So what now? Advice from a College Senior

NewHavenCTmom
Tue, 19 Jun 2012 20:32:17 +0000

@ ISAY-- no need to worry about the length… I appreciate your words of wisdom. Some think we are crazy, but we started this process in her freshman year. We even began looking at colleges that fall. Many think it unorthodox but being first generation/urm and coming from a single parent home, growing up in the inner city, I needed to keep her focused. She has finished her sophomore year with straight A’s and took her first AP class even though I was told “NO/sophomores are not allowed to take AP classes” by her guidance counselor, “You have to speak to the principal about that”

So after an hour long discussion with the principal and having to hear all the reasons why it was a horrible idea, he finally gave in… and guess what his parting words to me were? “When she is failing at the beginning of the year, tell her not to come to me, I won’t let her drop the class/she will have to take the grade she struggles to get”… some nerve he had… I was so irate and hurt… but didn’t let him see it. I smiled and turned on my heels, walked out that door knowing that I had been an advocate for my dd. She deserved/yearned for the rigor/challenge that the school had not provided in her frosh year. She finished with an A- and boy was that teacher a beast… probably the toughest in the school and he told me from the very beginning that she was a “trailblazer.” She said that the AP test was far easier than any test he ever gave.

She wants to study Spanish or African American Studies…and eventually head to med school… her college lists is varied from Harvard/Stanford/UNC CHapel Hill/Barnard/Columbia to Wesleyan & Amherst… and she even said she liked Seton Hall as a safety when we visited in April. Nobody knows where lightening will strike, but I keep the idea/dream of college in her frontal lobe on a regular basis.

Its funny b/c all of her teachers think highly of her and have all written glowing LOR’s when she has needed them. She definitely stands out at the school… and her good name always precedes her. She just needs to hone up on her leadership skills. She can be shy and doesn’t want to run for office b/c she will have to give a speech in front of the school. But her peers all seem to like her even those in the higher grades. I will work on the student gov’t thing. Her EC’s are great and her summer academics are solid as well. She will be doing a Biotechnology program at Uni of New Hampshire for the month of July.

She has been self studying for the SAT and will sit for it in October. I hope she does well enough that she only has to take it once. And yes, she is also figuring out which SAT II’s to take.