@MSU88CHEng, I formally welcome you to the Calc Struggler Son Symposium! TacoSon breezed through PreCalc with this same teacher, and he knew in advance he’d have to work harder and seek out help when things got hard. My kid is just the type who hopes he’ll do well without putting in any effort. It’s great when it works! rolls eyes
@eandesmom I saw your son is a techie - my D is as well! She runs tech crew at school - sound/light and has a job doing it as well. Not many schools offer that major/minor. I found the following schools for either Audio or Theater production: U of Illinois, Ohio State, UMD, American, Belmont, U of Hartford, U of MI, U of WA and a few others. She eliminated all but U of Hartford she applied to as a safety (and was accepted).
I think she will likely just do it as an EC, which is fine, she wants to major in Physics - which incidentally, I realized is quite related to audio eng!
@tacocat333 my S (love the TacoSon lol) is very much that type as well, although he knows full well he does have to put in effort. Still, the level of effort it always just enough…to do halfway ok but not necessarily his “best” effort.
S has been doing ok in Calc so far but did have a poor test this week. It is a bit amazing though as his confidence in math has really grown and he isn’t concerned about his ability to figure it out and move forward and keep the grade where it needs to be. That said, I just checked his portal for calc and something is super goofy there regarding missing assignments that I am sure aren’t. I need to ask him about it today so he can email his teacher. It’s not killing his grade at all but it isn’t helping iether. Spanish was his nemesis last year so I feel your pain there.
@93pilots congrats on Chapman! We know many happy kids there
Interesting point on the calc in college. S was trying to argue against taking all 3 AP tests, saying with APES in particular he will have to take all of that in college anyway for his major. Which is true but at some of his schools those test scores could mean GE credits and save some $$. He agreed to at least really look at the $ potential by school when it comes time for test registration. He will take the calc one regardless but I think really wants to do just that one, and focus hard on doing well (which for him would be a 4 lol).
@kt1969 Congrats on Redlands and L&&C! When I ran the L&C NPC for S it came up with a 10K grant. I would think you’ll get something. Not all offers come with admittance I know, it does vary by school.
@Fishnlines29 yes he is! He has done all positions (grip, dresser, fly, head fly, follow spot, lights, sound) but loves the sound board the most I think. They mix it up for each production but he hopes to have sound again for the spring musical. He also works for the school district for a variety of productions and volunteers at the school for the same, as well as at church.
We didn’t really look for schools that offered it as a major or minor, but did look for ones that had it available as an EC or a job, and that the program wasn’t so strong he couldn’t get a spot. One of his schools offers a theater production scholarship for non majors, which “requires” him to do 2 productions a year. Seems like easy money and a win win to me so he will apply for that one. Yes, Physics is a huge part of audio, S has a theater tech class this year and is at such an advantage over the kids who’ve not done crew before. It is considered an occupational credit and definitely has a fair amount of science in it. He is LOVING it, though he and one other boy have definitely emerged as the leaders in the class and end up training the other kids on a bunch of stuff. But to him it means he gets to play for that entire class period but really is still learning quite a bit. I am just happy that he was able to take one truly fun elective (outside of music) during his HS career by the blessing of being granted a PE waiver. Senior year should have some fun in there, it balances out the 3AP classes.
@kt1969 no mention of money in the letter on the portal. Just the acceptance which was thrilling enough last night! The NPC showed a $10k grant when I ran it, too.
Calculus has been tough this year for my son too (and it’s not even AP, just hard!). With any luck he’ll never need it again.
OUTCOMES updates
Quick note to all. If I have your students stats already, you don’t need to put that into the format and update, just send the school stats and merit/npc/coa info. If PM doesn’t work for you, I will try to go through the week, each week to make sure I don’t miss people but please please if I do miss anything, call me out!
Also, I do want/plan to list deferrals and denials, it does help those that follow.
Also, if you don’t want your stats posted but would love to be listed as your child being accepted, just let me know. Not all info has to be shared if you don’t want to. I love that so many folks are here and don’t want our “higher than thread title” folks to feel left out in anyway. Such a great group!
@tacocat333 , @MSU88CHEng and @CoyoteMom we started with the same AP Calc struggles but he quickly turned it around. S2 is the one whose 3rd grade teacher told me she’d hand out worksheets and tell them how long they had to work on it. He’d look over the worksheet, look at the clock, and go “goof off” until his predetermined time when he’d return to his desk and complete the worksheet in the time allotted and get an A. That habit was what started digging the hole in AP Calc - luckily he’s saved it and started working slightly harder.
I haven’t been posting on the thread recently, but I have been following and want to extend congratulations to everyone.
S17 was accepted to Adelphi in the theater tech and production program. We have no numbers yet, but did get a letter saying that he was put in for a talent scholarship that ranges up to $10K per year. His GPA is 3.43 and his highest ACT composite was 27. He superscored at 28, but Adelphi doesn’t superscore, so I sent both sets of results.
He is accepted to our local SUNY CC and to LIU Post contingent on the theater tech interview. He has also submitted apps to SUNY Purchase and SUNY Fredonia, but hasn’t done portfolio review yet.
We aren’t really looking at other schools. Due to issues with our middle son, who we had to pull out of college, H is dead set against S17 being too far away from home. He applied to Fredonia without H’s knowledge and we will deal with it if he gets accepted. S17 and middle son are very different. Middle son is brilliant but S17 is bright with amazing social and coping skills but relatively poor stats due to dyslexia and dyscalculia. I don’t envision the same issues arising.
S17 is thinking about minoring or taking a business course but I think that will be out of the question. He didn’t even take Algebra 2/Trig in HS and forget pre-calc or calc. Middle son did AP Calc BC with 4 and 5, for all the good it did.
@93pilots, congrats on Chapman!
@kt1969, congrats on Redlands with big merit and hopefully you, @PetulaClark, and @93pilots will see big merit from L&C. L&C is popular around here and everyone seems to love it.
@tacocat333, I hear you on CWRU. It’s a reach for D, but she loved the local info session. It’s the highest school on the not-visited list. Now it looks like she’s getting all A’s this semester in two tough AP’s and two DE’s – yes, I’m pround! I wonder if we should have waited for RD. Hindsight and all that. At least her #1 choice (RIT) is RD
@techmom99, congrats on Adelphi and good luck with the scholarship. My H also doesn’t want D to be far away, mostly because of her social struggles. I understand where he’s coming from, but pointed out that this is her only chance to get big merit at any non-in-state public. If she goes far away and is miserable she can transfer to her safety which will still be affordable. He agrees I’m right in theory, but can sometimes be snappy about how I’m “trying to make our kids go far away” (we have an S18 too).
@snoozn -
Thank you. We have a number in mind that we will be able to do at Adelphi. SUNY’s should be manageable even without aid. S17 will also be applying for some local scholarships, some of which are not need based.
My D09 went far away (6 hour drive) to the same school we just pulled middle son (S12 with a gap year) out of. D did well so it all of a sudden became H’s idea for her to have gone. When S12 was doing well, it was still his idea. Once his problems began, it was MY idea to have sent him so far away.
I see that your D’s #1 is RIT. I know a number of young men who have attended or are currently enrolled. They all seem to really like it from what I have heard. They are universally nice young men and, in fact, I know most of them through scouting. Come to think of it, I don’t actually know any girls who have gone to RIT.
@93pilots Congrats on Chapman. Have you visited?
@kt1969 I think I already gave you congrats on Redlands. But here is more…
It’s so hard to keep up with everyone. Is it my imagination of are we getting a lot of acceptances on this board? Certainly few disappointing rejections. My theory is those of us on this board, we are hearing more from the safety/match schools and the reaches will come later. That we were more likely applying EA vs… ED.
@techmom99 It’s always amusing to see different people’s idea of far away. I sent my kid across the country, what is that 5,000 miles and a 5 day drive?? Or 6 hours flight.
My H won’t fly or drive over bridges. It really limits us since we live on an island. To my H, anything out of town is “far away,” even Manhattan! His phobia has informed the choices my children have made about college. When we first began dating, I used to think that he would stop off and see another girl on the way to see me because what took me 20 minutes to drive took him 2 hours. It was only later on that I realized that he was taking a tunnel into Manhattan and driving all the way up and around the really long way. I thought I could cure him - I was wrong.
@curiositycat333 yes we’ve visited.
Agree with you that we are hearing more from likely and possible schools right now and that’s why it seems like one acceptance after another. I think maybe not everyone has that many reaches on their list, either? (My son does, but with only one exception, his reaches are all RD applications.) It’s great to see so much success, though, and wishing everyone lots more great news!
@techmom99 How does he get into Manhatten then? Do you have to take a tunnel? Go the long way round? Seems hard to avoid any bridges. Is it OK if he’s on a train.
@93pilots My son has two reaches… but won’t hear from either of them till March.
@CoyoteMom Thanks. I am new to all of this. I ended up here with a UVM search. The stats of my S are a little higher too, 3.95W, 590 CR/740M on the old SAT. He was accepted to the Engineering School. The special circumstances are that he attends school part-time from November to March. I thought if he was on the cusp it might not hurt to ask. What were Coyote Sons test scores and which school at UVM accepted him?
Hey all - just got back from seeing Star Wars Rogue 1 with DH and CoyoteSon - great movie, perfect escape from college craziness 
:))
@LuisaL - I’ve read on other forums that you need even better than average stats for engineering school admittance - I have no idea at all whether that generalizes to merit awards. No problem sharing info:
CoyoteSon’s stats: 3.9 GPA, 1370 new SAT (710 reading, 650 math), and a 31 ACT (supposedly about 1410 SAT on a concordance table), average extracurriculars with Robotics, some community service, and a short internship with American History Museum.
CoyoteSon wants to major in History, so accepted to College of Arts and Sciences.
Thanks @CoyoteMom. I appreciate it.
He takes the Midtown Tunnel, which infuriates me because the 59th street bridge is FREE! Sometimes, he will take the LIRR, which I prefer because I have a monthly ticket so it’s cheaper to buy him a ticket than pay for the tunnel and parking. I have my own issues - within the past year, I have developed an aversion to driving. It’s usually not a problem because I have several other drivers at home but I have decided that I need to deal with it and drive again. Someday.
@Coyotemom - What does your son want to do with a history major? I was a minor and went to law school. I personally think it’s nice to see kids that DON’T want to be engineers or computer scientists, although I know that is not the prevailing thinking.
I don’t understand how kids in the 3.0-3.3 range are taking AP Calc. My kid was not eligible for any AP courses with a gpa in this range. (His weighted/unweighted gpa were identical.)
@eandesmom and @klinska: CoyoteSon was accepted to Allegheny - got the big envelope in the mailbox today! But then, we live only abut a 5-6 hour drive away - so if you live out West, the maul may not arrive til Monday or Tuesday.
Allegheny was very generous with aid - $14,000 Trustee Scholarship per semester.
So CoyoteSon has been accepted at all 5 of his Early Action colleges - four safeties + Honors College at GMU. He has one more likely school that will send a decision on January 15th; he has 5 RD schools that are all reaches, and only 1 application is done and submitted, though I think a second one is almost done. These reaches all have supplementary short essays, and so if some of them don’t get done, well so be it.
And we are crazy - I was finding it very hard to find matches for CoyoteSon’s statistics that are also small, collaborative places. So we are going to Minnesota tomorrow (brrr) to see Macalester (match/low reach) and Carleton (big reach)…and one or both may fall off the list after the visit. We’re going to see the Science Museum in Minneapolis while we’re there, cause that’s our idea of making the trip fun. We may peek at St Olaf’s, but I think the required religion classes would be a deal killer.
I have to say, going on the college visit hunt with CoyoteSon has been fun and exciting - it’s been a gradual transition from dragging him along to having him really enjoy the possibilities. He’ll interview at both Mac and Carleton - my only regret is that I didn’t have him interview at some of the reachier schools early in the process. (Though I think some of you on this thread have pointed out, sometimes the interview is with a college senior instead of an actual Admissions Counselor - and so, those interviews might not be as worthwhile, even though they “check the box” for showing interest.)
@rienrah, our S16 had a GPA in that range, took AP Calc BC, and got a 5 on the AP exam. It was mostly English classes that kept him down. He’s a good writer, but hated the way teachers wanted him to write. He did get a 4 on the AP English exam despite getting a D in the class. S18 is doing well in AP English, and is doing well overall after a couple of very difficult semesters. I’ve been lurking on this thread since both our sons fall into the range. S18 was NMSF, but didn’t advance due to his grades. I think S18’s numbers pretty much show what he is: a solid B+/A- student with test scores in the top 8-10 percent. He tends to think his scores are mediocre when he’s actually far from that.