Having had both experiences for Calculus (SOHS and PAH), I recommend PAH.

Can anyone share insight on how schools examine self-employment income? The little bit I have found out from research is that schools basically vary widely on what they do with the adjusted gross income that gets reported from Schedule C, since self-employed people take business deductions etc... in arriving at that figure as opposed to employee earnings that are more easily computed based on the W-2 reported by employers. We are trying to approximate EFC, and I am just not clear on what schools may "add back" from business deductions before they decide what AGI is in their way of thinking.

DD took Calc BC with Sue Gilleran at PAH. She has also TA'd for her. She highly recommends the course with Sue.

DD took Calc BC with Sue Gilleran (also TA for her) and highly recommends her as a teacher. She does an outstanding job preparing students for the AP exam. Her students consistently make a strong showing on the exams, provided they do the work of course. ;)

My daughter took AP Comp Sci through Edhesive and recommends it. Being a MOOC, it affords flexibility in scheduling and deadlines. She said the review materials for the AP exam itself were excellent.

DD was told by at least one school that they won't weight it if we don't, and that merit scholarships are keyed to gpa. So we changed everything.

It is so weird how the self-doubt creeps in. I didn't imagine I would feel this way. I look at my daughter, the beautiful person she is and all she has accomplished, and simply want to make sure my part of the application process is worthy of her, that they see who she is and not just an amalgamation of academic accomplishments. Her "statistics" are the least remarkable thing about her. I have struggled and struggled to find the right words to present these other aspects. I have experienced more anxiety about this process than I ever did about how to present myself in law school or practice. For my part, I just did it. But this is my daughter.....

I share your anxiety about the whole process. I didn't think I would stress over this, but I keep wondering if somehow I have overlooked things or shortchanged DD etc. We also felt the need to change to a weighted g.p.a. against both of our wishes because several schools DD spoke to said plainly that they wanted a weighted g.p.a. Part of our struggle is that she is pursuing several distinct avenues in terms of school selection that really necessitates different approaches. With one common app to submit, it gets draining trying to accommodate everything. What we have endeavored to address throughout is establishing a cohesive message that really unites all of the separate materials submitted by her, me, and LORs so that it provides a complete yet concise picture of DD. I never imagined it would feel so overwhelming.....

Our self-imposed deadline is October 10. DD is doing really well on her end, but I am still grappling with the counselor letter...

DD and I are doing this currently, and putting together the AP syllabus was not too difficult. Given my legal background, we probably spend more time on case law analysis etc. Otherwise, the resources we use sound like what others above have posted.

My oldest son is a freshman and sounds similar to your son in his inclinations. I am attorney by training, and my husband has degrees in Engineering and Computer Science (entrepreneur/Consultant). What we have done with our older kids is use a multidisciplinary academic track so that they can pursue both Humanities and STEM in college and grad school. I am confident at least two of our kids will pursue interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary work, as they find "one or the other" limiting. To that end, they take AP level course work across all disciplines, SAT subject tests, etc... along with STEM research at the the university level with preceptors for 2-3 years of high school. As a freshman, DS is starting to contemplate different schools that offer these types of options, but our focus to date (and that will stay in the foreground for now) has been on making sure his transcript and overall background will promote the likelihood of admissions to whatever program he decides to pursue down the road.

Me too!!! Stressing over and working on the college applications lately has brought it into full focus, and it is really tough.

So, just to make sure, I state there are two transcripts and put course descriptions under the additional box?

Thanks!

Is it acceptable to incorporate the books on each course description rather than a separate list?

Thanks for this! DD is applying to similar schools - top tier and Big State flagships- and she is already considering how to converse about the reasons for her pursuing state schools alongside others. Cost is a big factor here, and the potential merit scholarships that are available at Big State U's are really attractive!

DH and I thought about this for a long time and around this time last year we decided to adopt young children from another country... so we are thrilled, our children are thrilled, and some friends and relatives think we are certifiable. :lol:

We are in the middle of the process, and I am already ready for it to be over.

That is so exciting!

All of the above reflect my feelings toward all of my children. My oldest daughter will be heading to college next fall, and I know it will be difficult. She is not just my child, she is a kindred spirit, an intellectual companion and so many other things. Morning hugs and coffee on the deck, conversing about everything from politics to silly jokes. Just being together doing not much of anything. Same goes for my younger daughter. My relationship with my son is much like yours, Jackie. Every morning I get my daily hugs from him as well as his (attempts at) jokes alternating with serious conversation (more with me listening and listening.... :) ). The dynamics between all three of my kids will also dramatically change when oldest leaves for college. We are all very quirky and it is such a gift to be among people who understand each other, who really "get" the other person. I know it will be difficult, while I am also so thrilled at the possibilities for my daughter. Her world is taking off in so many new and exciting directions... yet to be determined. :) But I know I will struggle, and I am also so excited for her to enter this new stage. I have been told by many people that I should be thrilled to be moving toward getting them all out of the house to get back to my life, and all I can say is I have been living my life all along.

I agree it seems the scores would increase as they get older. For my kids, who have always been outliers, their IQ percentile from early childhood (PG) has been reflected in their tests. I think it varies from person to person, but my children, for whatever reason, consistently ceilinged out of every standardized test, even college SAT taken in middle school. For kids who get perfect / near perfect SAT and ACT scores in middle school, it kind of stands to reason they'll achieve top / perfect scores on APs, SAT subject tests etc. in high school. At the same time, test formats change, and there will always be some variance in top scores based on that testing day along with curving particulars. There is also a possibility that students are so far beyond the material by the time they test in high school, they may need to review some of the minutiae and details to answer the "simple" questions correctly. For big picture, global learners, details from subjects they studied three years earlier often needs to be reviewed, or the answers to these "easy" questions can be totally overlooked and missed by the brightest students. This could possibly account for the disparity in results from middle school to high school.

Congratulations to everyone! After a terrible year around here for so many reasons, I am thrilled to say it didn't affect DD's academic work. She received 5s on all of her exams, which were Physics C, English Lit/Comp, Statistics, Computer Science, and Psychology.

Same experience here with my three children when comparing preschool scores with SAT, ACT, APs etc...

Thanks so much for the link. We couldn't find the scores going through the regular page.

Yay!!! :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: