@cshell2 and @VickiSoCal , my S20 is on a similar track - he is feeling good about one CSU that can be a challenge to get into, but is a “high likely” admit for him, and one UC that is a bit of a reach, but also a “probable” for him, and he has University of Oregon with rolling admissions and pretty much slam-dunk admit as a back up, and he is good. We are CA residents. Totally different kid than my S18, who traveled all over the place and applied at tons of schools (although he ended up staying in CA after all that). This time around seems like it will be way less stressful, for which I am thankful!
@Octagon that is a bummer. No group work in AP Chem at our school. You might have a lab partner but each one turns in a completely separate write up
Hoping it’s okay for me to jump into the thread. 
My oldest, S20, is another kid who feels like he knows where he wants to go and doesn’t see the point in looking further. It’s our local public flagship, he’s likely to get in, and we can afford it, which is great. But we’re dragging him to a couple of other universities this summer for tours, partly as an excuse to spend some time with him without his siblings before he leaves next year. I think they’ll check all his boxes except “close enough to see my dog on the weekends.”
We’re also having him re-take the ACT next month. He hasn’t been very motivated to study for it so far but he’s a bit low for the major he wants.
Welcome aboard, @myrna97. You have the triple-threat going: Well-liked, Close, & Affordable! Congratulations.
S13 took AP chem and loved it. I think a lot of it has to do with the teacher.
@janiemiranda I was thinking the same thing. Maybe we’d even meet at orientation or something like that.
D20 is taking all DE classes. Early American History and coding this summer. In fall, she’s taking environmental science with lab, Intro to Criminal Justice, and Intro to Humanities. In spring, she’s taking Linear Algebra, Modern American History, and another elective - maybe another coding class or criminal justice or upper level psychology.
@myrna97 Welcome!
You actually brought up a great pt that I hadn’t considered when I made my comment. Your child is your oldest. That means his perspective going into this process is fairly limited in terms of college exposures. My Dd is my 6th and has seen more campuses and has visited siblings more times than she cares to think about. Her 1 college is a commuter campus bc she refuses to consider moving on to campus. She does at least know the limitations of what she is subjecting herself to bc the conversations with her older siblings trying to change her mind has just made her dig her heels in more.
With our oldest, he only applied to one a couple hrs away bc he didn’t want to move far from his girlfriend. He has a good career and has been married to that young lady for 9 yrs, so, for him it was a good decision. I tried to get him to consider others, but he wouldn’t. What can I say?Nothing, bc my kids take after their mother–stubborn and opinionated to the core. 
@myrna97 Hello!
We’re also a “one and done” family. Only I wish D20 would study for the ACT/SAT a little more to improve her score and make her desired new home a bit more affordable with more merit!
Question for @Mom2aphysicsgeek or other experienced types - on the Common App, there’s a place where it asks if you’ve taken college courses. Do they include summer classes that are for HS enrichment? I want to be sure to avoid any implication that my son is applying as a “transfer” instead of a “freshman” (regular) - because of impact on financial aid. (And of course, it is the truth too!!) - He took one summer class at a local college in a math subject not offered at his HS, not for credit at the HS. (He did well.)
@Mom2aphysicsgeek I agree, it makes a difference whether they’ve been exposed to a lot of schools just in the course of living their lives so far. It sounds like your daughter has a pretty good basis for making her decision.
We did manage to get S20 to visit one local LAC (~3K students; 1 hour away), and it only cemented his decision that he wants something bigger and closer. He says he wants to go to a large research university, so given that he prefers to stay local it’s understandable that he feels there’s a clear first choice. But he really isn’t familiar with a lot of others. He’s also the oldest cousin, and this is the school where his dad and I went.
But it’s a great school and he’s probably right that it’s a good fit for him.
D22 has been much more interested in reading all the mail that colleges are sending her brother on a daily basis, and came along with us to the LAC visit. I can see that she’ll have more exposure to different colleges, and the process as a whole, just from seeing him go through it.
@fretfulmother @Mom2aphysicsgeek (or anyone else) - following up on question in post#6167:
Is there a place in common app where student can highlight any summer or other programs - not necessarily a full fledged course asking for credit it more like a summer program (competitive admission) where they learned research techniques for example. How to highlight this if student did multiple of them - say one every summer. How to highlight this outside of common app essay (the common app prompt he is thinking of does not have chance to elaborate on summer programs he did). TIA.
Is anyone else following the AP results that are being tweeted? I don’t think it applies to any of our kids but AP Human Geography had the lowest pass rate in a decade!
@hs2020dad The common app has a section for “Activities”, and asks:
- Activity type
- Position/Leadership description and organization name, if applicable
- Participation grade levels
- Timing of participation (During School, During Break, All Year)
- Hours spent per week
-
Weeks
You can add 10 of these. ThereYou can set up a test account at CommonApp dot Org
@fretfulmother The section in the CA you are referencing has a way to indicate:
- Dual enrollment with high school AND/OR
- Summer Program AND/OR
- Credit awarded directly by college
@lkg4answers tweeted by college board or some other source? I thought AP scores were not even available until July.
@bigmacbeth does the CA limit the number of elective courses you can list?
@Cheeringsection AP_Trevor is the Senior VP of Advanced Placement for the College Board. Every year he tweets stats about each test before the release date. So far this year he has tweeted about Human Geography, Environmental Science, Micro and Macroeconomics.
He also said this which I didn’t know
Ditto, we put summer academic camps in Activities. And AP 2019 pass rates are already out? Going to look for that now…
@lkg4answers If by ‘elective courses’ you mean ‘Activities’, which are outside of HS courses, then there is space for 10. These are expected to be used for other things, like ECs (jobs, sports, camps, etc.)
@bigmacbeth by elective courses I mean things like yearbook and ASB - high school courses that aren’t academic.