artk2002-
thanks for the article!
Other posters- yes, I had no idea what a consultant did. At a recent parent info for college meeting, we were strongly cautioned NOT to write our child's essays or to pay some one else to do their work for them. I had never even considered the thought, and found it unsettling that this was mentioned and stressed a few times.
I guess I thought the cautionary e-mail concerning a consultant coming on the heels of warnings about letting your child do their own work felt like I woke up in richy-rich land and was way behind in thinking that merit was all DS needed.
He does do volunteer work and has a job plus extracurricular activities. We make him go to bed because he is still studying.
As far as DS's GPA, there are less than 100 students in his class. Only 13 are ahead in a foreign language for AP points a year ahead of their peers, and out of that 13, he is the only one a year ahead in AP credit for math.
The past several years of valedictorians have only been the ones that took this one language because you can advance up and skip ahead as opposed to other language courses.
So, simply by crunching the numbers, plus the additional news that only one student ever so far has graduated with an unweighted 4.0 (two years ago) and that DS is only two hairs away from that, odds are very much in his favor unless he just bombs out.
We have been at this school since DS was first grade. Classmates learn who the nerds are.
In fact, last year in DD's advanced math class, the teacher asked a question that involved another type of math taught the year before. DD recalled the formula and gave the correct answer. Her one year older classmates chuckled when another student exclaimed, "hey, that's not fair, she is a Regionite!"
Yes, I know DS needs to chill on the perfectionism. He came out of the womb that way. I have been trying to relax him since preschool!
He is a bit like Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory, but with muscles and a girlfriend.
