<p>She got an email today from Mt. Holyoke listing junior interview dates in the late spring. Since one of the dates was on her birthday, she decided that was a good omen and registered. Bryn Mawr also had a list of available late spring interview dates but D had to actually look on their website to find it. I’m guessing that since those particular schools place so much importance on interviews, they have to make available a lot of slots long before the ED deadline and I don’t think they offer too many over the summar.</p>
<p>good luck ZM on the real start to the process! Is she nervous about the interviews? We were thinking of taking a trip to one of the very few non-driving-distance schools in Apr and it is right at the beginning of their interview period. however D would like to do one or two interviews at safeties first. In any case, the airfares have gone up so I don’t know if the trip will happen in Apr. </p>
<p>Finding out about most rigorous is something on my todo list. I am not worried about D1 who got the school to change their policy so she could take more courses than what had been their maximum, it is D2 who is not as strong in English/History. At this point I think it will be best for her to forgo the AP Eng and Hist courses and bulk up in math (her fave) and science. Our school really tries to limit kids from trying to take all the top courses, they individually look at all who wish to take more than 2 honors/AP classes. It is a small school with an admissions bar already passed to enter, so every course is pretty rigorous. </p>
<p>And we have a predicted snow day on Wednesday, which is good because there is a ski race tomorrow.</p>
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<p>Well, I agree with that although I’d accept any other honors science and maybe AB Calc. :-)</p>
<p>I would think that taking honors/AP classes in English, math, lab science and history for all 4 years should get any kid a most rigorous designation. I understand about not being able to take other classes, though.</p>
<p>At our school, D and her friends take honors/AP in the 4 foundation subjects and then have a language and band. So many colleges are asking for at least 3 years of the same language nowadays that a language class should be taken every year. So no room to take something like art or drama without giving up the band.</p>
<p>I can’t believe that less than 1 a year is taking that kind of program. Your GC’s standards are set VERY high.</p>
<p>But obviously, admissions committees know about your school and its standards. Everything is taken into context, including a lack of the “most rigorous” checked box.</p>
<p><<sorry. it=“” just=“” struck=“” me=“” that=“” this=“” isn’t=“” busy=“” work=“” for=“” the=“” sake=“” of=“” work.=“”>></sorry.></p>
<p>What do you do when your child starts to freak out and realize that all of this “stuff” (SAT’s, ACT’s, etc.) they have been doing and/or talking about is suddenly going to be reality for them. It seems some kids can’t wait to get to their college experience, and some are truly frightened by it. How can we ease the stress of the frightened child, and help ease them into the transition from being just a great HS student to being involved in the college application process?</p>
<p>Thanks for the good wishes Jackief! D’s not nervous because she’s got tons of public speaking experience and she feels that she has sincere and personal reasons for being interested in both schools that will totally make sense in her own context. She’s also just one of those hyper-confident people.</p>
<p>D is doing the full IB diploma, so I am hoping that automatically earns most rigorous designation. She’s not, however, doing the dual enrollment classes that a lot of her classmates are taking. She had received a scholarship to the local CUNY based on freshman PSAT scores (which were better than junior scores, which is a whole 'nother rant) and was able to take four regular, credit classes in the college over the next semesters. We saw no benefit to the dual enrollment classes because a lot of her colleges don’t accept them at all. Since she was the only student to take the classes when she did, I wonder if her course of study will be considered less rigorous.</p>
<p>WhirledPeas, in our household, we know that it’s all going to hit my daughter at the point at which she has to make a decision. She’ll cruise along doing what she has to do until then, and will probably have a mega-meltdown. When she applied to high schools (as only NYC can do the process), it was a special corner of hell on earth. She is like me in being extremely indecisive. I do not look forward to that at all.</p>
<p>Does every college ask for course difficulty on their college applications? Also, what types of schools want to see most rigorous course selection taken?</p>
<p>I was actually surprised that there was a rubric. My son had gone through the same school and there was never any mention of that. If I hadn’t asked, I wonder if I would have ever known. It seems like a good thing to ensure consistency across the three GC - and, if anything, the MR bar seems a little low. </p>
<p>If a student wanted to, they could take 4 years of honors/AP Science and English, 3 years of Social Studies (freshman is not an “honors” class), and 2 years of math (nothing before Calc or Stats is honors). Foreign language is not offered as an honors course. Add it all up, 13 possible honors courses without doubling up (e.g. taking two honors classes at once).</p>
<p>ZM - Best of luck to your daughter on the interviews - somewhere on here I wrote a long message on an interviewing classes that I took ages ago - if I can find it, I’ll post a link.</p>
<p>That would be so kind scualum!</p>
<p>Here you go… </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/600418-push-her-keep-my-mouth-shut.html?highlight=interview[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/600418-push-her-keep-my-mouth-shut.html?highlight=interview</a></p>
<p>Thanks Zoosermom. I feel like I am the only one with the resistant child. She is very bright, great grades, IB classes, etc. But when it comes to having to be “judged”, as she puts it, she gets angry and cranky and says she wants to go to cc (ok, then she tries not to laugh, because she knows that isn’t true). It is going to be a long, long, long year. Maybe when we start visits she will become more excited about the process. And there is the bonus of leaving home and not having to fight with pushy mom anymore!!!</p>
<p>Thanks Scualum! I’m going to pass that along to D.</p>
<p>WhirledPeas, when faced with the eventuality, leaving the pushy mom may not be quite so desirable anymore!</p>
<p>zoosermom - good luck to your D, and you, with the interviews.</p>
<p>WhirledPeas2U - cute name, btw - my D resists the college process as well. She absolutely wants to go away, and she wants to go to a good college. She just doesn’t want to have to do the research involved in finding the college that’s right for her. </p>
<p>ellemenope - I suspect the “most rigorous” designation varies from school to school way more than we can imagine. At D’s school, there are 10 period days, and it’s not unusual for kids to go 9 or 10 periods (with a lunch). I guess her school, or at least her GC, takes the “most rigorous” designation very seriously. Hopefully, the colleges are aware of that.</p>
<p>scualum - I’m very curious to know if there is a rubric. The only reason I know specifically about the courses I mentioned is that her GC singled them out. I also know that lots of kids who otherwise have very rigorous courses choose to avoid them. Many students also skip the AP foreign languages.</p>
<p>navarre- it is a question on the counselor part of the common application. So colleges with their own app may not have this question, but most would via common app.</p>
<p>zoosermom - I just re-read your post about your D having taken 4 classes at your local CUNY. I think that can only help in the admissions process - especially if the classes were in areas where your D has an expressed interest.</p>
<p>Just reporting here, but yesterday afternoon was a gorgeous SoCal day such that only a light jacket was welcome while touring UCLA. It’s no wonder it got 55,000 applicants last year (expected to go up a few thousand this year.) </p>
<p>I had no idea it was the smallest UC campus, although with the largest combined undergrad/grad enrollment. My H, who has visited 4 other UC campuses, says there’s a lot less green open space areas at UCLA. </p>
<p>The average entering GPA has crept up to a 4.3 and rising. As you’d expect from one of the top tier UC schools, about 95% of students are from CA (as were most on our tour although we had two international, one from Poland (but Asian in appearance) and one for El Salvador.</p>
<p>Unlike a private school, since UC is attached to the state, the UCLA police are true police, with policing powers to issue tickets. They are building them a new station just off campus. Also opened in the last year, the new Reagan Memorial Hospital and the Broad Art Building. Thus, UCLA can mean “Under Consruction Like Always.”</p>
<p>There was a good energy level to the campus, even though the study areas in the library were filled to the brim since mid-terms are coming. The main living areas, on the hill, look far from the main campus, across the 3 major athletic fields. However, I had to remember there is no trapsing through the snow, and only occasionally in the rain. Plus, there are frequent shuttle vans. UCLA is next to Westwood Village and Wilshire Blvd, which can get just choked with traffic, so there is major cooperation with the City of LA in devising various mass transit solutions.</p>
<p>zoosermom, How exciting! Best of luck to your daughter.</p>
<p>We recieved a letter from son’s GC inviting us to come in to “begin” the process of looking at colleges. Ha! I am impressed that they offer this. As I’ve mentioned before, S attends a public school in a low income area and the GCs are kept very busy with more pressing issues (housing, etc.) I’m going to volunteer to help kids start the process if they are first generation. And by “volunteer”, I mean I’m going to come ask all of you!</p>
<p>Anybody else’s kids trying to decide what courses to take next year?</p>
<p>Our rising seniors sign up first, so this week they’re having to think about next year! </p>
<p>Son can’t decide between/among many choices for his extra period. More Latin (even though CB cut out the 2nd AP, the school is still offering it and he could remain active in Latin club & go to the convention) or perhaps AP Statistics? Useful course, they say. Or even another history–Military history is a popular course. Or Economics.</p>
<p>Latin & an AP class would be weighted, but history or econ would not be, and would actually hurt his GPA (he’s currently at or near the top of his class.)</p>
<p>Decisions, decisions.</p>
<p>My son has talked about it a little. He’s going to drop Latin (he’s in Latin 4 now). He loves history so will take AP Euro, he also will continue with math and science taking AP Calc and AP Physics C. Not sure if he’s thought about which calculus course to take (he can take AB or BC). He has to get a NYS 1 semester gov and 1 semester econ course out of the way. Most kids at his level do it by take AP Econ - Macro only (which covers gov enough to satisfy the requirement) or AP Gov (which covers econ in some cursory way.) He’s leaning toward econ which was quite easy according to big brother. He’d love to take AP Statistics because it’s taught by his current math teacher who he loves. I don’t think there’s room in the day though as he’ll probably continue to take orchestra and the special performing arts program. He’ll take a regular or honors English, but definitely not AP.</p>