We see D21 college application process affecting S23 in a big way. But It may or may not be a good thing. He is taking all honored classes now including Spanish. I told him he doesn’t need to take it as honor, just regular is fine. that’s the class that pulled D21 GPA down (a few points short of valedictorian). She still got above 90, but it’s the lowest scores she got of all her classes. He said he needs rigors because colleges want to see that, and he doesn’t want to do anything “less” than his sister. Okay fine, but then one day he went home and was so upset saying mom I did really poorly on the oral Spanish test and that this test will pull his Spanish grade down. I had to tell him it’s completely ok. Turned out he got 100 on the oral test! This kid was freaking out for no reason, he said the Spanish teacher didn’t give any feedback and he had no idea how he did so he assumed he failed it.
The more we talk the more I realized he has been listening to us through DD’s application process last year. And he does everything now to make sure he keeps up for the next 4 years. I don’t like that at all. He shouldn’t be so worrying about college right now. We told him to chill but not sure how much he will listen.
Another example, DD is taking CS61A this year at Cal, it’s kicking her butt. Thinks she still can get A- but more likely a B+ unless she flunk the finals . Since the course has all the materials online, S23 has been taking it along with his sister. Because he wants to do well when the time comes. He definitely wants to major in CS. Why does he do this?? Because in case he doesn’t get into EECS directly at Cal, he hopes to get into CS from L&S but he has to do well in CS classes to be accepted. This kid is nuts. He worries too much. He wasn’t a typical worried kid, not before all this. Always chill, smart but not really competitive. All the sudden he changed as soon as he got to HS. We are working on him to ease his worry.
So yeah I understand what you are saying, OP. The younger siblings do listen and watch the older siblings. But each kid seems to deal with it very differently.