@2muchquan quidditch has come up on tours but more as an offhand kind of joking remark so it hasn’t bothered me. Yet.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek funny, that’s the exact form I saw that made me go hmm…what will our GC check? Assuming S applies there that is. But still, it begs the question. S’s is definitely considered rigorous/demanding. But “most” is subjective. I know kids taking “more” rigorous loads though admittedly, not a ton. What I have absolutely no clue on is where S’s load fits relative to the rest of the class and it would seem that would be the benchmark (that should be) used regardless of how many AP’s are available.
@CT1417 which begs the question, do you all plan to ask your GC what box they are checking? Interesting news about UW and Coalition. I still don’t think S plans to apply and his Coalition schools are also still taking common app so I don’t know that it helps but very interesting as the UW app has been known locally to be a bear. I haven’t actually looked at it since has always said no but…he could change his mind and I probably should!
@mtrosemom I was very impressed. I had to take S to the bank the other day to get a letter for direct deposit at his new job. He doesn’t have checks so we needed another kind of proof. They wanted his SSN for ID and while he didn’t know the whole thing by heart, he did remember the last 4 digits which was all they needed. Of course then he wanted to know what would have happened if he couldn’t recall (and I didn’t have it with me of course). He’d have been find as I am a co signer so they’d h
Michigan State is high on S’s list too, so I am anxious to hear your trip report @2muchquan. S won’t be able to visit until late fall/winter. I graduated from MSU many, many years ago and haven’t been back since my graduation, so I am looking forward to that trip. I got S an MSU t-shirt for Christmas last year as a “hint”, and he wears it when he is trying to get on my good side.
**SSN ** Yeah mine still don’t know theirs by heart. And DD is 21… I went along for moral support to help switch banks the other day.
One things about the comment “you used to need to put in on everything”. And then it was decided legally most of these places couldn’t use it. Only employers, banks, or anything that affects taxes are really supposed to require it. I find it’s also wanted to on medical information but I’ve figured out that mosty for insurance reason and I never put the kids # on their paperwork.
My D is applying to an in-state school (let’s say UofX) that states they want to see applicants take the most rigorous courses available. Considering My D’s schools offers 29 APs and many students end up with 14 to 16, I asked her GC the following question?
“My D wants to go to UofX, what does it take for you to check the most rigorous course load box?”
She said that she does not need to check that box for UofX since they know the school (really the whole district is similar) and they know what the most rigorous course load looks like. I think that was a polite way of side stepping the pressure of an obvious helicopter dad. So I came back and asked " So what does UofX consider the most rigorous courses, does my D need to take 16 APs?"
Her answer was “The number of APs is not as import but more the progression of academic courses” So said if you take Pre-Calc in 11th then the next logical course is AP Calc AB, but AP Calc AB/BC would be better, whether you are a STEM student or not. AP Stat is not considered part of the math course progression and does not move the rigor meter.
My D was planing on taking APES senior year, GC said APES is not considered rigorous and that my D should take AP Bio Senior year even though she to Honors Bio freshman year.
She also said that since she took AP Lang continue on with AP Lit senior year and since all her social sciences have been AP sticking with AP courses for Econ and Governmental would be highly recommended.
A little background, GC is a graduate of UofX and the HS sends several students there every year. It is near pipeline status, so I am trusting what she said. YMMV.
@CaucAsianDad that’s where I fear S might fall into the “very” rigorous versus “most”
Most rigorous with the progression tracks available
English: Honors 9, Honors 10, AP Lang, AP Lit
Math: Alg 2, Geometry, Pre Calc, AP Calc AB (no honors offered, no AB/BC offered either)
Very rigorous (but not most) with the progression tracks available
Social Science: World H, AP World, US History, Senior Civics (no other honors or AP options avail)
Science: Honors 9, Biology, AP Physics, APES
Language: Spanish 1, Spanish 2, Spanish 3. Not taking 4th year.
He is taking APES as it’s a possible major. Didn’t do honors bio and didn’t do terribly well in Honors 9 science which is part of why no honors bio. Did well in Physics though.
AP world about killed him (mostly pre-ADHD meds) so skipped APUSH for gpa reasons but that may hurt him.
I could see the GC going either way on this which is why I think it may come down to the context of the overall class. But wonder if she will sidestep it or not if asked.
I might have posted this before, but I was pretty psyched to find out that UMDCP has a stop on the DC metro line. We’ve ridden it with D a few times when we’ve been on vacation there (we are museum dorks) and she loves DC. Discovering that a few days ago made me pretty happy to keep that in the BoD.
H flies to Miami next month and we decided not to take D to go tour when he does. We’ll still keep UM on the list, but we want to see if she gets in and if she gets any merit aid before we fly down and let her see it. H thinks it’s the most beautiful campus he’s ever seen (he got his grad degree from there so he’s biased). I worked on campus and always thought it was kind of meh. But I’m from Boston and my aesthetic is different. I have a fondness for brick and gothic architecture.
I’m going to try and get D17 over to UA once school starts up again during fall break in October. I’m a little worried that CBH might be too hard for her-it says the average ACT for CBH is a 34, and she’s a 33. She feels very strongly about not being the dumbest one in the classroom.
@2muchquan I think the wayback machine might just make me grumpy…
Aaaaaagggghh! Yeah I back up obsessively, usually onto two different media. I have a solid state USB terrabyte hard drive sitting next to my laptop, plus a flash drive that I have most of my artwork on, plus I have automatic backups to the cloud. The pain of losing your stuff is awful. My computer is (knock wood) working well now and I’m so happy it’s all fresh and clean-I decluttered it :D. I decluttered it all the way back to Windows 8.
FYI, as of July 29 you won’t be able to do a free upgrade to Windows 10, according to Microsoft. So I wiped, installed 8 from the disc, upgraded to 10, then created a restore point on the computer before I added anything else so I can take it right back to that squeaky clean state. It took about 8 hours to get the computer running right again. I’m cautiously adding stuff back in because this laptop is no spring chicken.
I think quidditch would be fun if you were on horses. Bareback. That would make it a lot more fun than just running around.
D17 got an unweighted 3.4 her sophomore year-it wasn’t a learning disability, she just didn’t know if she wanted to be academic or not-she was rebelling against what was expected of a kid with big numbers. I don’t know if she’ll write about it for college, because she’s mostly made peace with it, but I can see where some colleges might not like that reason for her grades being kind of un-stellar. H and I are just glad she decided to academically rebel early and work through it during that year rather than sophomore year of college.
Most rigorous-our school puts stars next to the class that is considered most rigorous for each year, but there’s some wiggle room. If you take AP human freshman year, you get a star. Senior year-no star for you. Same class, but different hoops to jump through. Deeply annoyed at the entire process by this point, but biting my tongue about it (except here) because grumping about it to the family does nothing to get them through the process.
Rigor: S wont win any awards for rigor with having 2/7 of his classes as music classes with no honors option. It makes me feel better about steering him away from APUSH. His senior schedule is a little more impressive, but again music. Luckily I doubt he’s applying anywhere that will split hairs between ‘above average’ rigor and ‘most’ rigorous.
Just found out S will be an AP scholar because he has 3 AP tests with 3 or higher. Since his sister only took one official AP test (she did dual enrollment at the U instead), I had no prior experience with that. It made me laugh. He now has another award to add to his meager list.
Do your GCs take the summer off? Seems like our whole department is MIA. Three emails over three weeks asking about transcripts, LORs, school profile, etc. and no response. Every email had multiple GCs cc’d so I know they are getting them.
@STEM2017 …ours does and we would’ve NEVER known there was a central place to pick up transcripts that was open during the summer if D would not have gone up to the school. Summer school is in session so the building is open. The main GC office is not open but there was a huge sign on the door directing kids to a centrally located transcript center.
It might be worth a trip to the school if they are open for summer school!
RE QOTD: I have not asked, but I am confident that D’s courseload will be deisgnated as most rigorous. D’s high school limits the number of courses a student can take each year (they claim it’s a space issue), doesn’t advertise alternatives for kids who max out of a subject, recommends no more than 3 AP courses per year, and doesn’t advertise math acceleration options. That said, they are very flexible and accomodating if you ask for exceptions to all these policies and we have had no issues getting approval for D’s course progression. So D is in the GT program, will have taken 15 AP courses (but 17 exams), 2 advanced math courses above BC Calc for college credit only, 2 DE courses, and 1 IB course, with all the rest of her courses, including fine arts, being honors or GT. I’ll probably still have D confirm it when she goes to talk to her about getting the school nomination for a couple of competitive scholarships.
@STEM2017 our GC’s are off for the summer but I believe she is checking email as I did get a response on something after school got out. No clue if we can get transcripts or not. Since they want it all through naviance (and that’s getting some kind of mid august upgrade( seems pointless to even try, I did get one before school got out but would like an updated one so may try to ask just for kicks. I am fairly sure there is a mechanism to get a transcript if needed…but not a counselor letter or other LOR.
@flatKansas we are in the same boat with 2/7 music classes and no honors options. That said, I do think the box checked may make a difference in gpa interpretation and merit for S as he is likely on low end bubble at a lot of places so the “most” would help him. Less of an issue for admissions I think but who knows on the semi reach schools.
@STEM2017 we also have no clue if our GCs are there or if the registrar (who does the transcripts) is there, or if she’s even planning to do transcripts if she IS there. I tried calling the school to ask, and was told the registrar hadn’t been around but “might be” around later in the week. The only way to find out for sure when the registrar would be around was… to leave a message for the registrar. facepalm (Which I did, and of course I haven’t heard back)
The counselors have been around at D’s school and very responsive. Seems like they are on rotating duty. The GC department though not officially open (all counselors back) until the end of the month.
D knows her SSN by heart as she has had to use it on occasion.
@theshadow My S has a similar trend to your D although I think it took longer to settle. We don’t weight but I have calculated it out for both overall and core only, and then the same for 10-11th only (Cal’s computation). I hadn’t thought to look at junior year in isolation beyond the fact that it was a solid year and shows a strong overall improvement/positive trend. Just checked and junior year (in isolation) weighted was a 4.1 overall and 4.19 core! That has to help with applications…right?