@MuggleMom@AsleepAtTheWheel@fretfulmother I too remember them as Achievement tests. I still slip up now and then. Most of my S16s schools don’t require them but he took 3 anyway just to have the flexibility.
@lvmjac1 AFAIK only one of my S16s five AP classes required summer homework. That was Calc BC and she told them not to do it until the final week so of the summer, as a refresher before starting. S14 had to read two or three books for BioAP and they were good – I read them too. Our school does very well with average AP scores, so summer homework certainly is not necessary to good performance in the class or the test.
We have had the ultimate test of whether we are helicopter parents, and I think we all passed with flying colors. My husband and I just spent two weeks traveling in Kenya (I had a conference there) and we left our S16 at home. He had only minimal supervision by neighbors and family. Overslept one day (and felt bad about it). Got up on his own and took the SAT and believes he did well. Just mIssed the Oct 1 deadline for requesting transcripts for Nov 1 deadlines (I hadn’t been aware of this) but we suspect it won’t be the end of the world to turn it in on Monday. Yes, we’d probably have made more progress on college apps if I’d been home, but he’s convinced me I’m too much of a stress monkey to be particularly helpful at this point. The icing on the cake was when his uncle dropped in (prearranged) on Thursday and Friday to find that S16 was not up for teenage shenanigans (disappointed uncle believes in misspent youth). Instead S16 was helping a friend prep for an AP Physics test.
The worst thing we can say is that there was a sink of dirty dishes – he had not run the dishwasher since we left.
Thanks @waiting2exhale ! Yes, I said nearly the same thing but more of “tell me how I can help you get it all done today”. I am happy to report that it all came together just fine.
I need some help here, S took SAT subject tests yesterday and is applying to a school early action whose deadline is Nov. 1. If the results come out Oct. 22nd is that too late to send them? I can call the school tomorrow, but I figured someone on here will know
@Mysonsdad - I’m pretty sure that 10/22 is not too late to send them, and that scores can come a bit later than the rest of the application. But I don’t have first-hand knowledge; this is based on what I remember reading on CC.
@texaspg - book awards - I don’t think they’re anything other than a way to honor juniors in a focused way. It’s not clear at all to me that there would be a match between the school and the kid. However, at our school, there’s definitely a pecking order for the different colleges’ awards. Also, I will PM you a more direct question about my DS if that’s ok.
@Mysonsdad I thought there is a way to designate on the testing day that you want to send the score to certain schools - up to 4 schools free I believe? None of my kids have ever done that, but I thought it was an option that many students use.
@Mysonsdad – you’ve already answered your question, but just to add to the database here:
One of the schools to which my older son applied had an EA deadline of Nov 1, but they even accepted November SAT scores, which arrived well before they were done with the deliberative process.
@crowlady – I am SO impressed that you guys could go away for TWO WEEKS and leave S16 to his own devices. More impressed with him than with you, although it obviously took a lot of wherewithal and equanimity on your part to do that. And it’s not like you were going somewhere where you could get home in a hurry if you needed to. But it’s a wonderful statement on his part that he’s more than ready to make it on his own. Again, he is a really interesting kid who appears to march to the beat of his own drummer (which I think is great), and he also clearly has a strong sense of personal responsibility. More impressive to me than a lot of stuff that gets posted on these CC threads.
Unfortunately one of November 1 schools DD is applying to accepts November tests and another only takes October tests. Should she send SAT1 and Math 2 results now and then just send yesterday results separately?
Another question I have is do you have your kids call colleges and check on receipts of transcripts, test scores, etc or do it yourself? I called NM office to check, but don’t feel comfortable calling colleges since they might think she is not mature enough to call herself.
@mysonsdad@4kids2graduate According to the College Board web site, for the Oct 3 SAT “Don’t forget to use your registration score report credits: You have until Oct 12, 2015 to take advantage of your four free score report credits.” So it isn’t too late to order the free ones. After that, you have to pay for each set of scores, and if you want rush reporting (“rush reports are typically sent to institutions within 2 business days”) you need to pay even more. If the school says they take the Oct test, I would think that means you don’t need to order rush reporting but if you are concerned about it, call them.
@fretfulmother I read that it is best to list your 10 activities n honors etc “in the order of importance to you”. This something I found while researching the common app n essays. So reiterating honors that may be on the students transcript if fine bc on CA it’s listed in the students order of importance. This kind of rationale may not be evident to most students doing it on their own and or even many helpful parents. College admissions is getting so competitive that it’s worth it to make your application as good as possible. Order of items n the language you use to describe the activity or honor. Just as resume writing for a job is important. If the student has extra activities n honors many schools have the option to add a resume or EC list. I have made up a full EC list n a supplemental EC list as well as a traditional resume for my D (n S before). These EC lists were great to help gc n teachers with the LORs.
@crowlady yes I am definitely a helicopter mom. One example of why I am is when my S was at the end of 8th grade he wanted to challenge himself by taking honors English in 9th grade. He went to his gc n she said no classes were all full n when he got home he told me that “she blew me off”. When I emailed the gc n recieved no answer in the morning - I went to the school to discuss before going to work. Gc was so blasé about the encounter it obvious she did “blow him off”. When I firmly pushed the agenda…spots miraculously opened up! The gc even dug her own grave further by explaining to me that spots close n open continuously when one student decides to drop or change a class n another wants to add n that the gc keeps a list of who wants to get into what class. I asked if my S was on that list? Gc said no! D was denied the ability to take AP Psych in 10th grade for no discernible reason even though others sophomores before n after were able to take. S transcript was delayed to Middlebury coach for no reason other than laziness or complacency which if I didn’t intervene would have ruined his chance there. I could go on and on n list dozens of these incidents that have happened to my S n D as well as dozens of other students (including my nieces n nephew). It’s frustrating to say the least.
This kind of disrespect n dismissiveness behavior towards the students is rampant in our high school. Therefore I have taken on my honor badge as helicopter mom. My D likes to make helicopter sound (like Gloria on Modern Family) lol. If not my S n D respectful requests n needs would most likely have been blew off. That is not how I think students should be treated in their educational quest. In being a pushy / helicopter mom I have shown my kids that it is your right n responsibility to respectfully but firmly push for what is important to you. Don’t just automatically accept no or not possible - question n push further. Many times its complacency that is preventing your ability not anything else. S graduated in top ten n so will D. Would not have happened if I was not a helicopter mom bc they would have not been given the classes they wanted or needed to be challenged academically n be competitive in the ranking.
@texaspg: Hmm, I will look further into what this means, as my reading has indicated a degree of separateness and limited, controlled acceptance and entrance into the SEAS program (even after matriculating at the university), as opposed to the rather mutable or fluid path that a student might take between departments and fields of study in all other areas of the university. Tex, you may be changing the game here for my little missy.
Also, regarding the book awards, no there is no intimation of guaranteed acceptance into the university whose name is on the book award given to juniors in high school. Generally, the award committee letter (from the local chapter of the university, which has worked in conjunction with the school committee to identify students that best demonstrate and represent the qualities of that university) states that if the award recipient decides to apply to the university, the application waiver will be automatically waived.
@Ballerina2016, fwiw, just to be safe, I would send the November tests separately and send October now. As far as calling, I think it is time for my S to take over, I had him call a college the other day and ask to sit in a class, I will also have him call to see if they have received his info. The college will never hear from me as I don’t want them to think that I will be one of THOSE parents. One nice thing though, is a few times I have called schools and identified myself as a teacher and asked questions on behalf of students, sometimes with the students standing right there in my class.
On another note, yesterday S was signed up to take Math 2, but not signed up to take the Bio E sat subject test as I figured I would just wait untill after he took it to pay, now I am kicking myself asking why I did such a stupid thing. I could have just used one of my free score reports to send it when available, now I have to wait until I pay. Hopefully I can do it in the morning as CB is back East. As I mentioned, he was signed up for Math 2, so at least if something goes wrong he will have that score.
It’s funny, he spent the night at a friends house and I keep thinking he needs to be home early today to study.
Thank you @Mysonsdad this is what I am going to do tomorrow morning. I still want to see yesterday’s scores before sending them since she still can take November SAT for all schools but one. And for that one if she gets deferred because of her SAT 2, I guess she can send November score.
@fretfulmother My son is not listing any awards that are redundant like All A Honor Roll, Scholar Athlete, etc. He is still undecided about the AP Scholar thing though that one is totally redundant too.
@texaspg: Well, I must say…there it is on the Common App., “Your choice is not binding in any way.” This does indeed call for the second thank you, and also my expression of exhaustion. Don’t quite know how to reconcile what the department head/admissions rep on the phone told me except to say that there was a nod toward not making the express declaration with one of the stated subject tests missing, though encouraging the strong student to submit to the university and seek admission without an obvious credential deficiency on the transcript.
(Two hands clapping, and a slight tip of the hat to you.)
I hope SATs went well for all our test takers yesterday.
@Ballerina2016, I have my daughter doing the calling/e-mailing, though I am usually overseeing the process. I was surprised to hear that she had contacted coaches at some prospective schools recently without my input though!
Getting closer to pressing send on the remaining applications. Recordings for one instrument done for the arts supplement. Xcountry state championships yesterday, and she was pleased with her race. Team finished third, which was a touch disappointing, as they had been ranked first in the state all season.
A couple of colleges on her list are having an info session in town today (VERY unusual) so we are going.
@Waiting2exhale – S14 applied to college the year that the common app was revamped, and it had all sorts of software bugs and glitches, e.g., when one copied and pasted in the essay all of the formatting (paragraphs, etc.) was lost. The college counselors at our kids fancy-pants private high school were of no help (and in fact, at their big meeting with parents at the beginning of the school year warned us specifically to avoid college confidential because of all of the bad advice and ulterior agendas we’d encounter). If it weren’t for the help that I got here on these threads I don’t know what we would have done. All of us here are pretty smart and resourceful, yet there are still nuts that are very hard to crack without help.
@lvmjac1 Sounds like your school requires constant intervention. I’m sorry they’ve got it set up that way. Our school leaves final placement up to parents – we’ve overridden the teacher placement recommendations several times, more than once to drop down to honors from AP and once to bump up to AP (leading to a 5 on Calc AB, so it was the right decision). We don’t have top 10 kids, though, and not for lack of pushing on our part. We are more involved than many parents and have pretty high standards. Our kids appear to have internalized some of these expectations, though they are still reluctant to approach teachers and GCs themselves. It’s a process.
@AsleepAtTheWheel I had four people on call to act as ad hoc nagging parents (two specifically for college stuff), plus a phone list with two neighbors and all the relatives both near and far! Parents of more socially active kids would have more to worry about. Mine is just prone to spending all night on Imgur, forgetting about assignments, and oversleeping.
@texaspg That is very helpful info on the listing of honors and awards. I would never have thought of the RPI Medal as a national award but the way you explain it makes sense. When my son lists it should he include the word Scholarship such as Rensselaer Medal Scholarship or just list Rensselaer Medal?
