<p>Our school has gotten rid of some honors classes in favor of APs (Physics B is one of them.) I do think that sometime forces kids to take APs that they aren’t interested in. I did tell my oldest to take AP History on the grounds that if he took it in high school and did well there was a good chance he’d never have to take it again. (As it turned out since CMU gives a lot of AP credit.) Both my kids found the non-honors English very easy and were shocked at how little other students did, but at the same time they really enjoyed the reading and the fact that they didn’t have to do the literary analysis they loathed. My younger son is taking a class in mysteries and he went all out on a creative writing assignment. </p>
<p>In any event, it’s a balance. Sometimes it makes sense to take the AP class even if you are not terribly interested in it. Sometimes it doesn’t. Just be aware that there is often a lot of pressure to take more than you really need to.</p>
<p>Iglooo-
Thanks for the comment! Just wanted to make clear that I’m trying to have her steer clear of of extra honors class. My Daughter is the one pushing for the harder semester. I’m just not sure if it’s the right choice. She’ll be stressed, I have no doubt!</p>
<p>On another note, not to stray from the current topic, questioning getting my daughter an SAT tutor. She does just a little above average on standardized testing…on the PSATs she was in the 78th percentile. But in school she is much above average–4.25 weighted GPA as of the fall. Is it worth spending the money to get her scores up? She wants to go to a good college and is looking along the lines of Pitt, Penn State, Delaware, and Ohio State with an ultimate reach school of Villanova, but nothing like the ivies. What are your thoughts?</p>
<p>Hi everyone…my S is still figuring out his schedule for next yr (he has to hand it into guidance this week). His strengths are English and History; he’s about average in math and science; he absolutely hates Spanish. I think this will be his schedule:</p>
<p>AP US History
AP Language
Latin 1 (after 3 yrs of Spanish)
Chem 11
Math 11</p>
<p>I admire his spirit in wanting to take the APs…I am a little concerned, but I’m letting it ride (thanks, lilmom, for reminding me he can switch it if he gets in over his head). I do think he feels some inner pressure to take APs, probably coming from his very bright friends. I’m glad he is signing up for Latin rather than just dropping foreign language,but this, too, may be a mistake. He’s showing me he’s trying, and I can’t ask for more than that. We’ll see how it all works out.</p>
<p>As far as SAT tutoring goes, he will be taking a class next year to prep him for the March or May SAT. We did it with his older sister…not sure how much it helped, but I figure it doesn’t hurt. He’ll probably take the subject tests in History and Eng.</p>
<p>He’s figured out he want a liberal arts program within 3 hrs of home, so that is a starting place for the college search next yr.</p>
<p>My son hated Spanish in middle school, so he switched to Latin last year. He absolutely loves it. The teacher makes a big difference - I’ve noticed that many of the schools in my area have great Latin teachers who go above and beyond to make it fun and interesting.</p>
<p>The National Latin Exam is today - let’s wish them luck!</p>
<p>lake42ks - There are many things that show their passion versus “doing it for the college application.” For example, which electives does the student take? Are they consistent or all over the map? Do their extracurriculars match their classes in terms of interest? Freshman and sophomore year might have a few more varied choices but does it narrow down to one or two major areas for both electives and ecs?</p>
<p>What about extracurricular activities? Colleges are very attuned to students having too many ECs in too many areas and they also are very attuned to vacation programs where the wealthier kids “buy” their community service. A kid who spends a few weeks in a foreign country through a summer program performing community service but doesn’t have a similar focus repeated during the year or over other vacations says something about his/her interest in that area. We have a group of high school kids who have been going down to Mississippi twice a year since Katrina to help down there. After 6 or 8 trips it shows real interest, one summer in Cost Rica, not so much.</p>
<p>My younger daughter hates high school, no question about it. She loves the social aspect but not the academic requirements. That says a lot about what type of college we’re going to be looking at for her. She needs more of a Hampshire or Evergreen than an Amherst, for example. Why would I force her high school academics to portray her as something she’s not? Yes, we insisted she take the third year of French but we’re reviewing the need for junior year (and certainly senior year) math and science and pursuing instead numerous English and Social Studies electives and APs. Her classes are creating a picture of who she is and that is what colleges want to see; it’s the match that matters.</p>
<p>Not to go on too long (which I already have), but if you look at a school like Tufts, many consider it as a safety for the Ivy Leagues. Tufts knows that and they look carefully to accept those students for whom Tufts is truly their top choice. How can they tell? Years of experience with applicants I guess.</p>
<p>In a nutshell, I’m just saying, let your child’s high school experience create a picture of who they are. Then they’ll more likely wind up in a college that’s right for them.</p>
<p>I agree with all the above. The kids end up where they belong, regardless of all our trying to “help it happen”. </p>
<p>I am envious of those high schools that offer Latin, my son would have liked to try that. </p>
<p>I never considered, twenty years ago when I moved to South Florida, how far away we were from colleges (especially the glut of great schools in the northeast). I didn’t realize how spoiled I was having choices of hundreds of colleges all within a 5 hour drive of my New Jersey home. Our girls might have wanted at one point to go away to school but later realized that they didn’t want to be more than a 5 hours drive away, which limited them to about 6 schools, only two of which are top rated (about 50 by USNEWS). Everything else requires a plane ride.</p>
<p>’ I think feels pressure to take Ap’s because of all his bright friends’… I think my S feels like that too. He has also signed up for 2 next year, Bio and US and I am also nervous. He is not one to put hours into studying. I just have heard so much about the Junior year and how much stress there is and I feel for my S because he is not good with a lot of stress in school. He has had a pretty manageable schedule this year and he has been somewhat successful so I really don’t want him downslide, especially in his Junior year, but I guess you have to let it go and hope for the best. Something kind of unusual. He has applied to a school in Vermont… we are in CA, for a semester next year. You live in a dorm and go to school with only 45 other kids from all over the country. Most of his classes would cross over and he would come back to his school the 2nd semester and pick up where he left off. Anyway, something different than most kids.</p>
<p>Kids from my S’ middle school,take the National Latin Exam, but not my D’ school, which has a very good Latin program.
My D loves Latin but at her school kids have to take a Modern Language. Latin is only required in middle school. So Latin is her elective.</p>
<p>My oldest D did not do many ECs. She played two sports one of them year-round. She was a member of a Math team, taught kids how to make digital movies one year, and volunteered one summer in a K class. She was accepted at her “dream” school where she is volunteering more than she did in HS.</p>
<p>amtc - I agree with you in general. I don’t, however, believe most parents are trying to fit their square pegs to a round hole. The frustration we have is more likely in trying to fit an oval peg to a round hole. What is the best way to fit an oval to a circle? I thought that was what we were hashing out. I am inclined to round out my oval by suggesting my D take another science rather than finding a bigger hole to fit an oval.</p>
<p>I’ve been lurking on this thread for quite some time, but now that my youngest daughter has been called in for her final sophomore year session with her guidance counselor I guess it is time to “officially register” as a parent of the HS Class of 2012. Daughter #2 is a very different kid than #1. #1 was an overachieving science kid who was a 4.0 (okay, more like 3.9) student with pretty high standardized test scores. Daughter #2 is more interested in the humanities, accelerated in English, and is interested in a career in film and/or theater. She is not the self-driven student that her sister was, but has challenged herself so far with the most demanding curriculum offered at our school, which this year means Honors Geometry, Honors Biology (Living Environment), AP Global History, AP English Comp & Lit and Spanish III (school doesn’t offer honors courses in foreign languages, or LOTE – Language Other Than English – as the school calls them). She also takes Band, Chorus and PE. Unlike D#1, who breezed through science and math courses, D#2 struggles a bit to earn her B/B+'s and A-'s. But she is of a mind to take challenging courses even if her GPA suffers.</p>
<p>Looks like next year’s schedle will be AP US History, Humanities/AP English Language & Comp, Honors Trig, Honors Chemistry and Spanish IV. She thought she would be taking some theater electives next year, along with additional choral instruction to prepare her for a statewide competition (she has all-state potential in voice), but we recently discovered the theater offerings and voice instruction will be cut from the course offerings due to severe cuts in the State education budget. So at this point we are unsure what she will be doing with that extra time – anything but study halls!</p>
<p>D#2 has begun looking at colleges on her own, focusing on schools with film studies (production) programs. Unlike her sister, who applied to highly selective LACs, the younger one is more attracted to larger universities. Whether this pans out or not in two years is impossible to know. When #1 was a sophomore she was sure she would go to a large university in Boston but ended up not applying to any schools north of Poughkeepsie or larger than 6,000 undergrads.</p>
<p>Anyway, no questions for the community for now, but I’m sure I’ll be back several times over the next couple years to pick collective brains. CC was an invaluable resource during the college process for #1 and I know this is a place that can be relied upon for a lot of great advice and sympathy as #2’s college search goes forward.</p>
<p>We had the meeting with the HS counselor yesterday. The first bombshell dropped was that she is retiring at the end of the semester. I asked if her replacement would be experienced or just out of school. She did not have an answer beyond that the HS was a desirable place to work and hopefully they might get a transfer counselor from one of the middle schools or other HS’s in the district. When my older son’s counselor retired beginning of his senior year he had two replacements that year. One was 24 and the other 25 both of them being their first real job. Not a good thing.
There was no mention of any colleges beyond the CSU’s and UC’s aside from the community college. It was as if private schools don’t exist. She did push taking both SAT and ACT. And said that they have cold called many schools and most want to see all 3 sciences.
The counselor pushed taking a community college course over the summer. This HS encourages CC classes. We worked out a schedule where my D can take 4 courses at the HS and two at the CC next fall.
She will probably take:
AP US History
English 110 (which is a college course taught dual enrolled at the HS)
Alg 3/4
Chemistry
She will try to take an art and a humanities class at the CC.
She is going to hopefully take Spanish at the community college this summer. That will give her 3 yrs of a foreign language and she will consider herself done with Spanish. D had LD that makes Spanish difficult.
The counselor didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know. I also didn’t care for how she spoke unfavorably about the other two district HS’s. The school my D attends prides itself on being the “academic” school. My 2 other kids attended another HS and I find each has its pros and cons.
Learned that my D’s soph class has 606 students which is huge.
My D is not thrilled with returning at all to the HS next fall. We will also attend an information session for an alternative HS program that combines self study with CC classes that is jointly run by the HS district and the Community College.</p>
<p>mom60, our girls have almost identical schools. Lots of talk about UC’s and CSU’s and very little about privates.<br>
Sounds like your D has her plans for next year - hopefully she can make it work! There is an independent study HS in our area that works together with the local cc. Some kids my D knows go there and they are happy. I don’t know where you’re located in CA.</p>
<p>Gourmetmom: It’s encouraging to know that your S is enjoying Latin after hating Spanish!</p>
<p>seiclan: Regarding your Florida location, my sister-in-law said the same thing to me when I was taking mini-trips with my D to visit colleges, that my northeast location made it much easier. I say nothing about this college process is easy!</p>
<p>5boys: The semester in Vermont sounds like a fun change…just hope it won’t be too cold for him!</p>
<p>hudsonvalley51: Welcome to 2012 world! My two kids are also quite different academically, but at least this time we know what to expect! Sounds like your D is taking a challenging schedule.</p>
<p>mom60: Hope the new guidance counselor turns out to be competent. My kids attend a huge public school where the GCs are simply overwhelmed, so I knew I had no choice but to get on board with all this. Along the way, my older kid and I had some good bonding experiences(along with the hair pulling), so that’s the thing for me to keep in mind this time around (the bonding stuff, not the hair pulling)!</p>
<p>My biggest concern right now is that I feel my S is making this big leap academically next year, one which he’s pushing along, while I’m on the sidelines. He’s had (thus far) a successful year by doing the “slow and steady” route, and I would have preferred him to keep that pace going. I just have to let go, as 5boys says. At any rate, I’m glad to have a supportive place to vent about it!</p>
<p>Igloo I love and agree with your oval peg into a round hole analogy. I think that circumstance, location and environment all contribute to this. Kids are all influenced greatly by who they surround themselves with (their peers). Sometimes this is an asset and sometimes this is a detriment. I am glad that DS is on the math competition team and considers those kids his “peeps” (an expression that my girls use and I don’t know if they made it up or not). The math team is comprised of good kids (no drugs, no alcohol, academically motivated group) so this is a big plus. On the down side, these kids are driven to exhaustion and very competitive. </p>
<p>I believe that the current college admissions environment is unhealthy for most of our children (there are some on this board and thread whose kids would just say “bring it on” but most of us are trying to find more balance for our teens). Having a son who is less mature than his sisters at the same age(socially and probably academically) is both an adjustment and a learning curve. I am grateful for this thread and CC to have a place to discuss this.</p>
<p>We have just finalized what D2 will be doing this summer. She opted to go to Putney’s Excel program instead of another summer of ballet. She will be applying for the IB program at a new school for next fall. A lot of changes for this girl, and she seem very excited about her new venture.</p>
<p>Oldfort - Wonderful news! I love a plan. I will have to sit on my son very soon to get him to think about his summer (girls were planners but my son is a last minute kid). I would like him to do a SAT prep class at a college in the northeast to sort of take care of four things at one time (experience away from home, experience living in a dorm, SAT prep, start of college visits). He is still non-commital but time is ticking away on the summer programs…</p>
<p>“And said that they have cold called many schools and most want to see all 3 sciences”</p>
<p>Mom60: glad you mentioned this which I take would be biology, chemistry and physics. Many kids in our HS opt for environmental or earth science, but our perception too was the traditional are preferred. I wonder if this is true for privates, since the GC focused on UCs and state.</p>
<p>FWIW, At a heads-up meeting with Sophomore parents the other night, GC’s told us that State Universities exclusively rely on GPA and SAT/ACT. I assume they meant if applicants meet the minimum requirements like three sciences. I don’t know if this applies to prominent State Universities as in California. For top tier private schools, they said it is 4 years of 5 core subjects, lit, math, history, science, foreign language. Those also have to be taken at school not outside… That may be because my D’s school does not allow kids to transfer their grades earned at community colleges.</p>
<p>seiclan - I agree that life has gotten harder with stiff competition. I think that makes parenting more difficult. Don’t I wish if we could just keep our kids in a time capscule and re-release them when the time is easier…</p>
<p>Guidance counselor also told my D that Jr year should be your most rigorous year. My D came home last night after the grade wise presentation and filled out her course list for next fall. Despite the recommendation of taking Chemistry she is requesting AP Enviromental Science. Of course her whole schedule is weighed on the condition that she get the CC summer class she wants. HS students are last to enroll. With budget cuts and class reductions I hope she gets what she wants. Luckily summer school signups are before the end of the school year so if changes need to be made it can be done.
The school and guidance counselor also said that they want to see 4 academic classes in the schedule. I think on here you see students with many more academics. I don’t know if the kids on CC are more motivated or if our schools are just more lacked or if it is budgetary.</p>