the encouragement. I know that if anything will hurt him, it will be his sophomore grades. That was the year of his first GF and he didn't balance studying and a relationship well. His grades suffered. Good thing GF #2 is into grades and stuff too. She pushes him to study as much as we do.

I feel good that he has a decent shot at getting accepted to Emory, I am just hoping for a scholarship. Based on an Emory Scholar discussion, he has a shot, it will be based on his essays and extra curricular activities. I saw 4.0/36 get denied, while someone with 3.8/32 got a full scholarship. If he gets accepted, I guess we will try to find a way to pay for it.

It is the only college we have visited that he had an instant connection to. It seems to have a balance between academic quality and craziness (aka Dooley and Wacky Wednesdays) - just like him

[nellieh]

Galaxy we are in a similar situation. I keep remind d to feel blessed that college will not come with loans but the decision on where to attend will need to consider finances. We too have learned that d will qualify for full in state tuition. That is going to make our decisions even harder. We cannot swing expensive privates. I don't think many in the middle can these days. The way I see it from where I am employed. After about 5 years the state school grads and the expensive privates are sitting next to each other doing the same thing.

[CBGMass]

Galaxy - our sons are twins. Love Dooley (we were there during Dooley week) and the idea of Wacky Wednesday (the petting zoo convinced S). S is a very serious student but when study time is over he likes to have fun. Emory has been the only school that we have visited that S couldn't find anything negative to say.

[snorkelmom]

Please help me understand why all these CC'ers self-study so many AP courses (see the thread & I don't mean students that take one or two for valid reasons) and how or why colleges give them credit for just their score (when they didn't actually take the course)... why would you need to GO to college then? If you could just self-study and award yourself a degree? Also, students that re-take the exam for a better score (I didn't know that was even possible?) We may have discovered a huge savings here? JK, but this really doesn't make sense. Everyone knows that there are so many different ways these AP courses are taught, regardless if there is a national standard. Would be curious to hear your opinions.

[dadotwoboys]

FWIW Emory is high on the list here as well for the same reasons you all mention. And merit money will be required for the same reasons you all mention.