@momzilla2D re: having a list together. I learned with my d that senior year is even crazier, and it was nuts trying to do college tours with all she had going on. Wanted my son to be done with it all so he could focus on finalizing the list, writing his essays, doing the app, etc. It feels good to be done this early!
DS20 has his list (1 specialized REACH for all, 8 safeties/likely rolling admissions schools looking for merit) He has visited them all.
He will not have time to take subject tests unless it is the August date and finished his SAT after 1 try. We are trying to encourage another try in the fall to get a few more points to increase merit chances but he is confident in his scores.
He has 6 APs coming up in the next few weeks and is away at one of his big ECs both this weekend and next. Prom is coming up. He is so busy it makes my head spin. He leaves for his summer program before school lets out.
Yes, Iām worried about how crazy senior year will be. I know visiting schools in the summer is not ideal, but I think weāll need to get one or two of the long distance ones out of the way. Especially Tulane, since it is far and theyāre so into demonstrated interest! We still have 2 months of school, as NY doesnāt end until the last week of June.
Apparently D is taking 2 subject tests tomorrow (but not 3 as she wasnāt ready for Math II) and I had no idea! I thought they were going to be taken after her AP exams. Apparently, I am not on top of things like I thought?!
Good luck to her!
So happy to see there is a quite a mix of where everyone is on the prepā¦ we are somewhere in the middle. Have 1 safety that she loves, 4-5 reaches and a bunch of what should be matches that she will need to review and narrow down. Guessing sheāll have 8-10 total. But that will all wait until mid June.
Has 3 subject tests tomorrow. and 6 APs in the next 2 weeks. She will take the June SAT and ACT.
We have some visits scheduled for Juneā¦ then we will narrow down and finalize.
Good luck to all the test takers this weekend!
S20 is working this summer. He is a lifeguard and will need to put in all the hours he can because he is going to be helping with college costs! He frittered away last summerās money and Iām pretty disappointed in him for that, so we are working together to come up with a budget.
Some of the APās students like my daughter have had a bizarre week, two weeks of APās and a bizarre finals week at least to me. She has AP finals in APUSH, AP Physics, and Med Terms finals though Med terms in theory is a final. They do a group project and were told you get an A+ for your final.AP Lang has a paper for a final due next week and AP stats doesnāt really have one since the class is mostly seniors that donāt take finals. Basically finals week is just showing up.
Our school goes to June 17 so after APs her classes do projects, oral presentations and extra labs in chem and physics. No finals because after the APs there is not much point.
Last of the school for us is June 19 - for AP classes they donāt do much after AP tests but there are still projects/assignments. For other classes, final tests are in June 2nd week. Surprised to see for most others, they are already wrapping up tests/projects.
Sorry June 13 is last day. Finals blocks are June 12/13
Mine is in only 5 classes, all APs. So no finals.
I live in a weird area where the high school district is separate from the elementary /middle school district and they are on a separate calendar system. The high schools always get out at the end of May (May 30 this year) while the elementary/middle schools donāt get out for another 2 or 3 weeks. This is my first year as a parent to finally not have a kid in the other district now that my youngest is in 9th grade (and my oldest started high school back in 2012 so itās been quite a long time that Iāve had kids on at least 2 calendars). Anyway, this will be my first time to be done at the end of May, even though Iāve had some of the kids done by then for years. Yay!! 
As far as my junior, sheās got 4 AP tests coming up (physics 1, APUSH, calc AB, and comp sci A). The school itself has a finals week at the end of May but the AP teachers give their finals before the AP tests as exam review/ practice so sheās totally done with APUSH at least and I think calc as well. For physics they had the final exam but thereās a group project to build a boat out of cardboard that will hold the group members long enough to get them across the school pool without sinking, due the last week of school. It will be a fun day for them but they get graded on it. And then sheāll have real finals in the non-ap classes (English, Spanish, choir, and biotech) the last week of school.
After tests our AP classes are a festival of multi step, extremely time consuming projects that my D is dreading. The projects are the same every year so the kids already know them from their older siblings, friends etc. No element of surprise or novelty. Not looking forward. But we did not get snow days this year so we are looking at a VERY early for us last day!!!
Re: college lists, D is going to have 15 or so. Since we are in CA, she will probably apply to 5 or 6 UCās, 2 CSU (as safeties), 4 privates, and 3 OOS publicās. It should give her a decent mix of reach, match and safety colleges. Will probably let her ED to her top college but I have been telling her that itās a long shot and not to be too invested in one college.
She had a good week, voted in as student council representative and made the academic decathlon team.
I know they say some colleges donāt want āwell-roundedā applicants that are not spiky but she is doing what interests her and these experiences will carry with her into college and beyond. No regrets.
3 APs in the next two weeks, then those classes will mostly do āfunā āexplorationsā (slight eyeroll there) of higher level stuff. (Seniors can actually be excused from their AP classes after the tests, if theyāre doing some pre-planned project, but juniors have to stay.) Itās looking like one high-stakes final (h physics), one big culminating project (Latin seminars), and one small culminating project (visual art class). Nada in the various music classes, but one scary audition and a whole lot of performances. So basically S2 is pedal to the metal until June 6. Normally heād be on call for graduation that weekend (juniors have to attend, plus he has to sing), but one of his ECs has a big event that weekend so heāll be away at that.
His list is exactly where it was at the end of spring break - top heavy, and we know that. The work of finding a safety he actually can be excited about lies ahead.
We are also in California and my S20 is not looking farther afield than Oregon, so this go 'round should be manageable. Mostly UCs/CSUs, which also makes life easier (no LORs, clear cut GPA determinations, very little concern about senior year grades, etc.). We are looking forward to having an early application to University of Oregon to lead to an early admit, if history is a guide.
Good luck to all test takers!
Wowā¦24 hours of quite! Well, so D20 did not-great on her second SAT, so we are just going with an earlier score. She also does not want to take any AP credit at her colleges, and would instead like to āretakeā intro courses as necessary. She doesnāt need any Subject Tests, so, basically, it looks like she is done with (or not concerned about) all standardized testing for her HS career. She will instead focus on grades, and starting to work on her Common App/Essay.
@bigmacbeth - sorry this wasnāt the best score but it sounds like your daughter has great priorities. This past year with S19 has really opened my eyes to the stress levels of these kids. Sometimes enough is enough and it is tome to move on. We have mandatory AP testing here but my kids arenāt trying to cram and donāt seem too stressed by it.
S20 went to junior/senior prom last night. He was named Prom prince and his senior girlfriend was Prom queen. Both were a little surprised - they arenāt usually the type to win such things. It was a fun evening that reminded me of how fast the next year will go for him.
@bigmacbeth Sounds like your daughter made a great choice on priorities. I know deciding to be āone and doneā with the ACT helped my child move on and not stress about standardized testing anymore. I know some people retake to get hit needed specific merit metrics but if the first score is good enough - it is good enough 
@bigmacbeth Thanks for your post several pages back re: SAT scores. Ended up all working out and her scores showed up no problem. Went up 60 points which thank God was SO needed. Her SAT is now average which was the goal! Just took May 4th SAT as well so hopefully going up a little bit more. Sorry your D did not get the scores for her second SAT but sounds like she is set with her earlier score.