Parents of the HS class of 2010 - Original

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
5361

<p>BengalMom - NY is my favorite city too. I pretty much forced D to visit Columbia last week. I thought that once she saw the beautiful campus, she would feel compelled to apply. She doesn’t want to go to school that close to home, but she loves the city, and I thought she would like the idea of living in Manhattan on a campus (as opposed to NYU), but it’s not going to happen. Not saying she would definitely have gotten in, but I thought she might be willing to apply. </p>

<p>mathmom - my D finally got around to taking the math 2 practice exam, and she said there were a few problems she hasn’t learned to solve yet! She’s going to make sure she finds out how to solve those asap since she’ll be taking the SAT II in May. Other than those problems, she said the test was fine. Same with US History. She said the only thing she couldn’t answer were questions about Ronald Reagan, and they haven’t learned that yet. I wonder whether they’ll get that far before May 2?</p>

5362

<p>Okay, so I probably know the answer to this, which is that we should ask permission to deviate from the norm, but I’m curious to your thoughts and whether you’ve run across this with your older S and D.</p>

<p>One of the places my S will apply requires two teacher letters of recommendation (LOR) from junior or senior year teachers. S will have no issues in getting the LORs but, since his best subject by far is math, wants one of his LORs written by his AP Calc BC teacher … and he took AP Calc, you guess it, as a sophomore.</p>

<p>There are other strong reasons he wants this teacher to write his LOR. Although S is good in science, none of his science teachers really impress either he or I as someone who will go out of his/her way to write a strong LOR. The AP Calc teacher will write a strong LOR (and has, as we saw a sneak preview of one he wrote in the clutch for a summer engineering program S hopes to get into. Among other things, the teacher said he was in the top five of students he’s had in his career of 15+ years.) </p>

<p>This teacher has known him for three years, recommended he take linear algebra this year and followed his progress, checks off on S’s EC work as a math tutor (including for his friends in AP Calc BC this year) etc. etc. This is the kind of teacher who gets excited still when one of his students gets into a great school (like the girl who took AP Calc BC last year, and was accepted to Yale even though Stanford said no … their loss!)</p>

<p>So, what do you think? Do we ask permission and do you think we’ve built a strong enough case for why this teacher should be writing it that a college would agree to allow it?</p>

5363

<p>The way we handled this was having it as an extra LOR. Most schools will take more than 2 if they add value to the package - and it certainly seems that this teacher would. Since he is not taking math through the HS anymore, it seems to me that his last hs Math teacher would be a logical add to the package.</p>

5364

<p>So, here’s an interesting question for everyone. I just took the U.S. History practice test and scored 680. I’m not taking APUSH and my honors history class started pre-Civil War. Is it worth intensive studying in late May/June after APs to try to get 750+? It would be my 3rd SAT II and I’m not planning to apply to H/P/Georgetown.</p>

5365

<p>FAP: I would definitely use the sophomore yr BC Calculus teacher as one of the two primary letters. For the second primary LOR, I would not use another math teacher. I would use a science teacher. And then you could add the other math teacher (maybe the college prof who currently teaches him) as a third, supplementary letter. Of course, as you say, you can check with the admissions office but most likely they will not give you an absolute “no”, while restating their guidelines.</p>

5366

<p>If the Calc teacher has been maintaining a relationship with S and can attest to his growth via the external classes and his tutoring, I’d say ABSOLUTELY use him as a LOR. Not S’s fault if he’s outgrown the department!</p>

<p>S1 (math major) did not have a math teacher for one of his primary LORs. Used a Comp Sci teacher (for soph AP and subsequent courses) and his AP World Hist (he needed a humanities teacher rec). His supplemental recs were a math prof from a summer program and his research mentor, both of whom could discuss aspects of S and his experiences that were completely different from the HS experience.</p>

<p>Still trying to figure out what to do for S2’s recs.</p>

<p>Be sure to check the requirements at all the schools on S’s list to make sure he doesn’t need a humanities/English rec. Every year I see kids get caught in that trap at the last minute and they have to scramble.</p>

5367

<p>Luckily, my S has good choices among his AP English or AP US History teachers, both who like him, to choose as his non-math/science LOR writers. This will be a tough call. The AP English teacher seems to adore him (one of the teachers parents will just cry over when she finally retires if their S/D hasn’t had her yet.) However, the AP US History teacher has also seen S in action, as he’s the Mock Trial coach. This may come down to what his final, highest CR score is on the SAT, and also the score he gets on the AP English exams (he’s carrying an A in the class.)</p>

<p>I’m also hoping if he can get a good lab experience this summer, that he can get a strong supplemental LOR from that professor.</p>

5368

<p>I’d go with the sophomore calc teacher also. I don’t think you can underestimate the impact a strong LOR can have. My oldest was fortunate to have some of the best writers as teachers his junior and senior year. Because of the way our school is set up, my youngest won’t be having those two teachers (and I’m very, very sad. They are equally as gifted at teaching.)</p>

5369

<p>Agree with what everyone else said, FAP. Good luck. </p>

<p>Keilexandra - if you don’t need the third SAT II, and your other scores are significantly better than a 680, don’t knock yourself out studying for a test you won’t need. I’m sure you have better things to do with your time!</p>

5370

<p>We just got back from the Univ. of Delaware. Unbeknownst to us, it was also admitted students’ weekend, so the campus was full of people wandering around in groups. The school did a fantastic job of keeping everyone straight, and after the information session, a dozen+ tour guides came out and took people on tours in groups of only 6-8 students (there were 15 people, including parents, on our tour). At Pitt, we were in a group of about 40. </p>

<p>The campus is beautifully maintained, freshly sodded, and with lots of Georgian brick architecture. S really liked it, “maybe even more than Maryland”. It’s like a smaller version of UMD, but with a nicer location. The kids seemed happy (well, who wouldn’t, on such a gorgeous day?) and enthusiastic about the school. </p>

<p>The info session leader was a guy in the admissions dept., who did a very good job and emphasized that they read every part of the app, not just the scores and grades. The essay is important, as are teacher recommendations. You can apply to the Honors college at the same time as the regular application: there are 400 Honors students in a class of about 3,500. If you don’t get into Honors as a freshman, you can apply again each year.</p>

<p>There are two required things at UDel: FYE, the First Year Experience, where you are housed mainly (although not exclusively) with others in your prospective major and also take some courses with them. I think this is done to foster a small-college feel within the larger school. The other part is Service Learning, where you participate in “an organized service experience”. Delaware is very big on study abroad (they apparently had the first program of this kind in the world) and this can count towards Service Learning. Many kids do this in the short winter session, since they’re on a 4-1-4 system.</p>

<p>We were impressed by the place, and it’s definitely going on S’s list. It has a minor in Journalism, although not a major, but they do have a Communications major with lots of Journalism-like courses. It seems like a really good fit for him.</p>

5371

<p>Oh, that reminds me–here are my other 3 visit reports from last week’s trip. I’m glad you liked Delaware, Booklady! Every year, more people from PA/NJ/MD like it best than from DE itself. :D</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/visits/denison-university/3107876.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/visits/denison-university/3107876.html&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/visits/college-of-wooster/6919297.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/visits/college-of-wooster/6919297.html&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/visits/university-of-delaware/1329803.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/visits/university-of-delaware/1329803.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Thanks for those reports, Booklady and Keilexandra. </p>

<p>Keilexandra - I just wanted to say that the students you saw at Denison were probably not completely indicative of the whole student body - most students are still in their dorms on Sunday mornings. Perhaps the small group you saw were students who were attending church for Easter Sunday? I’m just guessing that might be the case since it sounds like they were a little dressed up for a normal Sunday morning on campus. At almost every college, there will be at least a few kids who attend religious services, especially on major holidays.</p>

5373

<p>I’m sorry, but I can’t remember whether I posted anything here about our visits this week. If anyone is interested, let me know - we visited Lehigh and Lafayette. If I’ve already posted visit reports in the 2010 thread, ignore me.</p>

5374

<p>I couldn’t help myself, I asked S to check on his ACT scores (I said nothing after Thursday afternoon when his status was still “registered.”) The scores were posted! His composite score is 35. </p>

<p>We are all thrilled. S is proud of his score and very happy that he met his goal of “one and done.” H and I are thrilled because this will help (we hope) with merit money. </p>

<p>Best of luck to those still waiting.</p>

5375

<p>pugmad – FABULOUS!!! May the merit $$ come rolling in!</p>

5376

<p>Fantastic score!! Congrats to your S. :)</p>

5377

<p>Congrats on the score!</p>

5378

<p>WOW!!! Congrats on an outstanding score!!!</p>

5379

<p>pugmadkate - a BIG CONGRATS to your S! Great news, and I too hope the merit money comes rolling in for him.</p>

5380

<p>pugmatkate, great score! Congrats to your son.</p>