<p>Hi Socaldad. I agree with Spectrum’s advice. The most important thing is to take the most rigorous schedule available while still getting high grades. Most top students take 5 or 6 solid academic courses a year. I think that 2 APs is enough for sophomore year. If things go well, have him try more junior and senior year. The most selective schools will want to see an AP course in every subject. Our GC also recommended sticking with a foreign language throughout HS and taking at least 1 year of calculus. </p>
<p>The best way to balance things is to take the hardest courses in his area of strength, and then taking some of the easier APs in weaker areas. It’s also worth finding out the reputation of AP teachers and courses at your son’s school. Our HS had a very tough AP World History teacher who favored boys over girls. My D took honors world history and took AP psych and European history instead.</p>
<p>Hi Socaldad! Here you go again! In our HS, the subject area teachers make a recommendation for what level the student should take the following year. I always felt that they knew my kid’s ability in that area best and I almost always went with that. The only time I didn’t was when four teachers said DS should take AP and the fifth said he should take college level. Now individually, he could do that, but I didn’t see him being able to do that, plus his ECs. So he took APs in his favorite areas and honors in the rest. Didn’t even take a language senior year (he already had 4 yrs) and took an extra AP in science that year. He was my A student. With my B student, we always went with the teacher recommendations. Both of my kids were extremely well-prepared for their college.</p>
<p>P.S. We just paid final tuition payment to Delaware. I can’t believe it!</p>
<p>Congrats to all of the recent acceptances!! D2 FINALLY submitted her last application today. It has been a very contentious 3 months for us. She really just wanted to be done with this before even beginning! </p>
<p>socaldad- what we always heard was that the academic classes had to at least stay at the same level or increase each year. So if S1 takes 2 AP’s sophomore year, he should take 2 or 3 junior year and then the same or one more senior year. Especially if your school offers many AP classes. However, he shouldn’t receive a C in any of the classes. In that case he would be taking more than he can be successful at. It’s a bit of a balancing act.</p>
<p>college4three - regarding taking the SAT/ACT more than once. Really depends on the kid and how much they want that “top tier” school. D1 knew what she wanted for a test score and worked to get the score “needed”, she is at a top tier school. But it was what she really wanted more than anything. D2 is all over the board with the type of school she wants. One day her scores were “good enough” and she didn’t care because she should be in at state flagship, the next day she wanted to test again to improve the score to go for a reach school. But then she did almost no prep in between tests to really improve the score. </p>
<p>It’s really been a roller coaster journey with D2 these past few months. Now it’s up to the admission folks. She is in at two of her safeties, so that’s good. Her ACT score was one off from her sisters, has the same score as her sister for schools that superscore and the same GPA as her sister. I think her common app essay was great, the extra essays for the rest of the schools were good. D2 is a good writer, but doesn’t like to write, so didn’t want to do all the essays, even though she wanted to apply to the schools! I am just happy that it is out of our hands now.</p>
<p>I agree with spectrum, too. And, I generally rely on the teacher to recommend the level of class to advance to, as he/she is the one who knows the other students. Once, I intervened and requested that D be placed in an AP class. She did a lot of growing up during the year, and I knew she’d rise to the occasion. She did really well the following year (10th grade). In my school district, the top kids usually take one or two AP’s their sophomore year, three or four their junior year and five or six during senior year. This assumes B’s or higher in these AP’s.</p>
<p>Thanks for the support everyone. I will let you know tomorrow how things went. D has a much more level head than I do and had been pretty calm about the scores until yesterday. Now, she’s getting anxious.</p>
<p>Mom24Boys,
As mentioned, you might want to check out Goucher. My son is a freshman, also no interest in frats or sports, and is very happy there. He had similarly high SATs and got merit aid. Muhlenberg is another very promising option for you, though it does have frats. My son was accepted there with very generous merit aid, but never felt at home there, which was how he felt at Goucher. Both Goucher and Muhlenberg have very active Hillels.
If you have any questions about Goucher, please feel free to send me a PM.</p>
<p>Re the ASA boycott of Israeli universities, I recently received the following email from the president of Goucher College, where my son is a freshman:</p>
<p>"We are writing to express our strong concern about, and outright disapproval of, the recent vote by the American Studies Association to boycott Israeli academic institutions, apparently as a result of some of its members’ disapproval of certain policies of the Israeli government.</p>
<p>Goucher College, as we try to make clear by our words and actions daily, stands for open discussion, research, and inquiry about all issues, international or domestic, in every intellectual and political domain. The free exchange of ideas and opinions is essential to liberal arts education and to our very existence as an academic community. We would, of course, be outraged if any such boycott were launched against all American colleges and universities by any association of alleged scholars anywhere in the world, out of disagreement with a US military engagement or other element of American foreign or domestic policy. Hence, without taking any particular position on Middle East issues, we must invoke a strong and unequivocal stand against this outrageous and peculiarly selective move by the ASA, which seems far outside the scope of “American Studies.”</p>
<p>Our college will not abide by this measure, through which, in our view, the American Studies Association completely discredits itself. On the contrary, in the great tradition of academic freedom, we will proudly continue to associate with all colleges and universities in Israel and everywhere else around the world where discussion is robust and open, and where Goucher students are welcomed for their study abroad."</p>
<p>Thanks for the great responses. I do appreciate it.</p>
<p>I have never left you all. Just took a back seat to posting. I will always follow this post. MY contributions will just be less frequent.
Linymom, time flies. D2 is solving her Delaware experience. She is home for a long winter break.
Spectrum, how is S2 doing with his condition? All healthy? Where did S1 move to after graduation?
To everyone else, Happy New Year…</p>
<p>Got the scores! For a first time out of the gate, I’m very happy with the score. She did very well in three sections, 95+ percentile well. But the Math killed her and brought the composite to under 30. Comical, really to see a 32’s next to a 19. She is my well-lopsided kid!</p>
<p>She, of course, is bummed that she’ll have to test again, but I think she knows that she did well otherwise. On to the january SAT.</p>
<p>College4three: I’m glad you’re happy with her score. It’s a good starting point. Is she working with a tutor on the math? It might be worth finding one who specializes in ACT or SAT math to try to raise that score so it’s closer to the others.</p>
<p>Socaldad: Glad to hear that your D loves Delaware.</p>
<p>Shulamit: Thanks for sharing the letter from Goucher. I’m impressed by the president’s reaction.</p>
<p>Happy New Year All!
College43: Congratulations to your daughter on a very solid first run and for making it absolutely clear what she needs to work on, although I guess that wasn’t a surprise. FWIW many people have said that math is the easiest score to bring up, I hope it works that way for your daughter</p>
<p>Socaldad: Thanks for asking, it was a little tough at the beginning of the semester but S2 is doing great right now and had an awesome semester. S1 was able to get into graduate apartments early but it was a worry for a few days. He is currently working on Cali residence, which, literally doubled his auto insurance! Great to hear things are going so well for your daughter at Delaware. I hope your older daughter is doing well back home…yes, I am jealous :).</p>
<p>Thanks for advice re: tutoring. D has a math tutor and has worked with her for test prep. I think this is going to be a persistent Achilles heel, however. My feeling is that repetition is the key to raising the Math score. I told her tutor to push D a bit harder with this.</p>
<p>Happy New Year everyone! Just wanted to report that D2 absolutely loved her first semester at U Miami. I was a little nervous about her grades because I know she partied a LOT. We were away on vacation and I made check her grades and I was thrilled, she made Deans List! I just hope it continues. Best of luck to all who are waiting for decisions, hope you all hear good news soon!</p>
<p>Happy New Year to everyone! Good luck to all the seniors waiting on college decisions and good luck to all the parents of Juniors, time to deal with testing and college visits/lists!</p>
<p>Hope all seniors get the college decisions that they hope for!</p>
<p>Happy New Year! It’s great to hear that most of our college students are happy where they landed. Best of luck to those still going through the process. In most cases, things really do work out well.</p>
<p>Happy new year everyone! I hope 2014 brings happiness, good health, and prosperity to everyone in this awesome, supportive community! And a shout-out to RockvilleMom (my MoCo neighbor!) for bringing us all together.</p>
<p>We’re making plans to attend an accepted students’ weekend at Tulane, very excited! I would love a few recommendations for a hotel in proximity to the school. I don’t know New Orleans at all, but hoping we can manage without renting a car. Opinions?</p>