<p>BengalMom - I’m sure your S will be fine with the APs, but it was something I noticed right away because I know the APs are all given in May. And yes Mar. 6 until the APs is 2 months, so that is a long break between the end of class and the exam. </p>
<p>D’s school is one of those that goes until the end of June. I know in APUSH, she’ll still have the NYS American History Regents to take in June, so I’m sure they’ll still have class, but I’m not sure what’ll happen in the rest of her AP classes after the exams. She’s currently taking 4 APs (Physics B, Statistics, Engl Lang, and APUSH). Guess we’ll find out.</p>
<p>Wow. In going to Cal Poly Pomona for a two day conference at the Kellogg Center, I was determined to leave early yesterday morning. Traffic reports on the radio said there was a wrong way driver on the freeway and two fatalities near the on ramp I’d use, a mere hour before I left. I went a mile further east and got on the freeway there and just flew because traffic was choked off at the accident. But I was really saddened to learn that one of the fatalities was one of our local police sergeants, an 18 year veteran who had worked at the schools and was a detective in the juvenile division.</p>
<p>I don’t have much time to see the campus at Cal Poly but I can see it has a great deal of open space and the physical plant seems quite good. The conference center is on a little knoll that overlooks the main part of campus in the valley. Since it’s winter, there are nice views of the surrounding mountains.</p>
<p>FAP- sorry about the accident, lots of them here now with the winter driving. Is your S interested in Cal Poly Pomona or any of the Claremont colleges?</p>
<p>FindAPlace – I’m sorry to hear you lost such a valuable member of your community.</p>
<p>LIMOM – I had never heard of the NY Regents tests until I came on CC, so I researched them a bit. Wow – it’s like having another SAT in every subject! Don’t the kids there get totally burned out on testing? Between the Regents exams, AP tests, SATs, ACTs, and SAT IIs… I can’t imagine how they keep up the energy to do all that. Your D sounds like a very bright, busy girl!!</p>
<p>jackief: My S has some interest in Harvey Mudd, part of the Claremont consortium. We know several families who have students at the Claremont schools. I’m not sure a LAC sized school would meet his preferences, which now seem to fall into a kind of mid-ranged size school.</p>
<p>Lots of room to move in his thought process on this.</p>
<p>We’ll schedule a visit tp Mudd. He hasn’t given consideration to the public colleges other than the UCs at this juncture.</p>
<p>Thanks again y’all! I haven’t spoken with him this morning, but will let you know how the interview goes later. It will be interesting to see what effect the economic situation is having on hiring entry level college grads (especially in Florida :eek:)</p>
<p>FAP, so sorry to hear about the death of your police chief. </p>
<p>I’ve been watching the news and am shocked at the snow and freezing temps up north!! Y’all must me miserable! Sounds like a good time to snuggle up with a cup of hot tea and a good book!</p>
<p>We are actually having pretty cold temps too. I forgot to turn the heat on last night before we went to bed and when we got up it was 55 degrees in the house - BRRRR.</p>
<p>At our local high school, they offer seniors AP Political Science and AP Econ as semester classes (state requirement that you have to have a semester of both - so this is the high end option.). Given that the Fall semester ends in January, whichever one you have in the fall ends up 4 months before the test. The school pays for the test - even so, my DS refused to take it, saying that he was not prepared. Caused a major stink - but the pass rate was terrible so I think he made the right decision.</p>
<p>For you Southern California parents, how is the smog out at the Claremont schools. DD is very interested - but we have heard that the smog used to be terrible out there. Since the people saying that lived in LA 10 years or more ago, I’d be interested in a updated opinion. When we made our trip down, the air was very clear - but so was the whole LA basin.</p>
<p>Keilexanda - did you make All-State Band? Cool! This is D’s second year to make it.</p>
<p>That’s amazing how many of you have your schedule’s already. D can’t sign up for her senior year classes until May. Her hs has yet to get the rankings out for first semester. They are on a semester schedule and have 8 periods, not counting lunch. However, it’s a block schedule so it works out that they have 6 classes each day. Her Freshman year the hs decided to only have 7 periods but they realized the upper classmen weren’t able to get in all their classes so changed back to 8 periods her Soph year. There is a zero hour period at 7 am but I think that’s only for the swim team and the health occupations class which takes two periods because they visit job sites. </p>
<p>The classes not counted in the GPA are PE, Band, Choir, office aid, theater arts, and the like. Three semesters of PE are required but fall marching band or athletics can be substituted. High school classes taken in middle school are noted but not counted in the GPA. GPA is weighted with 1.0 point given for each Pre-AP/AP/DC (dual credit). </p>
<p>Here’s what D’s hoping to take but it’s highly doubtful, so she’ll probably have one or two open periods (seniors can have two open periods). If that’s the case, she’ll probably sign up for computer tech again. We have a small school so higher level classes are only offered once or twice so you grab what you can. In order of importance:</p>
<p>Band
Eng IV DC
US Gov AP (1st sem)/Eco AP (2nd sem)
Bio II DC (couldn’t get it this year)
Calc AP
Chem II AP
Anatomy DC
Sociology DC (1st sem)/Open or Comp Tech (2nd sem)</p>
<p>BengalMom - the NYS Regents exams are a bit easier than the SAT IIs or APs, since almost all students have to take them - they’re just one more thing to get through. D’s pretty lucky because the only one she has left is American History, one of her strongest subjects. Since she’ll be taking the AP in May, it’ll just be a matter of retaining the info for another month and a half - but I’m sure they’ll do some practices since they’ll have to kill time between the AP exam and the Regents which will be in the mid-end of June.</p>
<p>FAP - how sad about that accident. I just hate hearing about things like that.</p>
<p>ag54 - that’s exactly how I planned to spend yesterday - with a good book and some hot tea - instead S stayed home from school. He wasn’t really sick, just a little cold - but with the miserable weather, and so many other kids being sick with the flu, I decided it would be a good idea to keep him home. He went back in today quite willingly. I think he missed seeing his friends yesterday.</p>
<p>scualum - I’m not quite sure what D’s school does about AP Gov and AP Economics -whether they’re full year or 1 semester courses. I hope they’re one semester - that would make D’s life so much easier - and she could use a free period to work on her research project, I’m sure.</p>
<p>D is scheduled to take her road test tomorrow - and I am so nervous for her! I just took her out so she could practice her parallel parking. She did great with the driving, but the parking was pretty hard because of all the piles of frozen snow. Whenever she’d, hit the ice, she’d think she hit the curb and say, “great, I failed.” She actually did a really good job though.</p>
<p>Bengal - lol, don’t I know it about the circular halls. We have that in our old hs (built about the same time as yours) which is now the middle school. Frankly, it gives me a headache because you look at a wall or corner of a classroom and it’s all wacky. I think somehow the ceilings also slant. It’s like trying to negotiate an amusement park crazy house.</p>
<p>Yes, back in my day we had to parallel park but as Ag says, they don’t require it now days. There’s a parent program where we sign that they’ve done their driving time and then they take the DPS written test. How old is your D? I’m flabergasted that teens aren’t foaming at the bit to get their licenses now days. There’s seniors who haven’t even started. In Texas, you HAVE to drive because everything is a minimum of 30 miles away and public transportation (buses) outside Houston and Dallas/Ft.Worth is unheard of.</p>
<p>Good luck to her! And don’t forget to tell your insurance company she’s a top student for a discount.</p>
<p>nunya/ag54 - the test in NY still requires parallel parking. Of course parallel parking is a skill you need - at least in NYC, so I guess that’s a good thing that they’re still including that as part of the test. We’re on LI, so it’s not quite as important. D is 16, and while she can get her license, she really won’t be able to drive on her own until she’s 17. On LI, 16 year olds can only drive to work or to SAT/ACT review classes…lol. And yes, I will be requesting the good student discount for D. I also have a slip from her driver’s ed class which is supposed to help get a discounted rate.</p>
<p>my D had to parallel park on her test, and there was snow but not as much as now as she took the test on Jan 2. She had a choice of back-in park or parallel park. Since there were no other cars in the back-in park area, she chose the parallel. First time in my larger car opposed to the driver’s ed prius, but we practiced before and she did fine. The space was pretty big also. I think needing to back-in park is silly, I hardly ever do that.</p>
<p>LIMOM is the research project part of a science competition, or club, or something she is doing on her own?</p>
<p>I don’t even know if D is required to parallel park on her test. I know I had to in NY, way back when.</p>
<p>Oh, I should let you all know that D got her learner’s permit on Monday. HURRAY!!! She said her test was so stupid-even had this question: “What state are you taking this test in?”…and I love ending the question in a preposition.</p>
<p>I was a little upset because they made me go home and get her birth certificate despite the fact that I had her passport for ID (as well as her SS card) because I had to prove that I was her mother since our last names are different. Apparently her father (with the same last name) would not have been questioned. I think that’s rather sexist and discriminatory, but I refrained from making a stink because D was nervous enough about taking the test. Maybe I’ll write them a nasty letter (after D gets her driver’s license).</p>
<p>We are starting D’s driving lessons as soon as the snow melts.</p>
<p>D is in school today-first day of the new term. She was going to try to get her Math class changed, but called me o say the line to the counselors’ office was out the door and half way down the hall…we will see.</p>
<p>That’s funny about the concentric circles. Our high school is similar. It’s built around multiple courtyards with various wings jutting off of it. To make matters worse several of the additions are not quite on the same level as the main building. One of the wings uses four digit numbers while the rest of the school only uses three. In the original building 100 is first floor, 200 is second, but in the newest wing 400 is the first floor. Science Olympiad says they want to host the regionals, because none of the other teams will ever be able to find their way around the school. </p>
<p>What happens after APs varies from class to class. In APUSH they do indeed review for the Regent’s but it’s very relaxed since the questions are so much easier. Everyone gets over 90 on the Regents. AP Physics C plays ping pong and watches Star Wars movies. AP Biology the year Mathson took it did oral presentations. AP Latin learned a little Greek. AP World covered topics the teacher thought students ought to know more about - so they did a long unit on genocide.</p>
<p>When I took my driver’s test the first time in DC they told me I didn’t have to parallel park because I’d already done well enough to pass the test. NYS made me take the test when we got back from Germany. I’m not sure I had to park that time either. I was very comfortable driving and did the test in a stick shift which seemed to impress the tester no end!</p>
<p>Jackief - interesting that they give that option - parallel parking or backing in to a spot. There really isn’t much snow on the ground here anymore, but what’s left is all up against the curbs and frozen solid. Hopefully things will be a little clearer where they take the test.</p>
<p>Queen’s Mom - congrats to your D on getting her permit. Will she be taking driver’s ed, or will you be giving the lessons? D took driver’s ed, but we still had to do a minimum of 20 hours of supervised driving with her - and I am a very nervous passenger, even with licensed drivers.</p>
<p>Good luck to your D with her new shedule. Why was she planning to change her math class? My D starts a new semester next week - but her schedule will be exactly the same. </p>
<p>Just called the insurance company to find out how we add D to the policy once she passes (I’m hopeful, can you tell?), and also to find out how much our policy would increase by. He didn’t give me and exact quote, but it sounds like it will be between $800 & $1000 a year more! Pretty harsh, considering she can’t even drive unsupervised until after she turns 17!</p>
<p>Both. The state requires a drivers school for some set number of hours and then I have to do another set number. I am not sure of all the details, but D knows everything!</p>
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<p>They changed her math teacher to someone she does not want. Usually it would be close to impossible to change teachers, but this guy is considered by all the kids to be an easy grader and a great guy (everyone wants to be in his class). D wants the hard grader that everybody hates. I do not foresee a big problem unless some of her other classes interfere in the scheduling.</p>
<p>Hey all, just spoke with oldest. He says the interview went well (he thinks). Now, the wait begins. </p>
<p>He said no awkward silences, lots of discussion about his extensive work experience (which I think helps him quite a bit), and what the responsibilities of the positions he is interviewing for entail. He felt that the conversation could not have been better. </p>
<p>NOW, he just has to wait!!! He said that they didn’t go into what happens next, so he’s not really sure. I guess it’s one of two things: A) an email saying, “thanks but no thanks.” or B) saying, “we would like to speak with you again.” </p>
<p>SAYING PRAYERS, WISHING ON STARS, CROSSING FINGERS FOR B!!!</p>
<p>Who else is feeling discouraged by the financial news from colleges? I know it’s not the end of the world. I really do know that. But I see that some doors are closing and it’s a bit sad.</p>