Wow! I had no idea that so many HS assign summer work for classes starting in the hall. Our HS doesn’t even give kids their class schedules until the week before school starts.
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My D26 has summer work in all of her classes for next year. For AP Lit she was given a list of books that she had to pick from. She found 3 that looked interesting to her. She hasn’t gotten anything else yet, but she’s had summer work each year in high school including before she started 9th grade.
My boys (S29s, so rising freshmen) are expected to have summer work as well, but won’t know about it until later this summer. Their school explicitly called out how the summer work would be a material part of the first quarter grades, so it seems like it’ll be important.
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D26’s summer officially ends on 7/30 since the 1st day of school is 7/31 this year.
I think that having summer HW for regular academic school year classes is a form of slow torture and should not be allowed. 
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Congrats! That definitely makes it feel real. Is it rolling admissions? An early offer in the hand would feel pretty great.
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YAY!!! How exciting! An early acceptance in hand will alleviate a bit of pressure in the coming months.
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No summer homework here. I think AP Lit has some but S26 is not taking that. His only AP for next year is World History and no assignment for that. My kids used to have summer reading with related projects in late elementary and middle school but at some point that seems to have gone away. I’ve been wondering about that.
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It is rolling admissions- starting in September.
It is a backup school- but yes, it may help invigorate the process for D26.
She was going to wait until end of summer to even bother with this one- but created an account just to see what the process was (they do not use the common app). It was very straight forward: so just finished it instead of waiting!
I remember when S20 went through all this- even for schools that were not high on his list- every acceptance was a boost to his self-confidence.
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AP lit has summer reading that’s required. And a list she can choose to read from. She’s acquired 10 of them and is well on her way. Her job sometimes involves being a human baby monitor (no really- she just sits while a baby sleeps in the evening and calls the parents from the other side of the resortif they wake.) so she’s got lots of reading time!
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S26 is supposed to read Frankenstein but he is worried he’ll forget it all or at least that’s his excuse for leaving it until it’s close to school start time, he also has to grow a plant for AP Bio, he’s already killed his first plant so we need to go to the school and get a replacement.
I am not pushing him on anything, he said he wanted to get a job and I asked a few places if they were hiring and told him to follow up, 2 weeks later guess who hasn’t followed up with anyone ? At least he’s made his common app account and started to fill out some info. Looks like it will be a lazy summer for him, he didn’t take any community college classes, didn’t want to do the summer music camp and so far is spending most of his time on his phone or working out. Given he’ll be gone in 18 months I am just happy to enjoy this time.
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D26 and I are headed to Worcester tomorrow to tour Clark and WPI. I was just reading the thread here about “the one that got away” – colleges that people felt bad about turning down – and both of these were listed several times, so we’ll see what D26 thinks!
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Will you post your impressions?
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Yes, absolutely.
Crossing my fingers she likes both enough to apply, because that will round out her college list nicely, and we’ll be done, lol.
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Now I’m curious if my son has AP Lit summer homework! My son has done the same, opened up a Common App account and started filling out some info. He’s not working this summer because of Kenyon Young Writers Workshop and then marching band rehearsals and camp. He doesn’t think anyone would hire him to work for just 3 weeks.
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What instrument does he play in marching band? 
I have a clarinet player – and a hardcore marching band kid!
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He plays the baritone and the trombone! Loves marching band and has been in marching band since freshman year. Is your kid thinking of joining marching band in college?
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Mine is at a tiny private school where they can join marching band in 7th grade (they need the people!) – she did that, so she’ll be the only 6-year senior in band this year.
Initially she absolutely wanted to march in college, but she’s also wary of that much time commitment, especially at bigger schools. And she’s not keen on how competitive college bands are, to get in and to stay in. Right now she’s thinking maybe just a fun pep band would be the better route…but it changes every day, lol. She did start making her college list based on an available band, but it has evolved to being more major-focused, especially since she’s looking for something in new media design that isn’t offered everywhere.
What is yours thinking about pursuing it in college?
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My older 2 are in college bands. One in a pep band and one in a marching band. From friends at various colleges, the process of staying in the bands is different at every college! My son marches at Bama and they march everyone at halftime and everyone goes to post-season games. We know MIchigan has them audition weekly for the next week halftime show, including post-season. It definitely takes time, but he says rehearsal seems easier than it did in high school because it’s earlier in the day, shorter each day, and every day. High school was in the evening, fewer days each week, but longer. Game days are definitely busy! He had enough AP credit that he is able to take a lighter schedule in the fall which helps a lot. There, only those who march can be in a pep band.
My daughter is at UAH and they don’t have a marching band. She joined the pep band and it’s very relaxed and fun. No auditions needed. She really enjoyed it!
Both will tell you it’s a great way to meet people and make friends.
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I know I’ve picked your brain about band in the past – UAH is still on my D26’s list! We haven’t visited, and I’m not sure if we will at this point, but it’s a financial safety for us because of their full-tuition national merit scholarship.
Plus it checks a lot of other boxes – relatively close to us, warm weather, great dorms – and they’re actually expanding their course offerings to include more of what my D26 is interested in studying.
Bama doesn’t have what she’s looking for – they don’t offer her major, and it’s just too big. I went to a big SEC football school (Florida), and it was the wrong choice for me – and she’s very much my kid, lol.
But man, marching with the Million Dollar Band would be an incredible experience, for sure!
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New to CC and it was nice to find this page. I’m excited about exploring and visiting out of state schools this summer in areas my D26 has never been to, but is interested enough in the schools to want to check them out (Agnes Scott and Emory in Atlanta; Kenyon and Oberlin in Ohio). We live in CA Bay Area. Honestly not sure how I feel about the prospect of my kid moving to rural Ohio at this particular moment as a URM from CA, but that is part of the exploration process for all of us. At the same time, I am excited to see what that part of the country is like (I’ve been to Cleveland, but not rural Ohio).
In reading through some of this thread, I feel so fortunate to have a kid who loves school and learning (she goes to a well known and frankly pricey private school because she wanted to go to a school where kids were super engaged in learning, we wanted her to go to a less intense high school environment), but cares not at all about brand name or “prestige.” She has eliminated the highest prestige schools we’ve looked at from her search because she believes they aren’t the best fit for her (Stanford, UCB, Brown were all prior visits, and all nos for her). No interest in any Ivy+ schools as I understand those to be defined. Of the Claremont colleges she visited (Pomona, Scripps and Pitzer), Pomona is the only one she likely won’t apply to b/c of the overachiever/prestige vibe she sensed on campus, though she liked it well enough. And, at least on paper, Agnes Scott is one of her top choices as of now, pre visit because of, among other things, the reputation for a diverse student body who actually intermingle with each other in genuine friendships (~40ish% white; 30+% black; 15ish% latino; some asian and multiracial students as well); the international aspects incorporated into curriculum; innovative curriculum; and reputation for a collaborative environment focused on leadership. Our Atlanta visit is actually driven by her interest in Agnes Scott, and we’re seeing Emory too since we are in town but i suspect Emory won’t be her cup of tea as much.
I have high hopes that by the end of summer she’ll have a list that she can both get into schools she’s excited about, and that will be highly affordable options (I posted elsewhere about us being full pay family, but circumstances for the future are complicated). I am just feeling so appreciative this morning of having a kid that is trying to figure out what is the right place for her to thrive as opposed to picking schools to keep up with the jones on reputation or prestige that would not be the places she’d thrive and enjoy as much even if she could get in. Looking forward to the adventure this summer!
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