Kids, Homework, College, AP, Ski Racing, All of It

This sub-thread has a life of it's own, so I broke it out.  I'm sure the "REPLYS" are messed up, apologies.

I’m sure he will be taking many AP classes jr and Sr years.  He could have taken AP world history this yr but decided not to so he can take US history which opens up taking AP macro Econ as a jr and or AP Psych as a Sr. At this point he is saying he may want to major in business or engineer but I also could see more or a bio slant and try for something like PT or sports trainer.  

If I had to place a bet on what school he ends up at I’d go with Clarkson at this point.  

PeeTex wrote

...they realized that a focus shift to academic training at that time, SAT prep training, a consultant for college applications and essays, loading up on AP classes, technology camps, music camps, etc. So killer SAT & ACT scores resulted and now the girl is in a great college...

This might be a great scenario for your grand daughter, but it seems like a big load to me.

Our daughter is going through a period where she seems to really not like to read. Obviously that's not ideal, but we're trying to take a chill approach to it. She got through her standardized testing this spring and was recommended for AP English.  She really didn't want to do it.  The reading list for this summer was more than 2 books a week. We told the school to put her in normal English.

She's totally into gymnastics and doing it 8 hours a day at a camp and totally digging it.  Maybe this is a mistake, but we are having a lot of fun enjoying the summer, with a break from the relentless load of homework during the school year. For now we're letting a kid be a kid.

IMO the goal is to be happy, not necessarily rich. I guess we'll see how it turns out.

Sounds healthy Harv.

I was under the impression your daughter was younger. Or do they have AP classes before high school these days?

Well Peetex is "rich" and unhappy so you guys are way ahead of him!

witch hobble wrote

I was under the impression your daughter was younger. Or do they have AP classes before high school these days?

She's in 6th grade.  

It's funny that never even occurred to me. I never made it into any AP classes so I guess I wasn't totally conscious of that change.

I do remember my best buddy in high school had a girlfriend who was super bright and she burned through everything AP by end of her junior year so she went to Princeton for math and science. It wasn't a standard program, but something set up specifically for her.

I suspect Harv meant honors English not AP which is for grades 11 and 12 normally.  His duaghter is younger than my son who is going into 10th grade.

When and why did High school become so home work intensive?  Is it healthy to put our kids thru this?  That if they get even a few B’s that they won’t get into a good university.  Education is important but this is not healthy for these kids to have this pressure on them.

ScottyJack wrote

Well Peetex is "rich" and unhappy so you guys are way ahead of him!

You have never even met me so how can you make such a ridiculous statement. I am very happy and having a great time.

Z wrote

When and why did High school become so home work intensive?  Is it healthy to put our kids thru this?  That if they get even a few B’s that they won’t get into a good university.  Education is important but this is not healthy for these kids to have this pressure on them.

This happened a while ago, it wasn't this way when I was in high school. It was getting more competitive when my kids went through high school and it's over the top now. It happened with a silent influx of Asian and Indian students who's work ethic and family values are so much more than today's normal American family. How many of these kids do you see in ski racing (I saw only one). These kids are focusing on Music and academics. There are so many of them with perfect scores and grades that the Ivys have been accused of discriminating against them, if they didn't than that's all they would have. This is the world we live in today.

Now does your kid have to compete at that level to be successful or happy. No.
But getting into the 9.9% for a white kid when he now has to compete with the influx of kids from other cultures who's parents who have put  much much higher value on academic excellence and a professional career track will be harder and if that immigrant kids parents are lower middle class and with top academic credentials they not only have a better chance of getting in, they also will get a free ride - that's the dilemma of the 9.9%.

With a few Bs and moderately good SAT scores your kid will likely get into any NYS school (with the exception of Binghamton or maybe Stonybrook) but they won't get a lot if any academic aid. They may be happier but they may also end up with the stress of student loans depending on your means. With a good amount of AP credits your kid could graduate in 3 years saving 25% of his undergraduate tuition costs.

Then there is grad school and you don't even want to look at what happens if they choose a med school route - yousa, that is hyper competitive.  

Z wrote

Now is your school district really offering AP classes to 11 year olds?  That is nuts!

The earliest I have seen an AP class offered is 10th grade. Taking and passing an AP class does not get you college credit, getting a high enough score on the AP exam may get you credit. Some schools don't take AP credits or put a limit on them. Some set the score on the AP tests pretty high to be accepted. Some kids will take the course in college even though they passed the course and got the credit if the course is fundamental to their major.

I seem to recall your kid may consider engineering, if that's the case AP physics and BC calculus should be in his future.

My daughter was in APUSH this year and next year will be in AP EURO and AP Calc.

Half of her class did not even wind up taking the exam because the teacher is very protective of his results. She did and passed, but likely not enough to get college credit. I think one kid from the class got a 5.

Mostly it shows commitment to a rigorous academic curriculum to potential colleges. IMHO, no way she retains much of the full scale onslaught of American History info thrown at her last year. It was ridiculous.  Very few subjects were taught in depth. It was a clusterfuck flashcards and teaching for the test.

This morning my kid informed me that he bought a nightclub in Grand Theft Auto. I'm so proud of him.

Sounds like a smart girl. She will likely get some decent scholarship money from most schools. Clarkson will usually bend over backwards for a smart female who wants to go into engineering, you could probably get them down to the cost of a SUNY.

I think Clarkson will give academically strong kids about $15k/yr which gets the cost to $48k/yr. Some kids can get more as there are leadership scholarships they offer as well.

She is smart and a hard worker. They say those traits skip a generation 😂.

Clarkson is on her list, as are some of the bigger name tech schools. Since she already lives in a small college town, I think she might be more interested in life in a bigger city, and not another small town. We’ll see. I’m encouraging her to apply broadly.

They do appear to give out copious merit aid.

i wonder how poco loco's doing?

I’ve done a lot of work with the big tech schools in Boston, North Eastern has a good program and as a Coop they can usually earn enough to offset a lot of college expense and get great experience

Kudos to everything Clarkson.  Don't let the retail sticker price shock you.  Apply to all their scholarships, and if interested, let your HS guidance counselor know early in 11th grade u r interested so the Leadership awards (1 or 2 per high school) is given to your kid.  Then apply to all the ones on the CU website if formally applying to the school.

They are more then generous, well said about female engineers, they do provide merit aid (until the Ivy League schools), agree cost can be comparable to SUNY, and the kids that graduate well in their class, have many experiences on their resume, including internships and study abroad and positions in leadership, and sports to show balance, can and do pull in a six figure salary right out of college (although 70-80k is more standard).  

Ski team is good and fun - no $$ given for D3 although it shows part of the balance package for the kid and helps with admission.  Ask what the starting salaries of St L kids are that ski D1.   Enough said.  Be careful of focusing on sports too much, when it comes to the 3rd and 4th year, if you are in engineering, you won't have the time.

Yep. Northeastern, BU, Wentworth are on the list too. Also WPI.

Insane the way Northeastern has grown (both in size and stature) over the last 30 years. Same acceptance rate now as University of Michigan. It’s way too big for my liking. But she’s not me.

Sticker prices are shocking for sure! RPI is over $70K/yr cost of attendance. Very interesting to read stats on aid and how they differ from school to school.  Clarkson definitely seems to focus more on aid than on relentless infrastructure and amenity upgrades than some of the others.