In case anyone isn't aware, all of the free response questions going back to the late 1990s in some cases (there are far fewer if the test has been redesigned) are available at http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/exam/exam_information/index.html. The College Board always posts the latest questions 48 hours after the exam is given.

There are three large groups which each has several hundred students involved in weekly Bible studies. Princeton Evangelical Fellowship http://pef.mycpanel.princeton.edu/ Manna Christian Fellowship http://manna.princeton.edu/ Princeton Faith and Action http://www.princetonfaithandaction.org/ My daughter was involved with PEF and Manna; my son is involved with PFA. They all seem to be active, vibrant groups.

Our dds will be classmates! :) My dd will be majoring in math. Princeton has been her top choice for a long time -- two sibs went there and she has often gone to visit for the weekend. She loves the campus, the Christian community, the courses, everything. She applied early and got in and that was it -- this one was easy! :)

Look, Tsuga, back in the olden days, when the internet was in its infancy and my kids were starting school, dh and I were thinking about homeschooling. We had both gone to a pretty selective college, and he had gone to an Ivy for grad school. We wanted our kids to be able to do at least as well as we did. It's not that we were obsessing over them getting into top schools at that point, but we were concerned that the educational path we were choosing for them could close doors. We didn't want them to be rejected at schools because of a decision we made. And so I talked to people. The mom at soccer practice who taught AP English, kids at church who had aced the SAT, but mostly parents whose kids had been admitted to great schools. I am so thankful for all the people who took the time to answer my pesky questions and share their advice and experience with me. Now I am on the other end. My youngest is graduating in a couple of months. I'd like to give back and share my experience to encourage younger parents and help them along. I know it might come across as bragging. Sorry. If it bothers you that much, close the thread.

Actually, I have an incredible dh who did a lot of the homeschooling! :)

I have six kids and they have all been accepted to top schools including Harvard, Princeton, Yale, MIT, Duke, Cornell.... We used something like the Well Trained Mind curriculum (we started before the book came out, so I developed something on my own that is very similar to her approach) through middle school. We provided a rich environment and let the kids work at their own speed, so they were all quite advanced by ninth grade. In high school, we used dual enrollment for science and math beyond AP Calculus BC (my kids all took that in 9th or 10th grade). We did lots of APs -- some on our own and some through PA Homeschoolers. We had started French and German in kindergarten and all of the kids took APs in both subjects in 8th-10th grade. They all were active in orchestra and club sports, they did community service, and they did an internship at a national research lab in 12th grade. They entered science and history competitions and they all had national awards. They were all National Merit Finalists (we live in one of the toughest states) and they all had SAT scores above 2300.

My dd married a young man from another country. They were married there but are living in the US. Travelling to his country was not possible for our extended family and friends, so we had a second wedding here. We had the whole ceremony and a reception, although the pastor made it clear that they were renewing their vows. Dd wore the same dress. They had a wedding website that made it clear they were having two ceremonies and gave registry info, etc. I don't think anyone felt it was weird or grabbing for gifts or whatever. It was a very special, fun celebration. It was important to the grandparents to be able to be part of it, and there was just no way they would have been up to the trip to his country, and there is no way all of his extended family and friends could have afforded a trip here. This way, no one was left out. :)

Oh, no worries. I wasn't hurt, just a little irritated (I had been reading the Tiger Mom thread as well...). My thoughts on the report -- well, it sounds nice, but what really is new in it? Things like saying they want kids to be deeply involved in a few activities rather than dabbling in lots is old news. At least, I've been hearing that for years. They are talking about downplaying tests, but like earlier posters (maybe you) said earlier, we all know that's not really going to happen. They need to quantify things to make it workable. My kids' friends at Harvard and Princeton are incredibly talented and also caring kids who are deeply involved in community service. It seems to me that the kinds of students the report says they are looking for are the kinds they're already choosing. I understand how it looks like a lottery. I feel like it's not, because the kids with really outstanding accomplishments are the ones who rise to the top. Yeah, there are way too many kids with SATs above 2300 and 12 APs. But it's not like they throw those in a hat and pick out as many as they have space for. They pick the ones who have won national competitions, who have published papers in scientific journals, who have done sustained, meaningful community service, who have cared for family members in difficult situations, and so on. I know this is true, because I've met these kids and there's not a single one I haven't been impressed with. I do agree with Sebastian that it can be somewhat arbitrary and what they are looking for can change from year to year and from school to school, but kids who have top scores and grades, who have great recommendations, who have pursued a rigorous curriculum, who are well-rounded, and who have something that says "Choose me!" above the others have a very good chance of getting into a selective school.

Maybe you are joking, but I get really tired of hearing that admission to top schools is a lottery. Yes, it's a long-shot; yes, the odds are against you, but calling it a "lottery" discounts the hard work and achievements of the kids who get in. Three out of five of my kids were admitted to Princeton. That's a rate of 60 percent. Is that a lottery? The kids that are getting in have accomplishments far beyond stellar SAT scores and GPAs. They have done amazing things -- independent research, community service, whatever, that makes them stand out from all the other kids with great stats.

It was just a small fire (maybe just some smoke...) in the boiler room. There wasn't much damage and no one was hurt. What a pain, though -- it was halfway through the test, so the kids had to come back and do the whole thing over.

My ds once had an SAT rescheduled due to a fire at the school and it was given two weeks later.

I like http://dict.tu-chemnitz.de/.

I teach AP Lit. In the first semester, we do mostly short stories, poetry, and drama. Students also read three novels of their own choice. In the spring we do four novels together. So the total for the year is seven novels, three plays, and lots of poems and stories.

This. Don't let them see photos of themselves in your "co-worker's" house. My mom had told me my dad needed time to be wild -- he had gotten married too young. I was eleven. I'm not sure that I knew what an affair was, but I knew what that picture on the table met. I never told my mom about it. That was the only time I met that woman (I think they broke up soon after), but for years I fantasized about meeting her somewhere. It's much better to be honest with your kids. Also, tell them all at once. My mom told me several days before she told my brother and sister, and that was rough. Don't go in and out of their lives. Either be there consistently or disappear for good. It sounds harsh, but I got so hardened to my dad's ins and outs that I gave up trying and am happier not to hear from him. I think what made it harder was that he was doing the same thing to my kids. Either be in their lives or get lost. I wish I had just accepted my stepfather as my dad from the get-go. He is a wonderful man and much more of a father to me than my "real" father ever was. His two sons lived with him -- four of the five of us were teens -- and we totally had a happy "Brady Bunch" life. Ok, there were rough spots, but overall it was fun. Most of the rough spots, honestly, were caused by me not wanting to accept my stepdad's authority. When he and my mom celebrated their 25th anniversary, there was a guest book that everyone signed. I was busy prepping for the party and didn't get to write at the beginning, but had thought a lot about what I wanted to say. When I finally got to sit down and write in it, I saw that all four of my siblings (two bio/two step) had all said exactly what I was planning to write -- essentially, "Thank you for giving us a stable home."

We found competitions mainly by googling. Our kids did many academic competitions -- things like National History Day, the local science fair which is a qualifier for ISEF, Siemens, Intel's Science Talent Search, Young Epidemiology Scholars, the American Math Competition, etc. My kids enjoyed the projects and most of the competitions have various levels, so you end up with plenty to list. For example, at National History Day, youngest dd was first in our county all three years of high school so far (there often were no other entries in her category, so that was an easy one!), first in the state all three years, and sixth in the nation in 10th and 11th. She wrote an amazing college essay about one of her projects. It's something she thoroughly enjoys and is passionate about even though she is more of a math/science kid. :) About essays -- only dh and I read dd's essays, but I see no ethical problem with paying someone to look it over. I have done that for many kids. Mainly what I do is let them know what colleges are looking for. I encourage them to let their voice come through, to add specific details to make it more interesting, etc. I'm not writing the essay; I'm making a few suggestions. I also check for grammatical errors. At every college info session I've been to, admissions people have encouraged kids to get this kind of help.

I always tell moms to look at some college apps in ninth grade. Think about what you're going to put in all those blanks. :) As far as recommendations, we don't have a good four-year university less than an hour from us, so our kids took classes at the CC. We encouraged them to develop a relationship with their profs and when possible we did more than one course with a prof. We gave our kids a rigorous education from the beginning. We started French and German in a very low key and fun way in preschool. By eighth or ninth grade, they were ready for AP exams. Our kids all did Calculus BC in ninth or tenth grade. This let them do higher math at the CC where they were in small classes and really got to know their profs. We aimed for National AP Scholar (8 4s and 5s) by the end of 11th grade. We did test prep steadily from middle school on -- a 25-minute section several times a week. Our kids all had scores above 2300 on the SAT and were National Merit Finalists. We made sure they had awards to put on the application -- look for competitions to enter. They all did an internship in their senior year. They all played sports and had some kind of community service. This is certainly not the only way to do it, but it worked for our kids.

Ok, I will get on that! :P Actually, for several years I wrote monthly articles for a local homeschooling e-magazine on how my dh and I approached various subjects. The website is now defunct and the articles are no longer online. I've been meaning to put them together into an e-book and put it on Amazon. I will try to finally get that done now that I am almost out of a job!

Thanks! We're done now. This one's the baby. :)

Actually, my 5th. Two graduated from Harvard and this is the third to go to Princeton. And one more is at Duke -- not an Ivy, but close! :)

My dd just heard that she got into Princeton!!!! I hope any others that were waiting on Ivy early decisions got good news!

Mine usually did a little better on the practice test than on the real thing.

My kids earn and manage their own spending money. They'd rather it be that way -- if I was giving them spending money, they'd be accountable to me for how they spent it. This gives them freedom and responsibility. They also pay for books and travel back and forth to school. That is what we consider their contribution for college. They each have an account at a bank here that they opened in high school. My name is on those accounts because they were under 18 when they opened them, but I never look at what's there. I can deposit money in an emergency if they need me to. My oldest two went to college far enough away that there wasn't a branch of this bank, so they each opened their own account at a bank there. My middle two have a branch of the local bank across the street from campus, so they haven't needed to do that.

We buy edited dvds from http://www.goodmediadvds.net/. Lots of movies like Forrest Gump, The Fugitive, Troy, Back to the Future.... are great for the whole family when edited. OP -- I didn't read all the posts, but did anyone mention the Bourne movies???

Me too! There is one that lives at my house....

And I thought 13 applications was a lot... but big congrats on Princeton and Brown! Here's my son's final list of acceptances: Duke Cornell RPI (merit scholarship) GA Tech University of Maryland (College Park) UMBC (University of Maryland Baltimore County -- or whatever it stands for!) So, he didn't get into his top choice (Yale), but he still has some great schools to pick from!