Congrats @labegg on Auburn!! <:-P
Well it finally happened. UK updated their scholarship page.
Looks like the Patterson scholarship for NMF is continuing but at a reduced level. Was a full ride for four years. Now full tuition (in state or OOS) plus $10k stipend for years 1 and 2 only.
At least now we know!!!
Congrats to @labegg and @Shellee08 ! Woot! Woot! and Happy Dance!
@LOUKYDAD – do you think U Ky is a strong contender for your DS?
Congrats on those acceptances rolling in! My daughter has yet to finalize but one application 
Although, like @ShrimpBurrito, she received the fee waiver today for Rice. It isn’t her top choice (as if she even knew what that was!!), but it’s a bit of a relief that she at least is in the pool they send those out to!
Congrats on all the acceptances!
@crazy4info yes UK is still in the mix. What they went with on the Patterson is actually more generous than I expected. I thought they would take it away entirely. Closing the gap in cost between UK and U of L by $20k (2 years times $10k stipend) is definitely something. He should also have $2,500 in KEES money each year for four years (at either school), so it is really a $12,500 room/board stipend the first two years, dropping to $2,500 the last two years.
Those of you talking about scholarship $$ - are your kids applying separately for these scholarships or are you making assumptions based on typical merit/need based scholarships given?
Congrats to @labegg and @Shellee08! I’m happy for you guys!
S’18 is definitely applying for some of the school based merit scholarships. Lots of extra essay writing.
Congratulations to everyone with acceptance letters & emails in-hand - exciting times!!
S has visited his UTD Galaxy portal and accepted his offer of admission!
In other news, we were chatting this morning about his calc class. His school is shifting to encourage strong precalculus students to go straight to calc BC, instead of taking AB first as had always been the suggested progression before this year. As a result, his math class has about a 50/50 mix of kids who took AB and kids who came straight from precalc. I was a little concerned to hear that the class is currently catering heavily to the precalc students; the AB kids even got released from class and sent out of the room the other day so that the teacher could focus on just the precalc kids. On the one hand that makes for an easy fall semester for S but on the other hand it seems clear that they won’t have much time (if any) to move past the BC material in the spring. If the slow pace continues, I wonder if the students will even be properly prepared for the AP exam. Not a big deal really; S was planning to retake calc in his first semester of college anyway. I asked him if he wanted to skip the AP exam for the class but for now he thinks he will still take it. I like that the school is shifting to offer BC earlier to students who are ready for it, but there’s always a risk in being the guinea pig.
@traveler98 Wow interesting regarding Calc. My daughter is in BC and the material is challenging to say the least…but our school offers the option of a half year Calc A honors course taken in Junior year in addition to precalc as a prerequisite to BC or you go into AB directly from PreCalc Trig. I actually think this is logical. Kind of a bummer for your son in my opinion. But at least it eases up his first semester.
@traveler98 @AmyBeth68 I have an S19 currently in BC calc …and I’m a math tutor. S19 took precalc honors last year. AB Calc and BC Calc cover the SAME topics but then BC Calc adds parametric, polar, and vector functions as well as series. I never understood how a school could offer AB and then those same kids take BC. The additional topics that BC covers only takes a couple of months. So, @traveler98 , it makes sense that the AB kids in your S’s class are being let out early. They learned 3/4 of what they need to know for the BC Calc test last year.
At our school, kids can take AB or BC. You don’t take both. AB Calc moves at a pace to finish the concepts on the AB version. The BC class moves more quickly and covers all of the AB concepts plus the BC concepts. In BC right now, the kids are already way ahead of the AB kids. The pace is fast. It’s only suggested for the kids who have been taking math honors since freshman year and get solid As.
@AmyBeth68, I’m sure it will all be fine after a couple years when they have a better handle on how to teach precalc so that the students don’t need as much AB review, or if they go fully to a model in which there’s no AB to BC progression and any student taking an AP calc class has only taken precalc prior. This year is really not ideal for the students but S likes his teacher and it will all work out.
D’s Calc AB class is taught along with IB Math SL. She understands that they will all cover the same material in the first semester, but second semester the teacher will split the class and have them work on separate topics. They’ve been doing it this way for awhile and supposedly it works okay.
@homerdog, I’m aware that many schools do math the way you describe. Prior to this year the progressive model at S’s school meant that students in the BC class had a quick AB review, worked through the BC material, and then moved well past it. The progression model works fine that way, though I can see how it would not work to spend two full years just to get to the end of the BC material.
Congratulations on UTD @traveler98 <:-P
So exciting!!!
@traveler98 I’m just curious why your school changed the Calculus progression at your son’s school. Did they say? I agree with the reasoning that students need to have a strong pre-calc foundation to be successful. But, I’m wondering why they are moving away from AB Calc and taking kids straight into BC Calc. My son’s school does it the way you described in post #7376 - Pre Calc, AB Calc, BC Calc. Actually, my son’s school’s math progression is Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, Pre Calc, AB Calc, BC Calc - and Stats (that you can take anytime after the Algebra II pre-req). I’m wondering if your school is moving towards the new model to get more kids into BC Calc? Because, really, if a student isn’t ahead in math, doubling up, or hasn’t taken some in middle school, it is hard to get through the progression in 4 years. It reminds me of a Ted Talk I just watched the other day - Arthur Benjamin: Teach Statistics Before Calculus. He presents an interesting argument for having more students take statistics. At my son’s school, it is mostly stem kids who take statistics and I see how it can help all kids.
Our school has always been as @homerdog noted Cal AB here is only for kids that don’t go on to BC.
Our school just added Advanced Stats that is taken after AP Stats. My s20 will be the first of my kids to take two stats courses in high school.