<p>Hi, Cristina –</p>
<p>(I registered to offer some advice. I found this website while surfing for news of the Tatum Bass vs. Miss Porter’s School lawsuit.) </p>
<p>My gifted son is in his early thirties now, so some of what I have to say may be dated, but here it is:</p>
<p>1) Be careful of jealous adults who will try to sabotage your efforts to help your son. There’s a lot of prejudice against the gifted. We see this in the current bad economy where gifted programs are cut. We see it in schools where there is often a push to put the gifted with the average and the below average, so the gifted may help those less intelligent. (We see it in this thread, where you were advised to send your child to “humility camp”.) Etc.</p>
<p>2) Expect little or no help from teachers and administrators. My son attended a private school, and in seventh grade, when he was applying to TIP, his principal gave me the WRONG school I.D. number to put on the application form. I discovered the error in time. When I asked her about it, she said, “We’ve had kids go to TIP before, and they never got anything out of it.”</p>
<p>3) Don’t allow your child to “suffer . . . consequences”, even though he thinks he wants to. He’s smart, but he’s young. Ability, but little life experience. Continue to guide him firmly. (I’ll never forget the day I heard my son yelling, “I’m IN! Mom, I’m IN!” He had just called Harvard and learned he had been accepted. “Thanks for everything, Mom!” he yelled as he hugged me.)</p>
<p>4) You’re right to think he needs a good resume. I’d dump the Spanish and let him go into the Computer AP. He won’t forget the Spanish grammar in one year. Let him watch Univision to keep up the Spanish. I agree with the poster who said let him do what he loves. Help him avoid teachers who dislike him. Tutors are great. My son was gifted in many areas, including math, so we hired a Ph.D. from a local university to tutor him. He ended up not majoring in math, but in an area of humanities. </p>
<p>5) TIP, for sure. My son is still friends with some of the kids he met during his summers at TIP. </p>
<p>6) Read ADMISSIONS (the novel) to get some ideas about what looks good on the applications. I’d suggest something outside of school to balance the school record – theater or tennis lessons, etc.</p>