<p>anouilh- our school district is traditionally like you described. Forever the poor high school kids suffer over winter break knowing that they still have finals in January. This past year a lot of the parents got together along with an amazing PTA president and lobbied the school district. While they couldn’t change the academic calendar, they did come up with a solution that I think makes life a little easier. This year for the first year, finals at the high school are the last week before winter break (starts tomorrow!). When school resumes in January, they still have one month of grades that will count into first semester grades, but no finals. I’m happy that everyone worked together to try and come up with a workable solution! Maybe it could work for your school…</p>
<p>Apollo6, Anouilh, Galaxyfigment: thank you for your kind words. Sometimes he is this teenager whose purpose in life seems to be nothing more than giving his mom headaches. Other times he would say or do something like that. Argh, may be he is ready to move more than 1000 miles away for college. </p>
<p>CSIHSIS: don’t let one deferred gets you down. My son got a deferred letter from Tulane on Tuesday before this good news. We all know that these highly selective schools are very random in their decision making. You will be in my prays and I’m sure you will get in the school that you want.</p>
<p>Oh Pooh you took it the wrong way 
I got in to my first choice and exclaimed happily on my Facebook, the opposite of your son. I was saying that I think I deserve to be happy for once and not have to worry about other people’s feelings.</p>
<p>csihsis - there is no right or wrong way to express your feelings. You worked hard for your admission. Feel free to rejoice and not worry about it.</p>
<p>CSIHSIS: oops, I’m sorry. Congratulation is in order then. I’m very happy for you. Go Hoyas!!! I’ve just ordered a Georgetown sweat shirt for him for Christmas. :-)</p>
<p>Congrats, CSI!</p>
<p>I know Tuesday is a big day for our board (UChicago)…anybody expecting other news this week? </p>
<p>We’re still waiting on scholarship news from U Minnesota, but nothing else until 2013!</p>
<p>congrats to everybody!
Accepted to Beloit, Depaul, Knox, Hendrix.
We are waiting on K-Zoo around 12/20 and Wooster right after Christmas.</p>
<p>I hear from UChicago this week as well. MommyDearest, I think your S and I have the same college list. But honestly I don’t think it’s really the right fit for me anymore so I’ll be alright either way. Congrats to psblstnr and all other acceptances! And WOW swizzle, add me to the list of people agreeing that 1) it’s 100% Barnard’s loss and 2) I just lost a little respect for them.</p>
<p>DS will be notified Monday whether he is off the waitlist for CityYear Washington DC…the ten-month Americorps program in which he would be placed in a high-need school district and help as a mentor to younger students.</p>
<p>As I alluded earlier… This is actually his first choice…to take the Gap Year and then enroll in college.</p>
<p>We are waiting for one more school and then DS will still need to finish app for one OOS public RD school (HMFR).</p>
<p>Crossing my fingers for your son! City year would be such a great way to experience “real life” and perhaps one’s life’s calling.</p>
<p>Thanks Apollo–yes, he truly is an idealist who believes any contribution can make a difference. And if he s not accepted to CityYear, he will move ahead with college and take a gap year afterward.</p>
<p>Believe on another I saw where your DD was interested in one of the same flagships as my son is interested in…particularly if he is accepted to honors college.</p>
<p>DD just hit the submit button to her last and final school!!! YAY!
now we sit and wait, I suppose…
Congratulations to all. I think, if Walker’s basement has a back porch or storm door, that I can go and just sit on the steps a bit, I’ll do that.</p>
<p>MD13 - DS is still waiting for letter from Fordham and then UChicago on Tuesday. I have been practicing appropriate responses for acceptance and deferred, I haven’t even been able to come up with anything for rejected. I saw there is already a “rejected thread” on the UChicago forum, even though nobody has heard. Poor kids, they are all so anxious!</p>
<p>Congrats on all the acceptances! We have a very talented group!</p>
<p>Christmas tree is up and cookies are finally decorated! I also found a brown eyed baby doll, so a very successful weekend. Now on to wrapping. :(</p>
<p>I’m wondering how some kids manage to take 6-7 APs senior year. How is there time in the course schedule? What about gym? Do all high schools have a 4 year gym requirement? </p>
<p>Boys becoming men: I am generally sure my DS13 will never grow up and learn to think about others… Then at a “family memorial dinner” tonight for my dad, as my husband said grace and said wonderful things about my dad, I started to tear up. I had my head bowed and felt a large hand on my shoulder. Hubby was on opposite side of the table, so it couldn’t have been him… DS16 was next to me, but he still has hands like a boy. I opened my eyes to see DS13 reaching over and he smiled at me :)</p>
<p>Then later in the same dinner he talked loudly, didn’t pay attention to conversation, acted like he was bored and needed to entertain himself, and claimed that it is only ME who perceives his disinterest… ?? Same kid?? </p>
<p>Update: tennis news has improved… will still encourage devoting himself to the sport in his remaining 8 months at home. Thank you for the encouragement!</p>
<p>Parents of the HS Class of 2013, I need some advice.</p>
<p>For a while now, I’ve just been a CCer, stalking threads, obsessing over college apps and anything I could do to get into a good college. Two days ago I got deferred from my HMFR (I like this term by the way, haha). Now, everything seems so much more real. I’m one of those people that stress over every single thing that catches my attention, so of course, this deferral’s been bothering me. I’m not surprised that I got deferred, and I wholly congratulate everyone that was accepted. I also know that it isn’t wise to expect acceptance. It’s just that… I suppose this deferral has made everything so much more real for me. I always thought that I was that “invincible smart kid,” someone that nothing bad could ever happen to. How naive of me. </p>
<p>These past two years have humbled me beyond belief, from receiving rejections from summer programs and my HMFR, to being humbled by the amazing people here on CC that have ended up teaching me so much. But, in some ways, I feel trapped. I know that being deferred from my reach is not necessarily a referendum of my application and my personage as much as it is because of the other wonderful and absolutely stellar applicants. But I feel more insecure than ever. I’ve applied to the University of Washington, the University of Oklahoma, the University of British Columbia, and, of course, my HMFR, Yale University. So far, I’ve been accepted to OU and deferred from Yale. Right now, I just feel so insecure about getting in anywhere else; it’s all that’s been on my mind for the past 48 hours. I suppose I feel even more insecure that most college deadlines are coming within the next month and, once that deadline passes, there’ll be no turning back.</p>
<p>So, I must ask: should I apply to more schools? Or will my list suffice? University of British Columbia has always been one of my top choices, and if I get accepted, I will most likely attend. Any words of advice to get me over my little setback?</p>
<p>Thank you so much for all of your wisdom and I guess Yale will be hearing from me again in 4 years. :)</p>
<p>cantconcentrate: deferred does not mean you won’t get in…I think if you still want to, you can send in supplementary things to augment your application to Yale. If you already have a school you are accepted to, CONGRATULATIONS!!</p>
<p>mygr8boyz: D2 is taking 7 APs this year. TN does not have a 4 year gym requirement; there is a 1 year Lifetime Wellness requirement that most kids fulfill freshman year plus a new 1/2 year gym requirement starting with the class of 2013 which can be replaced by a season of a varsity sport (which D did.) The school day consists of 8 periods, 1 of which is lunch, so there are 7 academic periods. 2 of the AP’s that D is taking this year only count as 1 semester each although the logistics are that they will be in those classes all year but they meet every other day. So “only” 6 AP academic periods for her and her 1 regular level elective.</p>
<p>Galaxy: D2 hasn’t missed a day of school yet, so she knew she wouldn’t have an issue about the 6 absences. Really wish that 1 teacher would put her grades online!</p>
<p>Can’tConcentrate: 1st of all congratulations on your acceptance to OU. That means that you have somewhere to go next year! As you’ll see on CC in the Spring, there are kids who don’t think too much about their safety & end up with limited options. You were wise to take care of that. I don’t believe that there is a “perfect” school. Would you be happy to attend OU? Most kids end up being happy at where they land by the time October rolls around. If you’d like to share more about your stats & what you’re looking for in a college, I’m sure us parents would be happy to suggest alternatives for you, but think about WHY you might want to add more; don’t just have a knee jerk reaction to the deferral. You’ve already got a great attitude about looking at Yale for grad school. And how do finances fit into your picture?</p>
<p>This thread is moving too fast to keep up. Congrats (again) to everyone on the great admissions this past week!</p>
<p>My DD is still waiting on an EA decision this week. The kids have school, I’m working and getting ready for Christmas so no time to fret about the decision until it comes.</p>
<p>Classes- DD is taking 6 IB classes and 1 AP Cal BC class (she will probably take 3 AP tests though). She has 1 free block. PE is only required 2 years here.</p>
<p>CantConcentrate- it sounds like to me you have a reach school and several safety schools. I am assuming that if you are deferred from Yale that those state schools are safe for you. To me, it looks like you are missing TARGET schools. I know for students who have amazing resumes that Target schools are hard to figure out. Probably your scores, ECs and GPA are within range of HMFR, but you can’t count on that. If you were my kid, I would make sure that you applied to two TARGET schools. Where you are within or just above their 75% range of scores. You have at least two weeks left to do those apps-- maybe more, a few schools have Feb. deadlines. Of course if you can be happy at any of the State schools that you mentioned, then you are probably ok. I just think that a kid who is good enough to be deferred from Yale is probably aiming a little higher. Good luck whatever you decide!</p>
<p>drmom123, thank you for your optimism and words of encouragement. I’m going in to talk to my counselor about the next steps I should take tomorrow 
Thank you!</p>
<p>RobD, I would be okay with attending OU, but it’s not exactly my first choice. I even got accepted to the honors program, so the thought of attending OU isn’t that bad right now. If at all possible, I would like to leave the state of Oklahoma. For reasons that I don’t think it would be wise to iterate on a public forum, I can’t see myself staying here for another four years or even eight. Finances… that’s a little trickier. Private schools would be out of the picture unless I received some sort of financial aid, and even then, it’d be a far shot (because we wouldn’t get a lot of aid). Public schools, IS or OOS, are okay.</p>
<p>GreekMana, thank you for the advice. I will talk to my counselor and parents about it tomorrow But, I can say that when I stepped foot on UBC’s campus for a campus visit, I had that feeling. “This is the place I can see myself for 8 years.” Vancouver is absolutely stunning, and the vibe that the students gave me was just amazing.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for the advice and encouragement. I really, honestly, do appreciate it :)</p>