Parents of the HS class of 2010 - Original

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
3941

<p>momof3sons - I like the poppy seed ones too! And I’ve never tried the almond, but I’m sure I’d like that even more.</p>

<p>BengalMom - D will most likely apply to Stony Brook. It’s not too popular with kids from her school - probably considered too close to home. We’ll go visit sometime before September before making a decision. I think it’s the kind of school that’s worth looking at because it’s such a great value - but from what I understand, it’s not for everyone. </p>

<p>scualum - I could picture that happening at our school too (well, any school, really).</p>

3942

<p>Swarthmore also has junior day on the Saturday during AP exams. I realize they want to get this year’s seniors squared away, and for a lot of schools on the semester system, the campus tour guides are heading into finals and summer break shortly…</p>

<p>Queen’s Mom and momof3sons, S1 went to the debate this past Hanukkah. He’s definitely a hamentaschen guy – doesn’t eat potatoes!</p>

<p>Astromom – oh gee, I have posted so much – let me find a couple of things and PM them to you. S’s #1 piece of advice to math/science/econ Chicago prospies: be sure to sit in on a HUM or SOSC Core class if you get the chance to visit. He feels it’s an essential part of the flavor of Chicago and whether or not it might be a good fit for a given student.</p>

3943

<p>Thanks, CountingDown. I have tried to search the forums, but things get buried so fast. Thanks for the tip on classes to visit.</p>

3944

<p>D has been wondering about her senior year schedule. She thought she had it figured out: AP Lit, AP Euro History, AP Spanish, AP Calculus BC and AP Physics plus electives. But now she’s been wondering whether she should drop BC Calc and take AP Stat instead. She is a humanities oriented kid who happens to be good in math, is doing AB Calculus this year and would probably do just fine in BC Calc next year. But given her interests, wouldn’t she be better off learning some statistics rather than more calculus? Quite honestly at this point her main motivation to do BC next year is so that her senior year schedule looks impressive enough to the top colleges. </p>

<p>Similarly she has been getting tempted by AP Psychology instead of AP European history next year. She has heard a lot of good things about the AP Psych course in her school and the subject seems interesting to her. But once again, it seems like AP Psych is a less challenging class, requiring less work than AP Euro. And maybe it is. </p>

<p>So she is caught between pursuing the classes she is attracted to (AP Stat and AP Psych) and the ones that may sound better to the competitive colleges (BC Calc and AP Euro History). I don’t know how to advise her. Part of me thinks that Statistics and Psychology are more likely to be ‘useful’ to her than Calculus and European history. But if that is going to compromise her chances at the elite schools, then perhaps she should wait until college to learn those topics. </p>

<p>What do people think? Am I overthinking this?</p>

<p>Edit: I know, five AP’s is not a ‘slacker’ schedule :slight_smile: but she is aiming for the uber competitive schools. I mean what if Yale sends in a post-it note with their rejection next year saying “sorry, if only you had taken BC calculus you would’ve been in”!</p>

3945

<p>vicarious, she might want to take BC Calc and save Stats for a college math requirement. I say this as the mother of a humanities D, who was also good at math and did just that (actually, she took Logic instead of Stats once she got to college, but you get the idea). Calc is generally easier in HS than it is in college. It’s not going to be a make or break for a place like Yale if she doesn’t take it, but if she’s a good math student anyway, it certainly couldn’t hurt.</p>

3946

<p>vicarious–if she has her heart set on the tippy top and would do well and is interested in Euro and BC, I would encourage her to wait for the stat and psych classes. They are both definitely lighter weight than BC and Euro. My D was left with only AP Stat for next year since she took BC this year, and she is supplementing with an online math class for exactly this sort of reason.</p>

<p>BUT, if your D already has some strong history courses behind her (AP World, APUSH), and the psych class is supposed to be amazing…???</p>

3947

<p>Vicarious,
S2 is taking AB this year and was debating BC vs. Stat. He plans on IR/polisci. He decided on Stat, not because it’s “easier,” but because he’s looked at the program requirements for the schools he’s considering and has seen that he’ll have to take two, and in some cases, three stat classes. His rationale is that if he gets a good grounding this year, that will help with the stat he’ll have to take in college. </p>

<p>In some ways, BC Calc would be easier for him because it’d mean less prep for the IB math exam and he is actually enjoying calc. He may still change his mind, but there can be good reasons to go either way. He still gets “most challenging” whichever math course he takes because he’s an IB diploma candidate. </p>

<p>Your D still has a year of calc under her belt, which I think is the critical part.</p>

3948

<p>VP:</p>

<p>Which AP Physics is she taking, B or C? C is calculus based. I wish I would tell you then whether AP Calc AB would suffice but I’m not sure. My S is taking Physics C this year, and all but two students (he and another) are taking AP Calculus at the same time they are taking AP Physics. </p>

<p>My S took 3 AP classes as a sophomore, AP Spanish, AP Calc BC and AP Euro History. For him (the math/science guy), the AP Euro class took the most time and effort, for which he was rewarded with a 4 on the AP exam. Now that he knows the techniques used for AP social science classes (e.g. the DBQ … document based questions, etc.), he’s having a much easier time with AP US History this year (and it probably helps that he has one of his favorite teacher’s from his HS days to date.) I silently cheered in the background while he learned a new way of thinking from that AP Euro class.</p>

<p>Since he’s a math/science guy, his AP Calc teacher recommended he take something more “rigorous” than AP Stats this year. Note for you, he also noted that the AP Stats classes are better at the college level. Note from me to you, my S probably would have been bored in AP Stats. He’s certainly is not bored with an online class in Linear Algebra, which is proving a challenge primarily due to he length of he exams.</p>

<p>We don’t know too many students who do AB and BC calculus. The more math/science oriented students up for he challenge bite the bullet and take BC. Out of a class of 13 last year, they all got 4s or 5s on the AP exam. BC could be a bore because it’s the equivalent of a full year college calculus, so the first part will be repetitious if AB has already been taken.</p>

<p>My S hopes to have the following schedule next year, which requires 20+ students to sign up for AP Chemistry (he took AP Physics first since he thinks he wants to major in it): AP Chemistry, AP English Lit, AP Macro Economics/Govt, Multivariable Calc (online) and Team Aquatics. Yep, only four academic classes but they are all AP or college level and he may well be involved with some lab work next school year, plus college applications, so it’s not a slacker schedule. Wish we had AP Psych to choose from, since he seemed interested in that if the AP Chemistry was not offered (he’s taken honors Chemistry) but his HS only offers a regular class version of one semester of Psychology and one of Sociology. Might be better if senioritis hits next year, though.</p>

<p>Time to eat a bit of breakfast and get the kid up for SAT Saturday.</p>

3949

<p>did all the SAT kids get off ok this morning? Friend of D’s left her calculator at school (as was her sister’s) and had no gas in her car! Eek! even if those could be solved, I’m sure it didn’t put her in the best frame of mind. Am looking forward to hearing how the kids from our school did. </p>

<p>astro- no we are not visiting any other schools on our trip to Chicago, flying in on Sun and home on Mon, she has another AP test later that week. The family (the forgetful girl above, coincidentally) we are going with is also going on to visit U of Wisconsin the next day. Our GC suggested Lake Forest to D, she read about it in the college books we have, but when she sees score ranges which she feels are beneath her, she instantly turns up her nose. We need to somehow get her to visit a lower tier school which she ends up liking in spite of herself and then maybe she will broaden her horizon. </p>

<p>I’m staying neutral on the course selection questions for now, I have too much for our own kids rattling around in my brain, our curriculum guide should be out in the next two weeks and we can see what the choices are. The bad part is that they are expanding many of the choices for next year. Why is this bad? Because with a small school with limited number of teachers, it means it will be less likely to get all the classes you want if (for example) APUSH is only offered two sections instead of three, H Chem one instead of two, etc.</p>

3950

<p>Jackief - oh, I feel sorry for your D’s friend. What a way to begin the day! I am so glad D didn’t elect to retake the test today - turns out she’s sick again! She was fine when she went to sleep last night, and woke up feeling just miserable this morning. </p>

<p>My D’s a lot like your D when she sees that a school’s stats are not super-high - but I need for her to find a few acceptable safeties soon.</p>

3951

<p>Thanks to those who have given some very nice (if conflicting) advice on the course selection for D. Those are great points to consider. FAP, I’m not sure which physics AP she it will be, but probably the easier one, considering she hasn’t really done a proper physics course yet. Astromom, yes, she has done AP World last year, APUSH this year and the AP Psych class is apparently much better and interesting in her school than AP Euro.</p>

<p>She may end up letting the scheduling conflicts decide it for her, or she may split the difference- take BC Calc ‘to show them she’s got it’, and Psych for fun. She was telling me yesterday that if time were not a factor she would just take them all. Of course, the school strongly discourages seniors from taking more than 4 AP in senior year.</p>

3952

<p>S got off fine this morning for the SAT. I pointed out that 1/2 block from the HS where he’s taking the exam is a bakery, where he should go treat himself and I’ll pick him up, following this endurance session. We’d also decided we would go out for dinner this evening, S’s choice (within reason … he already knows where he wants to have dinner for his graduation, since he went with us to celebrate my 50th Bday, having never been to as fancy a place previously.)</p>

<p>I’m wondering whether being CA centric is something peculiar to some CA students, or if this desire to stay in state plays out as strongly in other states? I’m not talking about staying in state due to IS tuition, which I can understand is a strong driver especially this year. Maybe it’s unstated concerns over dealing with different regional cultures?</p>

3953

<p>FindAPlace – California has such a huge variety of colleges and universities, there may not be as much need to go out of state. You have a full menu there, you don’t have to try a different restaurant. :slight_smile: And since it is a large state, a student could go fairly far from home and still be in state.</p>

<p>If my kids had grown up in California I think they might have stayed there for college. Cal is such a unique state, with a unique “vibe”, I can see not wanting to leave that.</p>

3954

<p>BengalMom:</p>

<p>I guess you’re right and at some point I should stop fretting about the cornucopia of possibilities in CA. My issue is that I’m in public finance and worry about the state (and State!) of affairs going forward, economically, for students job searching here in the near future. Today’s LA Times says new budget revisions suggest yet another $8 billion gap in the budget just adopted in February. Even with extra strength coffee in one hand, I had to use the other to close the paper on THAT article. UGH!</p>

3955

<p>There are a lot of students in a lot of states who stay in state for college. I did, for financial reasons. Once I went to live abroad after I graduated from college, one of the fun aspects of that was meeting Americans from regions I had never been to. I have now been to all fifty states, having traveled to some on family trips and to all others while working as a Chinese-English interpreter contracting for the United States government. The regional diversity of the United States is wonderful, and while I encourage my son to apply to State U as a logical “safety” college, I also encourage him to apply to reach colleges in distant regions of the country, the better to learn about the diversity of United States regional culture sooner rather than later. Of course this consideration would not weigh as heavily in college selection for a young person who is already well traveled (my son is better traveled than I was at the same age, for summer programs) or who has a local college to attend full of out-of-state students. </p>

<p>I too had a smooth trip to the SAT testing site, arriving just before a lot of frazzled-looking high school students who were driving themselves there. I went off to my Saturday morning work after dropping off my son, and have just returned home.</p>

3956

<p>D2 got off to SAT without problems…in fact, she got to the testing site (not her HS) half an hour before she needed to. That is so unlike her.</p>

<p>Unfortunately she has to work a 3-9 shift today after the test. I’ll save her a piece of cherry pie (our Pi Day celebration) and let her sleep in tomorrow.</p>

<p>One nice surprise last night. <em>D2</em> actually reminded <em>me</em> that we needed to print her admission ticket for the test. (this from a kid who always does things at the last minute and flies by the seat of her pants) </p>

<p>I took a chance that she was starting to engage in this whole college thing, so I showed her the spreadsheet I have been putting together. She liked it, suggested two more columns for things to consider, and even ranked the schools on the list as high/med/low interest. Yay…a little bit of progress!</p>

3957

<p>FAP – ouch. California is under such a strain and has so many problems, I only hope that things can turn around before they get too much worse. I certainly understand your fears for your S’s employment future there. I have lived in California and might like to again one day. Best of luck!</p>

<p>tokenadult, I agree about learning about the various regions of the US and the people and cultures there. My S has not been able to travel the US as much as I would have liked at this point, and I do believe there is a great benefit to going to a different region for college, for those who are able and interested.</p>

3958

<p>VP, it seems like your daughter has some excellent history classes to show for herself. I vote for the Psych. My daughter is taking IB Psych HL and is having the time of her life in it. Turns out she really likes surveys and statistics, who knew? And isn’t some of the point of education about exploring and experiencing?</p>

<p>D just called from SAT. Said she was completely prepared and felt good about it. That’s pretty positive for us.</p>

3959

<p>vicariousparent, since your daughter has done AB Calc already BC ought to be a cinch. She’s done at least half if not 2/3 of the curriculum already.</p>

3960

<p>I think it’s kind of fun that today, on Pi Day, on 3.14 at 1:59 PM (first five digits of Pi are 3.14159), MIT is announcing their RD admission decisions. I believe RPI is doing so as well. (Cal Tech jumped the gun.) The techies think this rocks. Here’s hoping MIT has those servers maintained and up on full power in a little less than an hour. The '09s with skin in this game can now count down the minutes, although I heard MIT provides a countdown gadget the kids can put on their computer desktops.</p>

<p>I’m finding it fun to discover what the various U’s do, in these little ways, to distinguish themselves from the others. Even when, as in the case of MIT, they probably don’t need to.</p>