@Mysonsdad , that rule about AP Spanish would infuriate me! My intolerance for bureaucracy is part of what kept me a homeschooler for so long. 
I donāt have an answer for the 3 yrs vs 4 yrs of language question. I suppose it probably comes down to the character of the competition in any given group of applicants, and what the school is looking for.
Regarding the languageā¦4 year versus 3 yearā¦I think it just dependsā¦for my son (now a sophomore in college) the decision for the 3 year option was the right one. He hated Latinā¦got a B-in freshman year Latin 2, then eeked an A- in Latin 3 in 10th grade. Because he thought he would be going into college apps as an engineering applicant, he opted to double up on Science instead. There may have been schools that made a decision against admission on the basis of the choice, but I doubt it. In the end he got into a number of fine schools including some very good LACs (Haverford) and got good merit, including full-tuition at the school he now attends (Tulane). So, as I said, I think it just depends.
Feeling like an old/young parent is such an interesting topic!
Iām 42 (almost 43) and DH is a few months older. We have always felt āyoungā for DS16, except when he was at a daycare with a more socioeconomically mixed group and we were average to older, because there were several kids in DSās class whose parents got pregnant in HS. We have felt more or less āaverageā for DS20 among our friends and many of DS20ās friendsā parents, and old-ish for DS25 - except in the fairly affluent suburb where I teach, Iām actually not the oldest parent of a third-grader around, maybe a tiny bit above average. My DS25ās two best friends, though, are both the oldest kids in their families, and have younger siblings; their mothers must be around five years younger than I am.
I agree about taking a language. My DD and now my DS, did not opt to take an AP language course as a senior. They each had their language through level IV. I do not think it impacted my DDās acceptance anywhere as the rest of her schedule was challenging. My sonās is even more so, as he is taking two AP math classes, the second in place of the language.
I do not think that one course can really make a difference when the rest of the course load is challenging. When my DD was in high school, her 9th grad biology teacher and guidance counselor were pushing her to take Honors Chemistry as a sophomore. DD was not a science kid and did not want to the honors version of chemistry. I told her she should not take the Honors. The guidance counselor did tell me that it would look better for college but I could not imagine that taking the honors vs. college prep level of chemistry could really make a difference for a kid who was not pursing anything science related. DD did take AP US History, which was only AP that sophomores can take in our school. As a junior, DD chose to take AP Environmental Science and she took an Honors Geo Science class as a senior. In fact, the AP Environmental Science teacher wanted DD to take Honors Physics as a senior but again, she did not want to. It in no way hurt her that she had not taken Honors Chemistry or even that she did not take Physics. She was not (and still is not) a science oriented person, but she did well in the science courses that she chose. And even though she majored in International Studies in college (and also had a minor in a language), not taking AP French in high school had no impact on her college admissions or her success in college.
My son only had 3 years of German because his school lost their German teacher and could not find another. They are no longer even trying to replace her. The 3 years of one language already satisfied the highest requirement the state has for an advanced diploma so no other solution was offered for classes above 3rd year. Students that had less than 3 years were allowed to take an online class through k12 to finish the language requirements. We did request the counselor address this issue in his recommendation.
I live in a military town so a lot of parents here are young parents but it is strange to be dropping your oldest off at an Ivy league college when you are only 38.
My son attends a culturally diverse school. The youngest senior parent is 33 and the oldest close to 65. We are on the older end ā¦ but still young at heart. Boys help to ensure that!
IB Abinitio Language (equal to 2 or 3 years) is very common at DS school. It does not seem to impact the offers. The guidance does include a note on the reasons for the student pathway.
DD was born the first year I came in the US for my grad study. Her age reflects how long I stayed here.
My oldest is 30! So we have definitely been among the older parents pretty much everywhere D has been in school, though itās not as bad now as when she was younger. I am 57 and D is 53. When H brought balloons to D at school (with permission) on her 16th BDay this fall, one of her friends told her how sweet it was that her āgrandpaā had brought balloons. Ooops! We met a couple at a Christmas party last night who have a kindergartner and a preschooler. The mom had them at 44 and 46. I thought I had it bad being 41 with my last!
Last week of school before break. D has her Santa robe all ready to wear for āred and whiteā day tomorrow. Her BFF is wearing a Santa apron. I should go early to pick her up just to see the various outfits. Do any of your kids have to do senior projects? D spent the weekend writing synopsis of scholarly literature on her topic. She said they needed to read 20 articles or studies. She found lots of relavant information, even exactly on topic for why she wants to teach, so it really worked out for her, but it seemed like a ton on work (not all was done over this one weekend, of course).
I have a dear friend and college classmate, @sseamom, who had a baby this past Thanksgiving Day at age 48. I have admitted to her many times that I am just the slightest bit envious. But just the slightest bit. Her older daughter is 4. Soāsheāll be on CC for the Class of 2030 and 2034! Edited to add: those are the high school classes!
@sseamom my kid also has a senior project with a research paper due next Friday. He also has to do scholarly research. The paper is the big thing this semester, and next semester is a physical project. S is doing a statistical analysis on admissions for his project. When he told the teacher what he wanted to do, he was also given the task of finding someone to job shadow in an admissions office. So I found an old friend from grad school who had a friendā¦ Now he is spending a few days learning how admissions work at a private local SLAC. They use the Common App (it is a very non competitive school) and now my son is seeing how they process the info on the other side, how they award scholarships, how they do info sessions. It has been great experience. For his research project, he was assigned a paper researching why college costs have risen. That one had been a toughie. The senior project class had been a lot of work.
S has written college essays for another 4 colleges today. He keeps asking me what I think and, although they sound good, I have no idea what they are looking for.
Regarding the language issue, I found out today that there are a few students in S school who took the AP Spanish class who werenāt native Spanish speakers. So now I am really confused.
Last few days, DD has emotional up and downs seeing all the acceptance/deferral/rejection while she has no result yet. The hardest part is waiting not facing the result. Anyway, she felt much better today. We chatted about colleges in her list and she was excited to talk about the every school in her list - why she like those specific schools and what she is waiting if sheās accepted to those schools.
@LKnomad , that sounds a lot like Dās senior project requirements. The kids do the physical part in the second semester here too, and also tie the all-school science project in January to their projects. They can do social science-like looking at the application process-does not have to be a hard science. They also have to work with a mentor and do some type of internship. Dās project will culminate with writing lesson plans and working with teachers to implement them and then having both kids and teachers do a survey. It all revolves around STEAM, which is the usual STEM plus art. Then in June the kids will have to defend their project to a group of professionals and will either pass or not. Most do, but sometimes kids need to do some extra work before a second attempt.
DS has been invited to apply for two additional scholarships from the school that has already awarded him a great academic scholarship!! I am growing to love this particular option. :x
Congrats @Cheeringsection . It definitely feels good when schools āshow you the moneyā Sounds like your son has some great options.
D submitted 2nd to last application this weekendā¦only one more to goā¦not sure if that train will actually leave the station (and after 14 applications down not sure if it even needs to as it is another safe option. Its a great school and we know a student there that absolutely loves it. The waiting is excruciating and we are hoping to receive some notifications this week. Congrats to all that are receiving great news and to all doing such phenomenal senior projects. No such thing exists at our high school. Only similar thing is the āresearch paperā that was newly enacted last year for grades 9 - 11. Only negative we had with it was that it was due the week AP Exams start!? I firmly and respectfully pushed for an extension for students with multiple AP Exams to prep and study for but I was thoroughly shot down (so frustrating).
@NYDad513 I can imagine how confused you and your S must feel after finding out that there are non native Spanish speaking students taking AP Spanish. We have been there multiple times and felt very disillusioned by the apparent inequities that go on behind the scenes in the schools.
My son has a senior paper/project. Heās writing about journalism and how itās changed and drawing from his Boys State journalism experience. This week will be very busy for him with the paper and finals. I asked him if he wanted me to send him (resend) the log in info for a couple of schools for when the decisions come out and he says ācan you just tell me?ā He seems perfectly fine having his Admin on this. I cannot wait for this week to be in the books. I feel like we will all better be able to focus on the holidays. Plus, my son in the Army gets home on Saturday!! Yay!!
I was 40 when S16 was born, so I will be 58 when dropping him off at college! H is three years older. We visited parents in Florida over Thanksgiving - and actually felt young in comparison to all the retirees there!
S16 finished all of his early apps by mid-November, and other than a couple easy college specific general scholarship applications, he has not had time (or the energy/motivation) to do any other applications for scholarships, honors college, etc.
He has 3-5 more apps that are due between Jan 1-15, but when I gently remind him that he better get started (yes, he has not started them - yikes!) he looks at me with a dazed stare and zero enthusiasm. He received another acceptance in the mail two days ago, and the big envelope said āthe decision youāve been waiting forā¦ā on the outside of the envelope, so it was fairly obvious that it was an acceptance. I had to practically force him to open itā¦ really?
Thank goodness he does have a few acceptances already in case he throws in the towel early! I often wish he were done so we donāt have to do that marathon wait until late March/early April for those last few decisions.
@4kids2graduate ā Well, your husband and I are the same age, which I think makes us the oldest parents on the thread.
I grew up in New Jersey, and at the point when we kids were all out of the house and my parents were retired, many of their contemporaries had moved to Florida. My Dad was having none of it. He called Florida āGodās Waiting Room.ā They moved to Atlanta, where my older sister was living (as a single mom with a young child). My Dad lived to 87, and my Mom is currently 96. Sheās doing reasonably well, having lived independently until just a couple of years ago. So I think Dad made the right call.
@AsleepAtTheWheel @4kids2graduate
Sorry, but youāre not the oldest. DH and I apparently hold that āhonor.ā
DS spent all weekend, up late both nights, working on a paper that was due yesterday by midnight. At 9:30 pm, the teacher sent an email extending the deadline to tonight. Not happy about the late notice.