Parents of the High School Class of 2017/College 2021

[bjscheel]

What do they offer in place of AP? AP is big here- my friends son started college with a year and a half done thanks to AP classes- what a savings that will be!

They can take classes for college credit, either online or as a regular class. DD will have her math and English college credits taken care of.

 

[Aliceacc]

A lot of schools let kids take courses for credit with a particular local college/university in lieu of the AP. Those credits then transfer to most schools.

That way the credit is based on a year's coursework, and not just your performance the day of the AP exam. And, of course, pretty much any grade of B or better will transfer, where schools can sometimes be funny about AP grades.

 

[v.t.]

Thanks for understanding his feelings. Yes, he's salutatorian and will speak. Though the only part of valedictorian that he wasn't looking forward to was speaking at graduation. I guess he should have tried for #3. Once he calmed down and we talked about it, he said that he was mostly upset at how it was handled. He wouldn't have been upset if several people (principals, guidance counselor) hadn't told him on several occasions that he was going to be the valedictorian. The guidance counselor told him before grades posted in January that as long as he had 90s in everything, he would stay on top. They said after grades were posted that he was #1. But I guess all that wasn't official and something changed in the calculations. They didn't acknowledge that his expectations had been set high and that he was disappointed in the fact that he didn't get what he was expecting. They simply said, "Congratulations, you're salutatorian. You can go now." When he showed disappointment, they told him that it was an accomplishment and that he was still smart, etc. He wasn't thinking that it wasn't an accomplishment; he was thinking wait, I was told that I was going to be valedictorian, and I'm really disappointed that's not true. He's also embarrassed because a lot of people were expecting him to be #1 and now he's not. But he is completely fine now. He just needed a little space to process it all without his classmates around and a little validation that his feelings weren't wrong/petty. (There's also a lot of backstory with the girl who is now valedictorian...)

I think that knowing they had him set up like this, they should have called him down on Friday afternoon and told him what was coming on Monday. Then he could have processed it over the weekend instead of in front of everyone at school.

I totally agree that it was handled badly. But what an amazing kid! I keep telling my boys when they deal with situations like these that the lessons they learn will be far more valuable than what they wanted. But as a mom, I too would want to go up there and have a discussion with the powers that be.

DD entered a Create A Greeting Card scholarship for a greeting card company for $10,000. We'll know 3/7 if hers is up for this round's voting (I expect it will be- they put the best 100 on a month and many of them are pretty amateur looking). I just don't like that we will have to try to get people to vote- that's annoying. The judges do have some say as well, but enough votes can get you moved on automatically so of course we'll try.

We are from a small town, so when a student was in a scholarship contest that required internet votes, the local paper did an article on her. I think that helped get her the votes. (She is the valedictorian and also has a lot of backstory.....)

 

[v.t.]

DS just received a letter that he gets to interview for the Terry Foundation Scholarship. I am sure he will not receive it since is heavily financially based, but we are thrilled that he has gotten this far. The interviews are the first week in April and in Houston. The waiting is going to kill me.

 

[lilia78]

We don't do AP or Honours here. Only opportunity to do university credit is the January to April term they offer ONE University Class (my daughter did English 100 in 2013). This class has a prof come out from the University about an hour away and the kids all meet together in a school about thirty minutes away once a week and has a midterm and final. The grade goes on the high school transcript as a special class and also shows up on the university transcript as well. The cost was $675 and gas. My daughter is now in year 4 of 5 (5 years because she is doing the Co-op program) and in her final semester she will only have to take 4 classes instead of 5, she's taken 5 every other semester.

 

[robinb]

My son only applied to one as was accepted to that one back in early December and he accepted his position and has paid his housing deposit as well. While he didn't visit this university in grade 12 he's seen in probably close to a dozen times in his life, so he's very familiar with it.

It must be such a relief for you and your son to have everything done! If my DD had been accepted at one of her top 2 schools we would have stopped there too. The good news for her is that the final school she applied to has rocketed to #2 for her and she wouldn't have even considered it if she wasn't waitlisted.

 

[mamacatnv]

Our school cuts it off here. This is official. He'll be ok. And he's even said that the girl who ended up valedictorian wanted it way more than he did. It's just that he was a bit blindsided this morning. I'm sure that the difference is small here, too.

That stinks for your son but wow, he really rose above it all with grace. Good for him. DD's good friend has been trying to avoid being #1 as he does not want to have to give a graduation speech, it makes me chuckle a bit.

Yeah, I'll let you guys know when it's posted. You have to like the company's FB page first too, but you can unlike it after it's over I guess! DD is going to get her multimedia teacher involved, because she is the queen of getting the kids to vote on things, but she'll have to unblock FB from the school laptops! Not to mention the school will also receive $1000, so she'll be all over that.

I'll vote, yes please post link when you get it.

What do they offer in place of AP? AP is big here- my friends son started college with a year and a half done thanks to AP classes- what a savings that will be!

AP as well as IB is big at DD's high school. I have always had the mindset that if the student wants to take the upper classes to challenge themselves then go for it but don't do it just for the possibility of college credit. DD is a very good test taker and all the IB/AP looks like it will pay off as she has scored (so far) high enough to gain quite a bit of college credits. I just sent off the funds yesterday for two more AP tests. We looked at the AP/IB offerings from the colleges she was considering before I wrote the checks to make sure that the testing fee's were worth it. This spring she is taking three IB tests and two AP. She already has a couple of AP tests under her belt that she scored 4's on. I can't remember how many credits she could obtain but its pretty hefty and now that we are looking at the costs per credit in college, these AP/IB credits will pay off if she does as well on the ones coming up as she has done on all the others she has taken.
My DS took several AP courses at a high school that had a poorly performing AP program. He never obtained the scores needed to get college credit so in his case the AP testing was not worth the cost.

One thing we learned to be aware of when it comes to AP credits. When my DS went to Graduate school, the grad schools were far more picky about courses taken at the University level and in some cases he had friends who received college credits via AP testing that the graduate schools would not accept, this forced the students to pick up those classes they had "credit" for in order to be able to apply to graduate school. Specifically this was in the medical fields as well as Physical Therapist school.

 

[robinb]

One thing we learned to be aware of when it comes to AP credits. When my DS went to Graduate school, the grad schools were far more picky about courses taken at the University level and in some cases he had friends who received college credits via AP testing that the graduate schools would not accept, this forced the students to pick up those classes they had "credit" for in order to be able to apply to graduate school. Specifically this was in the medical fields as well as Physical Therapist school.

Do you mean Chemistry and Physics? I can see that, but what a PITB for them. My DD will be taking the AP Calculus A/B and AP Environmental Sciences tests this year and I don't think they are prerequisites for anything. Speaking of PT, I read that pre-PT students should look at possible DPT programs in advance and see what their prereqs are for admittance and make sure that they have 5-6 of them covered. It's crazy how different programs require different things.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

DD's high school does AP, IB and Dual Enrollment. DD is in the Dual Enrollment program although she has also taken a ton of AP classes. She will graduate in May from the local community college with an Associates Degree and will start college as a Social Freshman but an Academic Junior. She is going to a state university, so all her classes will transfer. This frees her up to double major in college or to pursue a 5 year BA/MA program. I am convinced that her A/B grades and especially the Dual Enrollment really helped her get accepted to her top 2 schools.

 

[mamacatnv]

Do you mean Chemistry and Physics? I can see that, but what a PITB for them. My DD will be taking the AP Calculus A/B and AP Environmental Sciences tests this year and I don't think they are prerequisites for anything. Speaking of PT, I read that pre-PT students should look at possible DPT programs in advance and see what their prereqs are for admittance and make sure that they have 5-6 of them covered. It's crazy how different programs require different things.

Yes, the math/sciences can be tricky if course was satisfied via AP/IB credits.

My DS (DPT) recently had a student intern from N. California. His adviser didn't steer him correctly and the student didn't do his own research. When he graduated from college and applied to the PT school (state school) that he had an "in" to via a professor, he learned that he was short one (1) class. That one class was not offered in the fall, he would have had to wait an entire year to take that one class to then apply to the state schools PT program. Instead, he applied to other schools and got into a different program, in another state and a significantly higher price. He learned a very expensive lesson, do your own research and know what you need to apply to the schools down the road as they do differ, some significantly.

DD's school does AP, IB and Dual Enrollment. DD is in the Dual Enrollment program although she has also taken a ton of AP classes. She will graduate in May from the local community college with an Associates Degree and will start college as a Social Freshman but an Academic Junior. She is going to a state university, so all her classes wit transfer. This frees her up to double major in college or to pursue a 5 year BA/MA program. I am convinced that the her A/B grades and especially the Dual Enrollment really helped her get accepted to her top 2 schools.

Wow, that is very impressive. We did not look into dual enrollment, this is a great success story for the program!

 

[punkin]

Niece got into her second choice school. We are waiting for financial aid. I'm hopeful.

 

[robinb]

Niece got into her second choice school. We are waiting for financial aid. I'm hopeful.

Great news!

 

[robinb]

DD's high school does AP, IB and Dual Enrollment. DD is in the Dual Enrollment program although she has also taken a ton of AP classes. She will graduate in May from the local community college with an Associates Degree and will start college as a Social Freshman but an Academic Junior. She is going to a state university, so all her classes will transfer. This frees her up to double major in college or to pursue a 5 year BA/MA program. I am convinced that her A/B grades and especially the Dual Enrollment really helped her get accepted to her top 2 schools.

That is amazing!

 

[AustinTink]

DD's high school does AP, IB and Dual Enrollment. DD is in the Dual Enrollment program although she has also taken a ton of AP classes. She will graduate in May from the local community college with an Associates Degree and will start college as a Social Freshman but an Academic Junior. She is going to a state university, so all her classes will transfer. This frees her up to double major in college or to pursue a 5 year BA/MA program. I am convinced that her A/B grades and especially the Dual Enrollment really helped her get accepted to her top 2 schools.

That's great! We were happy that DS will have enough AP credits to start college as technically a sophomore, but your daughter's situation is so much better. Good for her!

 

[Mom3girls]

Well we sent in our appeal letter to Temple. Long story short my daughter took ACTs a second time and scored a 33 but Temple says it's too late. Was already offered $5,000 a yr. The 33 would get her ALOT more money. Guess we will have to wait and see. She was accepted at Syracuse and given $25,000yr also before the score of 33. Guess it's worth sending them an appeal letter also. She's still waiting to hear from FSU. They do take the Feb ACT score so hoping for a decent offer from them. Should hear around March 16th.

 

[Mom3girls]

It has been a very busy week here. We have been working on DD appeal letter, we adopted a puppy named Jack and my daughter competed in Deca state competition. She placed 7th in her category. They take the top 6 and the 6th place person placed in two different categories. You can only participate in one category at Nationals so he dropped out of my daughters category. Which means she is now headed to Anaheim CA to compete in Nationals. VERY proud of her!! This is her first year in DECA

 

[bethbuchall]

It has been a very busy week here. We have been working on DD appeal letter, we adopted a puppy named Jack and my daughter competed in Deca state competition. She placed 7th in her category. They take the top 6 and the 6th place person placed in two different categories. You can only participate in one category at Nationals so he dropped out of my daughters category. Which means she is now headed to Anaheim CA to compete in Nationals. VERY proud of her!! This is her first year in DECA

Good luck with the appeals and to your daughter at Nationals!

 

[Mom3girls]

Good luck with the appeals and to your daughter at Nationals!

Thank you bethbuchall!!

 

[Tinijocaro]

Presidential scholarships were announced at UB-ds got it! Anyone else?

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

Presidential scholarships were announced at UB-ds got it! Anyone else?

Yay! Yay! Yay! Congratulations!!!!