Nope, but that ship has sailed. He’s taken four years of French. This year would’ve been French V, but it was so horrible and such a struggle, that we decided he could be done. I think the pandemic year of fully remote learning for French II really made the foreign language requirement hard - the kids barely learned anything that year, but all got moved to French III. Then for French III they were desperately trying to learn everything that should’ve happened before and catch up. So then when they got to French IV and it was full on rigor, it was a serious struggle and miserable. So this year we let him drop the foreign language. He won’t go back to it with a year off, that would be even more of a disaster.
How will the BC>AB move be reflected on his transcript?
It won’t be visible. Because the school considers them all a continuum of calculus, there will be no reference to BC, it will only show AB and no one will see that he dropped the one to take the other.
This is really where I’m leaning too. He’s got plenty of STEM rigor on his transcript (he took AP Physics 1 this year, not as hard as Physics C, but still) and he’s not a STEM kid. I don’t want to overload him if there’s no likely benefit or only a small benefit.
Just double check on the schools you think he may be applying. Some schools require 3 (4is often recommended), and I don’t belive taken prior to HS counts. I am not 100% sure but that is my understanding.
If is final grade won’t reflect his current grade in any way (bringing down the average) there is no harm. If not, a strong first term in Calc BC next year might help bridge the difference. I think the optics risk here is “ok AB grade” >“chose stats bc Calc was too hard.”
ETA - of course a 5 on the AP exam would take remove any concern.
Years taken before HS have to count, even if for purely logistical reasons—the important thing is the level reached.
I have a kid who took through German III in middle school, due to starting out in an elementary-grades language immersion program. They took German IV and AP German 9th and 10th grades, respectively. Any college anywhere requiring another year of HS German would have been silly (not to mention impossible because the school doesn’t offer anything higher).
I think it typically needs to be “high school level” foreign language. So an immersion school that didn’t grade and test like high school level might not count, but if you take high school foreign language 1 or 2 in middle school, I think they count.
Regardless for us, if four years of high school instruction in one language, two of which were in middle school, plus one year of a different language, aren’t enough, then it’s not the right school. This (decision to be done with French) is something he can’t go back on.
Yes, my 2025 also thought it was too big. But it’s a moot point anyway since they don’t have a diving team AND it’s not in the price range at all without the scholarship her sister got. Lol
Does anyone know if the practice ACT test on their website explains questions you got wrong? My kid just now took one section and apparently, she’s telling me the answer section didn’t explain wrong answers. Well dang, what’s the point then?
It’s 10:35 PM here and she just started a second section of the practice test. When is she taking the real ACT? Tomorrow morning. Has she taken any other practice tests before this, at home? Nope. Has she done any ACT studying whatsoever? Nope. Will she have time tonight to take even one full practice ACT before testing tomorrow? NOPE!
All right, hive mind, here are the next questions:
TL; DR: 1) Do you think the few days before Easter will be typical of normal campus life?
2) Is a ratio of how many PhDs a school produces compared to it’s size a good indicator of the strength of a given program? (Place all caveats about some schools being awesome but that the student body doesn’t pursue PhDs here. I understand that.)
The unabridged versions:
We unexpectedly have the last 1/2 of the week before Easter off. My first thought: Hey, we could hit a couple of colleges! But then I realized it would be the Th/Fri before Easter. Some schools she’s considering have it off, so they are out. But do you think that schools that don’t have it off will be representative of what’s “normal” for them? The goal is to get a sense of the community, as I’m a little concerned that some may not feel like a fit for her.
I was struggling to get a sense of how many kids were getting into psych PhD programs taking size of student population into account, so I made a spreadsheet with the ratio of PhD candidates produced per student population over the last 18 years. It was eye-opening; I had thought big state schools would dominate the ratios, but it was the small LACs who rose to the top. Am I missing something, or is this a reasonable proxy for strength of an undergrad psych program? Say it is and you’ll make my day, as there were lots of schools that performed well that are not your name brands. Thoughts?
Not surprising in the least. I think LACs and the population it attracts is often more academic than pre-professional in nature than at big state schools. The number you are looking at, to some extent, speaks to the quality of advising at the school. This is something LACs truly excel at.
Good question. I was using total student population. I could go back and research # of students graduating with psych degrees and then divide that instead of the full student population; I think I was hoping that the size of the psych major would be relatively proportional at the various schools. Do you think that’s worth the extra research?
Well, if you are looking at student population at a state school, you will have a large proportion of students in Business, or Engineering for example. These students might get masters but Phd degrees are far less common.
I agree. I’m only looking at psychology PhDs, so the bigger question is if the large proportion of Business and Engineering students will skew the numbers so it looks like the psych students weren’t getting PhDs at the same rate as a school without business/psych might.
Than, you also have to account for “who” might be pursuing a Psych degree. That is a major popular with D1 athletes. Is this a group, overall, likely to pursue a Phd?
At the end of the day it goes back to the type of kids each school attracts. Like I mentioned, kids who are more academic types often prefer LACs. Majors that often lead to Phds, like Anthro or Poli Sci are also very popular at these schools and will probably skew your numbers.
