<p>Went to back to school night last year. Very worried about D with calc. She took AP AB rather than BC but they have a new strategy for teaching it which sounded logical but the whole class is lost. The teacher is new and hasn’t taught it before. The entire parent group expressed concern that their kids were lost. This is probably crazy, but this kid has literally never had a B, even on a quarter grade so what happens if she suddenly gets one now? Her SAT scores are borderline…she is hoping her perfect grades and class rigor will carry her (and they could). Should I start thirsty Thursday already? Ugh…
Then there is S14 and AP chem, which is a hard hard class and he didn’t take honors chem last year though he carried over 100% in the class all year. I’m stressing over him too since his grades have to come up this year and he has some tough courses and tough teachers. I would far prefer the kids do well in the class than on the AP test but the teachers seem ok with Cs and 5s. Sigh.</p>
<p>@laurendog- I’m with you … What’s the drink today? It’s going to be an interesting one. </p>
<p>@ ezilyamused- thanks for that info! D and I will be up anxiously awaiting the scores. Agh!!! </p>
<p>Last night I had a meeting of D’s school school advisory committee. I brought up the fact that I thought the school had not been proactive in recognizing the students for a variety of things schools had in the past, particularly varsity letters and scholar-athlete recognition. (doesn’t mean much NOW to my D because she’s already a senior subitting apps but it could help other kids coming up the pipeline, you know?)</p>
<p>This morning, I got a call from the principal’s admin assistant and the principal has asked to meet with me tomorrow morning. Nervous, worried, & anxious about this. Hope I didn’t tick anyone off too badly! </p>
<p>On a good note, D pressed “send” on three apps this weekend! UAH, UA, and Iowa State. Next up, Georgia Tech. Plugging along …</p>
<p>Happy Thursday everyone.</p>
<p>89…my heart is with you…the only B mine ever got was in AP Calc…and you are right a good grade is better than a poor one…even if the test result is great…our school doesn’t put the test result on the transcript so the GC is explaining it in his LOC…but if your GC doesn’t talk about it…you should mention it to whoever is writing the LOC…</p>
<p>So sorry about the Marine being killed…death at a young age is so terrible…</p>
<p>LDog…I can’t wait for Christmas!!!..or April 15th which ever comes sooner…lollollol :)</p>
<p>Sorry if I misspelled anyones name…I need new glasses :)</p>
<p>psblstnr–guessing we’ve looked at a lot of the same schools–money tends to be better in the midwest then other parts of the country so that is nice! I just LOVE Truman!!</p>
<p>Spackler–I agree, if you are only a little frustrated you are WAY better off then the rest of us :D</p>
<p>swizzle–PERFECT attitude!!!</p>
<p>Can someone come and slap DD for me, please…she had her meeting with the GC, what, last week, is only now telling me about some forms they still need. I ask questions about that meeting for a REASON…I don’t appreciate the “well, I didn’t really pay attention” response :mad: …trouble is, DS didn’t say anything either so he needs a head slap too :mad:.</p>
<p>Greekmana: agree that there is no need to send the test scores UNLESS the schools to which your boys are applying “do not participate in score choice.” There are a few schools out there that want to see EVERY standardized score & you since you would need to send to them, you might as well do it for free!</p>
<p>On a bright note in my house: S13 had to turn college essay in for English. We should have the teacher’s feedback on Friday so maybe one essay will be ready to send…</p>
<p>swizzle: love the attitude. am a little in awe of you. have been following you posts for a few months and am quite confident that you will go far in life. hope you get to enjoy the year & are rewarded with a in-box full of acceptances.</p>
<p>StevaMA, I agree about Truman and Midwest in general. Many smart kids from our area attending Truman. We visited last fall and had bio department presentation with current students panel and we were very impressed. One guy transferred there from WashU because of the parents financial situation, many valedictorians and top students. Kirksville is a damp and there is nothing in 70 mi radius, but with the right plan, it is possible to study abroad and to graduate in 3 - 3.5 years.</p>
<p>Kirksville is your typical MO small town :D.</p>
<p>So, as I try to keep up with our frequent postings, I apologize for not covering everyone…know I read them all and think of my CC friends often :)</p>
<p>Spackler and psblstnr - welcome!! It’s a great place 
</p>
<p>Longhaul – so sorry about your S’s friend. So young and very sad. More reasons to hug our kids and cut them some slack.</p>
<p>Ezily – Well, there goes my theory about your D’s increase in email. Hope your D’s score increases to what she wants/needs. I am in the same boat as you with waiting for ACT scores to be posted…but D wants to see them first.</p>
<p>Swizzle – enjoy seeing your and napalm’s posts…good to have students on here as well.</p>
<p>SteveMA – I can appreciate your wanting to keep your kids’ acceptance on the down low, but hopefully when they’ve made their decisions you’ll let us know?
ugadog99 – here’s hoping Opening Night is fantastic! At least you knew his pattern and were able to take care of things for your D. Since you already knew how miserable the teacher would have made her senior year (!!) of hs I’m glad you and your D decided to make this the last show. Sad for all the time she has spent on her passion, but on to bigger and better things!</p>
<p>Carla 2012 – good luck on your D’s OV!</p>
<p>Carimama – btw, I believe scores are released 1:00 am EST. We are in CST and they are posted, seriously, at midnight CST. Not sure when our D will look (midnight or before/during/after school Monday) but I will be going C.R.A.Z.Y. until she tells me her score.</p>
<p>To the parent’s whose kids are making progress on apps – yeah! For all successes – yeah! For Walker’s basement – yeah!</p>
<p>Hope everyone has a great day…what’s Thursday’s drink again? I’m a totally social drinker – and rarely – but want to toast our kids and us tonite :)</p>
<p>89 wahoo,</p>
<p>“Went to back to school night last year. Very worried about D with calc. She took AP AB rather than BC but they have a new strategy for teaching it which sounded logical but the whole class is lost. The teacher is new and hasn’t taught it before.” </p>
<p>My D is in a similar situation - GET HELP - hire a tutor if you can, try to find help online, buy books, etc. A B may not be that big of a deal if your daughter has never had one before, but a C could be a bad deal. And if she’s truly “lost” - I would be concerned. Do what you can to help her.</p>
<p>“Then there is S14 and AP chem, which is a hard hard class and he didn’t take honors chem last year though he carried over 100% in the class all year. I’m stressing over him too since his grades have to come up this year and he has some tough courses and tough teachers. I would far prefer the kids do well in the class than on the AP test but the teachers seem ok with Cs and 5s. Sigh”</p>
<p>DID YOU REALLY SAY S14??? As in one-four!? Anyway, same story. I ran into this with AP teachers talking about weighting in the gpa and how an AP-C was the same thing as an A in a regular class. I wanted to send the TEACHER back to school. We’re not competing with kids in regular classes, we’re competing with kids in AP classes, and I don’t want my kid to make a C - I want her to make an A. A C is not okay! So, same thing - get a tutor, buy extra study guides, online tools - require they be used X number of minutes per day, etc. until the kid is comfortable. Also send an email to the teacher and copy the counselor and your kid stating that it is very important that your kid make an A in Chemistry, and you expect your kid to turn in all assignments, study hard, get any extra help that is available, stay after school and do whatever is necessary to make that A, and you really appreciate the teacher’s help, in advance.</p>
<p>At least then everybody (student, teacher, counselor) knows your position on it, and you can hold anybody and everybody accountable if best efforts are not forthcoming.</p>
<p>So relieved! D3 has been accepted to the college of her choice, in the major of her choice! We’ve applied for housing, and we’re working on scholarship applications now! Woo hoo! Ball rolling. Now we just have to concentrate on AP Calculus which is currently kicking her butt - largely, I believe to a teacher that is less than stellar. She’s NEVER had problems in math before. It’s something that has always come extremely easy and natural for her. She asks the teacher to explain something, and the teacher just repeats what she said before!!! ARRRRGGGHHH!!! She has a new study guide that she was devouring last night, and it seems to help. (Fingers crossed) There’s no way I can help her or tutor her myself in calculus. WAY over my head! I may be in the market for a tutor!</p>
<p>cromette–CONGRATS!!! Have her check with some of the other kids in her class, maybe they can do some study sessions together? Nice thing about the early acceptance and early housing deposit is they usually get into the best dorms!!</p>
<p>I was helping my sister yesterday, she has a '14er and finances are a big concern for them. I was running some NPC with her and she was relieved to see that the costs aren’t as bad as she thought. She has not done the FAFSA estimate yet so I suggested she do that and then run the calculators again. She is frustrated with her DD because she hasn’t given her a list of schools she is interested in yet. I told her to start the search process herself. With 4000 schools nationally it’s just too overwhelming for kids. I got her down to an initial list of 28 to run by her DD just to get the ball rolling. All her DD has said was that she wants to go to school in a big city. Knowing my niece, when all is said and done, she won’t end up in a big city, probably in a smaller town close enough to a big city that they can visit on weekends, etc.</p>
<p>Also went to Teachers night last night - personally it was a very relaxing night. I am over worrying about dd’s school (she worries plenty on her own!). The theme we heard is that we are getting the students ready for college with the curriculum. Less tests - no credit for doing homework etc. I truly appreciate this because college grades are only based on tests! My dd goes to a religious, very competitive school and her religion teacher said that she took a survey of the girls (mostly seniors) at the beginning of the quarter and 45 of 70 (3 classes) said that they feel “like they have to be perfect” - I know dd was one of them. So much pressure these seniors are under! </p>
<p>DD had two big disappointments in the past week (missed NMSF by one point and didn’t get a nomination for a scholarship she was hoping for) but on the positive side she got her LOR yesterday and it is GREAT! She even thinks its great so that says a lot! Has to ask teacher to correct one typo but then it will be ready!</p>
<p>cromette - congrats on the #1 acceptance!! As for AP Calculus…I’m working on my MBA, and Statistics was the worst!! YouTube lecture videos saved me - there are many good lectures on YouTube. Worth a try, perhaps. Good luck to her :)</p>
<p>SteveMA,</p>
<p>You are so right about the college search being overwhelming for a high school kid. The WHOLE process is overwhelming, even for an adult! It blows me away how many parents leave EVERYTHING up to a 17 year old. These kids have a lot on their plate senior year, and the process is too important to let things slide. D1 missed out on a FULL RIDE scholarship because she let a date slip. That taught me a lesson. NEVER AGAIN. I am INVOLVED. They need to be sitting beside me and we need to be going through things together, they need to have deadlines for essays (ahead of the real deadline), and they just plain NEED HELP. They don’t think about everything in selecting a college, because quite frankly, most of them don’t know a whole lot about the world yet, and still need coaching. It really helps if you have a kid who actually understands that and WANTS the help and coaching and appreciates it.</p>
<p>our2girls,</p>
<p>Really? Awesome, thanks! I was thinking about that - there must be some help online! Glad to know there is. I’ll help her check it out.</p>
<p>89wahoo: AP Chem. See if you can get the teacher to agree to a policy if they get 5 on the AP Exam that they will get an A in the class. It’s almost impossible to get a 5 without really knowing the material-- meaning A work. My sons proved it. One go A and 5 the other B and 4. He was hoping to come through with a 5 to get his grade changed, but he didn’t pull it out.</p>
<p>Off to Maryland this afternoon for two more college visits. Yes I know I’m the one who said no more visits until acceptances arrive. We’re hitting the mid 20s in number of visits and I’m exhausted. Thank goodness my niece is only 6 so I get a bit of a break.</p>
<p>On a somber note today would have been my sister’s 41st birthday. We’re 11 months apart and always joked about being twins (same age) for a month. Missing her so much and really appreciating watching my D become a young woman. As stressful as this college process is, so grateful to share the time with her.</p>
<p>AP Calc. It’s not intuitive. Even if you have been a good student at math up to that point, Calculus is a whole different monster. You have to approach if differently to wrap your head around it. Tell your kids to forget all the other math that they have taken and approach this from a different perspective. There are a lot of free online videos that might help (Khan Academy, etc.) Maybe they will find one that makes more sense than the way that their teacher is explaining it.</p>
<p>Carla2012 ~ I told my DS that since I was the one with the credit card I would go ahead and order the SATs/ACTs. Maybe if you offered DD would take you up on it and it would be one less thing keeping you up at night.</p>
<p>SteveMa & cromette ~ Congratulations on the acceptances!</p>
<p>spackler & pblstr ~ welcome!</p>
<p>MDMom1314 ~ DS’s transcript finally got sent through Docufide yesterday too - maybe it was a massive downloading day!</p>
<p>ugadog99 ~ Best of luck to your DD or maybe I should say “break-a-leg!” (or both of the drama teachers!)</p>
<p>89 ~ I understand your stress with grades - DS is ranked 1st in class and it has been his goal since 8th grade to be Val. I don’t want to think about what a B would do 
- I think the only one he ever got was in hand-writing in elementary school. </p>
<p>Ahsmuoh ~ sorry about the 2 disappointments - but great new on the LOR!</p>
<p>DS16 will be playing the only team they have a chance to beat tonight. Last week they lost 41 - 0 and his cousin scored on him (he’s a corner). And lots of my husbands family came to see the game because it was in their hometown. Ugg! It really sucked!!! Then DS13 played Friday night and we lost 14-13. Guess who didn’t make their second extra pt. kick…you guessed it DS. Last year we lost to same team 35-34. Guess who missed one of his extra point kicks…exactly. I know that it was not his fault because in both cases the missed kicks came in the first half, but my kid has blamed himself for last years loss for a year and we were really hoping for some redemption. So DS16’s team record so far 0-4 and DS13’s 2-2.</p>