My friend’s son (from CA) just finished his first year at Carleton and LOVES it! We were worried the winter would get the better of him but they have an extended break from Thanksgiving through January (?) and I think that helped. Enjoy the visit!
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That would be a dream…at least one of the instructors wrote “I recommend you begin this 2 weeks before school so you can enjoy the majority of your summer.”
That was refreshing!
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I think AP Lit is the only class that gives summer work. All English classes to at her school.
She’s taking AP Lit, Chem, Psych, and Stats.
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@OctoberKate - too true at larger schools for sure, but at smaller schools maybe LORs help with giving context? I don’t know. I totally see how they are so subjective and could be pretty boiler plate though. I think if our systems/curricula were all more uniform across states and regions, then yes, the LORs wouldn’t be necessary, but we don’t have that kind of education system, and if a kid is coming from a school that maybe never sends kids to school out of state or has way outperformed and beaten the odds at their school, it might end up making a difference to have decent LORs. Both of our high schools in this area are rural Title 1 schools with FRL rates near 50%. Most kids either don’t go on to college or stick to in-state options. Which is fine, but every now and then, there are kids that aim higher, and I think LORs provide the opportunity for those kids to have the context of their record included.
Montreal is a terrific city - but as I’m sure you’ve read on here, winter is rough there. It’s rough and long where I am (Vermont), but I think that kind of winter in the city is more difficult because it can feel so gray and dark if that makes sense. I’ll take a day with highs in the single digits and full sun with squeaky and bright white snow over a day just below freezing and overcast any day of the week.
@chicagoshannon - I’ve seen that painted parking spot thing at other schools when we travel to XC meets! I think it’s such a terrific idea, and such a great way for kids to celebrate who they are. I hope your daughter has fun designing her spot. Hope the SAT goes ok!
@dfbdfb - S25 was fortunate to be in AK for an event two winters ago, and the folks at UAF did a presentation about the school during one of the gatherings over the course of the week he was there. Much as he enjoyed his time in Fairbanks, he was not convinced - it’s certainly not for the faint of heart, and we live in a pretty remote, wintery place.
Well, we are still going… three weeks left. Wrapped the track season last week finally. Not a great season, which was a bummer, but he is excited for next year on a new team. We talked this morning about adjusting his list to identify more schools that will align with his running stats right now instead of where he hopes them to be… crucial mistake we made in identifying schools this winter I think, since he was not able to achieve the marks he wanted or needed coming back from injury and with a team that was ultimately in disarray. He seems OK about this though and not as disappointed as I thought he’d be. I don’t think we’ll toss the list he’s got, but I do think we need to revisit some of the schools on the list and add a few that he had not wanted to consider before.
This time of year is so crazy around here with birthdays and end-of-year parties and gardening and the list goes on and on. Also mentally gearing up for the influx of summer residents/tourists (we go from a year round population of 800 to a summer population of around 2000) and the need to time trips to the store so as not to get caught in “traffic”, especially at 4:00 when everyone is buying beer and wine for cocktail hour.
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Junior year is over! It was a bit rough. Lots of sick days, and he got a nasty stomach virus and missed the last two days of school- except when he went in for one class period the last day to do the second half of his AP Euro final! And he ended the year with all A’s except a B in Euro (95 on the comprehensive final though).
He’s off in a week for 8 weeks so lots to do this week with getting his service academy apps and nominations started. His JROTC instructor copied him on his letter of recommendation and wow it was great. None of my daughter’s teachers copied her so this was new. He had also asked a family friend to write one, which we won’t use. It was not well written and was basically a regurgitation of his resume- kind of bummed because he is a retired Air Force Pilot. I guess you never know if someone is a decent letter writer! At least teachers have a lot of experience.
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Hope your kids had a good SAT experience. I used some Calc (for quadratics) and still struggled 
I think they’re moving away from problems that are Desmos heavy
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I’ve decided to focus on being grateful today.
- I’m grateful that D25’s anxiety did not flare when she fell asleep with her computer and didn’t charge it last night for her SAT this morning. (I talked her out of using a 70% charged computer. No, I’m not going with “It’ll probably be fine.” this morning.)
- I’m grateful that we could borrow my son’s computer for D25’s SAT, and that he can use yet another family computer for his debate tournament this morning.
- I’m grateful that it seemingly worked for her to download her SAT onto new computer, when she’d already stated she was going to use the other one last night.
- I’m grateful we didn’t have to drive to Sacramento after ballet rehearsal ran late and she didn’t get home until 9:30 last night.
- I’m grateful we can pay for more than one opportunity to test, and for the change fees when we switch venues.
- I’m grateful I kept my cool when D25 was contact-less, in pajamas, and non-plussed about both at 6:55, when we were to leave at 7am.
Ok, that was actually helpful in reminding me that I have so much to genuinely be thankful for in the midst of a not-so-peaceful morning. I raise my (second) mug of coffee to you all, especially those with a kiddo taking the SAT today @goldbug , @chicagoshannon , and anyone else that hasn’t come to mind in my semi-addled state!
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If you’re in the area and have the time, your family may want to visit Gustavus Adolphus. For someone who’d be competitive for the other schools, it would be a safety, but my sense is that it’s an underrated gem.
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Love this! We ended up doing it a month ago at that prep school in San Jose. It went great. Hoping your daughter’s experience is equally smooth, despite all the last-minute hassles.
Oh, that’s right. He knocked it out of the park! Her test istill going, apparently, but I’m still hoping that this will be it for her.
ETA: She said it was “fine”. I have no idea how to read that. Is that anxiety talking? Was it bad? Is she being unduly harsh? I guess we’ll know in a few weeks!
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We toured those schools and the parental units were very impressed with all three (for different reasons). DS was slow to warm. I think seeing Mac after St. Olaf and Carleton might have been a bit of a letdown (although it’s the one I’d have personally been the most psyched about for him). When in the Twin Cities, maybe also do a quick walk to through the UMinn campus. Great contrast to the liberal arts schools.
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SAT done. DS can finally relax for the summer. I have been told that I cannot ‘nag’ him about anything college related 
I guess I will have to be patient until August 1 when the common app opens up!
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Well the SAT was interesting this morning. Half of the kids couldn’t get Bluebook to work so test was delayed. They had to call college board and they told them that if they couldn’t get it started by 9:15 they would have to do a makeup day. They finally got it started at 9:13! Crazy! However, she thinks it was her best yet so hopefully she got the score she wanted. I think it’s the last time she’ll take it either way as her last score is very good.
I guess they’ll find out results on the 14th.
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D25 took the SAT this morning too. She said it was much easier than the school day test she took in April, to the point were she was questioning if she was taking the easy math module 2. I can’t imagine that is the case because her last math score was pretty high, but what do I know. It feels like they’re still calibrating for difficulty. Whatever the outcome, this is also her last test. We’re in California and the majority of her list won’t even look at an SAT score.
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D25 took it too, said it was easier than the PSAT, which is the only thing she can compare it to. I hope she is accurately assessing!
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People familiar with California (UCs): I just realized that now that grades are in for junior year I can use the RogerHub formula to calculate D25s unweighted/capped/uncapped GPAs. I’m unclear if concurrent enrollment classes get counted as one semester or two. The high school gives 10 units (a year’s worth) of credit for the college semester classes, so it feels like it’s two, but I’m not sure, given that it’s only listed on the transcript once. Thoughts?
DE/CE courses that are UC transferable are counted once with the semester grade and 1 Honors point if taken the summer after 9th through the summer prior to 12th.
If applying to the Cal states, each college semester course grade is counted twice but only 1 Honors point.
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Funny, we toured St. Olaf first, then Carleton and then Mac. She didn’t apply to Carleton.
We toured St Olaf, Carleton, and Macalester in that order and Macalester was her favorite.
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D25 is on her first real date. He picked her up, introduced himself and shook my hand. He seems like a sweet kid. They go to school together and while I dont know his parents we seem to have a few mutual friends.
Shes such an introvert this is a huge step for her!
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