My ds took the physics subject test after having taken both AP physics C exams. There was a good bit of material on the subject test that was not on the AP so he did extra prep specifically for the subject test. He used the Princeton Review prep book, and probably had help from his dad too. Also, make sure your son's friend knows that the curve is quite forgiving. You do not have to get every problem right in order to score well.

This is pretty much my ds's experience, except he is currently a junior, not a senior. I remember him complaining a lot, but I don't remember it taking a ton of time. He's very fast at things like forum posts. He has taken English at the public school since taking Blue Tent Honors English 1 and has found it easy. I just signed him up for Blue Tent Advanced English next year, and I really hope it works out. The writing feedback he got from Blue Tent was way, way superior to any of the feedback he's gotten at public school.

OMG, great ideas! I'm bookmarking insomnia cookies for future use, maybe finals week? I never would have thought of checking his college, but their catering will bake cakes to order. That sounds like the easiest way to get him a cake. I'm thinking about telling him to take some friends for Chinese food, and he can charge us (via credit card).

Excellent ideas so far! I had not thought of any of these. Any more ideas?

My college freshman is halfway across the country and will be celebrating his birthday away from home for the first time ever. He'll be home for spring break shortly after his birthday, but I want to make his day there special. I'm trying to find a bakery that will deliver a cake, which he can share with friends. He's been having a hard time with homesickness and stress. I'm worried that his birthday will trigger more issues, so I'm looking for fun ideas to cheer him up. Any suggestions?

My older ds used the common app for all of his college applications. Many of the schools that younger ds is considering also take the coalition app now. I'm wondering if there are advantages/disadvantages. Has anyone actually used this? My inclination is to use the common app again, mostly because there was a learning curve, and I feel like I have a better idea now of how it works and what to do. I want to make sure that I'm not limiting ds though because of *my* inclination. He currently has no opinion on the matter.

This may be a stupid question, but how many hours is a standard course? When I was in college, many years ago, a standard class was 3 credits. At my ds's college, a standard class is 4 credits. So at his college, a normal semester load is 4 classes, which is 16 credits. At my school, 16 credits would have been an extremely heavy load. I had 15 credits sometimes (5 classes), but never above that.

These are all good points. My ds's college allows students who live far away (I think it's more than 500 miles) to store a certain amount of stuff over the summer. We haven't yet encountered the summer thing for him, so I can't say yet how that will work. His school had a fall break for a few days where he could stay in the dorm, but many kids did leave. He said the cafeteria was open, but hours were limited and there was very little food selection. So even though the cafeteria was open, he ended up spending at least some money on outside food.

My older ds (current freshman) is more than 12 hours away by car. One of the difficulties that we've had so far have been that "move-in" was complicated. We did a combination of shipping packages from here, he carried-on two suitcases, and a few things we ordered from Amazon prime because it was cheaper to get a new item shipped than to mail what we already own. It took a lot of planning to make sure that everything was going to fit and make it there at the right time. He carried-on his instrument, and we were worried at the last minute that they wouldn't let him because his new case is actually larger than the allowed carry-on. Luckily they allowed it. The other snag we ran into was buying his plane ticket home for the end of the semester. I wanted to buy the ticket early, because I was worried about prices going up. So as soon as he knew his finals schedule, I bought a ticket. When finals actually happened, he was panicked because some of his finals were papers that could be handed in up until the end of finals period, and he needed that time. However his ticket home was a few days before that. In the end, he was able to hand in his papers electronically from home. It was difficult though because he needed library books and resources that were on campus. Next time I'll buy the ticket for the end of finals! The bottom line is that, in my opinion, going to college far away requires more planning/organization. Unfortunately my ds is not so good at these things. Luckily I am good at it, and he is learning. Good luck! We've told younger ds that he has to go to school within a reasonable driving distance. Mostly joking, but he plays multiple musical instruments, and it makes my head hurt trying to figure out how he will transport everything.

:hurray:

Just to show an exception to the bolded, my ds took US history, world history, English, and physics. So he did have one science. He didn't need that many for admission. Whether having 4 helped him as a part-time homeschooler is impossible for me to say. Right now younger ds has taken US history and English.

FWIW my ds got unsolicited mail from Vanderbilt last week too. His PSAT scores were not as high as he had hoped. So I'm not sure how much the unsolicited mail really means.

I can't explain it, and I'm scared that I've done something wrong because every other year it has gone up. I had dh look at it too, and he didn't spot any errors.

You need an option in the poll for health insurance rates going down. I can't believe this is happening (happy, but shocked), but our rates are going down. And we're self-employed.

The bolded is why I caution people IRL to run the numbers for themselves and to make informed decisions. There are just so many variables in financial aid that it is impossible to generalize to either "selective schools are more expensive" or "selective schools are cheaper". I often tell the story of how for my ds, the private selective school was cheaper because so many people I know IRL say that their kid will go to state U since it is cheaper. In some cases state U is cheaper, but not always.

My older ds, currently a college freshman, is the complete opposite. He has been craving peer interactions at his level for years. He audited history classes at a local top liberal arts college, and loved the discussions. So he really, really did not want to go somewhere to be a big fish in a small pond. He wanted the other fish to be like him, if you know what I mean. For some kids the small pond is ideal, for some it isn't. DS wasn't accepted at his top choice school, but he does seem happy where he is now. And we're happy because it is affordable. I just wanted to share to say that the small pond isn't necessarily the best choice for every kid. Now my younger ds is completely different, and we'll need to figure things out all over again.

Obviously this varies a lot, but for my ds the more selective colleges on his list were less expensive for him. The financial aid package from the least selective school he applied to (large state school) involved loans, one small merit grant, and a "gap" that we would find difficult to pay. The selective private school that he is now attending gave him generous grants, and as long as nothing changes he'll graduate with no loans at all.

My ds is considering double majoring, but he's a freshman and hasn't made up his mind yet. Some of the combos he is considering are history/economics, history/math, history/Asian studies, and history/political science. Obviously he wants a history major, but is wavering on the second. Some would be harder because there are no classes that can count towards both, like history/math.

I hadn't really considered that part of the application cost, but we spent a lot of $$$ on travel in order to visit colleges. DS only applied to two colleges in-state. He didn't visit every college he applied to, but he visited quite a few.

DS applied to more than 8 schools, and I don't know the amount but we definitely spent more than $500. He sent ACT scores and SAT subject test scores to every school. And all except one required the CSS profile. That stuff adds up fast! He had a few fee waivers for application fees, and I think one school had no fee, but the school fees alone were at least $400.

I also did not count hours. Honestly it varied a lot. My dc are mostly doing math/science at home, and it's pretty well defined for most of what they did at home. We gave 1 credit per year for math and sciences classes.

What a great idea! Unfortunately they don't deliver in my ds's city yet.

I'm trying to think about options for my ds who took AP English language last year, and is taking AP English literature this year, both through the public school. He took a Blue Tent English class several years ago, and thought the feedback was very helpful, but the way the class was set up seemed difficult. It took clicking in multiple places to figure out what needed to be done, and it was not always obvious what was due. He'll be a senior next year, and dual enrollment options are very limited where we live. It's possible that he could find a college level class, especially if he's willing to drive a ways (and if we're willing to let him drive that much), but an online class would save a lot of time!

I agree that Thanksgiving is awkwardly placed. My ds's school has classes through Tuesday, so three days off. He's flying home Tuesday evening and flying back Sunday evening. It's expensive and not-optimal by a long shot, but he's *really* looking forward to coming home, even if it isn't for long. I don't know if he'll fly home for Thanksgiving every year or not. He does have a couple of days off in October for "fall break", but he'll stay on campus for that.

My ds's bed was a loft with the desk underneath when he moved in. Actually I think all the beds in his dorm are like that. He would love tall ceilings, but unfortunately his ceilings are not high. He is tall, and the high bed means he can't sit up in bed. I posted the story in another thread, but to repeat, his bed (and his roommate's bed) had no safety rails when they move in. After his roommate fell out of his bed, ds talked to the RA and got rails put on both his bed and his roommate's bed. I've been spreading the story to people IRL and online, because I think the loft beds without rails are a safety issue.