Parents of the HS Class of 2013

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
11321

<p>tootired, my D will absolutely use her common ap personal statement for her Pitt application (essays are optional for Pitt, but they say to include one if you are interested in scholarships). Now she just has to write it! She has given herself a deadline of Sept 30, but I know they work on them in AP English, once school starts.</p>

<p>My D should be getting an AP award also - I wonder if she should put that on her apps? We haven’t really looked at the common ap yet, so I’m not sure if there is a place for academic awards.</p>

11322

<p>MDMom, I want a margarita NOW! Took ds1 out to lunch before he heads abroad, and I burst into tears. I should have ordered a drink right then as he was driving. Why don’t I think of these things at the time?</p>

11323

<p>AP Awards: They give those out now? It’s based on the classes taken through junior year? I read the info at the site but it didn’t say that the awards were calculated after junior year. I. Am. So. Confused. Today.</p>

11324

<p>Poor YDS! Is he going somewhere he can Skype? My oldest spent a semester in Belgium and we talked more then I think that when she was in school in the states.</p>

<p>Walker, awards are mailed out whenever they are earned. My D has taken 6 AP tests (bragging mom - got 5’s on all of them) so she should get an AP Scholar with Distinction certificate. They send them out after senior year for any additional levels earned.</p>

11325

<p>YDS: HUGS!!! And I agree with Mamabear…make sure you Skype :slight_smile:
You will be my first “toast” tonight ;)</p>

11326

<p>AP Awards: Huh. I guess we just haven’t gotten it yet. DD13a has four 5’s, one 4 and a 2. Don’t even ask about that 2. Lol</p>

11327

<p>Yeah, my oldest got a 2 on AP French. We knew the teacher, while a lot of fun, does not prepare them for the test, which is very difficult. He gives them the opportunity to skip the test by taking the class as dual enrollment. D’13 is taking the class this year and wants to take the test also! I need to get her some prep books.</p>

11328

<p>Walker, I’d think she’d be eligible, despite that 2:</p>

<p>[AP:</a> Scholar Awards](<a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>Qualifying for an AP Scholar Award – AP Students | College Board)</p>

<p>The program ds is going on is the first time this organization has done this particular trip. Right now, it feels disorganized to me. I thought I could tamp down my Type A tendencies and go with the flow, but as his departure looms, it’s not working anymore.</p>

11329

<p>I am so frustrated with the ACT people!!! I ordered DS’s score to be sent on 08/15/12. Now they sayon their website that it can take up to two weeks. Being the on top of it parent that I am, I called the college (the only one that he has applied to so far) to see if they have received it. They have the transcript but NO ACT. SO I call the ACT people and they say it won’t even be sent until 09/06…3 weeks after it was ordered! They say it’s up to the school how often they receive it. SO of course I call his #1 and #2 schools to make sure they have everything (Even tho the apps arent out yet ) and they have everything :slight_smile: His #1 school even said they had his AP scores…which we did not have sent to an school…In DS"S case they wont earn him any credit so why have them sent…I guess his HS sent the scores… UGH!!!</p>

11330

<p>Relax…it’s very early still so if you’re already sending things to the colleges you are way ahead of many. One of my S’s choices doesn’t have the supplement posted yet. I’ve always felt that the kids who get their apps done in late September/early October are in great shape for every college and the college admissions offices are in their “groove.” The student helpers, who for the most part just arrived on campus, have all their brain cells firing after summer by late September :slight_smile: Remember all this “stuff” has to match up and be organized so there’s time.</p>

11331

<p>Official Bama acceptance received today - WOW what a packet. An acceptance letter from admissions, A letter from the interim President with an official acceptance certificate. A checklist of “what next.”</p>

<p>We will be visiting next Friday. I want to know what he thinks.</p>

11332

<p>Hi parents! Congrats Galaxyfigment! </p>

<p>Hugs to those who have dropped off older kids or soon will. DS leaves this weekend to visit his dad for a week, and then comes back for a day before heading back to school overseas. Skype is great - you get to “see” them, and know that they’re ok. Of course, when DS was sick last June, I got to see that too, and worry for days until I heard back from him that he’d been to the doctor and was on the mend!</p>

<p>I’m sorry for those who are frustrated with GCs. I have to say, DS is very lucky and she has a terrific GC. I have no complaints about her, but the school’s new “system” is still not on naviance, so we are in a holding pattern.</p>

<p>Hang in there everyone, it really is still early, and I know that our kids are going to all find great schools. :)</p>

11333

<p>Wooooo I just checked the mail and I got my official Bama acceptance thing. No word on AP Scholar or NM yet, but hopefully by the end of the week.</p>

<p>First day of school today sort of sucked. I showed up to get my schedule, and it is messed up! I met with the principal early last week to finalize it and I thought it was good, but it looks like none of the changes were actually implemented. Ugh.</p>

<p>Can someone offer advice on email etiquette? I’ve been trying to contact bama for a while now because I’m trying to send a second transcript with extra classes on it that aren’t listed on my normal one. Here’s the timeline:</p>

<p>Aug. 17: I emailed the admissions people, asking if they had received the transcript (sent in mid july)
Aug. 20: They responded that all my classes are on my normal one (they aren’t) so the other one isn’t necessary.
Aug. 20: I sent a clarifying email and asked again if they had received it. No response.
Aug. 24: I emailed my regional rep person explaining the issue, she said that she would forward my message to the admissions people so they could help me. No response.</p>

<p>There’s still no response from anyone, how long do I wait before emailing again? Or should I try calling?</p>

11334

<p>S2’s first day went well. He thinks all of his classes are going to be a breeze, except maybe for AP Music Theory. His Earth and Space Science class appears to be what we used to call Geology (with a space unit attached). They get to go on a weekend field trip to Oklahoma to explore caves, so that sounds pretty fun. For S2, the best part of the day was getting to eat lunch in the theatre’s green room - a privelege reserved for theatre magnet seniors. There are only 8 of them this year. Worst part - not being able to chew his sandwich due to a sore mouth from his wisdom teeth extraction. :(</p>

11335

<p>Just checking in from soaked FL. Schools closed today for the hurricane day. Nothing like the snow days from my childhood. I remember waking up, listening for the news on the radio, rolling over for more sleep, waking up for breakfast, then going out for snowball fight, grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup for lunch, cartoons in the afternoon, chicken soup for dinner, bath time and then hope for more snow the next day. Hurricane days are just rainy and boring. Not even a good scare. Hope for the same (a dull hurricane day) for those of you on the northern gulf coast.</p>

<p>Earlier somebody asked about including honors and submitting the CA. S’13s HS GC suggested waiting until NMSF and AP honors were official, even if you know what the outcome will be based on scores. So, he has finished essays and is waiting on official notices to submit CA. He received notice on AP today (they do deliver rain or shine) - National AP Scholar (just a little brag). Hoping for NMSF notice soon so he can move on.</p>

11336

<p>Hoping that all our peeps in the way of the storm are staying safe & dry!</p>

<p>For those of you waiting to hear about NMSF, reports are starting to trickle in on the National Merit forum. </p>

<p>D had planned on ordering all transcripts last week. but her GC suggested waiting till she’d finished the Common App as they’ve had problems when the transcripts got there weeks before the CA was submitted. Which was fine, but she had 3 non-CA schools including UA who has everything but the transcript. She finally got that one sent yesterday, so hopefully she’ll get UA in place so she can finish up the scholarship & honors app. </p>

<p>Lafayette has an additional question on their CA supplement if you don’t have an interview. The rep mentioned during D’s visit that they didn’t expect students beyond 6+ hours to come back to campus to interview, but D’s emailed to see if they have a regional option to interview down here. Baby steps…</p>

11337

<p>Wow! Lots of good stuff giong on here! Congrats for the acceptances, AP Honors, NM…lots of smart kids here :)</p>

<p>SteveMa, Haystack, bclintock ~ Thanks so much for the info! St. Olaf is high on DD’s list, so it was interesting to hear the comparison. Both Mac and St. O are on the list, and I have liked what I have read in my research on Luther. Definitely one to check onto further. Creighton and Central never clicked with DD, and she does not want to go to school in the south. Truman is high on her list, we both really enjoyed our visit. Her dream school is still Smith, which she really does have her heart set on even though I have tried to spread the love.</p>

<p>DD submitted her first app today to KU, yay! She will submit her app to U. Nebraska tomorrow(for some reason the app only had Spring 2013 available to appy to?), and then Truman in the next week or so. I really pushed her to get these out of the way to make room for the rest of them. </p>

<p>Questions:
Sending scores - DD is going to submit her ACT score, but I can’t decide if she should submit both of them. First test was C:29 34R/34E/27S/22M. Second was C:30 28R/34E/32S/27M. Cleary the second test is better, but superscored they are a 32. She will only have the three publics listed above, the rest are privates. Should she send both sets, or just the best one? We opted not to send either test score to her HS since we weren’t sure how she would do, so neither is on her transcript.</p>

<p>Dual credit classes - DD is in four classes this year that she can receive college credit for. She will definitely do so for Honor College Algebra, she hates math and is hoping this wil transfer as a math credit. Honors Gov’t would count as an elective I would think. I am unsure what to do about AP Eng 12 since she could take the test and most likely receive credit with a 4 or 5, so I am not sure if there is any need to do dual credit for that one. Her last one is Honors Spanish IV. I know that some of the schools have a foreign language requirement, but I am unsure if this would transfer as an elementary Spanish class, and if it does, I wonder if it would be difficult to just jump into a second semester Spanish class. Any thoughts on this?</p>

<p>Our first FB game is this weekend. DD is in the marching band, and we love to go see her march and watch the game. We had a star athlete a few years ago who really rallied the community, talk about Friday night lights! I never understood that until I lived it. I love football in general, and will be at the USC-Vanderbuilt game this Thursday, but I will be a little sad to miss the first game of the season, and a little bit sadder to not see DD’s last, first show of her last marching season.</p>

11338

<p>Midwestmom: D2 had a similar two sets of ACT scores and she sent both to UA. I figured what’s another $10.</p>

<p>Do you have a student at Vanderbilt?</p>

11339

<p>Walker–while your GC is not on the ball, our kids have to make appointments to see the GC at our school too, and she is wonderful. She works with the kids, period. If you want to meet with her with your student, she will do that, but for college planning, she will only communicate with the kids. The kids are busy too, but they find the time as needed.</p>

<p>The AP awards are for scores on the tests at various levels, if you score 3 or higher on all tests taken, if you have an average score of 4 or whatever, etc.</p>

<p>terinzak-did you ask those schools if they would accept the ACT score sent by the high school? Most will accept the scores on the official high school transcript, but you usually have to ask.</p>

<p>Midwestmom2013–submit both. Some schools will superscore for merit aid even if they don’t superscore for admissions! Most likely they will accept scores on the transcripts so ask about that. Our kids are in marching band too. We love watching the competitions.</p>

11340

<p>Good morning '13’ers!
Congrats napalm on your acceptance! It must feel great to have that one in your hand.</p>

<p>After going around and around, I’m pretty sure that D will apply to our instate public LAC for her financial safety. I know she isn’t in love with the school, but it’s probably the best option for lots of reasons. Hopefully she’ll get enough aid at one of her other choices, but if not, it’s a good school for undergrad. (and there’s no extra essay on their supplement so it shouldn’t be too hard to get that one in!)</p>