Parents of the Class of 2019

[wishesuponastar]

Curious about when do you apply for scholarship money for things like AP classes? Do you wait until Senior year?

 

[deedeetoo]

I'm a mom of a college freshman. I have never heard of a scholarship for APs. Some colleges will give credit for AP classes so that you can graduate earlier. Other colleges may not give credit but will allow you to place into higher level courses. This can really vary so you need to look up how each college treats them, but I have never heard of scholarship money for having them.

 

[wishesuponastar]

I think maybe it was a particular college that was offering that.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

DD got her license!! 3rd time's a charm LOL

 

[mom2rtk]

DD got her license!! 3rd time's a charm LOL

Congrats!

Now keep her on your side of the state, ok?

 

[Colleen27]

So, is anyone else elbow-deep in course selections for next year?

I love my daughter's ambition but I'm not sure she'll survive the course load she's got in mind! As of last night, we had narrowed it down to two AP classes - govt/econ and environmental science - and two honors - pre-calculus and sociology (both of which are only offered as honors). Then she messaged me this morning asking my opinion on taking AP language/composition instead of regular Brit lit. And did I mention she's not doing any non-academic electives? She'd have 5 advanced-level classes, plus religion (sort of a blow-off but required) and anatomy & physiology (a pre-req for AP bio). And here I was, looking forward to a less stressful year because she wouldn't have Japanese on her schedule any more!

We had our first successful college visit last month - Georgetown. It was the third school we've seen, but while the first two looked good on paper she hated them both in person so it was nice to get a sense for what she's looking for rather than just what she wants to avoid. But Georgetown was barely on her list to start with - she basically went just to humor me, since we were going to be in DC anyway. Now it is her top choice and she's revising the list of other schools she'd like to visit with a clearer idea of what she wants mind. I think that's where the current rush of academic drive is coming from; she's been working on her Japanese even more than usual and spending her free time in a Kahn Academy SAT prep challenge the school is running to get them ready for taking it next year. Her boyfriend, who plans on community college to earn his builder's license after high school, thinks she is crazy.

And after bragging during Homecoming season about how great DD has been with her frugal formalwear, we totally blew the budget on a dress for Snowcoming. We found it in a vintage shop in DC and I let her have some wiggle room because the dress was just that good. It is a simple Oleg Cassini little black dress, very classic and classy and not anything we'd ever stumble across here in Michigan. So I consider it a good addition to her wardrobe, not just a one-time-use teen formal dress. Still, $125 hurt a bit after the <$20 dresses so far!

 

[mom2rtk]

So, is anyone else elbow-deep in course selections for next year?

I love my daughter's ambition but I'm not sure she'll survive the course load she's got in mind! As of last night, we had narrowed it down to two AP classes - govt/econ and environmental science - and two honors - pre-calculus and sociology (both of which are only offered as honors). Then she messaged me this morning asking my opinion on taking AP language/composition instead of regular Brit lit. And did I mention she's not doing any non-academic electives? She'd have 5 advanced-level classes, plus religion (sort of a blow-off but required) and anatomy & physiology (a pre-req for AP bio). And here I was, looking forward to a less stressful year because she wouldn't have Japanese on her schedule any more!

We had our first successful college visit last month - Georgetown. It was the third school we've seen, but while the first two looked good on paper she hated them both in person so it was nice to get a sense for what she's looking for rather than just what she wants to avoid. But Georgetown was barely on her list to start with - she basically went just to humor me, since we were going to be in DC anyway. Now it is her top choice and she's revising the list of other schools she'd like to visit with a clearer idea of what she wants mind. I think that's where the current rush of academic drive is coming from; she's been working on her Japanese even more than usual and spending her free time in a Kahn Academy SAT prep challenge the school is running to get them ready for taking it next year. Her boyfriend, who plans on community college to earn his builder's license after high school, thinks she is crazy.

And after bragging during Homecoming season about how great DD has been with her frugal formalwear, we totally blew the budget on a dress for Snowcoming. We found it in a vintage shop in DC and I let her have some wiggle room because the dress was just that good. It is a simple Oleg Cassini little black dress, very classic and classy and not anything we'd ever stumble across here in Michigan. So I consider it a good addition to her wardrobe, not just a one-time-use teen formal dress. Still, $125 hurt a bit after the <$20 dresses so far!

Nope. Course selection is over. We were not consulted, nor did we need to sign off on the selections. I know when our boys were in high school, parents met with counselors briefly during the enrollment process in lieu of spring conferences.

That said, she knew our feelings about courses and chose I think 4 honors/AP classes.

I'm still not sure what I think about her decision to ditch Spanish (She hates the teacher). She's in Spanish III this year but I think only 2 of those years count in college requirements since Spanish I was taken in middle school.

I've been meaning to check on the standard for college admissions. Does anyone here know if it's 2 or 3 years of foreign language for most schools?

And we got off easy for Court Warming with a $29 dress!

IMG_1743 by mom2rtk, on Flickr

 

[soccerdad72]

Course selections at my son's school were completed last week. Not too painful of a decision process. He's going to have two AP courses, Calc AB and a new course being offered, some type of Computer Science AP class. He's taking Honors Physics and Honors Spanish IV. He has to take Honors Physics in order to take AP Physics in senior year. English and Social Studies are regular classes - he chose to take a Current Events elective instead of AP Gov't because he said that the Current Events teacher gives the best college recommendation letters, but only to her Current Events students.

He's dropping Concert Band and is thankfully done with PE (although his school finally approved Varsity Sports for PE credits, but starting with the Class of 2020).

Their winter formal is this weekend, but not a peep from him about considering going. He's stubborn about that - insisting that all dances are "stupid".

 

[soccerdad72]

I'm still not sure what I think about her decision to ditch Spanish (She hates the teacher). She's in Spanish III this year but I think only 2 of those years count in college requirements since Spanish I was taken in middle school.

I've been meaning to check on the standard for college admissions. Does anyone here know if it's 2 or 3 years of foreign language for most schools?

I think most require 2, but prefer 3 or 4.

We had the same discussion with our son about Spanish. Like your daughter, he did spanish in grade school (pretty much from 2nd grade on), so started in Spanish II in high school. He wasn't thrilled with taking Spanish IV, but agreed that three years on his high school transcript would look better. He's steadfastly said there's no way he's taking Spanish V (which is offered as an AP course).

 

[Colleen27]

Your DD is beautiful. And that is a great dress, especially at that price!

We have to sign off on the course selection form, and if the student is taking more than 3 advanced classes on a second waiver packet that explains the expectations of the honors and AP programs. But I think DD would consult me even if I didn't have to sign off, particularly about the advanced classes that aren't related to her career goals but which appeal to her out of personal interest.

I haven't looked at the college language requirements too closely because we both knew with choosing a non-standard language she only had two years available to take. And knowing her, she'll stress out if she sees that some of her schools recommend three years. I didn't want her to choose French or Spanish out of that concern when she's had a long-time interest in Japanese, so I just casually didn't mention it. I don't think any college is going to look at 2 years of Japanese and 8 weeks as an exchange student there (summer 2018, through 4H - she's already saving for it) and say, "No, we really need to see three years of a language."

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

Course selections are done here as well, not consulted, but pretty heavy on the academics. She's trying to get into bio-tech II, which is basically a research grant class that is for college credit (not like AP, it's credit with a local college) and the class counts as both a science and a language arts because of the writing component. She's really enjoyed her bio-tech I class this year which has somewhat changed her career path I think.

Driving test is next month, so she's gearing up for that, thankfully we haven't worried about dances because she's like soccordad's son, she thinks they're "stupid", says the music's too loud and all they do is grind on each other, so I'm not exactly too upset with her not wanting to go. She tends to get a group of friends together and go play lazer tag instead of going to the dance.

 

[mom2rtk]

I think most require 2, but prefer 3 or 4.

We had the same discussion with our son about Spanish. Like your daughter, he did spanish in grade school (pretty much from 2nd grade on), so started in Spanish II in high school. He wasn't thrilled with taking Spanish IV, but agreed that three years on his high school transcript would look better. He's steadfastly said there's no way he's taking Spanish V (which is offered as an AP course).

Thanks for that. It's in line with what I was thinking. We might have to have a chat with her and the counselor still. I don't consider it a closed issue (even though enrollment is over) since we (the parents) weren't involved in the process.

I wonder how schools would look at her starting a second language instead of going further with the one she started on. It's really a shame that there's only one teacher for Spanish IV and it's the one she has this year for Spanish III.

Your DD is beautiful. And that is a great dress, especially at that price!

We have to sign off on the course selection form, and if the student is taking more than 3 advanced classes on a second waiver packet that explains the expectations of the honors and AP programs. But I think DD would consult me even if I didn't have to sign off, particularly about the advanced classes that aren't related to her career goals but which appeal to her out of personal interest.

I haven't looked at the college language requirements too closely because we both knew with choosing a non-standard language she only had two years available to take. And knowing her, she'll stress out if she sees that some of her schools recommend three years. I didn't want her to choose French or Spanish out of that concern when she's had a long-time interest in Japanese, so I just casually didn't mention it. I don't think any college is going to look at 2 years of Japanese and 8 weeks as an exchange student there (summer 2018, through 4H - she's already saving for it) and say, "No, we really need to see three years of a language."

Thanks! I love when we're both happy with the dress selection.

I'm still pretty surprised the school didn't involve the parents at all in course selection. I know, the student should be talking with us, and she did, but I didn't realize it was over already. I wouldn't have signed the form without more discussion on the foreign language issue.

Japanese sounds cool! I wish my daughter had more choices. The foreign exchange experience sounds awesome, but I don't see her doing anything like that.

 

[bjscheel]

I have no idea about scheduling for next year, I'm not generally involved. I know she'll have College Algebra and Spanish III plus the rest of whatever she needs. Probably Workplace Writing for her English credit. AP/IB is not really a thing here but they can take college credits.

Love the dress pictured above @mom2rtk

@Colleen27 $125 is not so bad especially if she can use it again. I spent $250 on a used dress for prom but the other way I look at it the one she wanted was $629 and this one is similar so I saved $400! She has had her share of thrifted dresses. She is super happy with her prom dress. She was at Dillards with friends on Saturday and her prom date picked out two for her to try on for fun. He liked the color of one and the style of the other, and those two features kind of combine to make her actual dress so she thought that was cool as she didn't show him a picture until afterwards.

Individual speech is Saturday. She's been so busy that she hasn't had much time to work on memorizing her acting piece. It's 4.5 minutes long and I only had to help her twice last night so hopefully she'll have it.

 

[mjkacmom]

Next year dd is taking
AP bio
AP AB calculus
AP English
AP Spanish 5
Human physiology
Honors history (world?)
Chamber singers (honor choir so weighted)

ETA parents don't have any input or sign off, dd just had to gather signatures for the AP classes from her teachers.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I think most require 2, but prefer 3 or 4.

That's what I heard, too (but I would think two years of a less common language like Japanese would look just as amazing as more of a standard one!)

DS was planning on dropping French, but changed his mind and put in for one more year (though I think it was more the field trip possibilities than the application-padding that swayed him. ) But the next level is with a different teacher, so I'm keeping an open mind that he'll get more out of it than this year.

He was definitely excited to have less of a dictated list and more choices! His long-shot is Marine Biology. He'd really like to take it, but seniors get first crack, so we're keeping our fingers crossed.

We did have to sign-off, but it was all done rather quickly because we'd had some snow days that delayed the paperwork coming home. Part of me wishes we'd had more time to look things over, but part of me thinks it's better that I just had to trust him and not over-think it!

P.S. - @mom2rtk, I love the dress!

 

[Colleen27]

He was definitely excited to have less of a dictated list and more choices! His long-shot is Marine Biology. He'd really like to take it, but seniors get first crack, so we're keeping our fingers crossed.

Wow, marine bio in high school. DD would be in heaven! That's her intended career field, and has been since she was little. The closest her school offers is oceanography, which DD is planning on taking as a senior year elective.

Funny aside on that... we were texting back and forth about her class selections at lunchtime today and I suggested maybe she put off AP environmental science until senior year and take oceanography this year instead, to better balance the AP/honors workload across the next two years. But my phone auto corrected oceanography to pornography!

 

[NewmanFamily6]

My middle child graduates in 2019. She has taken the PSAT. She's has a decent gpa of 3.875 but is working to make it higher. She has a target number she wants to hit for the SAT. She is active with service clubs and drama. She will join the honor society this year. We are hoping for merit scholarships. Many of the private colleges in VA offer merit scholarships if you meet certain criteria when you apply as an incoming freshman. She has a plan and is forming a list of schools. She is very ready but I'm so not. DH keeps saying that if she feels ready we have done our job. Out of our 4, she has always been the overachiever. With the boys in 2021, we will have to help them figure it out more.

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

So what kind of scholarships do they offer Colleen on that pornography program Colleen?

That would have DD and all of her friends at school laughing about the autocorrect for a few days, it would probably get passed around for awhile! Is anyone else looking at a part time job? DD is thinking about applying for a lifeguarding position at our rec center. It's very close by, and would actually be beneficial on a transcript for her as well as some good spending money.

 

[soccerdad72]

Is anyone else looking at a part time job? DD is thinking about applying for a lifeguarding position at our rec center. It's very close by, and would actually be beneficial on a transcript for her as well as some good spending money.

Our son still does some soccer refereeing and if he really pushed it, he could make that into a pretty good part-time job, but I think he's bored with it, so he's been talking about getting a different job. We would like him to get something for the summer and he can get a job at a Subway down the street from us if he wants (we know the franchise owner), but he's the one who has to get off his butt and apply for it.

 

[bjscheel]

Is anyone else looking at a part time job? DD is thinking about applying for a lifeguarding position at our rec center. It's very close by, and would actually be beneficial on a transcript for her as well as some good spending money.

It would be great if DD could work this summer, but since she will be 15 all summer, I don't think we'll come up with anything that will fit in with anyone else's schedule to drive her. The plan was for her to work her sister's job a little bit this spring since DD18 won't be able to work much during track season. But if DD15 ends up being a boys' track manager, she'll be just as busy as her sister. Once DD18 goes to college in August, though, DD15 can take on her job permanently (working at a law office- printing, mailing, filing).

Hopefully we'll know today if she is managing track. I was looking forward to her not having a sport this spring so she could continue her voice lessons, make a little money, and go to her sister's meets. But I know she really wants to do this and the boys want her and her friend to manage because the usual managers don't do their job. (And one particular boy is rather convincing ) There are at least 5 co-ed meets so she would still get to watch her sister run quite a bit. And hopefully she can still get some voice lessons in. It's just that DD18's boss could use some help. DD15 is not excited about working in an office, but it's a pretty sweet deal for a teenager with the pay and flexible schedule, no nights or weekends either.