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Desperately Need Hive Wisdom!


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My oldest daughter dealt with some serious health issues starting the end of her freshman year through much of her sophomore year. Because of this, she is about a year behind in school. She is extremely bright, and still tests very well. Before she became ill, she was consistently testing in the 99 percentile across the board on the standardized tests we take every year, and scored in the high 90’s this spring in spite of being sick and having done so little school. She has the ability to be a National Merit Scholar, although I’m not sure she has the drive. She has already decided what she wants to do, and does not need to be a Merit Scholar to go to the college she has selected (in state tuition and very affordable), although a few smaller academic scholarships would be helpful financially for us.

 

She is OK with essentially getting put back a year and redoing her sophomore year. She has a summer birthday, so while technically she would be a junior, she would be a young junior. She has other and varied interests, and does not want to sacrifice those in trying to catch-up. This particular child would also benefit from going to college a bit “older.â€

 

What complicates things, however, is her younger sister, who is 13 months younger than her, and while not super-bright, is pretty smart and disciplined and does well at school. She is on-grade (will be a sophomore).

 

If we lived in a vacuum, there would be no problem. But we don’t. Both daughters will be taking PSATs this year at the local high school. They may both be playing basketball at the local high school. What grade they are in matters for these things.

 

One option is to call her a junior for PSAT and basketball, but then use a gap year to finish up, perhaps doing a few CLEP courses as part of her “senior†year. She probably won’t score that well on the PSAT, but the school she wants to go to will accept most CLEPs for credit. My question for the hive is: How does waiting a year affect eligibility and scholarships for college?

 

My other option is to call her a sophomore, and deal with the awkwardness of having two kids, a year apart, that are in the same grade. My oldest is a bit uncomfortable with this, but I told her she could honestly tell anyone that asks that she was sick for a year and missed a lot of school. Given how self-centered most teenagers are, I’m guessing it might never come up. The benefit of this option is that she would probably do really well on the PSATs next year, as well as the SATs the following. She would be well-staged for other scholarships as well. My question for the hive is: would anyone at either college or the testing administrators care how old she is?

 

I need to figure this out pretty quick, because I have to get them signed up for testing and sports.:glare:

 

HELP!!!

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If you can get the older dd over the issue of being "held back", it seems like you've given a lot of reasons why it would be a good idea -- she missed a lot of academic time last year, you'd like her to go away to school later, etc. I don't think the colleges will care at all about the older one's age when she applies. Around these parts, many families hold children (both boys and girls) with summer birthdays "back" a year in school.

 

If you will be applying for financial aid for college for your children, then having them both going during the same 4-year period would possibly help them both qualify for more aid -- just another thing to consider...

 

Best wishes on making what must be a really tough decision for all of you.

 

Brenda

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My question for the hive is: How does waiting a year affect eligibility and scholarships for college?

 

First, the colleges won't care that she would be a 19-year-old freshman. Not one bit. So I think you can put your mind at ease that her age at graduation will not be an issue.

 

If it bothers your older dd to be in the same grade as her younger sister, then I think it sounds like a good idea to let her proceed onto junior year activities while keeping her a sophomore on paper. Really, no one needs to know but you all. In fact, I don't think it would mess things up to have her take the PSAT this year as a second time sophomore, then next year as a declared junior. Verify this with College Board, always helpful when I've called with questions. If she dual enrolls her senior year or studies and takes some CLEP tests, it will look and *feel* like college on schedule, while still giving her some margin to become a true freshman a year later.

 

One other advantage of this would be that your homeschool transcript isn't final until she graduates. So, for example, you could keep her a sophomore on paper, allow her to continue on with the PSAT and sports as a junior and then, if you all decide in the next year that an extra year is unnecessary, let her become a senior and graduate "on time." It will affect the PSAT, but it's a minor edit on your Word transcript.

 

Hope that helps! I've actually known at least a couple of kids that had a double freshman or sophomore year, and another that graduated a year early taking freshman classes a local college while remaining a senior in church/extracurricular activities and walking through homeschool graduation with her class.

 

Many blessings! We always just want to do the BEST for our kids and sometimes BEST is not that clear cut. :tongue_smilie:

 

Lisa

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Is she behind in CREDITS? You may have trouble with your prospective college in spreading the credits over 5 years. I wouldn't intentionally do that if she got quite a few credits her sophomore year (meaning your main beef is the potentially low PSAT score). But if she got almost no credits her sophomore year and was basically completing work from her 9th, then it's not so sticky. (You just call everything for the two years 9th and move on.)

 

If the real issue is the testing, I would get some test prep books or do some refresher work. My guess is things just got rusty and will come back, now that she's feeling better. You'd feel bad if she took the PSAT this year, declaring herself a sophomore, and COULD have qualified and been fine, kwim?

 

I'd get over the graduating siblings together thing. I know people who've done that, simply because the siblings thought it would be nice to go to a far away college together. Might turn out to be nice.

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If it bothers your older dd to be in the same grade as her younger sister, then I think it sounds like a good idea to let her proceed onto junior year activities while keeping her a sophomore on paper. Really, no one needs to know but you all. In fact, I don't think it would mess things up to have her take the PSAT this year as a second time sophomore, then next year as a declared junior. Verify this with College Board, always helpful when I've called with questions. If she dual enrolls her senior year or studies and takes some CLEP tests, it will look and *feel* like college on schedule, while still giving her some margin to become a true freshman a year later.

 

One other advantage of this would be that your homeschool transcript isn't final until she graduates. :tongue_smilie:

Lisa

 

I am in a very similar situation with my D (then 16) and I had to make that same judgment call. Last year D was junior in public school and she become ill November of that fall (2009). We had to pull her from the school and our only option was to homeschool. Scary at first but now a blessing in disguise! For several months D did very little schoolwork, she was so ill....She fell behind in math and science, but those courses require such concentration, it would have been fruitless to attempt to teach her.

 

What I did was this: As she recovered in Spring 2010 and still a junior I had D study a CLEP exam book (REA guide) Intro to Sociology. She also used the Instacert website. After a month of this D said she was ready to go take the CLEP exam at the local college. She did, and she passed. She was so thrilled--she had just passed a college course!--that she was motivated to take an online summer course at our local community college as a Dual Enrollment student. So, in June 2010 she began Environmental Science online. She finished in 7 weeks, and then enrolled in 2 more online college courses--Spanish 1 and Philosophy/Ethics in July, as well as preparing for a CLEP Freshman Comp course. By the end of the summer she had passed all 3 college courses and also passed the Freshman CLEP exam.

 

Now, here it is fall 2010, and D is well enough (and motivated enough) to pick up the pieces from her "missing" junior year. In D's mind and the mind of my husband and mself, D is a Senior, yet she is doing some junior work in math and chemistry. But really, is it "junior work?" Chemistry and Algebra 2, for example, can be taken by seniors. D has rounded out her schedule by continuing her community college classes. That is the flexibility of homeschooling.

 

I don't think a college will hold it against your daughter that she hasn't covered all courses in a normal sequence, especially if you D passes a CLEP exam and/or takes a community college course (online is much easier for those students who don't yet drive). It shows that, despite the challenge of serious illness, your D rose to the occasion and overcame her hurdles. Also, a brief note accompanying her homeschool transcript can explain a gap in the sequence due to "serious illness".

 

Good luck, I know what it's like!

Edited by distancia
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Think carefully about your dd's academic schedule if you think she might be a NM contender. The NM process locks you in to a standard schedule. This schedule is: take PSAT in 11th, college applications in 12th, graduation, then college matriculation the fall immediately after finishing high school. The NM paperwork is very specific about this.

 

Perhaps she could be accepted before a gap year, then defer her scholarship. But the concept of a gap year is still pretty new to colleges, plus they are probably not going to consider a "catch up" year a true gap year.

 

If you decide to keep her as a sophomore, I'll bet that a documented illness would smooth out any issues with her transcript showing work over five years.

 

Best wishes with your decision,

GardenMom

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I agree with others who have stated that her age when startng college is really a non-issue. I believe that anywhere from 17 to 19 would be considered quite typical.

 

I think Brenda's point below is also well worth considering.

 

If you will be applying for financial aid for college for your children, then having them both going during the same 4-year period would possibly help them both qualify for more aid -- just another thing to consider...

 

 

Regards,

Kareni

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