1st. In many places test occur in 2nd grade that chart a students course going forward. Need to be prepared for GogAt and other similar tests.

My kid is in 8th and I'm interviewing now. I know I'm going to need help navigating the next 4 years. He will be attending an SN boarding school but is academically advanced. He will be learning the life skills he needs at school but the academics are grade level at best. They will be outsourcing a lot of his course work to One Schoolhouse and eventually the local community college.

We will need help figuring out the right courses to take--at school, OSH, or CC, figuring out what the ECs should like, capturing the reflections from the volunteer work so that hopefully he will be able to craft a meaningful essay about his HS experience, and then of course identifying which schools will be the right fit for him when the time comes.

Might as well do it now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:zero grade. You don't need one.

Girl know your audience! You’re giving advice for the normal parent. There aren’t many of them here.

ehhhh - Every single one of my junior's friends has one.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a very ambitious freshman. He has straight As, plays 3 varsity sports and is trying out various clubs. He is aiming for top schools. If we leave him by himself, I’m sure he will do fine but unlikely to have anything that will make him stand out from the other smart athletic kids.

We had a college consultant in the delivery room, but kid ended up at Tufts. Some people have told us if we were serious about the Ivies, we should have had one who was certified in pre-natal consulting.

+1 Unless they aren't there at conception, it's not even worth it.

Anonymous wrote:zero grade. You don't need one.

Girl know your audience! You’re giving advice for the normal parent. There aren’t many of them here.

zero grade. You don't need one.

It might help your family in particular to seem more humble and less braggart on the application essays.

Anonymous wrote:I have a very ambitious freshman. He has straight As, plays 3 varsity sports and is trying out various clubs. He is aiming for top schools. If we leave him by himself, I’m sure he will do fine but unlikely to have anything that will make him stand out from the other smart athletic kids.

We had a college consultant in the delivery room, but kid ended up at Tufts. Some people have told us if we were serious about the Ivies, we should have had one who was certified in pre-natal consulting.

Anonymous wrote:I'd like to know if hiring a cc starting in 9/10 helped with course selection, ECs, etc

It can help. However, it isn't that difficult to do yourself. Have your kid take a balanced list of courses and do honors/AP in the areas they enjoy the most. If you are targeting T20 schools, then 4 years of FL will help, but minimum of 3 years for most T50 schools is expected.
You as a family help decide how many APs. Know that for T20 you ideally need STEM and Humanities/SS APs, but it's still a lottery to get in. So don't force your kid to take 6APs junior and senior year and be miserable for something that might not help them at all. Be selective in your AP choices and do reg/honors for the others.

If your kid has any plans for STEM or business majors, then have them pursue at least thru Calculus, ideally AB or BC if on track. If STEM then also include 1-2 AP Science classes as well. Also if STEM, take at least some Physics in HS---don't go to college and take physics for the first time, just don't do it. Same for calculus.

I'd like to know if hiring a cc starting in 9/10 helped with course selection, ECs, etc

Barf.

He gets good test scores- he already has everything else.

Scores will definitely be a thing in 3 years when he applies.

0 grade

Unnecessary, waste of &

I have a very ambitious freshman. He has straight As, plays 3 varsity sports and is trying out various clubs. He is aiming for top schools. If we leave him by himself, I’m sure he will do fine but unlikely to have anything that will make him stand out from the other smart athletic kids.