<p>medavinci: My prayers with you as you and your daughter as you go through this situation and am sure your daughter will be happy come september.</p>
<p>Here too the grades closed for the quarter. I am keeping my fingers crossed.</p>
<p>My S is playing a sport this spring…This is the first time he is ever involved in a school sports team. He is in full swing as the robotic competition is tomorrow and they are working 6- 8 hrs a day this week on it. Yesterday he came home at 11 in the night inspite of being it a half day. Today, he has a game(travelling) and he needs to get back to his team to work on robotics. He said to expect him home around midnight!!</p>
<p>Meda: My public high school (in CA) says that they don’t rank. However what I have learned is that when you apply to a UC they compare you to the other kids at your school. I have a kid at a UC and a kid at a CSU. I think both have their strengths and weaknesses but both are great. Both the UC’s and the CSU’s cap the number of “extra points” they give to APs at 8 semesters (for 10th and 11th grade) to kind of put everyone on a level playing field. I agree with Geogirl in that your daughter should be where she is happy. WIth so many other changes going on maybe it would be better, if feasible, to leave her at her current high school, especially if she is happy there. I have been through the college admissions roller-coaster twice and for the most part everything works out in the end. A lot of my friend’s kids at Catholic High Schools have gone on to great Catholic colleges (LMU, USD, Loyola Baltimore, etc…). </p>
<p>DrGoogle: I don’t know how to go about finding a college counselor, probably the best way is to ask around. As far as EC’s go, I really believe it should be something that interests them rather than doing it just to put it on the application. So maybe it doesn’t have to be at school? My son is on course with his AP classes, GPA, EC’s etc… and I feel I have enough of a grasp on it to figure out what colleges might be a good fit but am thinking a college counselor might be helpful with ideas for the essays to best convey who he is on a college application.</p>
<p>tx5athome: thanks for your reply. I’ve always let me students pick their ECs based on their interests. However, I see so many students on CC with a long list of ECs and I’m getting a little bit nervous. After observing this year admission to the UCs, I’m getting even more nervous. Before this year admission, at least I can count on one of the UCs to be a choice for D2 if didn’t get to her dream school.</p>
<p>:) I got a promotion at work today. The anticipated income will likely make my son ineligible for the Pell grant Proposed budget cuts in the near future will likely decrease my income to make him Pell grant eligible again. Proposed budget cuts in the near future will likely decrease my income to make him Pell grant eligible again.</p>
<p>ETA: I guess I should have posted something related to ds2 while I was here. He’s still waiting to hear from the congressman’s office. I have a friend who offerred to write a letter to the congressman on his behalf, and ds said, “Okay!” I was kind of surprised because I thought he’d have this kind of “I want to do this on my own” mentality, but I am pleased, in a way, to know he’s getting how the game is played – nothing wrong with using connections. I truly don’t think he’ll need her help, but I guess it couldn’t hurt. He got his app in for the program in D.C., but that deadline isn’t until next week so we know it’ll be awhile befoer he hears about that.</p>
<p>meda, if I was paying for a school that caused me that much grief I’d seriously consider moving dd. But, as others have asked, is it only bothering you or dd, too?</p>
<p>I sat through an orientation for IB-CAS this week and it is one of the few parts of IB that I think are great–emphasis on balance, exploring new things and reflecting upon what is learned in the process. Yaaay! Of course, this little lecture on balance must be considered alongside the school also telling kids that you will take 6 college level classes for the next two years as well as writing a big essay and doing your 150 CAS hours and you realize the emphasis on balance is mainly hooey! The full AP kids (6 AP for two years) are marginally less overworked.</p>
<p>Public schools may seem like they are more democratic–most encourage all college bound students to take at least one IB or AP course–but there are hidden agendas here also. To do well in the public school rankings they need to increase the ratio of ap/ib tests to number of graduating seniors. This means if lots of fresh, soph, and juniors take the tests as well as the seniors…better ratio. Sometimes kids get pushed into taking classes and tests that aren’t appropriate. Our school pays for both IB and AP tests for things like languages and math…this doubles the tests in some areas. The bright kids get pushed to take as many as possible because they are likely to score well too. So my S took 3 AP/IB his sophomore year, and 6 each year for the next two years…that is a lot of testing and scores. </p>
<p>What I find the most discouraging is the continued “streaming” and effective segregation that I lived through as a student in the south. The very tip-top programs at our public school are pretty much full of the white upper income kids. This is a school t hat on paper looks to be incredibly democratic and achievment for all --it is in the top 25 public schools and looks to be doing really really well with a high AP-IB ratio despite also having a high number of reduced/free lunch kids.</p>
<p>How is it that a school with over 50% minority students–black and hispanic–the IB orientation had a small representation of hispanic girls and but only one lone black student in the group and I didn’t see a single hispanic boy in this year’s crop? Well, the hispanic girl exception is explained because our school offers IB HL Spanish (spanish for native speakers…same course offered in Spain, Argentina, etc) and having an IB diploma with this course allows kids to go to Bolivia or Spain should they choose to go to college abroad. Hispanic parents love this for their academically inclined daughters (witness my husband who wants D to be as far away from US college party culture as possible until she is at least 30). But where are the black kids? where are the hispanic boys? My son used to joke that he was the token IB Hispanic-Boy and his friend M* the token IB black kid…(who is now enrolled at Harvard with a Gates scholarship)…I find it shocking that only the hispanic boys and black kids that, in my limited experience, also come from well-off homes are encouraged to do the full diploma or full AP course of study while hardworking, bright kids without the parental involvement/push/suppoprt aren’t well represented. </p>
<p>Even “excellent” public schools definitely have drawbacks!</p>
<p>reeinaz – State budget cuts have crippled our district. I was going to move my 4th grader to public for 5th & now I’m scared. My knee-jerk reaction is to sell my house. Our school taxes will increase dramatically! Of course they shouldn’t do it all at once, but they are filing for an exemption to Act 1, which means they will push a high tax through without putting it to vote. Our district has no APs, dual, band and most arts have been cut. Sports weren’t touched. </p>
<p>medavinci – We are going through a lot of stress here too. I know changing HS at this stage is socially and emotionally difficult, but if I were in your shoes I would certainly change schools. My biggest priority is to have my kid WANT to go to college. Burn out in high school would certainly discourage the desire for college.</p>
<p>We got our 3 rd quarter grades. My son dropped the ball in the last week in Pre-Calc (Honors). Teacher cut him a deal to give him extra credit 4th qtr if my son revised his 3rd qtr project and display it at the Science/Engineering fair. Teacher told me he loved his idea for the project but it was “more involved” than the other kids and my kid just rushed it to completion b/c he spent too much early time on the research. Teacher was impressed with the end result. Hoping it will help the semester grade.</p>
<p>Wound up with 4 As, A-, 1 B+ and 1 B. </p>
<p>I learned the official transcript only shows the final year grades. Last qtrs B + are As this qtr and this qtr B was A last qtr. So he may wind up with all As for transcript or mainly B+ if he can’t keep up the As. </p>
<p>My 4th grader is not as quick as her brothers. She had a great report card, worked hard for her grades and then promptly turned around a failed a Geography test and got Cs on two other tests this week. Uggh.</p>
<p>My D receives her report card next week, but we already know her grades via the online report. She has done really well particularly in AP World, Trig, and Chemistry. She puts out a tremendous amount of effort and I couldn’t be more proud of her!</p>
<p>It is always interesting and sometimes dismaying to see how other schools calculate grades and GPA’s. I really don’t know how colleges figure the whole mess out and how in the world they have the time to. My D’s GPA is calculated using the two semester grades for each class and that is what is on the transcript along with the final grade. I don’t know why the final grade is on the transcript because it is essentially meaningless. </p>
<p>On a sporting note, D’s tennis team is 6-1. They have gotten off to the best start they have had in several years and beat the district powerhouse in the first match! Unfortunatey, the district powerhouse came roaring back and returned the favor last week. My D has now played all the #5 seeds in the district at least once (played powerhouse #5 twice) and is undefeated in singles. Her doubles team has not faired as well, but we are very proud of the team!</p>
<p>My son doesn’t get 3rd qtr report card until the beginning of May. The timing of the quarters make no sense. They got their 1st report cards in the beginning of Nov, second ones right before Christmas. This third marking period is like 4 months long and the last one is about 6 weeks long. I had assummed they would be evenly spaced. I’ll definitely make sure to pay attention next year. Soninaz started this term on fire but fizzled out towards the end. But he might have his first A in a core subject so far in high school.</p>
<p>Report cards just came out. Our year is divided into six 6 week periods so we just finished the 5th 6 week period. One thing I’ll say for S2 - he is consistent. All of his grades so far this year are between 2 or 3 points (on 0-100 scale). He got nice comments from his AP World history teacher, which is nice because it is his favorite class. </p>
<p>I’m glad that college decisions are more than a year away because he changes his mind constantly. Last week, he was convinced that he wanted to major in vocal performance with an eye toward opera. Then last night he started working again with his old musical theatre coach to prepare for an upcoming audition, and now he’s leaning back toward majoring in musical theatre. For now, he can do both. I just hope he can decide before college audition time. </p>
<p>Hope everyone is enjoying some nice Spring weather. We’re experiencing our best weather of the year here in TX - mid 80s and sunshine. It will be over 100 soon so we’re making the most of it.</p>
<p>megp: I don’t know enough about the genres of voice to know how it all works in college. Can he still pursue both? I’ve heard that the musical theatre forums on CC are a wealth of information.</p>
<p>Good news here: D got into the Sewanee writing program this summer. Huzzah! She is very happy. Summer plans are starting to gel. </p>
<p>She had her first study group for the APEuro test last night. I’m pretty sure D1 didn’t start studying for that until May 5th so she’s definitely ahead of the game.</p>
<p>Is anyone else’s '13 kid taking the SAT as a sophomore? Mine is taking the May one. We made a deal that he will read through his prep book over Spring Break next week. The plan is that based on that, his May score, we’ll get a plan together for summer study for the PSAT in October. I’m thinking he will take the SAT 3 or 4 times…May, December, and March. And possibly one more time depending on where he is at that point. I’m just hoping for around 650s across the board.</p>
<p>No SAT here, except the Math II subject test. DS2 will probably follow DS1’s sked: January or March of junior year and then again in May or June, if needed.</p>
<p>Ds still hasn’t heard about the internship. And yesterday was the deadline for the D.C. program, so it’ll be awhile before he hears about that. I’m starting to worry that if neither of these things comes through he has nothing planned for summer (except to work out with a friend and get ripped! – their word).</p>
<p>Ds has brought up his grade in precal this semester (I swear that studying for the Math II test has helped!), but now it’s chemistry that’s doing him in. He got his NHS key yesterday, so he was excited and calculated all his grades.</p>
<p>No testing here this Spring (well except for the AP test.) I’m going to suggest to D that she take the October SAT (therefore studying for both the SAT & PSAT at the same time.)</p>
<p>The entire junior class takes the ACT in March, but without the writing section. I figure if she takes the SAT in the fall & she has a test with a writing section complete, if she does well, then she won’t have to retake the ACT (which a lot of kids do to get that writing section. Why the school can’t administer it with the writing section is beyond me, but I digress.)</p>
<p>D1 was “one and done” on both and I’m hoping for the same for D2. She tests at or just above D1 most of the time, so I’m hopeful. Jury is still out on SAT II’s. “The List” is down to 36 now, so it’s feasible that she can start plugging in who needs them. If no one needs them, then I won’t make her take them. </p>
<p>My son is on Spring Break this week. School doesn’t get out here until June 23rd so we have a long way to go. We have thought about SAT testing, but we don’t have a plan yet. My son applied to do one of the week long camps (?) at Brown. It is expensive, but he found the program, applied, got his teacher’s recommendations and transcripts all on his own and has never been back East, so I think we are going to spring for him to go. I have family in Boston who he can stay with a couple days before and after so I think it will work out. The one he picked is a scholar/athlete camp where you play tennis half the day and then learn about Sports Journalism the other half.</p>
<p>Still waiting to hear if DD was accepted to Currie Academy. DD wants to take the ACT in June to see how she does. Kids hear usually take the PSAT/SAT. I’m thinking it is way too early to take a test you may HAVE to forward to a college. I’m still thinking about it.</p>
<p>S2 is definitely not ready to take any of the college entrance tests. As I mentioned before, his school has selected a handful of kids to give PSAT prep classes to in hopes of having a NM semifinalist (they haven’t had one in several years). Last week, while the rest of the school practiced for the state science exam for 2 mornings - S2 did the PSAT prep. Of course he said it was “boring” but maybe it will help his score next year. </p>
<p>I assume S2 will take the SAT in the spring of junior year. His sister just took it once and was happy enough with her score. My kids aren’t aiming for tippy top colleges so whatever they make first time will probably be good enough.</p>
<p>To Robd: S2 is exploring his options regarding the voice thing. There are a couple schools in the country that allow you to do both opera and musical theatre training. Right now those are on his list (Oklahoma City U and Baldwin-Wallace College) but most voice programs insist that you specialize in one or the other. D1 is majoring in musical theatre, but she had absolutely no interest or talent in opera. S2 could go either way - and there’s the dilemma. Either way he is prepared for years of training, and a future of little income or job security. What a life!</p>
<p>My D’s current SAT plan is along the same lines as YDS’s son. However, she is going to take the math 2 SAT II in June. She is also at the end of her long five year journey of German study and may take the German written SAT II as well. Also considering world history SAT II.</p>
<p>^^^ Ds has one more year of Latin, so he’ll take that SAT II next June.</p>
<p>Something that I did with ds1 is to set a “psychological” threshold – a score that he would live with if he reached on his first sitting. Wouldn’t you know, he was 10 points short! So he retook it a few months late and blew it out of the water. Ds2’s threshold will be higher than his brother’s because, well, he’s a better test-taker and because, well, that’s just the way he is.</p>
<p>DD is scheduled to take the math 2 SAT II this May as the June date is in the middle of finals. Is it a mistake to take the test in May, a month before she completes her precalc class?</p>
The anticipated income will likely make my son ineligible for the Pell grant
Proposed budget cuts in the near future will likely decrease my income to make him Pell grant eligible again.