Wise words. We fall into this category. It’s a huge hassle and requires much fortitude on my part, but each year my DD has been able to register and test with the huge public near her ballet school. She’ll graduate with 7 AP exams under her belt that, paired with a high ACT score and a rigorous transcript will hopefully be enough to earn her admission to some selective schools. Despite the frustration, I definitely wouldn’t go back and change course on her education. Now, for my next DD, I doubt we’ll go the AP route just because it won’t play to her strengths. And I won’t be sad about not having to jump through hoops!

October in Paris is lovely! We’ve visited in June twice (VERY hot & swarmed with tourists on both visits), but our October visit was cool, sunny and significantly less crowded.

My DD is planning to take the GRE in November and has asked me to help her source a ready-made prep program that is effective and reasonably priced. one friend recommended Magoosh. FWIW, She’s a nurse and is planning to apply to combined DNP/MPH programs in population health & systems leadership. She needs lots more review in the quantitative vs. verbal sections. Give me your best resources!

Okay, DD finished her Common App and submitted 10 applications this weekend! She was able to write about 4-5 separate supplemental essays, then modify/massage them to fit all the prompts (luckily there seemed to be a lot of overlap). This process is such a marathon! I prepared her that the real work begins now: setting up all her portal accounts/passwords and monitoring them to verify all info is completed, jump through any new hoops, etc. I didn’t mention the inevitable extra scholarship and honors program applications/essays, etc.; I didn’t want her to get overwhelmed and shut down!

Integritas Academy if it’s in the budget (and if she has openings; I didn’t check).

It’s about yield: ED students are a very safe bet. If admitted, they must attend. The school can guarantee that student will matriculate. The more of these students they admit, the better their yield percentage (# of students admitted/# of students who enroll).

Derek Owens physical science perhaps?

Yes, there was a way to review it, but no button to hit ‘submit’. Does that sound right? I’m guessing because the school profile is general to the school, not specific to a student, so it’s just provided to any of that counselor’s students?

Oh my goodness! So glad your DD noticed and reported it!

I just submitted my DD’s Common App Counselor Recommendation (including my LOR) and School Report (including both my transcript and course descriptions). Whew! Is it accurate that you don’t actually ever hit ‘review & submit’ on the school profile? As far as I can tell, there is no way to submit it. It says this at the top of the page: “We send your profile information with all your forms. Some forms have questions that you may answer in bulk using the "update" button.” Does that mean all the schools will get the school profile document I uploaded to this section? That feels a little unfinished somehow.

Just emailed my contact at the school where DD has tested the last two years. Fingers-crossed it will be a ‘go’ for this year. They’re woefully inadequate communicators, but do eventually get the registration done. I’m sure it will take me harassing them a few more times, though!

Oy! 😩

Congratulations!!

Just FYI for anyone else who might be considering Blue Tent’s AP Bio: the teacher does not require live attendance/participation in the Thursday evening class. My DD is two weeks into the course and has found the teacher to be well-organized, flexible, and kind so far. Obviously, it’s too early for a full review. My DD asked if rather than doing physical dissection she could instead conduct her labs virtually as she is a vegan. Teacher had no problem. DD watches the recording of the class at 2x speed just for efficiency and teacher is fine with it. I’m cautiously optimistic at this point!

You can look at the concordance tables and determine which test your student performed best on. https://www.act.org/content/dam/act/unsecured/documents/ACT-SAT-Concordance-Tables.pdf I will say that the ACT science section is generally very teachable. My DD scored a 25, 30, and a 35 on it with a bit of practice between tests 1, 2, and 3. She used the book For the Love of ACT Science and several practice sections.

Reported

I think, like most everything, it depends on the kid. For my very academic students, I would not include it because it adds nothing. For my youngest, who may be less academically inclined in high school, I wouldn’t rule-out rolling Driver’s Ed into a larger life skills type of catch-all credit that might include First Aid/CPR, personal finance, etc. In our state, Driver’s Ed is taught privately and has nothing to do with the schools, so it definitely does not go on transcripts.

I can only tell you what we did. My DD has taken/is taking 7 AP classes/exams— both English + Calc AB, Bio, Art History, Psychology, and Stats. Our goal was to have a test score in roughly all the core subject areas to objectively demonstrate proficiency and ‘validate’ her transcript (I realize this isn’t strictly necessary, but it was what we felt comfortable with). All of her classes have been excellent and would have been great courses even without the AP label. She is a good test taker and achieved passing scores on all. Incidentally, each of my older DD’s took about the same number of AP courses in their public high school. It seemed to be pretty standard for high-achieving students to take at least 6-8 AP’s. Taking much more than that seems a little like overkill, IMHO.

That’s a good point. I do think it’s possible to spend too much time on something and then become overly critical of it. Okay, everyone. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I’ll suggest she just go with what she’s got.

My DD is having second thoughts about the common app essay she wrote earlier this summer (and has continued tweaking over the several weeks since). It’s okay, but not great. And she’s a really great student and writer. It’s just such a weird, hard thing to write reflectively about yourself. Her summer assignment for her Blue Tent Advanced Senior English (post-AP) was to read of book of her choice and write a book review. She chose “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” and her book review is, IMHO, superb. The subject of the book aligns with some of her primary academic interests: systemic racism, health disparities, economic inequality, etc. Her review demonstrated a nuanced understanding of these complicated issues, deep compassion, and legitimate criticism of the book. I know that the final Common App essay prompt is: Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design. Has anyone had a student use this prompt to share a piece they wrote for a class? What are the risks? benefits? of going this route rather than using a first person, personal essay? WWYD in this situation? Go with the just okay personal essay? Or go out on a limb and submit and entirely different type of writing? She is applying to some selective/highly selective schools.

Okay, my transcript, course descriptions, counselor LOR, and school profile are completed and uploaded. DD’s common app essay and two supplemental essays are completed. She only has about a million other supplemental essays to go! Oy vey, it’s going to be a long fall…

Wait, what? ACT score can be used for National Merit?! What is cut-off score? How did I not know this?

I agree with everything she said about Wilson Hill. Leslie Smith is also very good, if she is an option at WHA. Ashley Porter at Blue Tent is great if she’s an option. Similar level of rigor to WHA. DD did Alg 1, Geometry, Alg 2, & AP Stats at WHA, and Pre-Calc & AP Calc AB at Blue Tent.

By grade

I second this!