That’s wonderful news. Congrats to C26! What courses and colleges is your kid thinking about?
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Thank you! AP Calc AB, AP physics 1, English - probably 4 (I was wondering whether to push them for AP Lit but maybe a step too far for the ADHD with the others), gov/economics, chamber singers honors, another arts elective - likely music composition/production - and they need to do another half semester of PE to meet grad requirements. Possibly TA the other half.
Colleges - currently environmental design at Boulder is the top choice - we’ll visit in spring to see how they feel about the campus itself. Potentially ASU/UoA as safeties, USD as probably a reach, possibly UDub as a reach; also considering UIC & U Minnesota twin cities though these are further and colder than they really want. All these others would be a 4 year architecture major other than UoA.
Partly will depend on how well they do in SAT too. They did pretty well in PSAT with no prep so I’m hoping for high 1400s or maayyyybe 1500 with some practice, but for most of these high 1400s will be fine. A couple of these colleges seem to still be test blind though.
The California CC route, in this case Cuesta → Cal Poly SLO or CPP for architecture is the fallback safety if nothing else works out.
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How interesting that your C26’s school has a chamber singers group. That’s not one I see too often!
It sounds like your kid has a lot of great options to think about in terms of college. Hope you share their impressions of the college visits!
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Yes, they have two choir options under VPAs at school - one is an option that anyone can do (and where everyone starts out), then chamber singers is by selection. They also have musical theater but that’s a different animal of course (although there are a number of students both in musical theater and in one of the choir classes).
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I posted this question on Class of 2025 thread, posting it here because S26 fits better here.
He wants to do AP Calc AB from some online course like UC Scout, BYU. Anyone has experience with those? He can’t take it at school next year because you need As in both semesters of Precalc junior year. On the other hand, I feel its not a good idea and he;; be overwhelmed, as he is planning to take AP Stats also, plus he’ll be neck deep in college apps. What do you guys think about just taking regular Calc at school for a around 3.4-3.5 uw gpa kid who wants to apply as a STEM major, probably Bio or something related.
I would be so wary of doing something as foundational to a potential STEM major as calc online, especially with all the other stuff going on. I know those two you mentioned are good for online courses, but still. I think regular calculus would be fine.
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Take regular calculus at the high school, not online. Fall of senior year will be very busy with college applications and everything else going on.
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@SJ2727 @sbinaz
Thank you! I agree its better to have a good foundation vs getting overwhelmed with the rigor of an online AP class.
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Can your child petition to be let into the AP Calc AB class in school? Was he close to getting As in precalc? S25 got As in honors precalc but struggled with AP Calc BC. I know it’s more accelerated in BC than AB, but calculus in general is hard - would not recommend going online for this one.
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Thanks for your post
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I’m a little reluctant to post this on the regular Parents of HS Class of 2026 thread so I hope it’s ok to share here since my D26 has a 3.64 UW HS GPA.
All of the talk about SAT & ACT test scores is stressful. Students stressing out about getting below a 1500 SAT and feeling that’s a low score. So I hope you all don’t mind if I come to hang out here once in awhile. The talk amongst parents at my kid’s high school of “Oh what are we going to do if my student doesn’t get a 1580 on the SAT?” has quickly gotten old and we still have a long way to the finish line. 
D26’s SAT score this past fall was an 1170. When I’ve told people that IRL (in real life), they look at me like I’ve got 2 heads and think that there must be something wrong for her to have such a ‘low’ test score.
Some have said “Oh, you should pay for test prep.” Great idea. There isn’t a budget for that. All of our spare $$ is paying for D24’s college right now.
Others have suggested to me “Oh, you should have her do self study.” Great idea. But with a boatload of school work and working 15 hr a week at Walmart, there isn’t much time left over.
Just adds to the pressure.
Older daughter (D24) wasn’t a stellar test taker either. Highest she got was a 1200 on the SAT. She had a ~3.32 UW high school GPA and had some C’s on her transcript. She still got auto merit awards from everywhere she applied, got accepted everywhere she applied, and is now attending an awesome school.
I think the odds might be good for D26 to get a 1200 SAT or its ACT equivalent, but highly doubt we’re going to see anything in the 1300-1400 range. In my gut, I know everything’s going to be fine. We’ve already found an in-state school that D26 really loves and would auto-admit her based on her current stats.
But the regular chatter about test scores is really really getting to me this week. And I need to tune it out.
I think I also need to brush off my ‘elevator speech’ that I used with other parents when D24 was applying to college. That worked pretty well and it put a halt to a lot of off-putting remarks from people.
Thanks for listening. Anybody else going through this at the moment?
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This is something I found with D19 and actually D19 just disengaged herself from situations/friend groups where this kind of chatter happened (absolute disaster if they got a B, etc). I think I was /am lucky that parents around here are very reticent to discuss their kids’ scores with each other (at least in my circles), understanding how stressful the whole college thing is. Some people just don’t test well. It’s just one facet of an application (and there is a reason many colleges are test optional). I’m not one to find this easy, but is there some way you can just …disengage when the conversation turns that way? “D is excited at the thought of X major at Y school and we’re happy that they’re assured there” or even… “is it really supposed to rain tomorrow?” Good luck. We’re here to vent.
Btw: what was the elevator speech, if you don’t mind sharing?
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It’s toxic at times for sure. Then some of the cracked kids get to an elite school and find it didn’t make them happy. Y’all sound like good parents.
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The ‘elevator speech’ includes a nugget or 2 about the college that your kid is interested in (applicable in this season of the ‘applying to college’ cycle) or is going to attend (applicable in a later season of the ‘applying to college’ cycle ).
Up through 1st half 12th grade, the conversation would go like this:
OP (Other Parent): Where is your D24 applying to college?
me: (rattles off the list) U of A, ASU, UNM, NMSU, Austin College, Southwestern University, and Centre College
OP: (scrunches up their nose at all of the OOS schools) Oh…why would she want to go THERE? (meaning UNM, NMSU, or the 3 CTCL colleges) What about <insert Top 20 school name>?
me: Well, <Top 20 school name> is nowhere near affordable for us and there’s no way they’d accept D24. Besides, that’s a lottery school for everybody, even if you have perfect grades & test scores.
OP: But why is she applying at ?
me: Well, for example, at the 3 CTCL colleges she’s applying to, they’re all test optional and she has really good odds of getting accepted. Plus, based on her current GPA, she’ll get auto merit scholarships from each of them. They all have great pre-health programs, with lots of opportunities for internships & research with professors, and it looks like there’s a lot of mentoring on campus. We’re pretty excited.
OP: (gets quiet for a sec) Oh…that’s interesting! Where did you find out about these again?
Later on, after all the application decisions had been received and we’d received financial aid packages (which took forever last year due to all of the FAFSA disastrous delays), D24 chose Austin College. A lot of the commentary from people was kind of comical, like:
- I’ve never heard of that school. Why would she apply there? (Translation: If you haven’t heard of it, it must not be very good; this is a common attitude amongst several parents at our HS)
- Where is it? It’s in Texas? Why would she go to college in Texas?
- How come she’s not going to local_college?
- How come she’s not going to <Top 20 school>?
So I’d tell the person this:
“D24 is really excited. Austin College is about an hour’s drive from the Dallas airport. It has about 1400-1500 students, has small class sizes, professors (not grad students) teach all of the classes. The school has a really good pre-health advising program and this academic year, they started a new PA grad school, so if you meet certain criteria and start there as a freshman, they guarantee an interview for the grad program. Getting research experience is really easy there…you can even do it as early as freshman year! And the way they assign roommates is pretty cool. All incoming new students have to take the Myers Briggs Personality Test. And if you want to go to med school, they have a great track record of their students getting accepted.”
…and then the other person would react like, “Oh, that’s sounds great! I wish we had known about this earlier! Where did you hear about this school again?”
The school counselor mentioned CTCL colleges in a previous presentation.
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Or get into an elite school and are burnt out before they even go. One of D19’s classmates that got into MIT just ended up refusing to go. He enrolled in one of his safeties and said it was time to enjoy studying.
My classmate (way back in my day) got into Harvard, only one in my high school. She dropped out a year later, just so burnt out from the grind.
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We went through S23s list and realized that every school on it except for one was test optional. The one that wasn’t was pretty much an afterthought anyway so we just put the thought of the tests out of our head. As long as she has a safety she likes that is TO or aligns with her scores, she will be all set.
From what you’ve said about your daughter on other threads, she will have a great application. Your family is so far ahead of those parents focusing on test scores with your mindful approach to finding the right fit for your girls that I’m sure she will end up at the perfect school for her.
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Hi all - very grateful for this thread. I am looking for LACs in the DC, MD, VA area. I believe my son is computer science inclined, and he loves soccer. We are abroad and not attending intl schools, so no access to AP classes, etc. His ECs are just altar boy & soccer. He is probably a 3.0 - hasnt taken the SAT yet. Any tips on where to look - and would love to hear others’ experiences.
Are you looking for schools in the DC metro area, or just in those states?
Colleges That Change Lives is an association of colleges that named themselves after a book of the same name that selected liberal-arts sized schools that a NY Times education editor thought were doing a great job. It’s a great place to look for schools, and several of them are in MD or VA:
(St. John’s is definitely a fit school, but terrific for whom those it’s a fit.)
Some other possibilities would include:
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Hampden-Sydney (VA): About 900 undergrads at this men’s college
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Hampton (VA): About 3300 undergrads at this HBCU
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Hood (MD): About 1200 undergrads
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Randolph-Macon (VA): About 1500 undergrads
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Roanoke (VA): About 1800 undergrads
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St. Mary’s College of Maryland: About 1600 undergrads at this publib liberal arts college (no religious affiliation)
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The Catholic U. (D.C.): About 3100 undergrads
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U. of Mary Washington (VA): About 3600 undergrads at this public liberal arts college
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U. of Maryland - Eastern Shore: About 2200 undergrads at this public HBCU
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Virginia Wesleyan: About 1600 undergrads
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Washington College (MD): About 900 undergrads
For any college make sure to investigate their financial sustainability.
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Thank you! i was looking across not just DC metro. I really appreciate this.
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