Parents of the HS Class of 2018 (Part 1)

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
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At our HS, they rank based upon weighted GPA. Only AP or dual credit CC classes are weighted, not honors. 4.0W to 4.249W you are magna cum laude. 4.25W and above are summa cum laude. I think there are usually somewhere around 15 kids who are summa cum laude, and at graduation they walk in, are seated, and are recognized first in order of rank. Everyone else walks in alphabetical. I think usually the highest ranked two or three students get to speak. No val or sal.

One strange thing about it is that students in the district have the opportunity to participate in a program where they take an accelerated high school curriculum the first two years of HS, and then the last two years all of their classes are at a local CC extension campus. They don’t take any classes (in any year) on the campus of our HS, although they are allowed to participate certain ECs (not sports). At the same time at the end of their four years they do still graduate with their home HS and are included in their home HS for class rank purposes. All of their CC classes their last two years are weighted. So they end up quickly climbing in rank during their junior and especially their senior years. Most years their top two or three students end up on top in the end, because no matter how many AP classes you take it is hard to compete with someone who has taken 16 to 20 CC classes.

It doesn’t keep anybody in our house up at night worrying about it, but I am curious to see how it shakes out for DS. He is currently ranked first. Leaving out the kids taking CC classes, I don’t doubt anyone is going to catch him. But very possible he will end up behind someone from the CC group. DS has never seemed bothered by it, and I am glad. I like the overall experience he has had much better than if he had attended CC the last two years. The social element alone would be a huge negative. We never seriously considered going that route, and no regrets now no matter what the impact on rank.

Kind of ties into another line of thought I had recently about class rank and ACT score. Since DS is going to grab an automatic NMF scholarship at UK or U of L, both have become less relevant to his apps. It is great to be ranked first and to have a 35 ACT, but it isn’t going to get him any extra $. Things that seem so important along the way can often turn out not to be the big deal you thought they were at the time.

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The kids go two days next week for hurricane makeup.

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@GertrudeMcFuzz - My D also applied EA to Tulane and we understand decisions will be mailed Dec 17/posted Dec 20. This is a change from previous years when they were rolling through January. Will be nice to know before the holidays.

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@MACmiracle : so sorry to hear that your DD isn’t feeling well. This is a time with a lot of stress for our seniors. Hopeful that she will feel better soon. Maybe ask her to look just a short way into the future - next September - when she and all her friends will be at schools they love and meeting new friends and challenges. It’s just tough now, because we don’t know which schools, but we know everyone will find a good place. Keep breathing and love that kid on the couch!

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My kids’ school announces the top 10 kids in each class (seniors at senior awards night – other classes at general awards ceremony for the entire high school). Not specific order just alphabetical. No sal or val is ever announced. Though they unofficially give the Phi Beta Kappa award to #1 in the class. No mention is made at graduation about class rank. Two kids speak at graduation but they are chosen based on applications for the speech. Top 10 kids, national merit finalists and two speech givers sit in front row at graduation (with no official stated reason for why they are there).

Rankings are typically close. Principal even noted that when he announced the senior class top 10 last year. But he didn’t say any of the state champions in sports won by razor thin margins. Or any other competition winners who were also very close. So its an odd concept to just single out academics. Some parents think the school should announce val and sal. Kids who would ever care who it is pretty much know though.

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I’m just curious, for those of you whose kids take classes at the local CC, how does that work financially? Does your school district pay the CC? Or does the CC just eat the expense, so it really becomes an expense of the county (or state if there are no counties)? Or do the parents have to pay? Or some combination?

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Thank you for all the support. There are so many so I won’t list you all. But I appreciate every kind word.

Because of the plan for this trip I took my car into the shop. I would probably have waited otherwise. But some unrelated parts of the car were broken and it wasn’t until after is was fixed and paid for that the service advisor came to meet me and tell me that my front wheel could have broken off at any moment and how we were fortunate to have brought it in in time.

I don’t even want to think about if that had happened on our trip to Maryland last week in the narrow roads through those winding hills in the dark and pouring rain, or driving home on the interstate at 70 mph.

It feels like someone is watching over us. [-O<

The pediatrician made a referral to a concussion specialist, but she thinks what D is describing sounds normal for a concussion. She does not want D to worry but just try to rest as much as she can until we see the specialist who will give more specific recommendations. Meanwhile, she will write a letter for any necessary accommodations at school.

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@melvin123 I’m not sure who paid, or if payment was even necessary at all between our local school district and our local CC district, but the two semesters of CC courses for D were free.

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Our CC gives discounted tuition for high school students for certain classes I think we pay $250 a class plus books for classes on the list but D16 took Cal III which wasn’t on the list and cost us over $1,200 for one class plus books. She could have taken it at UT Austin for less! We live in an ETJ that doesn’t pay taxes into the local CC so we pay $100 more than people that live in the ETJ for classes on the list and OOS for classes not on the list!

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It’s my understanding the county pays for two cc classes. After that you pay. You are responsible for books and transportation.

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Here the state pays for classes at participating colleges, and it’s not just cc colleges, but not all colleges in the state participate in the program.

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Our school district has some kind of cost sharing agreement with the CC for one-off classes. I took an intro to biotechnology course at the local CC in spring 2015, and my son took the same course summer 2015 as an option for his STEM program, and his tuition was less than mine. I don’t remember exactly, but I think his cost was around half of mine. Less actually, because he used my textbook so no need to buy one for him.

The same local CC also offers a special hybrid early college program. It’s four years, same as high school, and all the state and local school district graduation requirements are met. All classes are taken on the CC campus and students graduate with both a high school diploma and an associates degree. That program is completely subsidized just like a regular public high school. I know some parents whose kids have done that program and they like it, especially the music and theater kids because the CC has active theater groups and many options for musicians. I looked into it briefly for S but it was no good because he wanted to run cross country and track with the high school and that wouldn’t have been allowed.

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I posted something similar as a general question but maybe this is a better forum. For those of you with kids applying to competitive colleges:

  1. Did your child take/submit SAT Subject tests?
  2. Did your child have research experience or internships or did he/she shadow in their desired field?

My D did none of the above and I’m starting to think she has slim to no shot at acceptance at ED school or any other highly selective school. Therefore, I’m wondering if she should save herself the time and energy of the additional essay writing and not bother applying to the Ivy reach and forget the competitive scholarships at a different selective school.

#wewererookies

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GOOD NEWS! She got her scholarship from Pitt and it brings it into a reasonable price point for us. She is over the moon. Thanksfor all the support here…I know I’ve been a nervous wreck. She also got the Chancellor’s Nomination to compete for the full scholarship…a very LONG shot but at least she has a horse in the race. Thanks again for the support!

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Fantastic news, @AmyBeth68 !! There must be an audible sigh of relief coming from your house about now. #:-S Congratulations to your D! She’s worked hard for it.

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@Kayak24 D did take the Subject tests, only because I knew from my college application process many years ago. The two other students in her class applying to “super selectives” did not take the subject tests. D pressed back when I asked her to take them, but then she put CalTech on her list, so in this case “Mom does know best!”

D has no certain field of interest so she is applying to half of her schools as engineering. She has worked in the financial services industry every summer, no formal research or internships.

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@AmyBeth68 , I am soooo happy for you! Of course I’ve been following your story both in this forum and over at the Pitt forum and I’m quite relieved and excited for you! =D> Congratulations to your daughter!! Also, quite impressive on the Chancellors invite! I’ve seen so many superstar kids never receive an invite.

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First, huge congratulations to your D, @AmyBeth68! Thrilled for you guys.

@Kayak24, D did take subject tests but has absolutely no internship or research experience. I have no idea how she’d even go about looking for that. I don’t want you to get spooked by what you see on this board. This is a very small subset of the “real” world. If your D is up for it, have her submit the app and the scholarship. If you’re really concerned, she could email the AOs at the schools she is thinking about and see if there is a future date when she could take a subject test for it still to be considered. It won’t work for the ED school, but maybe for an RD reach? At the end of the day, you guys are doing the best that you can. Try not to worry too much. (I know, easier said than done.)

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@Kayak24 Never “don’t bother” because you just never know. This applies to both scholarship as well as admission applications. Unless a student knows where they want to go with certainty and it is a safety, every kid should apply to a few reaches, a few targets and a safety or two, and ALL schools should be schools THEY would thrive at. A safety they would hate is NOT worth applying to because that’s just not a viable option for them. My kids are now both in college.

My S is at Stanford. Took SAT once, ACT twice, and 2 subject matter tests. He never held an internship, nor attended a university summer program, nor researched a cure for cancer. (Although some of his current classmates have indeed done all of those.) His summer were filled with camp, travel, and pursuing his passions. It is those passions about which he wrote in his applications, and he demonstrated intellectual vitality not through some science project but his pursuit of outdoor adventure. He was (and still is) involved in sport, the arts, and serving his community. High academics and solid scores were also a part of his portfolio, so to speak.

My D is at Colorado, her dream school, and the only one she applied to. She took the ACT twice, no subject test, never took the SAT. She knew from the moment she stepped foot on campus THAT was it, and all the other schools we had visited were no longer on the list. She applied ear, was accepted in November, and was done. She applied to 2 REACH scholarships, and got BOTH. We were honestly quite surprised, so… you just NEVER know.

We firmly believed for our kids that childhood was NOT a checklist, and we rejected the notion that in high school a kid needs to do activities to build a resume. Neither one of our kids let the grass grow under their feet, but also they were busy with activities that truly interested them.

Use the essays to write about interests, but do so in a way that the essay reveals who the kid is - not just telling a story about the activity. Reveal her passions, and these do not have to be academic or career passions. What makes her tick? What maters to her an d why? Through essays the AO can learn a bit more about who she is, then she can show she has a lot to offer the college community she wants to join.

For some schools, numbers (GPA and Test Scores) do matter more than you’s like, but also sometimes less than you think. The SLAC and Ivy/Stanford’s are looking at the whole person.

And yes, definitely pursue any and all scholarships. Read carefully what they are seeking - who they are trying to attract. Good luck to her!

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@AmyBeth68 congratulations! That is really terrific. Best of luck on chancellors!

@MACmiracle hope your daughter has a speedy recovery. Total brain rest for a week and then PT and OT concussion therapy was essential in our D18 recovery. Light and head turning were the worst, so swimming and driving were on hold for a while. She was able to get an extension on AP tests, but it took some doing. Dr should be able to write her out of anything that increases symptoms.