@dfbdfb Bummer, you just missed Fiesta, basically a two week city wide party in San Antonio! And St. Marys is known for their awesome Oyster Bake Celebration!
@homerdog I hadnât thought of it that way, as an appealing bubble, but that does make some sense. That really is what D thinks she wants â a place where she can indulge her creativity and curiosity and find her âpeople.â When she and I had some time to kill last weekend between visits, she wanted to talk about her favorite subject, theology and comparative religions. We had some great discussions at a coffee shop (so college-y!), and I felt like her brain was triggered positively by being in that milieu. D really canât make herself care about common teen topics, and sheâs even bad at pretending to care, so that does mean she doesnât really enjoy high school for the most part, which is sad for me because I was rather jolly in high school. Last weekend she absolutely loved a student art show, not because she herself is a studio artist, but because she admired the studentsâ creativity and she read each of their project blurbs with great interest. I could see that sheâs tired of the lack of an intellectual atmosphere at her school. Itâs an academic atmosphere where plenty of kids work hard, but not an intellectual one where they enjoy thinking and discussing ideas. Itâs not that her classmates arenât as bright as she, but that they donât enjoy talking about what she wants to talk about. I think her little tribe is out there, but it does mean we have to be thorough and creative in our college search. Iâm also having to do a ton of slow, patient, gradual, careful, precise, nuanced 
educating of my husband, who is brilliant in applied physics but wants D to go to one of the top few UCs and thatâs it. Those schools are wonderful for many gifted, motivated and capable kids, but not D.
@3SailAway We also postponed a planned SAT, the December one, when I realized D should probably prep a lot more than she had time for at that point. So I changed her registration and she took it in March instead after doing various prep methods. She did fine, just ten points below her goal, but sheâs also raised her goal another 50 points since then so sheâs going to try again in June. It helped D to be over-prepared on test dayâŠwe made a bit of a show about having the worldâs most nourishing breakfast, then I packed protein-rich snacks for her, two calculators, 4 pencils, and even put her admission ticket in a plastic sheet since it was raining that day. We also arrived early. We also did no test prep the week before the test, so she wouldnât second-guess herself.
Iâm learning about my D in this college search process, which is interesting for me as a mom. She has a âslow to warm upâ personality, meaning she has to do things at her own pace and sheâs very risk-averse. I figured that was why she never seems all that jazzed about a campus â just mild positivity (âyeah this seems niceâŠâ) or general wishy-washiness (âthis might be fine I guess.â). But then she was SO wide-eyed and energized last weekend, so I realized hmmâŠwe just hadnât found the right formula for her yet. Iâm fascinated because I usually snap photos of her on the campuses we visit, and you can TELL from her Scripps College picture that sheâs so much more into it. Smile big, almost laughing, eyes bright. Itâs not like sheâs moping in the other photos, but the countenance is just so much more energized there. Fascinating for me. Weâd be brushing off our hands and happy with our open and shut college search except for that pesky thing they call âselectivityâ. So, the search for comparables ramps upâŠ
My kiddo took the April 10 SAT in school with very little prep. He had already decided that the ACT is his format, so he didnât sweat it. Results are due today or tomorrow and now that they are on their way I have to admit that I am sweating it ever so slightly. He wants to sign up for another ACT in July or September but if he does spectacularly well on the SAT there is no point in retaking the ACT. He doesnât think he did spectacularly well, but I can dream, canât I?
@4MyKidz, well, the tour wonât be til earlyish next month, so sheâdâve missed Fiesta anyway, but yeah, Iâve heard all about the fun from my family. We donât have anything remotely like it up here in Alaska, unless you count the long line of rental RVs driving ten miles below the speed limit on our roads during the summer as a parade. 
(And sheâll be making the trip sans parents, just with her sister.)
@SDCounty3Mom - and others, I hear your rant about how so many LACs are isolated and hard to get to. However, donât feel like you have to visit all of them. If youâve seen a few and your kid feels that is the type of environment that is best for him/her, I think good research and talking to others can be enough to help narrow the list. Then, you can visit later when evaluating acceptances. Even with regard to expressing interest, I think itâs ok not to visit all. But weâre parents so we have to find something to panic about. 
For example, my D17 knew nothing about LACs when I took her to Wellesley while on a vacation. The next spring break we saw Davidson and Furman and she knew she would prefer a small school if possible. We were able to visit a few others the summer before senior year (Richmond, Lafayette, Gettysburg and some other PA schools) but some were just too hard to get too (time-wise and money-wise). Based on research and knowing my D would be an English major, I knew Kenyon would be a great option for her but that we wouldnât be able to visit. A rep was going to be in our area in August visiting a fancy private school and he reached out based on an online form I completed. I was very surprised, but he was willing to drive through the city in rush hour traffic at the end of his day to meet and interview my D at a Starbucks. They had a great conversation and he sold her on the school. They continued to correspond throughout the application process and he would ask about her plays, birthday etc. He was really doing a hard sell! In the end, she was accepted and he sent a wonderful personalized acceptance letter. They also offered to fly her to visit the school. However, their bottom line with money was not going to work, so I knew it was not a good idea to have her go and fall in love with a place I couldnât send her. She also got into Denison and some others without visiting but did interview and express interest. So, I do agree itâs a pain to try to get to many of them, but it is ok not to visit them all. Based on seeing some schools in person and doing research, you can have a good idea if a college might be a good fit. And then visit later!
Ok. Need scheduling help. S19 is taking Calc AB this year. He was recommended to take Calc BC next year, and some will be review. he said that he wants to retake anyway when he gets to college, so wouldnt taking AP stats be better. But he plans on majoring in Comp Sci. BUT with college admissions the way they are, which would schools give him a better chance. Other option is to drop AP Lang and take both. (he has met all the Lit requirements for HS graduation.)
@sdl0625 I would take BC. I donât think he will need stats for comp sci. And lots of BC kids retake that second semester of calc in college. You arenât forced to test out. S19 took BC this year. At our school, kids take AB or BC after precalc. So, his clsss this year covered ABand BC topics. They finished learning everything about two weeks ago and are now just reviewing for the test. If your S did well in AB, then taking BC that lasts a whole year should be a cake walk.
@sdl0625 Not actually answering your broader question, but when we took Auburnâs Engineering tour, the recruiter said with clear bias that many students chose not to take the AP credit but instead repeated calculus there. In contrast, Purdueâs College of Science recruiter said the goal is to get a win Freshman year, and that Calc 2 is the hardest calc. If you can place out and jump to Calc 3, go for the easier course. Yeah, CS is in Engineering dept at Auburn, but Science at Purdue.
I took BC and got a 5. As an engineering student at Northwestern, I started in the third class of calc. It was impossible. College math goes VERY fast. Most kids I know now repeat that second class in college (the one that BC material covers). With kids who have taken Multivariable after BC in high school, the best course of action is to take the placement test at the college and see where the student b best fits.
D19 texted me that she just registered for DE precalc at the local college. (She probably could have made the placement test cutoff for calc I with a little studying, but she figured why go through that much trouble when sheâll just be taking it in the spring anyway? Also, itâs a real college courseâmight as well ease into it rather than stretching as far as possible while you have the chance.) Sheâs still trying to figure out which of the first-year comp options to go with. (Thereâs classes directed toward the humanities, sciences, and social sciences, plus a more generalist one.)
The adventure begins continues!
âPointless rantâŠitâs just funny how the LACs all seem to have been founded by people who somehow ended up in the wilderness, basically.â
@SDCounty3Mom - You crack me up. Iâll save you some trouble, just have her apply to my alma mater, Hamilton. Great place. (BTW - it was started as part of Rev. Kirklandâs missionary work with the Oneida indians.) If you must look at another, Colgate is just down the road a piece (in Hamilton, NY, actually).
We attended a workshop conducted by the head of Baylor Universityâs PreMed program. He strongly advised the kids not to skip classes that are directly in support of or required by their major. And that those who were successful in their stem majors retook all math, science, and computer science classes, even though they had AP credit. Then he said for them to use the AP credit to fill basic gen ed requirements to their heartâs content. Based on their high retention rates, medical school, law school & grad school acceptance rates, his advice seems very sound.
As a parent who is looking at how much we could have saved with AP credit, I was slighly disappointed to hear this adviceâŠbut I understand how rigorous the pace of college level stem classes can be.
Actually, @SDCounty3Mom, you could hit Hamilton, Colgate, Union, Bard, Skidmore, Vassar, and Sarah Lawrence and/or Amherst, Smith and Williams into a few days. It would involve some driving, but they arenât terribly far apart from each other.
And, of course, in Philly we have Swarthmore, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, and Rosemont. From Bryn Mawr, itâs not too bad a drive to Franklin & Marshall and then to Dickinson.
Sigh. Weâre in AZ where our public school teachers have walked out since April 26. Not sure how much the national news is covering this but our school just confirmed thereâs no school tomorrow. That makes six days straight of missed school. Meanwhile the state legislature is slow walking a bill to address some of the teachersâ concerns. D19 is taking the SAT this weekend and weâve been told that the SAT and the AP exams are going ahead as scheduled. I feel sheâs as prepared as sheâll ever be for the SAT but not so much for the AP exams. And no one really knows whether they will have to add additional school days at the end of the year to have enough instructional time, especially for dual enrollment classes. Iâll steer clear of the politics of this and just say itâs stressful for everyone.
@Corinthian I am a librarian in a TX high school. Yes, we educators are very much aware of what is going on in AZ and in other places in the U.S. I hope the situation gets resolved quickly and fairly for everyone involved. In the meantime, please reach out to your local hs & public librarian. I know I have quite of few online resources for my students to access from anywhere to help with AP & SAT/ACT prep. I cannot share here because of licensing issues. And even though theyâve walked out, I wouldnât be surprised if some educators were still checking their emails and still communicating with their students.
@homerdog my son is a CS sophomore and statistics was required for his major. That said, many colleges wont allow AP credit for major classes.
Thanks @4MyKidz. Fortunately they had already held their âCalc Campâ AP review before the walkout. My D isnât taking APUSH but I know they cancelled the mock APUSH exam. Her only other AP is English Language & Composition. I feel sorry for the kids taking APUSH and AP Chem. Maybe those teachers are keeping in touch. Iâm not too stressed about my kidâs APâs because sheâs taking Calc AB this year and so will take BC next year. And sheâll also take AP Lit next year and I think most colleges wonât give you credit for both (definitely not our in state universities). But I feel bad for the seniors especially. Just got an email saying graduating seniors are to report to school on Friday but everyone else is on hold waiting to see what happens with the walkout and if there will be enough staff on Friday.
@Corinthian, FWIW the local news here (Anchorage) has only been minimally covering the teacher strikes, but the morning news on NPR has given updates on the various statesâ walkouts every day or two.
OK thanks @carolinamom2boys for that info. Good to know. FWIW, our school always suggests continuing as far as you can in calc in high school if you are plannng to take calc in college. Itâs hard to have it junior year and then not senior year and then start again as a freshman. Our GCs consider AP stats and great class but it would be in addition to calc.
@Corinthian Graduation definitely throws a big monkey wrench into things. The good news is that by now, most know who is graduating. Lists have already been made and shared. Those who were in danger of not graduating were already aware of that fact weeks/months ago. Graduations can be postponed and/or run by minimal staff, although I have a feeling many teachers will attend as guests regardless of walking off the job. Its just a difficult situation for everyone!