Thanks for all the kind words on D’s journey! It’s nice to have such a supportive group here. And congrats on all those great AP scores – so many 5’s! D got a 3 on AP Chem. She got a 4 on the old test they took as a final, so I was a tad disappointed. But she’s already said she wouldn’t want to skip Chem I anyway so I guess it would just be bragging rights. I’ll have a trip report on our visit to RIT and UofR coming up soon.
QOTD:
S18 doesn’t read for pleasure very often, but the rest of us always have a book around. I’m reading All the Light We Cannot See right now on D’s suggestion. Her school librarian knew she was a WWII buff and had saved it for her earlier this year. I know quite a few posters here recommended it as well and I’m really enjoying it so far. D is at her grandparents, so I don’t know what she’s reading at the moment.
@NerdMom88, I don’t know if this is any different from regular audio engineering, but D and I just visited UofRochester and they are very into meshing arts with engineering and have this program: https://www.ame.rochester.edu/
@Mom2aphysicsgeek, I do know what you mean about refusal to change for any reason. Oldest D bought D17 a pin that says “I embrace change, so long as nothing is altered or different.” I think it’s that extreme drive for independence (so different from my other kids) that lets her bull-doze through big obstacles sometimes. The social arena is the hardest for her to make progress in. I’m glad your S is able to live on his own. But I feel your frustration when that stubbornness stops positive change.
@curiositycat333, Wow, that’s some fast progress your S made and good timing to make a turnaround before college. And with oldest (yep, I also feel weird calling mine “D11”) I know what you mean about still launching…
AP Scores:
D’s friends were getting their scores early and she lost her patience to wait until the end of the week, so I got hers early too. She is taking APs for college credit, trying to knock out GenEd credits so she can add a minor or second major. I am happy to say her AP results this year will earn her 20 credit hours at her first choice university. With similar results next year she should be able to double major in 4 years.
She was ecstatic to get a 4 on Physics 1. She was so scared should get a 2 after working so hard in the class she was planning on studying to take it again next May.
QTOD:
D started reading almost incessantly in third grade (discovered Harry Potter) and won the best reader award in elementary school. She still loves to read for fun but has very little time with her course load and ECs. Hopefully she will find somethings she enjoys in AP LIt, though I think her tastes are a bit darker than the AP reading list.
My daughter just texted me her AP scores. I am so proud of her!
Calc BC - 5
Chemistry - 5
Eng Lang & Comp - 5
Macroeconomics - 5
Microeconomics - 5
Physics C - 4
APUSH - 4
I’m always super proud of D when she gets great results like this. And then right on the heels of that, I feel bad that I (probably) can’t provide an elite college experience for her. I feel like her performance proves she belongs at the top tiers. And I suck at providing it. (Don’t worry, my pity party will be short lived. I know she has great options. Just confessing my fleeting disappointment in myself.)
@Mommertons Wow! You should be proud! And don’t worry about her college experience. With her obvious intelligence she’ll get some great merit, and I’m sure she’ll shine wherever she ends up.
She is done with testing. No more in the fall.
To the colleges that ask to send all the test scores (either ACT or SAT), we’ll send both ACT scores.
How about the colleges we don’t have to send all the scores? Should we send just the first ACT or both ACTs?
The reason I ask is that when I see common data set, ACT 23 and ACT 24 are in the different range. (Range 18-23 and range 24-29) It looks better to be in 24-29 range even though she is at the bottom of the range.
@whataboutcollege - The common answer - money! I cannot afford our EFC. At most top private schools, the potential merit money does not affect our net price. She will apply to a few tip top schools that have excellent financial aid, where our net price would be below the EFC. But the chances of getting in are very slim. And there are competitive full-tuition scholarships at some schools that would bring the price down enough, but again, the chances are very slim.
It will work out. She’ll have very good choices via NMF, or in-state schools, or merit money at out-of-state public schools.
@mommertons Regardless of the CC banter, top kids and excellent opportunities exist on completely average campuses. My 20 yr old could have graduated in 2 yrs with degrees in physics and math plus 1 1/2 yrs of UG research, a 4.0, and excellent LOR. He is not just a bright, strong student. He really is far more. He is truly gifted. And on top of that, he is a hard worker and just a super nice guy.
He is thriving on Bama’s campus. He was accepted to some really great schools. But when it came right down to it, nothing could push free aside to pay at minimum well over $120,000. Guess what? Absolutely right decision. He has lacked nothing for making that decision. It hasn’t impeded his getting research opportunities. He will be able to earn his masters as an UG. He won’t face monetary stress when making grad school decisions.
And he has great friends who are all just as hard-working as he is. He is surrounded by really strong academic kids.
My 12th grader is facing a much harder problem finding a fit bc she is already at college graduation objectives in her desired major for a lot of colleges. With a budget limited to room and board, we have still found programs that will work and allow her to thrive and excel. It has taken way more time and effort than with our Ds, but those programs do exist. And, no, we don’t have to succumb to tippy top debt or be left with being surrounded by dullards. That is not the real world, only a CC illusion.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek - Thanks! Alabama has been at the top of our list for a while. We are visiting in August. It’s a long way from Oregon, but other than that, it sounds great.
I see so many love for Bama… Need to ask the dumb question again. I googled a comparison of Bama vs. Rutgers. Rutgers seems to have won over every ranking. I think the only difference is Rutgers doesn’t offer automatic merit based on test scores and GPAs. But I do know Rutgers gives out a lot of scholarships based on test scores/GPAs albeit not automatic. And they give a lot to OOO students since NJ kids likes to leave state. What puzzles me is why all the love for Bama and no mentioning of Rutgers. Also looking at our very own HS, this year, there are 11 kids going to Bama but only 9 going to Rutgers. Couldn’t figure out why?
@Mommertons I totally agree with @Mom2aphysicsgeek schools like Alabama can give your daughter a great education. Many of us have similar issues with funding college for our kids. I am thrilled that there are great options that my kids can actually walk away with no debt! I think it is so important in todays world.
QOTD- My D17 loves to read. She literally would read all day, every day if she could. My other two, not so much. My husband is a reader like our oldest and I enjoy it when I make the time.
@whataboutcollege What are Rutgers avg awards? Our Ds was awarded huge scholarships from several schools, but even so, they didn’t bring down the next cost low enough. Case is an example. I am not positive, but I am pretty sure he was awarded their largest non-competitive scholarship (they did have a couple of full-rides that he didn’t win). But that scholarship still left our costs about around $25-30000/yr ( can’t remember exactly anymore) and was a fixed amt. If tuition increased, our costs increased. (He knew when he applied that not winning the super competitive scholarship meant Case was a non go.)
I spend a lot of time looking at old posts, data sets, etc seeing what the likely award will be. They can apply for a few super competitive scholarships, but they have to apply to schools where they know the costs will be affordable.
Rutgers may give scholarships, but what do those scholarships bring the net cost down to being? That bottom line is make it or break it for a lot of families. It is also why @mommertons does not need to believe that top students aren’t found on avg campuses. The reality is that far more families don’t have $$ than do. Those top students with limited budgets do land somewhere.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek That is probably why. Rutgers’ highest amount of scholarship is 26,200. It is good for in-state students (would cover room and board). It is just covering OOS tuition. For STEM students, anyone considered some smaller schools such as Lehigh, Stevens Institutes that I think all have full tuition scholarships.
“The NYS STEM Incentive Program provides a full SUNY tuition scholarship to the top 10 percent of students in each NYS high school if they pursue a STEM degree in an associate’s or bachelor’s degree program and agree to live in NYS and work in a STEM field in NYS for five years after graduation.”
@mommertons - congratulations on those outstanding AP results! You must be very proud. FWIW, I ended up at the state flagship in the Honors Program back in the day because that’s what my family was willing to afford. It ended up being a great experience - the small school experience within a large research university. I had great professors and classmates. By all means, try for a few reaches with merit scholarships, you never know. But if state flagship with Honors Program and merit is the end result, it will work out just fine! And this from somebody who used to be a shy little mouse.
I have heard great things about ASU’s Barrett Honors College. My daughter’s bestie will be going there in the fall and she is very, very smart. I am pretty sure that their maximum merit award is OOS tuition.
@whataboutcollege Maximum merit award at Rutgers (where I went in the 1980s) is full tuition for out of state. So room/board/fees would have to be paid by the student’s family, which amounts to about 14-15K.
@2muchquan Swarthmore does NOT offer merit money. You can get in through the back door if your daughter is willing to consider a women’s college and applies to Bryn Mawr (does offer merit) and then could take advantage of the consortium of Bryn Mawr, Haverford, Swarthmore, and Penn. I have a friend whose kid went to Swarthmore and he found the PC environment to be extreme to the point of being oppressive, FWIW.
@whataboutcollege An additional factor that might be occurring is scholarship stacking. Many schools will not allow scholarships to exceed cost of tuition. Bama does allowing stacking. Our Ds has multiple scholarships which all stack.
@2muchquan - Not much merit out of Swat. They have one scholarship, but it’s for residents of PA and possibly Delaware, iirc. I think they are full need though on the FA front.
@Mommertons: Remember, CC is not the real world. The whole concept of a “top” college here is astonishingly divorced from reality. In actual fact, you could take anything in the top 100 of any USNWR list—really, probably the top 200—and call it all the same. We like ordered lists and the certainty they provide us, but really, the difference between a #20 and a #90? Vanishingly small, aside from how impressed the neighbors will be.
AP scores: So the child was apparently pretty motivated to get her scores—she got in touch with the College Board while I was out doing stuff, and by the time I got back had her scores: 4 in English lit and 3 in stats. Considering that this was her high estimate on both of them, she’s quite happy. Still wishes she hadn’t completely missed the point of part of the stats exam until it was to late to fix her error, but she doesn’t really terribly care, actually.
Early decision: I’ve said it before, but I find ED (and SCEA, or anything similarly binding) unethical on the part of colleges. If I had my way they’d be banned by federal law as a barrier to competition.
QOTD: All of my daughters read quite a bit, though they’ve probably read less this year than previous summers. My wife and I don’t get as much chance to read as we used to, though we do read for fun when we can. We’re a mostly fiction-oriented household, though I’ve been reading mostly creative nonfiction the last little bit and my D19 has been reading (for fun!) a fair amount on Python programming.
(Don’t worry, my pity party will be short lived. I know she has great options. Just confessing my fleeting disappointment in myself.)
