@IABooks, That description of CBE sounds like what we have. The credits are GE credits, although I think there is a way to get the math credits transferred. I’ll look at that when the time comes.
@CaucAsianDad congrats on your member status! Our high school is similar where DE isn’t considered as rigorous as AP. A bunch of kids take DE because it’s an easy A and they want to rise in their rank. My D always says its unfair, but that’s life. I’ve also been told that selective colleges would rather see AP over DE.
I’ve never been to the Grand Canyon, maybe one day I can take my future grandkids. Went to Jackson hole, Yellowstone and that was an awesome trip. We are leaving for Seattle next week. Can’t wait (but it can do without the long flight from Florida)
Good news, my D is FINALLY getting a job! She’s been enjoying her summer a bit too much.
I’m still concerned that she’s not doing anything of value (i.e. Something worth putting on her college application that’s of substance) but she knows what’s needed of her for the school she’s applying ED to and she’s still not choosing to follow through. Makes me think she just doesn’t want it that badly.
@greeny8 Yay for your D’s summer job! My D also got a job at a nearby Italian restaurant as a hostess. I don’t know if she wants to keep her 4 hrs/week Kumon job. I don’t think two part-time jobs during summer is too much.
Having a job is very important for my D because she doesn’t participate in any sports, orchestra or theater. (2-3 clubs at school and private music lessons only.)
Senior Year Rigor(mortis)
I don’t think it is possible for D17’s senior year to be tougher than her junior year. She’s only taking 1 science this upcoming fall instead of three (IB Bio HL 2nd year), and on-level econ and gov (required to graduate). She’s taking AP stats instead of AP Calc BC (finished APCAB with a high B), and AP Lit. She’s also taking sculpture 1 and a “free” period. I think that’s it, if I remember correctly.
Kid wanted, and got, breathing room. 
She picked her own schedule. I did try and battle to get her into AP Calc BC, but they said only if she had a 94 average for the year (I have this in writing from the principal), so she was like, meh, they know I know how to do math, I’ll take stats. We’re not worried-she’ll find a college she loves and do things she enjoys doing.
@OHToCollege wrote
@itsgettingreal17 wrote
We send quite a few kids to tech each year from the Ds’ school, and this seems normal to us in our weird-not-normal bubble. D17’s animatronics teammate is going to Tech on the Zell scholarship, and this sounds about right for her stats. I think she did AP Calc BC. D is not applying to Tech because the level of intensity is a definite step up from their high school, and she doesn’t think she would enjoy the weed-out atmosphere. It’s not reputed to be competitive, in the sense that if you don’t collaborate with your friends/sorority sisters you’ll almost certainly C out, but the pressure is definitely there. and it’s definitely worse than D’s high school with at least a hundred kids who produce the stats you mentioned above each year before they head off to college.
All the metro atlanta area schools I know about have AP classes. It’s very big here, since there is the perception that we are all a bunch of hillbilly rednecks-it’s a good equalizer. Our school of 2900 kids has 51 (yes, that’s not a typo) AP or IB classes offered each year. I just went and counted, and was like, holy scheikes. I knew we had a lot, but that’s a LOT.
I still struggle with whether I made a mistake moving us to such a competitive school system when they were in elementary school. It’s nuts, frankly.
We have dual enrollment, as well, with GA Tech and some local colleges, but I never saw the point, being overwhelmed with the smorgasbord of choices. D18’s BF is taking DE classes this fall. I shrug, I don’t know why you’d go off-campus, but whatever works for him (he’s a great kid).
@262mom D17 also took AP Comp Sci as a sophomore, and she says she didn’t think it was really college level. IB Comp Sci was a little better. She said the main problem was the teachers weren’t qualified to teach it and had them googling answers to questions rather than having the answers themselves. Don’t get me started; I can’t even.
Monday I have 1 final exam on Surrealism (really it’s just a kiss Freud’s discredited butt and apply it to Dali and Magritte, a presentation and a 4 page paper on William Gibson, and an algorithms project (peanut butter and jelly sandwich for those in the know, lol). Then I’m down to just two classes-photography and comp sci for the rest of the summer. Breathing room.
Are we allowed to post links here? B/c this “Parent Survival Guide” from Smith made me lol http://www.smith.edu/admission/pdf/survivalguide.pdf
Count S as one who needs a job because he is also enjoying summer a bit too much. He has been looking…sort of. H and I are going on a 2 week vacation, and when we get back he WILL have something productive to do. Productive in our eyes at least.
@greeny8 and @HiToWaMom yay for jobs!!! S17 starts his full time one today at the hardware store, his seasonal one with the school district in the performing arts building (which only started 3 weeks ago) ends this weekend until next October. It will be interesting to see if he really sticks with the full time (they offered him both) once things get going. BOth are good for supplementing the theater tech stuff and college job opportunities.
@MotherOfDragons 51???
I guess I can see that if you also have IB but wow.
Hah, you keep doing it … every time I look at CC, you added five or six full pages. I guess I have to reduce my work hours to keep up 
RE: AP Courses offered/Senior Year Courses
Our large public HS offers about 22 AP classes and about 4 or 5 DE courses that are taught by endorsed HS teachers. I think they need to have an M.A. or M.S. degree to qualify. Students are encouraged to take AP and DE which sometimes leads to discipline issues with kids who should not take those classes.
My kid has five APs so far, one in 9, one in 10, three in 11. We’ll see if senior year brings three or four more, depending on the schedule. It will be AP Lit, AP Stats (after Calc AB in 11th) and Gov/Econ, either both or one. I am hoping for Gov in the fall because of the elections. Should be very interesting discussions!
Quick question… what do you give to the teachers for LOR? A full resume or a shortened version related to the subject the teacher is teaching? For example, for Chem teacher , a 1/2 pager including all your science activities.
@CT1417 , @Gator88NE , sorry to hear about GC. Hope the replacements work out!
On my bucket list is to do Grand Canyon Half Marathon some day!! It would be an awesome place to run, wouldn’t it? I probably will be too competitive to take pictures along the way though 
@SincererLove D is submitting her resume to teachers and some have asked for additional information, like something about a project, etc.
Ooh, now I have to google that Grand Canyon half marathon. I love runcations!
@SincererLove, S also put together a resume that included activities outside of school so the teachers could see what he spends his off time doing.
I always wondered why LOR teachers need to know what the students do outside of school or their hobbies. They are supposed to write what they know about the students, right? - like write about how the student performed, interacted and participated in the classroom and how his/her personality will be contributing the college. Why do they need to know the activities out of the classroom?
Just wondering.
@HiToWaMom With a resume, teachers are able to write about more than the student’s grades, which the admissions committee already has on the transcript. They can relate what they know about the student from class and other interactions to what can be inferred from the student’s other activities, etc. Frankly, if the teacher can only write that Student A was an excellent student, got an A in the class, participated in class and had insightful comments, that really isn’t adding much to the student’s application. All of that can be inferred from the grade the student earned. I think “dry” letters like that only work if the student was one of, if not, the best student the teacher has ever had in a very long career, because in that case, the teacher can talk much more specifically about why that is so. That is a rare letter.
I had the chance to read a couple of my D’s recommendations for summer programs and they were a strong combination of my D’s academic successes, personality, and passions, placed all in the context of the school and community, and wrapped it all up in a nice bow. And D did get accepted to all the summer programs she applied to this year (all very competitive), so they must have helped some.
@itsgettingreal17 Thank you for your input. It sounds quite difficult to integrate your experience with students in the classroom and what students supplied in resume into wonderful cohesive recommendation!
So even though the teacher thinks highly of your students, if the teacher doesn’t have a skillset to compose that kind of cohesive recommendation, it will not appeal to the admission officers effectively, I guess.
LOR teachers do deserve $20.00 gift card!!
@SincererLove I didn’t realize there was a Grand Canyon half! I’ve looked into the Yellowstone one before. Pictures are a funny thing on a racecation. I’ve done some where I took pictures and others where I didn’t. My general philosophy is to do whatever I feel like in that moment. I am generally adverse to stopping but there have been a few times where I couldn’t resist.
@itsgettingreal17 I love racecations too! Need to plan more but this darn college budget and tours seems to be putting a bit of a damper on them! LOL
@HiToWaMom I think sometimes the personality of the kid or the relationship with the teacher is such that they are aware of outside activities already. Other times it may help the teacher put that kids personality and classroom interaction into context in a way that can make the teachers insight a bit deeper and more meaningful. It is an interesting question. In general I think S17’s teachers are relatively aware of his EC’but your question has me wondering. Based on who I think he will ask to write the LOR’s I am not positive one of them has a clue. He may, he may not, I really have no idea! The ones that are far more looped in are not targeted for LOR’s.
Hmmn.
Having hiked down in the Grand Canyon about 1000 feet, I cannot imagine running anywhere around it. Way too hot. Though we were there in the summer. Now Yellowstone I could see running.
A racecation sounds absolutely horrifying. 
Give me a strollcation with the occasional moderate hike thrown in!
@picklesarenice, I would love to hear about your D’s experience at Smith. It sounds like a great opportunity!
@carachel2, My D also had expressed no interest in a women’s college, but we checked Smith out due to the engineering program. She just fell in love with the school on our visit. It’s also unlikely for us due to the donut hole situation, but she’s going to give it her best shot.
@eandesmom Those college admissions fees and college tuition planning! Not only are we skipping our normal summer vacation so that D can work on her essays, but I only have small, driving distance racecations scheduled this year, while my racecation buddies are going to really cool places, including Jamaica and the Philippines. :((
I like napcations.
@saillakeerie I suspect it would be too hot as well but am curious as to the course! I think Yellowstone sounds fabulous. If they had a 10K I could con my H into it but he won’t do anything longer than a 15k these days due to knee issues.
@snoozn I wish I could nap. Last year our younger kids went on a mission trip as their summer vacation. H and I did a staycation that was full of local hikes. It was honestly one of the best vacations we’ve ever had.
@itsgettingreal17 I have racecation/girls trip in November and did have 2 already this year so I am not allowed to complain. Much as I would love to have something else in there this summer it will likely be limited to a 10k over on the peninsula (ferry ride makes it seem like a vacation lol) and then a half in the mountains. We aren’t registered officially for a thing till September though. After the november half though…I’m going to have a hard time justifying anything for a while. A friend did the Great Wall half last month and my co worker did Kona Ironman a few weeks ago. Seriously jealous. Except not really as both of those are a bit over the top for me. LOL! Like you, no summer vacation here other than a long weekend to CA for a wedding and to visit SD14 at her school. The kids band trip to Ireland killed any kind of vacation budget and what little was left went to spring break college visits. BOO.
Jamaica and the Philippines sound very very warm! Not PR friendly. :)) I would likely take pictures in that instance.