@LKnomad we have no acceptances either. DD didn’t apply to any rolling admissions schools and chose not to apply ED or EA anywhere. She’s already applied to two CSU’s and will submit her UC apps this weekend. Then she has a couple of private school apps due Jan. 5 and 15. So, we’ll be waiting until March to hear anything. Congrats to those of you whose kids already have acceptances in hand–I’m envious!
DD is sitting in front of me doing her AP calc bc starting 5 am. She went to bed yesterday as soon as she came home and woke up early this morning, so she has time to do some stuff this morning. I helped her few questions and showed her how to do it. She has no problem to understand concept of calculus but has problem with algebra, mostly how to calculate in practice. I regret a little bit not to push math more when she was lower grade. She managed her grade but did not spend enough time to absorb the material.
@NYDad513 I can relate with your D going to bed early and fitting in homework in the early morning (or even very late at night). My D is typically exhausted everyday from trying to keep all the balls juggling the last few years. And while I can relate to many posters that are sad to see some ECs go…I vacillate between being sad that they have ended to being happy that there are now a few more hours in a day available for other things (homework at a reasonable hour and more sleep mostly). My D understands the concepts in her math classes but lacks a certain confidence (that based upon grades and conceptual knowledge seems to have no basis what so ever). As a result of this lack of confidence she opted for AP Calc AB instead of challenging herself a bit more in BC. Granted she is taking 4 other challenging AP Classes and DE College Spanish (but based on her ease in AB, I now think she let her lack of confidence misguide her. I even think she regrets taking the safer route. She is and will continue to do well in AB but we both feel she would have done well in BC too. She says AB is so easy. I cannot quite understand because my hubby and I did well but never took the caliper of classes she takes (or our S took). Its mind blowing to see them handling these multiple challenging classes! It really makes us wonder why her SAT & SAT II math II scores are not commensurate to her apparent ability. Those scores are truly her only Achilles Heel in her applications (we so pray for that “holistic approach” to see the big picture and hopefully compensate for that one small part)
It looks like our S will be sick in bed at least until the Thanksgiving break. He’s been coughing up buckets of gunk and has a fever of 101. My wife is going to take him to the doctor when they open. He’s apparently done with applications. He has his first choice where he may or may not get enough of a scholarship and his second where there’s more than enough in his 529 to pay for everything due to guaranteed scholarships for NMSF. My wife and I warned him that family may try to grill him at Thanksgiving, but he said that he’ll just give short, boring answers. It’s between two schools, and there’s not much more to say. He also said second choice may move to first if he decides having money for a summer abroad or something similar is more important.
@mstomper hoping for a speedy recovery for your son.
Congrats to all on the acceptances. My DD is done with her applications except for a scholarship application at one school. She has heard back from all with good news and some scholarships from each. We are waiting on honors and additional scholarships. So there is some sense of relief in our house. Though the late nights of homework continue and I am sitting on pins and needles while my collge age child waits to hear back from grad schools. The are done with BC Calc and starting linear at my dd school. I think she has to take stats as part of her standard program for her major in college. It is intersting to follow the discussion about the difficulty of stats vs cac.
With all the talk about the Boy scouts Eagle awards, I am curious to find out if any of you have any experience with the Girl Scout Gold award. My dd got hers earlier this fall and there does not seem to be the same level of scholarship money availabe for the girls as for the boyscouts. Am I just not looking in the right place?
@lvmjac1 When I was in high school, I preferred to sleep late, so I made sure I finished everything before I slept. It is interesting to see her woke up early to finish something.
In her school (probably the most of the schools?), there are requirements to take AP Calc BC. So she was not that bad on her previous math grade but as you told, she is lack of confidence, which arose from her mistakes while doing algebra part. She just needs to spend more time just to practice simple stuff, which she hates.
She’s more humanity oriented and I am encouraging her to do dual majors at college - a humanity and a science. Calculus is important for physical science but is less important in chemistry and biology. Well, physical chemistry needs deep understanding of calculus but it’s not all of chemistry. Discrete math is more important in computer science. So… still there is a room I think. If she inclines to social science or medicine, she needs to take more statistics courses, but I guess this is not the case for my DD.
@mstomper Wish your S recover fast.
@Themommymommy I loved linear algebra and it was so fun when I took the class. A little bit difficult to get the concept correctly, but otherwise, it is fun to play around and very fundamental math for a student pursuing science.
@NYDad513 so far my daughter shares you love of linear. Of course she also finds MATLAB relaxing, says she saves if for last every night for that reason. She made the mistake of taking Koine Greek the last two years. She has dyslexia and has so far managed to make it through school without accomodations by working harder/longer. She took Greek because the teacher told her the ancient Greeks had a different concept of time than we do and that concept of time is reflected in the structure of the language. She forgot that she was not able to read in english until third grade and that it took us something like 3-4 hours a day of studying to get her to the point of being able to read in english. Greek with its new alphabet was a major mistake. Luckily it is done at the end of this semester.
@Themommymommy You need to start with your council for Gold Award Scholarships. GSCTX offers council scholarships and participate’s in the TX state Gold Award scholarships. Our local service unit also offers a Girl Scout scholarship but it is not limited to Gold Award girls. Here’s the official list of Gold Award Scholarships:
http://www.girlscouts.org/en/our-program/scholarships.html?type=All&state=All
S is taking Linear Algebra, Multivariable Calculus, and a political/sports statistics class. He definitely didn’t get my math gene, unless it was a recessive one. The Linear Algebra teacher gave them a test where he got all the problems from college tests, and he said it was easier than the others they’ve had.
What a long awards presentation last night. Over 200 students received awards for AP achievement from AP scholar to National AP Scholar. Glad they didn’t include the names of the last years seniors.
@mstomper speedy recovery for your son
Our school is in line with UC policies: don’t prize for academic achievements, because someone else without achievements might get offended. No academic awards at all. No announcement for NMSF, or AP awards.
Re: AP Stats - my D says she understands the work, but - can’t keep up with the amount of hw given. She turns in what she’s completed. Needless to say, she’ll probably get a C in Stats because of that. She gets As and Bs on tests… this happened with her in Calc last year, too. Sigh.
She was also told Stats was an “easy” class - she probably heard this from kids who aced Calc BC, I’m thinking now…
Oh well - I told her she could probably still test out of it next year if she gets a 3 or 4 on the AP exam; and even if she cannot test out - it will definitely help that she’s taken it already.
One thing she told me and my husband a couple weeks ago - and this is the first time she’s told us this - is that she thinks it takes her twice as long to complete work than her peers.
I actually watched her, in a coffee house one night (I had some writing to do, so we “studied” together) work on Stats hw - she spent three hours on it - and I guess still did not complete all of the hw for that “unit”. !!
Anyway, I’m wondering now if she has an LD or something… She was tested, and “diagnosed”, 
as “gifted” in elementary, junior high and high school. So, can a gifted kid also have an LD?
Or is she just exceedingly slow and thorough?
My husband advised her to give herself a time limit and tell herself, I will get this much done by the end of that time… and for her to figure out a way to get it done in tat time, then… Good advice… but is she capable of it? Hmm.
She’s also a very slow reader and writer.
I’m considering having her tested for LD now based on all this.
@mstomper, sorry to hear about your son. I hope he is better by Thanksgiving! Our kids have all been pushing themselves so hard.
Congrats to @dadoftwingirls and good look with scholarships @Themommymommy.
I think @PAO2008 meant that s/he has attended twenty back-to-school nights, @waitingtoexhale. An impressive number, indeed. I’d like to know if those are consecutive, cumulative, and/or whether they include your own, PAO.
This English major can offer only moral support to her children taking higher level math courses, although I do remember taking something along the lines of calculus back in the stone age.
@BeeDAre My father was a very very slow reader, but after he read an article he would never forget it. He was a very talented inventor with many patents, so slow reading is not a sign of deficiency.
@mstomper, sorry to hear about your son and wishing him a speedy recovery.
And congrats to everyone else’s kids on all the great acceptances!!
@BeeDAre, yes, gifted kids can have LDs. Those kids are called “twice exceptional” in the parlance. I think you’re smart to consider having her tested for something like dyslexia or a processing disorder–it would help her know how to work in college, what classes not to take at the same time, etc. The good news is that gifted kids usually can work around these things…the bad news is that it often takes parents a long time to realize that there might be a hidden problem and thus they are less likely to be able to deal with it.
D’s school also does not give any awards to students not only academic but also non-academic.
Thanks, @Ballerina016 . My husband is a also a very, very slow reader - and he is a patent attorney and former engineer, too! I know my daughter inherited her dad’s tendency toward being very thorough and analytical in almost everything she does…
I’m really hoping she just needs to find a method to work quicker and meet deadlines.
My husband told her he struggled with this issue when he first became an attorney, and he had to meet filing deadlines, etc… He said he had to reconcile his need to be precise and perfect with his need to meet a deadline. so now he only double-checks and edits his work, instead of going over it several times, :)…
Yeah, that’s my daughter, too - I’ve helped her proofread school essays and I’ll tell her, This is good, you’ve got it, but she’ll insist on still putting in some missing element…
Perhaps a study skills class would be a good thing for her as well… she doesn’t have time now, I’m afraid - maybe over Christmas break or the summer…
I am in the middle of reading my patent application document from patent attorney. lol… I hate the process but…
At some point, people have to compromise their tendency and work requirements and kids will learn later during their career. So I don’t worry too much.