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High School Junior + College = Head Spinning

High School Junior + College = Head Spinning

Old Sep 29th 2009, 1:54 pm
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Default Re: High School Junior + College = Head Spinning

Originally Posted by Elvira
Oh - and expect little or no help with any of this from the high-school or the counsellors...
Originally Posted by Jerseygirl
We got that too...very little help and absolutely no help preparing for the SATs.
It depends on your HS. My previous school was understaffed in the guidance dept. and could barely keep up with all 1700 students. Where I am now, the guidance dept. is well staffed and is very good with helping everyone "find their way." We have one staff member devoted to seniors only in a school of about 900 students.
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Old Sep 29th 2009, 1:57 pm
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Default Re: High School Junior + College = Head Spinning

Originally Posted by Englishtart
Your post made me smile, we have a son in Junior high this year, hubby said to me last night, we need to start looking online at scholarships/colleges etc (with Son) to find out where he needs to go/do to get the courses he wants to do I was thinking we could leave it all till next year, but no! Hubbs says JH is the time to start getting all our ducks in a row

Advice would be very helpful here too
Junior High School and High School Junior are two very different things. A high school junior is a year and a bit away from graduation. Someone in junior high school is at least four and a bit years away from graduation.

I started thinking about college when I was in seventh grade (junior high is typically grades 6 to 8 but it can vary. Add five to the grade level to get the typical student age) but that was partly because my brother was four years older than me and was in the middle of his search. Junior high isn't too early to start thinking about it, if your student is interested in thinking that far ahead.

The bookstores will probably have a huge A4 size book listing all the universities in the country. Get one of those. There's typically less than a page per uni but it'll give you a quick overview.

I made a short list of features that I wanted in my uni - not a party school, not in a hot climate, with certain majors available. That quickly cut the possibilities down to a manageable size and then I started looking at the different options available to me.
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Old Sep 29th 2009, 2:05 pm
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Default Re: Guiding a teenager toward college

Originally Posted by Elvira
You have to be realistic: with a lowish GPA, no APs and just one Honors class, his options for college may be somewhat limited. Particularly if he has no clear idea of what he wants the study. (Hint: a purposeful Statement that shows that the student has thought deeply about his academic future can greatly enhance the chances of admission!)

Have you considered Community College for the first 2 years, and then transfer to a proper college? A lot of colleges have an established path for accepting transfers from CCs.

CC is also a lot cheaper/
The College counsellor gave me a list of colleges that would look at his applications with his GPA, so he may find something in there that interest him. We are going to research them. Yes CC is something we are considering. I go to the local CC myself so am very famililar with that set-up. Not sure he wants to go for two whole years though. Another option may be for him to take a "year out" take some classes at the CC college and then see if that opens up further avenues for him. If nothing else this is making him take a hard look at his grades. He is just one of those kids who really doesn't apply himself. Thinks just "doing the minimum" is going to be enough. I think he is fast coming to the realization that it isn't

It's nice being able to chew this over with others and get different ideas. Keep them coming all.
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Old Sep 29th 2009, 2:07 pm
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Default Re: High School Junior + College = Head Spinning

My Son has taken the SAT (practise test) twice already, one was given by the school, the other we booked and paid for. Not sure about the ACT (will ask him when he gets home)

He is taking AP World History this year (jr) but that's the only AP class, he is in 3 honors classes though and keeping a good GPA (3.85)

The thing I worry about is the extra curricular stuff, he isn't 'into' sports, so he isn't in any team sports, he did a magazine club in his last year, but hasn't joined anything this year (except rotc) Is his lack of eca's going to be a big sticking point for college applications?

His choice of career seems to be changing now too, he has always wanted to be a paleontologist, but found out that most end up being in the teaching profession, he doesn't want to teach, he still wants to do something related to this field, but is having a hard time making a decision
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Old Sep 29th 2009, 2:17 pm
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Default Re: Guiding a teenager toward college

Originally Posted by Elvira
You have to be realistic: with a lowish GPA, no APs and just one Honors class, his options for college may be somewhat limited. Particularly if he has no clear idea of what he wants the study. (Hint: a purposeful Statement that shows that the student has thought deeply about his academic future can greatly enhance the chances of admission!)

Have you considered Community College for the first 2 years, and then transfer to a proper college? A lot of colleges have an established path for accepting transfers from CCs.

CC is also a lot cheaper/
Originally Posted by Sue
The College counsellor gave me a list of colleges that would look at his applications with his GPA, so he may find something in there that interest him. We are going to research them. Yes CC is something we are considering. I go to the local CC myself so am very famililar with that set-up. Not sure he wants to go for two whole years though. Another option may be for him to take a "year out" take some classes at the CC college and then see if that opens up further avenues for him. If nothing else this is making him take a hard look at his grades. He is just one of those kids who really doesn't apply himself. Thinks just "doing the minimum" is going to be enough. I think he is fast coming to the realization that it isn't

It's nice being able to chew this over with others and get different ideas. Keep them coming all.
Without putting words in Elvira's mouth, what she is trying to tell you is...



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Old Sep 29th 2009, 2:19 pm
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Default Re: High School Junior + College = Head Spinning

Originally Posted by Englishtart
My Son has taken the SAT (practise test) twice already, one was given by the school, the other we booked and paid for. Not sure about the ACT (will ask him when he gets home)

He is taking AP World History this year (jr) but that's the only AP class, he is in 3 honors classes though and keeping a good GPA (3.85)

The thing I worry about is the extra curricular stuff, he isn't 'into' sports, so he isn't in any team sports, he did a magazine club in his last year, but hasn't joined anything this year (except rotc) Is his lack of eca's going to be a big sticking point for college applications?

His choice of career seems to be changing now too, he has always wanted to be a paleontologist, but found out that most end up being in the teaching profession, he doesn't want to teach, he still wants to do something related to this field, but is having a hard time making a decision
My daughter played fencing and tennis but she wasn't in the school team. She was editor of the school newspaper which supposedly was the oldest school newspaper in the country. I bet all the schools say that! The uni she went to (Toronto) weren't interested in extra curricular...they were only interested in academic achievements.

Athletics is the main route to the top colleges...the same applies to grants. Even in 6th grade parents used to video their kids during school games. I asked why they were doing it...they said it was to send to colleges.
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Old Sep 29th 2009, 2:19 pm
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Default Re: High School Junior + College = Head Spinning

Originally Posted by Englishtart
My Son has taken the SAT (practise test) twice already, one was given by the school, the other we booked and paid for. Not sure about the ACT (will ask him when he gets home)

He is taking AP World History this year (jr) but that's the only AP class, he is in 3 honors classes though and keeping a good GPA (3.85)

The thing I worry about is the extra curricular stuff, he isn't 'into' sports, so he isn't in any team sports, he did a magazine club in his last year, but hasn't joined anything this year (except rotc) Is his lack of eca's going to be a big sticking point for college applications?

His choice of career seems to be changing now too, he has always wanted to be a paleontologist, but found out that most end up being in the teaching profession, he doesn't want to teach, he still wants to do something related to this field, but is having a hard time making a decision
My daughter only did inter (intra?) mural sports, German club and crafts club in HS. She did a lot of "little" things along the way...after-school Chinese, volunteering at school (took notes for a cerebal palsy student, meet/greet new students, etc.) I think it depends on the competition and the school you want to get into.
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Old Sep 29th 2009, 2:31 pm
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Default Re: High School Junior + College = Head Spinning

Originally Posted by Jerseygirl
The uni she went to (Toronto) weren't interested in extra curricular...they were only interested in academic achievements.
That's how it was 30 years ago when I went... interesting that it hasn't changed. I had exactly zero in terms of extra curricular, but got in just fine.
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Old Sep 29th 2009, 2:36 pm
  #24  
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Default Re: High School Junior + College = Head Spinning

Originally Posted by Jerseygirl
My daughter played fencing and tennis but she wasn't in the school team. She was editor of the school newspaper which supposedly was the oldest school newspaper in the country. I bet all the schools say that! The uni she went to (Toronto) weren't interested in extra curricular...they were only interested in academic achievements.

Athletics is the main route to the top colleges...the same applies to grants. Even in 6th grade parents used to video their kids during school games. I asked why they were doing it...they said it was to send to colleges.
Originally Posted by tamms_1965
My daughter only did inter (intra?) mural sports, German club and crafts club in HS. She did a lot of "little" things along the way...after-school Chinese, volunteering at school (took notes for a cerebal palsy student, meet/greet new students, etc.) I think it depends on the competition and the school you want to get into.

If we could find a college that was 'only' interested in academic results, it would make things a lot easier I think, as long as he could get the right courses obviously.

He is a strange kid really, he is very book smart, but hasn't much street smarts, he isn't as self confident as his older Brother was, but his Brother wasn't very book smart He hates to 'join' groups, but once in them, he enjoys it, we had to pretty much force him into rotc, hoping it would help with his confidence issues. I guess you would call him a nerd/geek.

I know we have to start seriously along the path to college choices etc, but it is kind of overwhelming, hubby will be a big help though, he went through it himself. Pity we didn't get a practise run with the oldest, but he signed up with the Navy before he had even left high school.
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Old Sep 29th 2009, 2:58 pm
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Default Re: High School Junior + College = Head Spinning

Everything everyone else has said.

My eldest only did two years of high school here (she arrived on these shores as a junior). Not an easy transition and she only took one honors class in French.
Her GPA wasn't brilliant because all the classes were so different and she isn't a great academic.

She looked at small state colleges and, for reasons mostly to do with GC status or lack of it, she chose a state college here in PA.

They accepted her partly because they struggle to compete with the big PA schools but she took to it like a duck to water and made the deans list in her first year.

My middle one has done 4 years of high school and has just started college. We have GC's now and that opened up her choices.
We were advised to apply to every school she liked the look of regardless of wether we expected her to get in.

Most schools waive the application fee if you apply on line or while you are visiting the college. We didn't visit all the ones she applied to and that didn't seem to make a difference to getting accepted.

Some of the private schools were so expensive it made my eyes water but we filled in our FAFSA and sat back and waited for financial aid offers from the colleges she had been accepted at.

The private schools all made very generous offers, the state schools didn't.
So don't let the cost of a private school put you off, just apply.

We are paying less for the middle one at a private Tier 1 university than we are for the eldest at a small state one.

Our guidance counsellor wasn't very helpful but he did say..."don't panic, there is a college for everyone".

Start early, keep good records, watch the college's own time line and take it one step at a time.
I am sooooo glad we don't have to do it again for four years!
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Old Sep 29th 2009, 3:25 pm
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Default Re: High School Junior + College = Head Spinning

http://www.schoolguides.com/colleges...ault.asp?id=71

This may help, it has tons of info, college prep' how to start, choosing a college etc.
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Old Sep 29th 2009, 3:28 pm
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Default Re: High School Junior + College = Head Spinning

Originally Posted by Englishtart
He is a strange kid really, he is very book smart, but hasn't much street smarts, he isn't as self confident as his older Brother was, but his Brother wasn't very book smart He hates to 'join' groups, but once in them, he enjoys it, we had to pretty much force him into rotc, hoping it would help with his confidence issues. I guess you would call him a nerd/geek.
Sounds a lot like me @ 17, I predict he'll turn out all right
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Old Sep 29th 2009, 3:39 pm
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Default Re: High School Junior + College = Head Spinning

Originally Posted by Bill_S
Sounds a lot like me @ 17, I predict he'll turn out all right
Thanx Bill I really hope so, I worry about him too much I think. Just need to tie him down and get him to start seriously thinking about college choices/courses etc. I think because he has had to re-think his path recently, he is confused about which direction he wants to go in now, he is still interested in the 'ology's' just not sure which ones
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Old Sep 29th 2009, 3:40 pm
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Default Re: High School Junior + College = Head Spinning

I also feel completely overwhelmed in this matter (our college counsellor just got the sack in the budget cuts). My son sounds quite similar to yours, Sue. He has a good GPA but no AP classes. He will not get straight into the UC system and 2 years of CC looks like a good way to go. His major love is art and he does a lot of extra-curricular art. We are also at sea as he has expressed a desire to go back to England and I need to research that angle. First things first, the practice SAT.
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Old Sep 29th 2009, 5:16 pm
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Default Re: High School Junior + College = Head Spinning

Originally Posted by Sally Redux
I also feel completely overwhelmed in this matter (our college counsellor just got the sack in the budget cuts). My son sounds quite similar to yours, Sue. He has a good GPA but no AP classes. He will not get straight into the UC system and 2 years of CC looks like a good way to go. His major love is art and he does a lot of extra-curricular art. We are also at sea as he has expressed a desire to go back to England and I need to research that angle. First things first, the practice SAT.
CC can be a very worthwhile route to college. Two of mine took some classes at CC while they were 'considering their options' I think the UC colleges actually favour students who have taken that route.

However, the quality of teaching at CCs can vary a great deal, so it's important to do a bit of research to find out who the good and bad eggs are. Having said that, some of the teaching was actually superior to some classes at academic colleges, where undergraduates or often taught by Teaching Assistants of varying quality.
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