@whataboutcollege Thanks so much for the feedback. S’20 is also in a STEM magnet - not doing any AP Humanities either and had to take 2 technology/Engineering classes. Just wondering which CompSci you’re referencing as fairly easy? His school offers 2: AP CompSci Principles & AP CompSci A.
Mine took AP CS A last year, got an A and a 5 and said it was easy.
So it’s starting…D20 just received her first piece of college marketing material from colorado college. Not sure where they got her name from but they are starting early!
vicki – our school only offers AP CS A and its for jrs/srs only. Good to know your soph did well; thanks for sharing. Hoping it goes that way here for my scattered S20. His precalc math teacher is the teacher this year, and he liked my S20; so i hope that’s a good thing.
So just some random thoughts on our registration friday. S20 goes to a large noncompetitive, majority low SES HS. He’s kind of sort of a big fish in a small pond. He had 3 different teachers offer things related to his studies this year including using a private office for his study hall period, and an offer to tutor in English for ACT (his lowest section and i still think it stems from speech issues). It was nice that the teachers all knew my kid and are rooting for him. Good teachers are not just found in top districts. 
@SoccaMomma D17 took AP CompSci A ( mostly java programming, I feel). She said almost all works were done during class, so it was very easy to manage.
@socaldad2002 S20 started receiving emails since PSAT. He has also started receiving postal mails several months ago. He looked at neither electronic nor physical 
@bgbg4us It is nice to get attention from teachers and counselors. S20’s HS has 70ish kids per grade, it is pretty hard to stand out. They don’t weight nor rank, thus we have no idea where he stands. But I do feel that he hasn’t garnered any attention from anyone yet. Hope he will be able to find good recommenders this coming Junior year.
@whataboutcollege D20 won’t take PSAT until October. Taking a ACT/SAT mock exam this week to see which test she is better at. I’m hoping it’s SAT as she had been prepping this summer for the SAT and PSAT. Hate for her to have to also study for ACT over the coming months.
@tacobot
I graduated from McGill and highly recommend it. I found the classes to be well taught and very rigorous. When I went on to graduate school, I seemed more well-trained than many of my peers. People also had heard of McGill in the US unliike most Canadian universities. Certain majors are better at other colleges though (e.g, CS).
@Octogon, how fiendishly competitive is the environment, particularly in arts? Are there curves and such? I’m not opposed to hard work, but in my experience competition for grades usually leads to a lack of collaboration. Thanks in advance.
I did not experience the environment as competitive at all;however, it was a long time ago. Also, I majored in psychology. I remember a perfectly fine atmosphere in all of my classes, including my final year small group research seminar. I imagine that some majors would have curves associated with them - such as physics. I did extremely well since I loved psychology and got a University Scholar designation for a high GPA- ironically my college GPA was better than my high school GPA (no more physics or chem!).
D20 went back to school today. She drove herself to school for the first time. I’ve got to admit it was a little hard watching her drive off this morning.
@janiemiranda D20 doesn’t start school until 3rd week in August but because of the limited parking spaces available on campus, the Juniors have to park on the street which is also limited. In order to park on the street kids have to get to school at least an hour before school starts (at 7am) just to get a spot for an 8am class! Not a great way to start the day…
DD20 will also drive herself to school for the first time this year. She has a reserved spot that we had to apply for, and pay for, last spring. DH will miss taking her. It has been their bit of time each day for a very long time. She will love controlling her own arrival time however. She prefers to be early.
Fall break college visits are scheduled. The search is on!
We live 1/4 mile from school. Nothing against previous posters but I get a laugh when it takes longer to park the car than it does to walk to school
@socaldad2002 That parking situation sounds brutal. I didn’t realize how lucky my dd20 is to have adequate parking.
My D20 starts Monday. And, yes, she did secure a spot in the junior parking lot. Somewhat nervous because the main route to school involves going down a stretch of interstate that is undergoing construction.
D20 is going nowhere near the driver seat of a car …waiting awhile longer because she has turtle response time and anxiety. Talk about worrying! :))
We are back from our visit to my brother’s house in the Midwest. I sprained my ankle while there, so was unable to tour colleges with D like I had wanted to, but my brother and his wife came to the rescue and took her. D visited U of Kansas, Iowa State, and U of Iowa. D20’s favorite of the three was U of Iowa, perhaps since my sister-in-law is an Iowa alum and gave her a great little tour. D also loves to write, so the U of Iowa would be a great place for her, with their amazing creative writing programs. D could also be in the marching band at Iowa, which is one thing that is a “must” for her. D liked Iowa State, too, but didn’t “feel it” at Kansas. D said that she will probably apply to U of Iowa and Iowa State. No university, however, has wowed her as much as the University of Alabama so far.
I can’t get DS20 to talk to me about colleges. The most I’ve gotten from him is a vague “maybe I’ll study Poli Sci.” (This would be a great fit for him as he likes aspects of engineering but doesn’t enjoy math so he needed to find something else). I brought home a book from the library about colleges and he rolled his eyes at me. HA! He has been doing Kahn Academy to brush up on the math and other than that he’s working an insane amount of hours as a lifeguard.
@redfraggle My DS’16 was similar. Lot of shoulder-shrugging. What seemed to help was taking him to college open houses of in-state public and private colleges where we’d spend like half a day and have lunch on campus or nearby. He found out which schools he didn’t like or at least liked least. Went on department tours too to help get clarity on program/major. Even went to some summer programs for his top choices. That seemed to help get a feel for the campuses. I did most of the researching and scheduling visits. It felt like leading a unthirsty horse to water. 
yeah, that book would’ve got the same reaction from him. Scored very well on standardized tests with no studying too. Just wasn’t (isn’t) too focused on the next thing just the current. Told me just this week he knows he’ll need a “9-to-5” but not sure what. Ugh! Younger sibs have definite career goals now and although they’ll probably change at least they have something to work towards. Sounds like your son has a great work ethic so that’s a big plus.