<p>Another school that requires AP tests be taken. However, the district pays for the tests (might be why only 8 are offered). No AP courses can be offered if DE is available. So, calc I and II, physics, western civ and comp are DE. Chem, Bio, psych are AP. </p>
<p>Two more fin aid letters came during the week, including the one to the school d will attend. Debating whether or not to take the subsidized loans. </p>
<p>@Mrspepper - I have definitely tried to mentally prepare myself for the next week and a half. The link @itsv provided on page 702 (<a href=“Parents: Avoid these five mistakes when news arrives”>Parents: Avoid these five mistakes when news arrives) helped me as good and simple advice about receiving admission’s decisions. All the announcements left to come for my D are from very competitive schools, and I am thankful she’s had a few acceptances first to ease the pain of any redirections. My D received her first WL about a week ago and it was from her #1 school. That was a surprise to both of us, as she had been communicating with the coach, who had talked about having her on the team next year. I advised her to email him, congratulating him on all the team’s success, and let him know she was waitlisted, that she realized competition was very tough to get in, and how much she appreciated all his updates and how welcome the team was. The coach wrote a wonderful email back, very encouraging and even offering to contact the Director of Admissions. I know the coach’s email meant a lot to my D, and I really appreciated it. For now though, she is focusing on the schools where she’s been accepted and those whose decisions are yet to come. </p>
<p>S’s school policy is “students are expected to sit for the AP exam”. No impact on grade, but they are excused from the final if they take the exam. </p>
<p>6 * $89 is a little annoying though. And for pre-med, it is clear that he won’t get credit for everything. </p>
<p>(Although at a couple schools if not pre-med, he would of had pseudo-junior standing, 60-70hrs. Even then there is probably not major where everything would have counted for credit.)</p>
<p>Do colleges care if an accepted student is enrolled in an AP course senior year but does not take the exam?
Has anyone heard of an admission being rescinded for this reason? </p>
<p>@overseasmom
No, colleges don’t care.</p>
<p>Payment for those AP classes is rough, especially with graduation and impending college tuition. I am not convinced that the college board deserves a non-profit status. Really hoping some intrepid journalist will take them on.</p>
<p>@Mrs. Pepper - Denials & WL are never easy, but it’s part of the process. It’s easier to focus on the schools that do want them and have shown their love through merit aid and scholarships. When Spygirl was WL I made jokes about the school, glad I didn’t have to worry about her being bit by a rabid squirrel and happy she could now go to a college where “Dreams don’t go to die.” It seemed to help.</p>
<p>@Mrspepper: YES!</p>
<p>I’m a worrier. My D internalizes. She has done a good job so far of either distracting herself, or hiding her worry. But the next 1-5 days are going to be, um, interesting to say the least. I have been hanging out on CC way too much, since it somehow gives me a sense of doing something. (Totally false, of course. It would probably be better to distract myself with something entirely non-college related!) But I have NOT been talking to D about it. I don’t want to include her in the stress :)</p>
<p>I did send her a text today -in response to her saying she’d let me know if she got any college-related emails- saying, “No matter what happens this week, I’m EXTREMELY proud of you!”</p>
<p>One thing that I could not have anticipated was go2girl applying for some of her school’s additional “scholars” programs or merit/leadership scholarships seemed to initiate an earlier decision than expected. Even though she was not a finalist for Emory Scholars, they did send her early admittance. And for other schools on her list where she did make finalist, she was able to know that she got admitted much earlier than the rest of the RD pool. It’s made the process less stressful. Her best friend applied RD and just got her first acceptance last week. I’m close to the girl’s mom and trying to keep her off the ledge. It’s a nail biter. I am praying to the College Admission Gods that all of your kids get the decisions that are truly best for them! </p>
<p>I am feeling stressed today… Very busy weekend planned: S11 is coming home today, I am presenting at a Saturday half day conference, S14 is being awarded at a scholarship luncheon on Sunday… And I have a sore throat, fever, headache, body aches. Ugh! I need to get better fast!</p>
<p>@Mrspepper: I am getting a bit worried as my S does have one dream school and it is very competitive with a low admit rate and is going to report soon (not sure the exact day but could be as soon as tomorrow). I have been talking up the schools he is already admitted to, but he often cuts me off as he doesn’t want to think about them. He is getting pretty anxious. I do wish that he had not given so much of his love to just this one school.</p>
<p>@Minnymom - hope you feel better soon!</p>
<p>I totally agree with all of you about the stress of waiting for results! Up until now, DD had been too busy with the show she was directing to really even focus on waiting to receive decisions. And because of CC, I know more of the timetable of some things than she does, so I’m stressing on my own now and she is clueless about it. In some ways that’s better I guess! She hasn’t received a Stride scholarship yet from Smith so DH and I are assuming that she won’t receive one. Since she doesn’t know that others have received them (unless one of the other girls in her class received one), I’m not going to worry her about it or bring it up at all. She should hear from one school Friday and then the big ones next week. She doesn’t expect to get into two of them and has already decided that one wouldn’t be a good fit anyway, so that takes some of the sting out. The third, who knows! Hoping this week’s comes with a nice merit scholarship though.</p>
<p>Right now she’s got a bunch of scholarship applications she’ll need to do this weekend so that will keep her busy and occupied. I’ve been trying to keep the due dates organized for her so she’ll know which ones to work on first. And some have to be submitted/mailed by a certain date while others need to be received by a certain date - totally confusing!</p>
<p>I’m trying to figure out what to list as funds available for college in the financial aid parts. Do I include money in a 529 account owned by grandparents as it could be changed to other beneficiaries or kept by grandparent to pay healthcare bills if necessary? It doesn’t get included anywhere else on financial aid forms that I know of so maybe it shouldn’t be included on the scholarship applications. Got to figure that one out.</p>
<p>I’m getting nervous. S14 is pretty sure he is losing salutatorian status because he thinks he’ll have an A- in AP Calc. The class average right now is 68 and he has a 90 with two kids with higher scores than he has. I think the teacher may be pressured to curve that. I can’t imagine a class average of 68 among the “brightest and best” or how that affects them. There was one assignment that S got a 29% on and the class average on it was 17%. If the teacher drops that assignment, he’ll bump up to an A, I think. It just seems like if the class average on anything is 17%, that teacher didn’t teach something very well. I’m typically not fond of grade inflation, but come on… class average of 17%??? That’s insane. Anyway, he is pretty bummed out. When I wished him good luck for BPA states, he said “It doesn’t even matter. I lost salutatorian” I had to do some pumping up about how proud I am of him, how in 9th grade he was 29th in his class and now he’s 2nd or 3rd. That’s such massive improvement. </p>
<p>He left for BPA states today. Northwestern may release decisions this evening (based on historical data). This is a school he really cares about. I’m sad that he will be out of town when he receives such big news- whether good OR bad. I really hope it is good news on the heels of the calc final. </p>
<p>@2016BarnardMom
So Val/Sal selection policy includes last semester of Senior at your S’ school?
My D struggled with AP Calc BC last semester too. Well, not really. Maybe she underestimated it. She has an A average just before the finals. Then she bombed the finals.</p>
<p>No. They determine Val/Sal after 2nd trimester. If they waited until the end, they wouldn’t have time to write their speeches? There’s also a Top 10 dinner for all of the local high schools so their ranks are determined in time for that. He will be .01 behind the other gal if he got an A-. He was visibly upset last night and that’s rare. That’s why I’m more concerned about the possibility of bad news from Northwestern while he’s away until Sunday. </p>
<p>@2016BarnardMom-Good luck to your son on NW. I feel for you having him away and the whole Sal. thing. He’s due for some great news!</p>
<p>My D just got a letter in the regular mail saying she has been selected as a BU Trustee Scholar. She applied RD but before December 1. This covers four years of full tuition and fees. She was a semifinalist for Duke Robertson scholar and had the phone interview but didn’t get selected for the finalist weekend. Having these choices is great but decision is not going to be an easy one.</p>
<p>@2016BarnardMom
Oh, OK. I didn’t realize your son’s school is trimester. If the finals for this trimester is over, maybe he can talk to the teacher. Not sure how close he is from an A. My daughter is about .01 short for an A last semester on her AP Gov’t and she talked to her teacher and was bumped to an A.</p>
<p>So, as the clock ticks closer and closer to the witching hour, the stress level for S14 appears to be growing. I am kind of expecting midnight to strike this evening as I think JMU (his #1 by a mile) should release decisions, based on last year. I think UVA and Virginia Tech will be tomorrow also based on last year. The other one he is waiting for is CNU (Christopher Newport). Has anyone heard anything about them? I posted on their page but its not a very active forum, so I’ve no idea if there will be a reply. D last year was all about the “big CC” schools and so there was constant activity. This year is a different list and a different experience. Thanks to anyone who can shed light.</p>
<p>@2016BarnardMom - That really stinks! And the timing of him being away must be so hard. DD’s AP Calc (AB) grade has also gone down this term. I’m pretty sure they calculate final ranks at the end of 2nd semester which she ended fine but still. It seems to be the first case of senioritis setting in. I asked her about it and she said she’s done with it. The teacher doesn’t really teach them very well so she’s basically been learning it all year on her own and hasn’t had the time to put into it lately. It’s been working up till now but she’s at a B+ down from an A+ so we’ll see if she can attempt to pull it up some. </p>
<p>I really hope you son gets good news from Northwestern to counteract the Sal status!!</p>
<p>@89wahoo - I would call CNU Admissions as I thought all decisions were sent by March 15th. I called them regarding another issue and they were very friendly and ready to help and answer my question. Good luck, we appear to be interested in the same schools based on the boards…</p>