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mathmom
Member
| Joined: | Fri Apr 14th, 2006 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 260 |
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Posted: Sat Mar 24th, 2007 03:12 am |
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mominva wrote:It seems that schools are scrambling to fill those male seats so they lure the ones who will also bring up their selectivity stats.
Of course my oldest was applying to schools were just the opposite was true. Having just gotten rejections from MIT and Caltech, I have to say I wish I'd fought harder for acceleration for him in middle school. The gave him a skip in math very reluctantly even though it was pretty obvious to me that a double skip would have been more appropriate. I'd probably nudge harder for him to do things a little outside his comfort zone.
For better or worse any lessons I've learned for him won't apply to his math hating younger brother. He's had a ragged freshman year - stellar grades in history and orchestra, a 79 in Honors Chem (regretting that placement) and shaky Bs in his other courses where he goes into each test unsure whether he'll get 60s or 100s. His teachers don't know what to make of him.
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mominva
Member
| Joined: | Sun Mar 5th, 2006 |
| Location: | DC Suburbs |
| Posts: | 334 |
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Posted: Sat Mar 24th, 2007 11:10 am |
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Mathmom,
It is precisely THIS son who garner the merit awards. Many schools with 70/30 F/M ratios are looking to close the gap. So if your boy applies to places where he is at or above the top 25% (but not the uber-elite schools), add a bit of geographic diversity, and you should end up with some attractive offers.
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mathmom
Member
| Joined: | Fri Apr 14th, 2006 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 260 |
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Posted: Sun Mar 25th, 2007 12:07 am |
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mominva wrote: Mathmom,
It is precisely THIS son who garner the merit awards. Many schools with 70/30 F/M ratios are looking to close the gap. So if your boy applies to places where he is at or above the top 25% (but not the uber-elite schools), add a bit of geographic diversity, and you should end up with some attractive offers.
It's a long way off and much could change, but I actually feel surprisingly optimistic about him. His older brother really needs to be challenged. He rises to it and then some, but he's had too much of being at the top of the heap. Younger son is mellower. I agree if he's willing to explore another region I think he'll have good choices.
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CalifCarolyn
Member
| Joined: | Tue Apr 4th, 2006 |
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| Posts: | 573 |
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Posted: Sun Mar 25th, 2007 12:37 am |
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ChicoBailBonds-very well said- as the parent of a B student I firmly think the most important thing is to "Follow Their Lead" in the end they really do know what is within not just their reach to get accepted but what is within their reach to be successful. As the process evolved from September to now I see that my girl really has a strong handle on her realistic abilities. She made a very wise statement recently, in passing, on the way home from school that perhaps schools that were an academic reach for acceptance might be a reach for graduation. Now--where will she choose to go next year????
Last edited on Sun Mar 25th, 2007 09:45 pm by CalifCarolyn
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WestrnMom
Super Moderator
| Joined: | Fri May 26th, 2006 |
| Location: | West Coast, USA |
| Posts: | 1213 |
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Posted: Sun Mar 25th, 2007 08:10 pm |
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CalifCarolyn, I agree with your daughter. That is a very wise conclusion on her part. Since mine basically got into every school he applied to except one reach school, that turns out was not a match at all in terms of his choice of coursework, some people have wondered if he might have aimed high enough. He did. He had two reaches, one in terms of academics that he did get into, a very competitive school with a very low acceptance rate in a semi-competitive major. However, he's more interested in choosing a school where he will not just graduate, but be extremely successful. For a lot of students, to make that happen, they need a school where they are at the higher end of the averages or above the averages, not just at the average GPA or test score. If a student wants to go to grad school, it's even more important that they come out of college with a decent GPA in competitive courses. What's the point of going to UCLA, for example, and coming out with a 2.5 GPA (which a friend's very bright daughter did in a very competitive major)?
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Movinmom
Member
| Joined: | Mon Mar 6th, 2006 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 46 |
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Posted: Wed Mar 28th, 2007 01:56 am |
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| I keep a word document for my kids once they enter high school that has all activities, volunteer positions with reference contact info, awards, honors, etc. By the time senior year comes and they have to fill out the applications, draft resumes for jobs, etc. they have no idea what they dd in earlier years or who they worked for. Little things like the conferences my junior D attended and some of the speakers who she heard have been nice to refer to for various reasons. Some activities like debate have many awards and I keep a separate award sheet; radio production pieces I kept the titles, etc. Even my oldest D who is a freshman in college has resorted to that document for filling out scholarship applications and other forms.
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hummingbird
Member
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Posted: Wed Mar 28th, 2007 10:38 pm |
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Movinmom, that is an excellent idea! I shall borrow it. 
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Lynda
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| Joined: | Mon Mar 6th, 2006 |
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| Posts: | 217 |
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Posted: Thu Mar 29th, 2007 12:33 am |
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The way I kept everything for son was a box. Everything was thrown in it. One of the local papers had a time sheet for college by year in HS. I followed it faithfully until I learned more. I threw in every reward, program, report card, test scores, thank you note, etc in the box. A spread sheet would have been great but it just isn't me. It really helped. Son had to listen songs performed for some music school apps. The award that we would never forget in 9th grade wasn't even in our mind in 12th. I recommended this method to my sister but I think she is more organized. Only problem-I still have the box. I have a new box for college-why? I don't know.
Lynda
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Movinmom
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| Joined: | Mon Mar 6th, 2006 |
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| Posts: | 46 |
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Posted: Thu Mar 29th, 2007 02:30 am |
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| I have a box too! I have the word document as a summary and the back up in the box - brochures, etc. You are right - by 12th grade, freshman year is a distant memory. But...the common app wants number of hours invested, etc. so it is much easier to recreate later if everything is in one place.
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Squirt
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| Joined: | Mon Jun 25th, 2007 |
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| Posts: | 4 |
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Posted: Thu Jun 28th, 2007 04:58 am |
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CarolynLawrence wrote:
ChicosBailBonds wrote:
1. Let the game come to you.
I was ready to start the conversation about college in my D's freshman year of high school. She was not. I might as well have been talking to my cat. So, I did my information gathering, but didn't bother her until her junior year, when we started very informal college visits in conjunction with other activities(vacations, trips to Chicago, etc.) I knew we were ready to talk serioulsy when, at one visit she asked "Dad, could I get into this school?"
Chico, ALL of your advice was wonderful, but this one is the most key. We parents are ready way before our kids. They are, after all, just kids, living the last years of their childhood. There is no rush. Let them experience high school for a few years before rushing to get on with the next phase. It will come, but perhaps not on our schedule. Teens live in a parallel universe where time moves at a different rate than it does in ours.
I find this extremely amusing, since I'm a rising 8th grader, and, well, I'm on this board. My parents were not prepared for me talking about my high school schedule and college (or at least, it didn't look like they did). I'm glad that Asian stereotypes (well, a few, at least) don't apply to my parents.
EDIT: Whoa, huge bump. Sorry.Last edited on Thu Jun 28th, 2007 04:59 am by Squirt
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CarolynLawrence
Administrator
| Joined: | Sun Mar 5th, 2006 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 3309 |
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Posted: Thu Jun 28th, 2007 11:29 pm |
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Squirt, Very few 8th graders are worried about college. I think it's great that you want to plan ahead, but make sure you don't get so focused on college that you don't enjoy life NOW and in high school as well. Let the game come to you. There is plenty of time to become obsessed with the college arms race. Trust me.  Last edited on Thu Jun 28th, 2007 11:31 pm by CarolynLawrence
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Canadian
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Posted: Fri Jun 29th, 2007 05:53 pm |
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Hi Squirt (that's a nickname I have, too!),
Best thing you can do for yourself is find a few things you really like to do and do them with enthusiasm just for yourself. And of course study. But I suspect you already do a lot of that!
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-allmusic-
Member
| Joined: | Mon Jan 8th, 2007 |
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| Posts: | 27 |
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Posted: Sat Jul 28th, 2007 09:13 pm |
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I started keeping a "resume" for my son spring of 9th grade. He had already accumulated a lot of activities, and I was afraid I would start to forget them. I have added to it every time there is something new, and now that he is about to embark on the admissions process, that information is very tidy, and complete!
Now...if only we had started to keep track of his music repertoire then...tracking that down and remembering it all has been a bear, and I am sure we have forgotten a bunch....
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