S woke up and checked his AP scores! Both 5s for Lang and Phys1! Not sure which I’m most proud of. Lang was a struggle for him all year (his one B), but Phys1 had a brutal distribution on the AP. I told him to email his Lang teacher and thank her 
@Collegecue With a 24 writing I would pass on doing the writing again (unless maybe planning an English major?). Most of the schools (and even the ACT itself) know that the writing scores are wonky.
@VickiSoCal Does she have any US schools on her list? British schools can be very difficult admits for US students. I know of one young lady who was accepted to several top US schools and was not accepted to the UK school she applied to.
S checked his scores and he aced them. All 5’s on all 5 exams (AP Bio, Calc A/B, Eng Lang, Macro, and APUSH). Now if I could just get him motivated to start all those dang essays that are going to panic him the end of October when he has absolutely no spare time to write them. I have never paid him one thin dime for grades but I am seriously considering paying him for each finished college essay done before the start of school. Desperate times…
if mine decides to take the SAT one.more.time, we are skipping the writing.
she has 2 writing scores which were fine so i see no reason to repeat it, especially since no one cares about that section much these days.
i’m not particularly offering advice since every situation differs, just sharing what our approach will be.
**QOTD: AP’s: ** i sort of do think they should be limited. i hear that bored in honors/reg classes or topped out in a subject excuse a lot and imo, it doesnt hold water. in many cases i’d rather see a kid think outside the box and take something else of interest-not necessarily hard academics…but to become more well rounded. my opinion is that while some very bright kids may have these rigorous AP loaded schedules that there is nothing like taking beginning guitar or pottery or a metal shop to balance it out.
thats my opinion. a bored kid can always find something. its just hogwash that stooping to the metal shop level will put you in with people who are so beneath you…while maybe some arent the brightest, i’ll put money on the fact that they do a mean weld. you can learn things from everyone.
(i also feel strongly that IF the rigor/AP trend is going to continue, there should be across the board acceptance of them–whatever that might look like, be it credit or placement–but it should be consistent.)
She likes CalPolySLO and UC SB
The UK schools are very cut and dry with what they want, my understanding is that if she meets the qualifications she will get in. The top schools (excluding Oxbridge)
3 to 5 with specific subjects required for specific majors
APs of 4 to 5, or IB of 6 or 7, or for some subjects a SAT2 of 700+
She has Chem Subject at 700, US History at 5, AP Art History at 4
She needs math. She didn’t take an AP and subject test doesn’t count for that. She also needs a language but got a 3 on AP Spanish. The IB scores were released today and she took math and Spanish but she can’t find her login.
So, D17 took ACT with Writing both times, knowing that some schools require the Writing component, but not knowing exactly which schools she would be applying to. Is the Writing section so taxing that it is worth NOT taking? What if your DC got a terrific score, but a school only accepted ACT w/ Writing so they couldn’t use it? Since we all know the ACT Writing section is not going to be considered at most schools (but some still require it), isn’t it worth turning in a high ACT Composite with a middling Writing score?
Of course, if you know your kid is not applying to any schools that require Writing, then that is different. We have a couple potential schools that require Writing, so there is no way in heck I would skip it. It just doesn’t seem like a big deal. Is it? Look at the rubric. It doesn’t have to be long, just hit the points on the rubric. It’s very formulaic so with your brilliant kids they should be able to pull a midling score, or waaaay better.
OK, rant over. 
** QOTD **
Only 3 APs at our school so not an issue here! But if they were available my older two would have done it, especially in languages. It’s not just that they were bored in some classes, but DD especially would come home so stressed out because the other kids didn’t care and so the behavior issues tended to reign over content. She absolutely didn’t think people were beneath her, but when my kid is routinely coming home in tears because the teacher had to come down on the whole class because of their disrespect, yeah, I’ll send her to honors or AP instead. (Sorry. Flashbacks to difficult days get me a little worked up 
)
It got better once they got to year 4 and 5 of the languages, because then they were electives rather than requirements.
Goodness, it’s very hard to keep up with this thread. I feel like we’re all at an amusement park and many of you are on the first train on the roller coaster while I’m running behind trying to stay on the track and jump into the last car!
S doesn’t have the opportunity to take more than a handful (combined) of AP, honors or DE classes, so I can’t speak to how many is the upper limit. Although he gets frustrated with the level of many of his classes, he has enough to challenge him in band and other creative classes. (Really, how can a composition class of any level be limited in rigor? I can always challenge myself to write better and better meet the needs of the audience/teacher.)
S doesn’t read as much for pleasure but his school requires all students to have a free reading book available for their homeroom period and he is nearing the (current) end of the Game of Thrones series. He’s read all the Percy Jackson books and still asks for the new ones. He always did like complete collections.
ED/EA: I tend to think ED is great for families who can be one and done, so I don’t have an objection to it although we will steer clear of it. Obviously, since we haven’t even finalized a list. :))
DS took only one IB (instead of 2) due to conflict with a tournament. He got 6 in IB spanish B. This one he ended up checking the score not me ( didn’t give me ID & PIN ) Typically I check most scores since I get up early
College swag: My daughter’s gotten precisely nothing (well, unless you count stickers) in the mail, which I find a bit odd—33 ACT, 3.9+ GPA, and geographic diversity, one would think she’d’ve gotten a little love by now. Maybe they figure that it’s never warm enough in Alaska to wear a t-shirt, so it’d be wasted postage.
AP courses: My daughter’s school offers four AP classes (down from five—one is being replaced by a dual enrollment class this coming year), of which she’ll end up having taken three, so I don’t really have a dog in this fight on that front. I will say, though, that as a college professor, I’m incredibly skeptical of the widespread explosion of AP course offerings. I think it was incredibly useful when it was a smaller program, but things like Jay Mathews’s misguided (but I repeat myself…) “Challenge Index”, which rewards high schools for putting lots of students through AP courses without regard to quality of instruction or any outcomes at all, have resulted in the idea that pretty much every student should take as many AP courses as possible. This has resulted in a dilution of the program, and so you end up with a lot of unevenness in students who come in with, say, credit for the first-year composition sequence. Some of them can write wonderfully, but most of them can string together ideas but don’t have a firm enough grounding in the rhetoric of composition to be really good; part much of me thinks if the ones who write so well would write so well anyway.
Limiting college applications: Not until we fix college financing. My daughter has 11 on her list, of which four (really five, but one’s marginally so) are safeties, and mainly financial safeties. If you’re searching for the best merit aid, you have to cast a wide net.
Early decision: Since I was so bluntly emphatic earlier in my loathing of ED, I suppose I should expand on that, and give my reasons. So: If you don’t care about this topic, ignore the rest of this post. If you do, here’s detail—lots of it.
The main thing is that I see any negotiation situation in terms of power relationships. So, for example, if you’re applying for a new job, the potential employer (usually) has the power at that point, because they get to choose whether to hire you. Once you’re offered the job, however, the power shifts to the potential employee, because the employer has made it clear that they want you—so this is really your only chance to offer demands. (Yes, the employer still has some power—they can rescind the offer of employment—but you had power in the first phase, when you could have withdrawn your application; I’m talking about where the bulk of the power lies.) Then, after the negotiation phase, when you’ve accepted the terms, the power (of continuation or firing) shifts back to the employer.
I see the college application process in exactly the same way: As applications are sent out, power rests with the colleges; however, once a student has (often multiple) offers, the student has the power, due precisely to the ability to (1) weigh competing offers and (2) simply make an informed choice. (Once an offer is accepted, power shifts back to the college—but that’s after anything I’m talking about here.)
ED requires a student to cede their power at the outset—they never get to choose between competing offers. Further—and this is where the core of my discomfort lies, really—the student has to do so while still uninformed about the precise parameters of the offer they may receive.
And, of course, there is the practicality—students who are in need of financial aid to attend college have to commit with a glaring lack of information about finances. This is, really, an inexcusable requirement on the part of colleges. (And yes, a student can get out of an ED commitment if the financial aid isn’t workable, but the timing of the thing means that the student has lost the opportunity for the best financial offers at many other colleges.)
And yes, it is a reasonable counter to ask about students who are very clear in their top choice of college, and do not require non-guaranteed financial support to attend. Yes, for these students, ED is a reasonable choice—but the distortions that ED creates cause problems for the entire system, and so the best choice for that one student (read: ED) make it problematic for applicants as a whole. (Basically, a sort of a commons problem.)
These distortions come about because colleges really, really want predictable, preferably high, yield rates. The reasons for this are both internal (a desire for certainty, wanting to make sure there isn’t too high of an empty-space rate or any overcrowding, and so on) and external (the widespread belief that a higher yield rate usually reflects a more desirable school). This leads many colleges—some overtly, some covertly—to view ED applicants preferentially, because an ED admit is a (near-)guaranteed matriculant, thus improving the yield rate.
However, ED applicants are disproportionately likely to be wealthy, and from backgrounds with high degrees of cultural capital. This occurs both because ED rewards wealth—if you don’t care what the financial offer is, you don’t have to base any decisions on finances—as well as those coming from background with high degrees of knowledge and understanding of the higher education system. If one of the ideals of the higher education system is that it provides a way for society generally to improve itself—and I think we’re generally agreed on that, and have been in the western world for a few millennia now—the distortions of ED are doing a disservice to those whose situation could be most intensely improved, and thus to society as a whole.
Question for you UA peeps. I got an official transcript last week in order to check for errors and see what it contained. Can I send this to UA as requested, or does it have to come from the HS directly?
@2muchquan I am pretty sure that it needs to be an official copy in a sealed envelope from the school. I once went into am office with a copy of a transcript for DE and it wasn’t in a sealed envelope. They weren’t going to accept it even though it was my signature on it! (No kidding–they had to get permission from the registrar.)
Re: APs–Glad I have no dog in that fight and that we can do whatever we want. I have had kids take APs. I am just glad they aren’t our only option for courses. I am only being honest when I say our home brewed courses are more interesting.
ACT Writing:
I think ACT messed up with the new writing scores last year and now they are trying to correct it. However there are a bunch of students that got caught in the mess. DS17 is one of them his Old SAT writing score and his Old ACT writing score are in line with each other. However his New ACT writng score was so much lower that it IMO it’s nonsense. Luckily the colleges he is applying to aren’t looking at his writing score. Bit just to be safe he is sending all his scores. If he has to take it again (he currently has a 32 composite) he will not be taking the writing.
I didn’t realize that UA waited until after labor day to send out acceptances. I assumed they sent them out once they made a decision…
@2muchquan – I am also guessing the transcript would need to come from the HS directly. Our school uploads to CA via Naviance, so I don’t think a physical copy is mailed via the US mails.
Does US not require a GC LOR? Are you trying to complete the app before school reopens?
@MichiganGeorgia Having an acceptance from UA in hand shortly after Labor Day will take a ton of pressure off of your son’s shoulders and should make for a more relaxed senior year. My son is taking the ACT on September 10, so the earliest we will hear is probably mid October…still pretty early.
In any case, my son is done with the app, scholarship section and all.
I keep seeing UA application is open. Is it for all campuses or any specific ones? My DS may apply to UAB depending on NMSF.
@stem2017 - You are right I guess I was just hoping that he would have an acceptance when school starts back up on August 8th… he hasn’t done the scholarship app for UA yet. he is still “working” on the scholarship essays for Ole Miss. I say “working” because I think they should be done by now.
Whats the procedure to complete the UA application. DD applied and got the CWID but there is no space to put in Extra curriculars or any other details?
Quite interesting the spread in AP classes available. DS’s school offers ~18 AP Classes. All AP test are available to take in the spring, but not all classes are offered. (No Physics C… is my personal gripe.) Unless you self-study or take classes in the summer you can really only take ~13 AP’s max, and most top students usually max out at about 8-10. The school doesn’t allow any AP’s freshman year & only two are allowed in sophomore year.
S17 is going to take only 4… We decided that is what is best for him.
@Hades321 - She will put that in the scholarship app. Acceptance is based on GPA and test scores.