@homerdog At our school you have to take honors chem before AP chem, but still get AP homework over the summer and an assesment first day back, which you need to score at least a B to stay in the class.
@wisteria100 yikes!
@DCNatFan Furman assigns their admissions officers by geographical location. You can look online to determine who is your AO.
Thanks for the tip. We will look online and reach out before our tour.
@homerdog They donāt. Freshman must take Earth Scienceā¦Honors or College Prep. Sophomores take Bio - AP or College Prep. Juniors take Chemā¦AP, Honors, or College Prep. A set of parents have their kids do Bio and Chem the summer before at Belmont Hill School (prep school in the next town) or they spring for a tutor. There is no way off of the track in scienceā¦those are required. Math kids can go ahead a bitā¦but itās just a select few kids and a widely held secret. The kids in our school get very little flexibility in classes until senior year.
@bettzke1 Thatās cool! We went into a dorm but I think it was in the global village section. They are building the new dorms - 1600 new beds. Tour guide talked about it a bit but it is starting to become a blur because we went to Furman and Clemson today. The only thing I remember him saying was that junior/senior housing not guaranteed.
Here is the quick version of Furman and Clemson tours:
Both schools were beautiful! Clemson = lots of construction and (no surprise) very into athletics. Very happy students.
Furman vibe = also very happy students who seem to enjoy life in a chill way, very friendly; academically-minded. Even thought smaller school, talked a lot about the many things they liked to do (seemed busy and engaged in lots of opportunities)
Interestingly enough - Clemson felt like a big campus but accessible and Furman felt like a small student body but everything was far apart. By perception onlyā¦I donāt think things were actually that far apart. I think it was how the tour was structured.
Clemson staff and tour guide talked about āwhen you apply/when you come here.ā They were very confident that we were all going to go to Clemson which I thought was adorable and showed that they really loved their school.
Final shocker - My diagnosed social anxiety, not good at any sports (trips over herself seriously) D20 gets in the car and looks at me and says, āI LOVE Clemson and I want to go here!ā I thought she was going to tell me she was having an anxiety attack the whole tour with all the people and the stadium, construction noise, etc. 
You just never know!
S19 is comparing everything to Elon now LOLā¦so verdict is he likes both Furman/Clemson but not sure yet if he can see himself at either college.
Summer homework: The thing that bothers me about all these summer homework assignmentsāespecially for those where they donāt even pretend theyāre āoptionalāāis what happens to kids whose families move into a new school district in, say, early August? Are they just completely unable to take advanced classes?
@cakeisgreat Your daughter sounds very much like my DS16 and he loved Clemson as well. Enjoy your road trip and Happy 4th
@cakeisgreat, also with Elon, they usually get so many more female applicants, that having a male probably puts you at a slight advantage.
Happy July 4th everyone! Here is what Iām doing todayā¦NOTHING. Itās so glorious.
@carolinamom2boys Cool! Did your DS16 end up at Clemson? If so, Iād love to message you to hear your thoughts to get ideas on how to make D20 successful navigating a larger school. My brain wants to think a mid-size school is better because of her anxiety but she does gravitate towards large schools which Iām fine with. Even with K-12 school, I started her at a very small private school with her siblingsā¦moved to another small private school in middle school. She did not thrive in themā¦but for high school went to a larger private school (about 1200 students) and is totally thriving! Lesson learned - bigger might be better for my socially anxious/awkward kiddo. Just worry about the ācommon senseā day-to-day ability to navigate life.
@sdl0625 That is great newsā¦Iām really hoping he will get some decent merit because it is a top contender.
@cakeisgreat Since tuition is not that high to begin with, their merit is around 4-8K I believe. i would have to go back and look into it.
@cakeisgreat the description of your Dās reaction made me smile. Thatās exactly how I felt many years ago, class of '92. Sadly I could not get my kids to consider it.
@carolinamom2boys we went to cofc orientation. Beautiful campus! D18 is so excited to go there!
Congrats @drewsmom17 . Whatās not to love? Itās a great school and is currently at the top of DS19ās list. If your daughter needs anything or you have any questions , feel free to PM me.
@cakeisgreat my son ended up at The Honors College at CofC , but feel free to PM me because I have quite a few friends whose kids attend Clemson.
@carolinamom2boys - Thanks! We are also visiting CofC in a couple of days. Good fit and would love if D19 could get into the Honors College.
Alsoā¦figured out a way to squeeze in Wake Forest University, yey! Just for S19, but I think could be a good fit.
@cakeisgreat I am in the process of scheduling an August visit to WF with S19. We will visit UMD (close to home) but he says that after that and Wake he is done with college visits.
D19 is back to being checked out of the process, but gave me a short list of schools that are definite. Auburn is one, so I went to update the spreadsheet with likely financials and I think they updated their ACT/SAT score equivalencies. Not trusting my memory, I went over to UAH. No change, but the difference in the two charts is so striking now. We visit UAH next week, so will ask if that chart is final.
Love catching up and seeing the visit reports and looking at the college lists for everyone!
FYI - AP scores are out. Although we are on the east coast right now, my boys figured out some way to access their scores this morning. Interesting to then look up each prospective school to see how that will save credits (or not in the case of some schools.)
@mountainmomof3 Yep. I got into College Board this morning as well even though we arenāt supposed to see scores until Monday. S19 is out running right now but Iāll be glad to report his scores to him when he gets home. All 5s - BC Calc,APUSH, and AP Lang. Even though heās taking four APs next year, the only test I will make him sit for is the French one so that he can possibly pass out of foreign language in college. He wouldnāt use the other AP scores for credit or placement.