D25 knew all 4 (UCSB, UC Davis, UCLA, Berkeley) were longshots. She applied to Berkeley in case she didn’t get into the other 3 and basically force herself to go. She loves the campus itself, but her big sis’s (D19) stories about seeing grown men defecating on Telegraph Avenue on her way to class turned her off.
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OMG. I cannot wait for this year to end. I mean, I will be sad when my boy is gone, but this is awful.
Computers have to be turned in at 10 AM tomorrow. It’s currently 11:37. Before computer turn in S25 has to (1) finish two lab reports; (2) finish a take home statistics quiz; (3) finish a science fair project; and (4) finish a photography portfolio.
Because the quarter started so late they only had two weeks before AP exams, this is the fourth and final week they will have class (they do that off sit internship after exams). Because of this the teachers really loaded down the assignments for the weeks before APs and kept assigning things through AP weeks. And he never caught up.
Right now my older S22 who just got home from his term abroad is drafting the verbiage for the last few paragraphs of the science project. I think the statistics may have gotten finished. We’re going to beg the photography teacher to let him turn it in by midnight (he can do the work on his personal desktop after the school laptop is turned in). He’s planning to try to do the easy lab report tonight and get up early to do at least something on this other one.
Sigh. His first quarter lab grade was a 96. Second quarter was an 89. Third quarter was a 35. He really needs a strong fourth quarter grade and science project grade (counts for the final exam) to balance out that 35 even a little and I’m not seeing it.
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You are lucky it is simple. My D25 school passes out a ridiculous amount of honor stoles and cords. I am not even sure she knows how to wear the 3 honor stoles they gave her and the 8 cords. I feel that it will look cluttered.
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I go between being totally frustrated and angry that my S25 turns everything in late and just says ‘it’ll all be fine’ to being totally impressed that he knows exactly how late he can turn something in and what assignments he can NOT do and still manage to get a grade for the semester that averages exactly to a 79.6 with the first semester in order to be rounded to a B- for the year. (He’s had the teacher before so knows how he operates.) 
If he spent the amount of energy in doing his homework as he does into figuring out just how little he has to do while flashing his dimples, blue eyes and charm, I’d be a much less stressed mom 
He does have skills, that’s for sure. I guess he’s learning Stats in a slightly different, more street smart way 
Oh how I’m ready for this to be done. Classes end on Tuesday and graduation is Friday.
On a brighter note, We’re off to Track States today for his last Throw (he does shotput). He’s hoping to reach his overall goal of 50’ today. He hit 49’5.5” at conference last week! Exciting and so very sad to know this is the last time we’ll see him throw. Ugh. What a tough season of life for us parents AND our kids.
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Oh my! That is a lot!! 8 cords?!
I don’t even think 25s school has 3 honor societies (27s school has none) there is NHS and a language one and I believe that’s it.
That’s the way to look at it 
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Just gotta laugh to not cry at this point 
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I feel like you are my soul sister right now… same thing with the energy devoted to just figuring out enough to get by, and the gotta laugh to not cry. Sigh. This kid of mine is so smart, he just sucks at doing things he doesn’t want to do… which unfortunately is a large part of life.
I am really hoping that when he gets to college and finds his groove with classes he likes (as long as he gets at least a 3 on his AP exams, he’s got enough AP credits to pass out of all but one of his gen ed requirements) that things turn around for him. We’ll see.
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Sending much strength, perseverance and sanity to you and your students. The last push sucks.
Apparently some sort of alien body snatcher took my son and replaced him with someone motivated. He and a friend went around town looking for jobs yesterday. Will he get one? Who knows. But the fact that he even looked for one was astonishing.
The body snatching weirdness continued when he went to Target and bought a Lego set to complete. The kid has not had anything to do with the thousands of dollars of Legos sitting in our attic for at least 8 or 9 years. But he bought a set to put together saying it will be a conversation piece in his dorm room. Oh bless his heart. Maybe at Rose-Hulman a lego set will be a conversation piece. 
He started on it last night and is almost done with it this morning, which speaks to more follow-through than I thought he possessed.
TGIF!
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Usually the school you apply to in case you don’t get into the others is 1. A safety, not a reach 
and 2. A school you like.
Why didn’t she apply to any other UCs or CSU’s as back up?
I guess it doesn’t matter at this point but that was risky.
Anyway- congrats to her!!
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Not to answer for this particular student, but there is definitely a subset of CA students who would rather CC then transfer/TAG if possible to a top UC than go to a lower-ranked UC or CSU. This is actually less rather than more risky (not to mention cheaper) if that’s the ultimate goal.
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Check this out! LEGO Rose | Rose-Hulman
They know their clientele!! I think they issue a new one each year.
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Our son’s favorite graduation gift was a custom Lego mosaic with his school’s logo on it. It’s in his dorm, and his friends (mostly engineering/math majors) think it’s pretty cool. There are several websites where you can have them made, you just upload a photo of whatever you want created and they send the kit with instructions and all the pieces!
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Speaking from the college professor POV, yeah, it’s getting out of hand.
Pure curmudgeon, but honor cords shouldn’t reflect simple membership in a group, and honor stoles should reflect at minimum major university-wide or district-wide (at the college and high school levels, respectively) accomplishments.
I’ve been to graduations where graduates had stoles—stoles, not cords!!—for membership in a Greek house, for doing study abroad, for completing the university honors program, and for membership in a (pay-for-play, fake) honor society or two. Academic regalia has a language, where you can read an individual’s background and accomplishments—but when they all get packed together into a very tight space, the ability to recognize what a student has done is lost.
(My kid’s school district, FWIW, everyone gets a stole in the colors of the high school they’re graduating from, and then honor cords for getting at least a 3.5, for completing a K–12 language immersion program, for getting a professional licensure like a CNA through the district’s programs, and for being in JROTC. The end. Still a bit much, but vanishingly few are going to have all of them, so it’s bearable.)
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I’m on team please-let-it-end too! I just got an email from my daughter who is supposedly sitting for her AP Psych exam right now (from her school account). Apparently Bluebook is down and they are at least two HOURS late getting started. Poor kids, it’s the very last AP exam, haven’t they suffered enough??
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So AP Psych crashed and got cancelled 
I’m thinking it may have been intentional - D25 says the test seems to be on TikTok….
They have up after 1:30hrs - retake is day after PROM so I think she is going to sit this one out.
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Yikes! My daughter is being told they’ll make a decision on whether to cancel at 1:45.
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My kid just texted that AP Psych is rescheduled for next Friday.
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On the topic of stoles and cords, D25’s school allows exactly one special stole (and tassel). It is for California Scholastic Federation Lifetime membership. They also announce that the graduate is a lifetime member when they read their name at the ceremony.
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My daughter has gone radio silent, maybe kids in her location got in and are testing now? Ugh, what a mess!
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