<p>amanda our sons were separated at birth!</p>
<p>Fl yes the speaking is a big problem for a lot of these kids-unlike my S who just wants to get up there and talk-about what I am not sure.</p>
<p>Two years ago he would have tanked grades to avoid doing so…</p>
<p>I also would like to suggest for our T-shirts the color blue. ;)</p>
<p>I am happy to answer questions about UW-Madison - ask here, or PM me.</p>
<p>I think these kids with a ton of ideas are going to have a marvelous time in college! That’s what it’s for! They’ll know what they want to major in eventually. </p>
<p>The lack of + and - at our school helped my A- kid a ton and hurt my B+ kid. What are you gonna do? Honestly with all of these systems I don’t know how colleges can figure out anything about a kid. But it all works out in the end, I guess.</p>
<p>With all the pressure for A’s & B’s, I’m glad that the +/- mix was not added! Considering the teeny tiny point differential in the top 10 every year, I’m sure it would help with deciding the V/S. Pretty much every year, there are 4 kids that have to write a speech because the result is not verified until days before graduation.</p>
<p>Reading the posts above, I am especially glad that our school doesn’t rank. It stopped doing it several years ago, and the administration claims that our college placement results have improved as a result. I don’t know about the causation - we’re in a well-regarded district but don’t send many kids to Ivies/top 10 schools. There is recognition for students who have a weighted average of 4.5 or above after the 7th semester, but that’s it. And no +'s or -'s either. D would prefer it otherwise, but it’s certainly less stressful for me! I guess there are pro’s and con’s for both.
I’d be glad to be a contact person for our kids who wind up in Chicago-area schools.</p>
<p>First snow day of the year here today! Yippeee! It was supposed to be the first day of the new semester but we can wait. Its actually quite beautiful out there and I am ready to enjoy it.</p>
<p>Good thoughts to all kids finishing up finals and/or awaiting grades and hoping for honors.</p>
<p>We visited a college yesterday that D had reluctantly added to her list and she wound up liking it quite a bit. I’m glad because I think she has a good chance of getting in there with maybe even some $$ to sweeten the pot and it will give her another solid choice. In the end I may regret making sure she had choices but for now its nice security.</p>
<p>ak-
Marketing, is that why we are unemployed. I thought if I had an mba it would be different. Sorry to hear that you are facing the same issue. I am thinking of going back to school to do something else. But, no idea what and don’t want to incur any debt while S is going off to school in the fall. I am kind of at a loss at what to do. It was so hard to get my last job and it lasted all of 13 months. My only promising interview this year started with a phone interview, then an aptitude test (passed that yay) and then some crazy marketing test that wanted to know what the most complex excel formula i had written and how I would teach a class on pivot tables. I didn’t make the next cut.</p>
<p>S had a good first semester this year. I was concerned as he had a great fit admission before school even started. For awhile there I was concerned that with that in his pocket he wouldn’t do well. It did take him awhile to get into gear but he has been on an upward trajectory even with 3 APs this year.</p>
<p>S’s school has decided to weight and change to letter grades starting next year. They have finally realized that their students are a big disadvantage when the highest grade is a 93 both for admissions & scholarships.</p>
<p>ldinct - Well marketing plus a 10 yr gap is my problem LOL!! Marketing always gets the cut in rough economies because they just spend money and have wimpy correlations to actual sales. Having an MBA but taking a break to take care of kids? That is where hiring managers scratch their head. </p>
<p>My husband wants to quit IT and start a coffee shop so he can bake bread all day. (I think this is where my peterpan gets his mojo from) Maybe it’s all this talk about dreams of future professions that gets me thinking I should have that same conversation with myself.</p>
<p>Early dismissal today but at least the hs kids got their midterms in. Tommorow might end up being a snow day.</p>
<p>amandakayak, any coffee shop owner/manager also needs to know some IT so that they can sysadmin the coffee shop wireless network. ;)</p>
<p>Hi All,
popping in. Havent been around about 10+days, so read a bit of yesterday to catch up–The group covers so much territory and I am taking pain meds (long story) so I dont have energy to read pages–though may try to cover it more over next few days.</p>
<p>^ fogfog - Here’s hoping that your pain management does the job and you are feeling better soon!!</p>
<p>Hi friends, just stopping by to say hello and make sure you aren’t worried about me. sb and I sort of fell off the planet last Tue when her friend died.</p>
<p>Not ready to join back into the conversation here…our lives are still out of whack, if you know what I mean, but I look forward to going back and reading all the wonderful posts since I was last here.</p>
<p>Thanks for the supportive PMs. I think of you all and hope your kids are getting wonderful news. </p>
<p>I’ll be back in the swing of things before too long.</p>
<p>Interesting discussions; thanks, all!</p>
<p>You’d think the College Confidential people would like to get behind the T-shirt idea. It could have a slogan on the front and the website address on the back. This might not be great, but it could say something like “CC…ask me!” on the front, with a double meaning (that is, ask me what CC is, or go online to CC and ask your questions).</p>
<p>The argument that one school can’t weight in determining the relative ranks of students IN THAT SCHOOL just because other schools don’t offer AP and therefore don’t weight makes no sense. It reminds me of another thing that didn’t make sense years ago: When my children were 9 and 11, they played basketball in a new gym with confusing multipurpose lines painted on it. It was frustrating for children on both teams who were frequently called out of bounds because the correct lines were hard to see. I suggested to the referee that, if we put orange cones on the applicable lines, the game would be fairer (and less random) because both teams would know the correct lines. The referee said no; the morning games didn’t have cones on their lines. The school board said no; the other schools don’t weight, so you can’t either. Short-sighted. The whole concept of a “level playing field” is that it is level for everyone in that particular game.</p>
<p>The likely valedictorian in my children’s school was excused from taking at least one prerequisite and one required honors-level course, allowing the likely V to take more APs (or at least, take study halls so as not to dilute the GPA with courses below AP level). The next three scorers to date, one of whom is my child, took all the required courses and prerequisites. In my view, excusing one, and only one, student from a “required” course or a prerequisite means that the playing field is no longer level. However, most scholarships, admissions decisions, etc. will have been determined by the time the V is announced, and there is so much that is great about the school that I am disinclined to say anything.</p>
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<p>Our district had a scandal a few years back. The girl with the highest gpa was graduating in three years and the written policy said the val had to be a 4 year grad. They briefly showed her transcript on TV, to impress us all with the sky high grades. Of course, what I noticed is that she was allowed to take multiple APs as a freshman and sophomore, when others were not. There is no way she could have had her GPA taking only what the other 9th and 10th graders can take. Sure, she was smart enough to make the grades, but if it’s a “contest” the rules need to be the same for everyone.</p>
<p>MOSB - So good to hear from you. You and songbird have been in our thoughts. It does take time to even think about a regular routine. ((((hugs)))))</p>
<p>I don’t have a dog in the race so to speak as bluejr is a top student, but not one of the TOP students. I don’t know how they calculate this. I do know students have occasionally been allowed to skip pre-reqs. I also know kids that take non-weighted classes online so they have more slots for AP classes. The choice is available to all students so I don’t see that as favoring anyone. We have a good number of top students that take dual enrollment classes that are not weighted at all. No one seems to mind. I believe they are looked favorably on in admissions regardless of the weight/no weight. There are colleges that recalculate grades in any number of ways which can put students on a more even playing field. It’s never going to be perfect. Our kids don’t have the option of ‘study hall’ or a block for ‘student council’ that is available at some schools that affect GPAs. </p>
<p>I do know that this year at least the val is felt by the class to clear and away be deserving of the honor. Hopefully he’ll give a better speech then the val in my older sons class of 2009…although the speech has to be approved by the administration this kid went way off the map. It was embarrassing. I was so glad we were in a large area where if you didn’t understand the meaning you were pretty lost. My mother kept asking “What did he say? What was that?”. Bluejr would quickly make up something G-rated to tell her. On the other hand the Sal gave an awesome speech. Very fun, current, but appropriate for a large group. He’d missed Val because of a B+ in PE one quarter in the sophomore year. He laughed about it all the way to Duke on a full academic scholarship. 
I can honestly imagine it is very hard for a student to miss a top spot due to questionable ways of calculating, or students that are gaming the system. It may not matter a hill of beans in admissions, but it is an honor that they’ve worked hard for so it does matter in the sense of being recognized by the school and their peers.</p>
<p>Momofsongbird - Miss you around here but you take your time…we will be here waiting. Sending you some chocolate!</p>
<p>mosb - I have been thinking about you and hope you guys can get back into the swing of things, as the situation allows. Thank you for dropping in and saying hello. Best wishes to your daughter.</p>
<p>My D’s HS is a test-based selective enrollment HS so doesn’t rank and has no valedictorian/salutatorian. They do have weighted grades for R, H & AP, though, but no + or -. Works for us.</p>
<p>D has an Honors interview this wknd. It’s for a school that is not her 1st choice, but I’m making her go for 2 reasons: (1) interview practice; and (2) keeping all options open. She’d prefer not to feign interest in this school, but I don’t know how that can be avoided… Anyone have any advice for this scenario?</p>
<p>I am in Chicago proper, so could act as a local contact if anyone’s S or D ends up here. I’m 15 min from U of C, 20 min from NW and have lots of city knowledge, having lived here for over 20 yrs. (Aside: Was born in Wisconsin & lived there for 15 years, which makes me a GB Packer fan, so Sunday’s victory at Soldier Field was awesome! Going to the Superbowl- not me, the team 
)</p>
<p>Hi everyone. I’ve also been away for most of the last week–S2 home on semester break-- not chillin’ but working on last essays and supplements. Ta DA!! He is officially done with writing, special artistic projects, forms, paperwork and to-be-mailed material !!! We went to the post office yesterday–got the last darned thing in the mail (deadline–1/28–so feeling pretty good about ourselves) and felt like celebrating. </p>
<p>DH also completed FAFSA (took him ages) and CSS profiles. Submitted THEM, and I am officially exhausted and over it. ;)</p>
<p>I’ll admit–It all felt pretty great for a minute–but I’m afraid I’m on a bit of a post cheering-on-the-applications hangover. Feeling groggy and in a slump. Most of the recent hard work, frankly, was writing essays for long-shot programs and even longer-shot scholarships. Through it all S2 has been diligent and sacrificed so many days! He’s done a fabulous job!! But now I’m in worry-mode. I hate to bring a downbeat note here. But do any of you feel a little letdown now that there is so little left to do but wait?</p>
<p>Okay–wanted to respond to the distance discussion. The best program in the country for S1’s major is in a school only 40 minutes away. Very hard to get into, and his dream major–but he and we had always imagined he’d go away on a grand adventure to college. Part of the learning and growing up, we feel, comes from the independence of living away, making one’s own way, etc. When the great big package arrived, we were excited that he had the chance to attend dream program #1, but were confused by the thought he’d be right across town. Where was his big adventure?</p>
<p>Turns out, he loves discovering the city on his own. He’s found a million ethnic restaurants we’ve never heard of! He has the advantage of knowing the freeways, but is living a very independent life. We have never shown up on campus, offered to drop by, attended a class, or arranged to fix things. It has worked out wonderfully. Of course, once he arrived in the dorm, he was surrounded by hundreds of other kids wanting freedom from home. Not an issue.</p>
<p>Now, for S2, I am a little teary to think of him going far away. How we have changed! And yet, he has applied all across the country. He would like to stay in a warm climate (and your freezing temperatures and snow has made him even more ambivalent about the schools in the east on his list!) But ultimately, there will need to be some give and take when he makes his final decision.</p>
<p>Missed you all. Thanks for letting me share my “blues.”</p>
<p>^ I also completed the FAFSA and CSS this week (all by myself, thank you very much!)</p>
<p>Hi All</p>
<p>So sad to read mosb post…you are in my thoughts/prayers.</p>
<p>As for me/pain etc…I have some bling in the form of titanium. :(</p>
<p>Our hs does not rank—am grateful for hs profiles. The system is so easily gamed, that it isnt meaningful in our case…frankly rigor meant more in our student’s successful app than approx decile etc…kwim? The hs only calculates val/sal. </p>
<p>Distance: our student will be a plane ride away-not an easy flt/connection.
It is what it is so wasn’t ever really part of decision mix. I know we will all really miss kiddo–who is easy to be with, affable etc. Kiddo will be at a fabulous school and busy—We know that kiddo wont be avalable for parent weekend so wont even book that. </p>
<p>Home is in the sun belt so hopefully will bring kiddo and friends here. </p>
<p>Kiddo commented to being a second semester sr…</p>
<p>I have to do some fin aid things, yet untill I can get through day/night without meds, will wait to do it/correct errors etc.</p>