@AmyBeth68 - Does your DD’s school offer any summer courses? My DD is taking IB Physics this summer so that she can take IB Theater during the school year and go on a NYC trip with them.
I get it. My DD was devastated that her smallish school is not offering AP Spanish next year. I’m humbled THIS what finally makes this sweet kid grumpy…
@ShrimpBurrito that stinks! I feel for these kids, so much pressure anymore!!!
@daffodilpetunia I think they consider this course on par with AP because she is allowed to be nominated into the Science Honor Society with it in senior year (along with the other AP courses); it’s the only Honors level science course that counts toward Science Honor Society. All the pre-med and nursing hopefuls take this course typically along with AP Bio Senior year. I’ve heard it’s tough…they do pretty serious lab dissection including the pig and cat. Eeek. So she will definitely earn her strong stomach from this one. Anyway I believe it will still be marked as taking most rigorous schedule offered. And I agree with you…taking courses in foreign language, music and art are very important and healthy in my opinion :).
@TQfromtheU I am sure she could have taken/signed up for an AP online summer course but she’s attending two pre-college summer programs along with her normal Field Hockey camps and leagues so I don’t think she would have the time to dedicate but great advice for kids who can do that. My older daughter did a summer course to free up schedule time and it was a great help!!!
@ShrimpBurrito Ours is the same. The schedule is available hours before the first class. There really aren’t that many choices anyway, especially for kids doing full IB. My daughter’s schedule is pretty much locked in. She could switch out her one IB elective to something else. She’s also asked to have 0 period blocked out and empty so she can take advanced dance without registering it. She’s only allowed a max of 7 classes (and even then, only if one is on a special list of classes eligible to be a 7th). Because she has to take 7 IBs (with TOK) she can’t take dance in the fall. She’s taking it anyway, just not getting credit.
@daffodilpetunia - our school is similar. You get courses a couple days before school starts and have to try to get course changes if possible and if needed.
Our school is also an IB school, but only has six class periods. I wish we had seven like your school as it would free up some space and give more flexibility. Every course the kids take junior and senior year is an IB class. It’s exhausting, especially when all the IAs are due in the same two-week period.
Wow yeah that makes scheduling tricky @RoonilWazlib99 and @daffodilpetunia ! Our school has 8 periods which includes lunch and PE (PE is required by our state). So my daughter in 4 years of HS will not ever have a lunch because it would mean she couldn’t do band and meet all her AP/College Track Honors courses that she needs. There are always a handful of kids in each grade that never take a lunch. She has to snack between classes or hope she has a teacher ot two who feel bad for them. it’s crazy!
My D’s school holds out until the last second to give schedules - they let them know there first class at registration a few weeks before school starts and then they get given the complete schedule on Day 1 first period. School has max flexibility to move them around. Students seem to get their classes but teachers and schedule is a mystery until day 1.
@roonilwazlib99 How do they fit in TOK with the 6 required IBs if they can only have a total of 6? Must take some creativity!
We have 8 periods (0-7) but the kids are supposed to just to take 6 classes. They can take 7 if one of the classes is on a short list (TOK is one, advanced dance is another, plus orchestra, band, etc.)
We’re lucky with S’s schedule. It’s so unusual that the GC always has it mostly worked out before school gets out for the summer. S needs three release periods in the morning, followed by four classes clustered at the end of the day. If need be, he can have two release periods to accommodate a certain class that’s only offered 3rd period, then four classes and a TA period.
Aside from AP Calc BC (which is first), we don’t know what order everything will be in, but we’ve been told it will all work.
He’ll be taking Calc BC, AP Lit, Honors Anatomy & Phys, and Honors Theatre IV. Having the mornings free is to make room for CC classes, and classes at the end of the day make it so he can go straight from his last class to drama rehearsals.
There’s only one teacher for each of those classes, so he knows his classes and his teachers, just not the exact order.
He’s recently been elected Secretary of his school’s Thespian troupe, so he’ll have lots to do for that. In addition to minutes and the usual Secretary duties, he’s also in charge of social media for the troupe, a duty he’s looking forward to immensely. 
He finished Japanese 102 with an A - that one was touch and go for awhile, so he’s very relieved. Today was the first day without the seniors, and S has three more class days left. With the exception of his math class, his teachers have finished their teaching for the year, so S is allowed to spend all day in the theater, where the new Thespian leadership team is busy making plans for all of next year’s events.
With his unusual combo of medicine plus theatre, we joke that he can be a doctor AND play one on TV.
@AmyBeth68 - our state requires 2 credits of PE, 2 of Health, 1 of Fine Arts, and 1 Technical/Career. But all of those are waived for kids doing the full IB diploma because otherwise they wouldn’t be able to fit in the courses they need. My son still took a year of fine arts freshman year so that he could apply to college, though!
@daffodilpetunia - it’s not easy! This year my son is taking
HL Physics
SL Math
SL Spanish
HL Chem
HL History
HL English
Next year will be
All the same HLs plus TOK and the second year of math. They basically just take all IB for the last two years of high school. Nothing else fits in. Unless they are doing the 3 SL/3HL schedule. Then they can take an extra elective course.
Ah, I see how that would work, @RoonilWazlib99! My daughter isn’t taking any SLs this year, so that means she is 100% in IB classes next year, continuing the 4 HLs from this year and replacing her other two classes with SLs, plus TOK.
Technically our schedules are not released until orientation, about a week before school starts. That is a scramble week for a lot of kids … a computer schedules it all, and a lot of kids go right from orientation to the office to make an appointment because weird things happen. Not as bad as the first day of school - that’s ridiculous.
The only reason I get a heads-up is because towards the end of my daughter’s sophomore year the guidance counselor let drop that they DO get these schedules worked out long before then. He works on and off during the summer and checks his voice mail daily (see? I told you he was a saint, not just for putting up with me lol) and to keep calling him. Sometimes he calls me! I know what she will take, but not in what period. I think her AP Calc and DE Physics will determine everything else … she is supposedly guaranteed those classes with those teachers, since there are so few sections of them, and all the other classes will be built around them.
She had considered AP Spanish, but struggled a bit in her honors Spanish 3 this year so everyone agreed that college prep Spanish 4 was the way to go. She could not get into honors Spanish 4 since it is reserved for juniors - just not interested enough to fight for it. She has to take a literature class - she hates it, but 4 years is a graduation requirement. Other than that, she is taking a bunch of half year courses like essay writing (which is promising) and child psychology (they get to play with kids!).
In terms of anatomy … she took that this year. Easily one of the toughest classes she’s taken. Everyone agrees it really should be an honors class. They got to tour the local university’s cadaver lab at the end of the year, and the sign up sheet filled up in about 15 minutes. They dissected a bunch of things. They didn’t do a cat, due to a shortage (?), but they did a pig and other stuff.
UGH. SAT scores. Is it too early for wine? I have a 17 year old in full scale melt down.
@AmyBeth68 , Awww. Hugs for you.
Meltdowns are no fun for kids or moms. Can she try again? A. Different test? But that’s hard to think about now. 
My D had one of her bad days on Saturday, so we might be in the same place for the next score release. She felt spacey and zoned out. It happens sometimes and might be related to her low blood pressure episodes. Not the best timing, though. I know she was disappointed even though she doesn’t say much.
So much pressure on our kids.
@MACmiracle yes they are under a ton of pressure and she’s in school texting me about her SATs. We need school and finals to be over but 2 more weeks :(. She’s a great kid, great stats…but she can’t break the 1400 barrier on SATs and that is really upsetting her…I think it’s related to earning merit scholarship money at her top choices. It’s really a tough road to be on right now. I think she envisioned getting closer to a 1500 so this was a kick in the gut. On to the ACT on Saturday…the joy LOL.
@AmyBeth68 sorry to hear. I might be in your boar, drinking wine, soon. I am afraid to ask D her results. She’s at school. Don’t want to send her down the cliff, if that’s where it it ends up
@swtaffy904 sending you ALL the good vibes for great SAT scores for your D!!! And for everyone’s kids on here who are getting scores today.
@jpc763 , my son got equivalent aid to the Rensselaer Medal at RPI, without getting the medal (a friend who never intended to apply to RPI got it…), and if his GPA and scores were higher, he would probably have gotten more aid.
If you read about packages people get at RPI, there are definitely many people getting 40K+ in grants, and RPI does NOT cancel scholarships based on GPA. Believe me, I know…
IMHO, FA is a crapshoot, so if you can up the application fee, or get a waiver (RPI does give them), why not apply?
We just got unlucky with FA, I think maybe because my son’s scores were low for RPI (but great AP scores, he placed out of more than a semester of classes) and also my work paid back wages our basis year
So I wouldn’t say don’t expect no aid from RPI without the Rensselaer medal.
It is definitely a very math-oriented campus, a lot of interdisciplinary math and computer options.
As for SAT scores, my son went up, but his math was disappointing. We are hoping his Math II will be better than his SAT math. This is a kid who would get perfect standardized math test scores when he was in younger grades, oh well!
Has anyone used Parchment’s College Match tool? They actually compute percentages that the student would get in, and list the average percentage for every applicant.
The thing that is weird is that colleges that are tough will not have as high percentages as one might hope. But for example, my son is noted as 44% chance to get into Bucknell, but the overall chance there is 30%. So it would be a reach but not ridiculous.
It’s also a good way to confirm the definites are really definite. And also find similar colleges a different way than the College Board.
I’ve played around with Parchment. It’s fun, but they don’t (can’t!) take essays and LORs into account, so I think it’s pretty much useless when it comes to chancing.