@lewelma Amazing transcript (form and substance!). Could I ask you about the ABRSM credits? DS has done and will continue to do ABRSM exams/Diploma/LRSM but I've generally thought these would go onto the activities for his college application (sophomore still, so we have a bit of time). Did you split up the exams and the activity, so have orchestra/band/etc on the activity side? Trying to think ahead here. DS may not need a fine arts credit so adding music to his transcript would not be required, but I can see how it might be helpful.

From my own experience, this is what the higher levels of language require: AS-Level language in the UK (so the first year of A Level) -- speaking exam covering six different subtopics under two themes (changing family, volunteerism, etc), standard reading/writing/listening exam, and a literature exam requiring an essay in the target language on either a film or a book from a set list (DS has No et moi by Delphine Vigan) A-level language in the UK (second year of A level) -- speaking exam with a substantial presentation by the student on a topic of their choice, to be discussed following the presentation (DS is doing Ravel/Debussy and the influence of Impressionism on music), plus questions on 12 different subtopics (including the six from year one), standard reading/writing/listening, and a literature exam requiring an essay on two books or one book and a film (DS is doing No et moi again and Au revoir les enfants. AP French -- DS was told they were going to try to read Le Petit Prince in class if they could get to it. Dutch system (pre-university stream) -- six works of literature (or so) for each foreign language studied, at a minimum Dutch and English DS is doing the IB next year (junior year) and may sit in on the French HL, where he will read literature too. I have been told but am not convinced that a 7 at HL language in the IB is the equivalent of a c1 on the CEFR. He will also do beginning German since the school Chinese teacher isn't willing to put him in SL Mandarin even though he has an A on his IGCSE Chinese unless he jumps through a zillion hoops for her and that is not going to happen. So this will be a good opportunity to evaluate the IB language curriculum. The UK isn't great with languages, as others have said, although I think if you're really serious about it and do well you can end up doing just fine.

I have yet to find complete and accurate information about the connection between GCSE/A-level, AP level, IB and the European languages framework! It's just not clear. Do the Canadian schools offer foundation years like in the UK? So if you don't have the full set of A-levels you can do a foundation year by way of "catch-up"?

From a substantive perspective it is also a bit different. DS had one year of his A-level French done and thought he would finish up with AP French, but his one year of A Level French was at a considerably higher level than the AP is, so he had to drop the class. A Level math and AP Calculus don't overlap very much, though, so it makes sense to take both. We were told that A Level math and HL IB math don't overlap very much, and so DS should take the IB HL math but found out from the teacher (English with experience of both) that there is considerable overlap. AP Chem and the first year of A Level chem seem to overlap quite well though. It makes it difficult switching from one system to the other since few people have firsthand knowledge of what is taught for a subject in each system.

I've sent via pm; if it doesn't look right please let me know! One issue we've had in the US is that schools/people don't know what to think of the GCSEs in terms of level but Canadians may have greater familiarity with the UK system.

My HS transcript for my youngest in the UK system included a brief overview of the exam system, then a listing of the courses and the exam grades. I didn't include any non-exam grades other than for a few other classes. I did include links to the exam specs but could also have done a summary of the spec. I can send you a copy if that would be helpful. I did the transcript for an application to private school, and it was adequate for that purpose.

Thanks. DS will likely go into engineering (99% of the time he is all about aerospace/aviation and then 1% of the time he's going to be a cardiothoracic surgeon so go figure!) and this will probably seal the deal for him. I knew that German is helpful for engineering but did not know that it was still the case that so much is still in German only.

Thank you all! This is helpful -- good to see that I'm not crazy in feeling like a less good teacher is a good reason for not taking a class. I deliberately did not attend the meeting because I don't speak Chinese, so wanted DS to speak Chinese with the teacher. I was in the room however so could hear everything but the teacher couldn't see me. DS introduced himself in Chinese with his Chinese name (which is quite important to him, since he was adopted from China and this is the name he was given there). Teacher just dismissed him and carried on in English. DS is perfectly capable of carrying on conversations in Chinese, not perfectly, but certainly at a decent level. He does have a good Chinese teacher now, based in China, who has been his tutor for three or four years now. My thinking was that the IB will be so much work that it will be tricky to keep up his Chinese if he's not doing this for one of the IB subjects, but I think that it would be even trickier to get DS to participate in a Chinese class where he does not want to be! His options now are to keep up with his usual Chinese tutor and take it easy, and then for school do Spanish or German, but two of his sibs and I speak German (to some degree) so will likely go with German. He wanted Dutch or Japanese for family reasons but these aren't offered sadly.

It looks like DS will attend an online school for his last two years, and I'm in the process of discussing class placement etc. DS has exams from the UK system so his level is in theory easy to assess. It would be for an IB program. The class that's the issue is Chinese -- DS has done the GCSE for Chinese and done well so should be able to join a reasonable level class (SL). We met with the teacher yesterday and it was awful. She talked nonstop AT DS for 30 minutes, barely asking him anything about what he has done or what he knows. He tried to speak to her in Chinese but she kept speaking English. Now she wants him to do a placement test because they don't care about the GCSE (but that's a different issue and DS has literally 18 exams coming up in the next two months, so I'm not making him do any more testing). DS was not at all happy with the teacher. I'm thinking now that he should just not do Chinese but take a different language instead. One language is required; his French is too good for their French class so he would need to add a third. But it seems a shame to give up Chinese since DS has spent a lot of time and effort into making progress in the language (and it's his heritage language as well). But I can't see him spending two years in a class with this teacher who seems pretty bad. Advice? Is it better to opt for a different language with a teacher who is probably good (other teachers there are good) or stick with the language DS wants but may be placed in a beginner class/not do well with the teacher? DS is not the kind of kid who works happily for teachers he does not like/respect (whole other issue that he admittedly needs to work on).

Just a couple of thoughts -- British Museum can have quite long lines but there is a back entrance that is usually not crowded. London Walks (https://www.walks.com/) does good subject-specific walking tours. V&A has a gorgeous restaurant (cupola type ceiling with William Morris design) if you're going there anyway. Tea at Fortnum's is fun but there's lots of other places to do tea, including Mariage Freres in Covent Garden. Borough Market is horribly crowded but people like it a lot. I think it's okay but am not crazy for the crowds; however, it's a pleasant walk from there to the Globe. Pipe organ at the Abbey -- they sometimes have organ concerts otherwise your best bet is a service, and I'd recommend Evensong (but make sure it's a day the actual choir is singing). Have fun!

DS16 summer keeps getting busier. He has three weeks of music camp, then may go to a SAME engineering camp for a few days (have not yet finalized), then an aerospace camp near home for a week (connected to a dual enrollment class he took) and then two weeks of Order of the Arrow Trail Trek at Philmont (so working on building/restoring stuff and then trekking). My aim was for him do have a solid chunk of music time and to spend a couple of weeks at least outdoors.

Thank you all! This is very helpful. Scary but helpful. I have started a document with the advice and will refer to this going forward. I've tried to make clear to the billing departments etc that if the bill is > xxx, then DS and I will go back to where we came from (his dad is there so this would be legal and ethical) and see doctors there. Capitalist hellscape indeed!

New to US health insurance question. We have pretty bad health insurance because I'm not yet working so have no employer health insurance. DS has had a number of appointments with a team in a hospital. None of these are urgent; all were scheduled months in advance. My problem is that, when I call the hospital to get an estimate of costs, they seem completely unable to help me. It took more than a month to find someone who gave me an estimate for his most recent appointments, including insurance coverage, but I think DS ended up with more appointments than we were told (everything on one day, just told to go from a to b to c and it was only later that I thought, hmm I don't think I asked about this one). I'm trying to figure this one out now. But then I called to make one follow-up appointment (non-urgent) and was told that they can't tell me if the doctor is in-network for me (okay that I can find out) or what the estimate of costs will be or even what the procedure codes are! After an hour of calling around, I was finally able to get someone to give me the procedure codes. But this keeps happening -- every time I ask a medical provider here for an estimate of costs, I'm told that financial aid is available but am not told what the costs are. It would be unethical for me to take financial aid but I would like to know the costs. Is this normal? How do people deal with this runaround? State law requires an estimate of costs to be provided, apparently, but getting this is another matter.

DS the elder attended for the six-week summer a number of years ago. DS the younger has applied for this year. Hoping he gets accepted because I still have the uniforms and want to get use out of them because they were pricy! DS enjoyed the program, didn't seem to think it was too intense, and generally had a good time. He had been in very intense music programs during the schoolyear though, so his view of intense music is skewed.

DS is also doing the same class -- maybe they know each other lol. DS is enjoying it, as am I, because it's so organised that I don't have to do much other than check in. He's also testing at our zoned high school.

I met a guy once who had intended to apply to Aberdeen but entered the code for Aberystwith (sp?) on the UCAS form. Ended up at Aberystwith by mistake and was like, yeah it's all good I'm having a great time.

I've lived in London for 10 years, and tbh I've not heard anything about it. New College of the Humanities rings a bell though. The "better" universities in the UK tend to be one of the Russell Group schools, and this isn't one of them. Not to be a horrible snob or anything -- could be good, but I honestly haven't heard about it, and I'm pretty familiar with UK schools.

You may have already seen this article, but if not, it's quite amusing: https://www.wsj.com/articles/dorm-room-design-tiktok-11662491017 My kids went to college with just one suitcase each and minimal decorations (living overseas so couldn't really send much). I still remember getting to DD1's college, moving her in and then noticing the large number of Uhauls and huge cars packed with all sorts of stuff! Then parents posting pics in the FB parents' group of the decorated rooms! I felt so bad. But they all survived and were fine. I wonder whether the wall restrictions are because kids are putting up fabric to cover the walls and fairy lights and so on? Could definitely be a fire hazard. My takeaway from all this was that the fire code thing with appliances is real and that there are inspections; you do need the specially long sheets, blu-tak or similar, something to put shower stuff in and hangers for your clothes.

I recently had a bad experience with a return to Amazon. They didn't deliver some stuff that MIL sent to DS for winter camp in time for camp. I returned the items. Amazon said they wouldn't notify the gift giver (MIL) and she got multiple emails asking about the return. Then their "customer service" claimed that a refund had been issued to a gift card on my account. Turned out they were actually lying, according to another customer service person who actually used the word lying. Then CS claimed that the return had only been received on x date, when according to the UPS tracker it was received on y date. It was extremely frustrating. I've sent a complaint but received no acknowledgment. I've rarely had any issues with them before so this mess was surprising.

Here's the list list (pretty nearly complete) of what DS and I watched in preparation for his French exam last year. Everything is available on Netflix, except for Familles Nombreuses, which is available on French tv so you need a vpn. TV shows: The Parisian Agency -- not sure why we like so much, but we do. It's about a family of realtors in the luxury market. DS is looking forward to the next season. Lupin -- love this one but there's one episode with a scene in which someone is hanged, so maybe screen for that one? Familles Nombreuses -- kinda dorky but lots of episodes and appealing. As the title says, it's a "documentary" (maybe sorta) about large families. Good for listening comprehension for conversation. Films Stuck Together -- dorky but fun to watch as we were just leaving lockdown. About the residents of an apartment building in Paris during the pandemic. Untouchable -- super good with Omar Sy. Not really for younger kids maybe but a great film anyway. Based on a true story. The Climb -- I thought this was a weird premise -- guy from Paris who has never seen a mountain sets out to climb Everest -- but based on a true story. We Are Family -- kind of silly kid film but we thoroughly enjoyed it. About a group of step-, half- and full siblings who are fed up with being shuffled around from family to family and take action. 10 jours en or -- liked this one too. About a guy who gets stuck delivering someone else's kid to someone. Spoiled Brats -- started out good but thought the ending was weak. He Even Has Your Eyes -- really liked this one a lot. About a Black family who adopts a white child and the reactions of people around them. I thought it might be preachy but it wasn't. I will say we set the bar pretty low in terms of quality but on occasion were pleasantly surprised by what we found. The aim was for DS to practice listening to French in a way that was non-schooly, so I wanted shows that he would like and pay attention to. We would watch half an hour or so every day during the months before the exam. Another exam coming up in June, so I think we'll be adding to the list. We've started Call My Agent but I'm not sure how suitable that is. DS is 16 so most themes are okay now.

I'll let you know how we like it. If you want more French content, maybe check out the reading/film lists for French A level (Edexcel, AQA, Cambridge). Many of the works are not really suitable (DS did No et moi for his exam last year, and that contained some difficult topics) for younger kids but there's also suggestions like Les choristes, which I really like. Also the War of the Buttons is a fun film in French. DS and I watched a ton of French tv/films last year in prep for his exam; if you like, I can give you the names of the shows/films we liked. Not all high quality but pretty fun.

This is a bit off your path, but DS (and I) are going to watch Un sac de billes (also a book, A Bag of Marbles by Joseph Joffo), which has two brothers in WW2 Paris fleeing to Menton (so general direction). It's based on a true story.

In theory it's possible that someone like Prince Harry (and others in the UK) would not have studied the Holocaust formally in school. For the GCSE exams (end of sophomore year) it's possible to choose the modules you're going to study (well, the school would choose). So my son this year is taking three US history modules and one Germany history module (homeschooled so our choice), but could easily have chosen not to do the German history module and still get his credit for history. And if you don't continue with history beyond sophomore year, which is common, you might get through school without having studied the Holocaust or other important eras beyond primary school. Certainly not excusing anyone for appearing in Nazi costume ofc just adding context.

My kids have usually tried to set up a meeting with a professor in a department of interest and also ask to attend a class of interest, not necessarily with the same prof. In terms of professor meetings, my kids would send an email setting out a line or two with their background (eg, "I have studied Latin and Greek for six years and am particularly interested in Ovid") and asking to meet to learn more about the department. During the meeting, it's key to be asking questions that are not answered on the website (sorry if I'm stating the obvious!). My kids have found these meetings to be very helpful in determining whether the school is of interest. This is separate from the tour, which as others have said said will often include a group meeting with the admissions team and a campus tour with a student. Just walking around by yourselves is also a good way to get a feel for the school. At DD's top choice, we were walking around chatting about the school when a student stopped us and said, hey I'm a student here, can I answer any questions? She was amazing and helpful, and I think that experience pretty much sealed the deal for DD.

DS is enrolled in a program for high schoolers that has him taking a university-level course. It's like dual enrollment but is part of a separate STEM program associated with a local museum. He can, if I pay, get university (UWash) credit for this course, or I can not pay and he can just take the class. I do not think, based on his siblings' experiences, that he will get credit for this course at college in a few years and so am disinclined to pay. It won't get him out of uni classes or speed up his uni experience. If he doesn't need/want college credit, is there any other reason that I should pay to get him the credits? Would the course be given more "credibility" on his transcript if I pay? It is just enough money that I don't want to pay unless there's a good reason but not so much that I couldn't if I thought it made sense. What am I missing here? Thanks!