Carl Bishop2 said:Have you actually looked at the questions they’re putting on the entrance exams lately? Do you really think those aren't doing a decent job of filtering people out?
To be honest, I haven't seen them myself—but someone else on the forums was mentioning earlier that the questions aren't even all that impressive. I guess if the material is just average, then the selection process is only going to pick up average students, rather than those with a real edge in STEM.
Sarah Hall53 said:Honestly, I think you’d be pretty surprised. I have this whole group of girlfriends who were total linguistics nerds in high school and then somehow ended up pivoting straight into STEM fields. And then there's the flip side—I know plenty of math whizzes who spent their teen years obsessing over literature and languages. It’s strange, really... it's like at some point, something just clicks in your brain and you head off in a completely different direction.
God forbid that actually happens. I was just thinking—if she doesn't get into that school in Washington, D.C., maybe there’s a chance with the one in Annapolis? Is a transfer even a possibility there? And honestly... what kind of half-baked argument could we possibly use to convince them to actually listen?
Man, the commute around here is just such a nightmare lately—seriously, the connectivity is absolute garbage. It feels like the public transit lines were designed by someone who’s never actually tried to get anywhere in real life. You pick a route, thinking it’ll get you from point A to point B, and then—bam—you're stuck waiting on a bus that's already twenty minutes late, or you realize the transfer takes forever because the schedules don't even remotely line up. It’s honestly exhausting. Just one constant struggle to move from one place to another without losing your mind.
A good number of my colleagues have kids heading off to study STEM, and sooner or later, they all admit the same thing—for these kids, life basically boils down to a repetitive loop between their dorms and the classroom. So, I suppose for some, getting into a program like that is the ultimate dream, while for others... well, be careful what you wish for. Back in my high school days, we had these initial placement exams covering math, physics, and English. That was the first time I was genuinely stunned—it was a shock, really—to see that nearly a third of the class actually passed. And mind you, these were all supposedly "honor students," yet half of them couldn't tell you a basic grammar rule or even distinguish between simple past and past continuous. Don't even get me started on the math. Now, I’m not trying to make a political statement here—if someone truly has a passion for it, then by all means, go for it. But if we're looking at the cold, hard reality? The job market is incredibly narrow, even if you head overseas. Unless you happen to land a perfect role right out of college, things can get pretty bleak.
Susan James said:But why push them toward specific majors so early? Hardly any kid knows what they want to do at 15; most change their minds dozens of times before they hit 18, and plenty more do it even later. A huge number of students who go into STEM end up in med school or working for FERC, but they also pivot to law or finance....
Kids should enroll in things they are actually interested in and already have a knack for, rather than being forced into something they aren't wired for just because it sounds "cool" or "stable" to parents. You know the drill—parents think it's a guaranteed path to a good paycheck and less struggle down the road.
It's actually this exact "pushing toward STEM" that led to the massive surge in STEM applications, which then caused grade inflation across almost all subjects. It's all about forcing competition to rack up points and debating whether one STEM track is harder than another....
Instead of just using "competitive difficulty" for STEM entrance exams, they should include physics and computer science too. Not necessarily to pick the absolute best, but to give the kids (and by extension, the parents) a reality check on what high school curriculum actually looks like and whether they are truly cut out for it.
Of course they should have the freedom to choose what they want—that’s a given. But I have my doubts—perhaps just a hunch—that kids who aren't already crushing it in STEM are actually going to gravitate toward PMO or specialized science academies. It seems more likely that someone coming out of a place like Mio would lean toward STEM or Treasury studies rather than, say, sociology or something equally niche. And as for putting computer science on the entrance exams? I highly doubt that will happen, especially since it's only an elective in 7th and 8th grade. Still, I suppose the idea itself isn't entirely bad. When I mentioned competitive tasks, I was thinking of something a bit more complex—you know, a higher level than just the usual average stuff. More like actual brain teasers.
Sarah Hall53 said:It’s honestly just a way to bail out the kids who are about to fail—you know, those ones where they get transferred to some other school, preferably a private academy, during this last month of the term, and suddenly all their failing grades just... vanish. Then, once they hit the next grade level, they try to slide right back into their old public school like nothing ever happened.
God forbid that actually happens. I was just wondering—if she doesn't get into that school in Washington, D.C., but maybe makes it into the one in Annapolis instead—would a transfer even be possible? And honestly... what kind of halfway decent argument could anyone even use to convince them to approve it?
By the way, speaking of that technical high school in that small town in Ohio—is it actually possible to enroll there first, and then just transfer over to New York City halfway through the semester? Just thinking about it as a potential Plan B, I guess.
Well, the chemical technician program is based out of a small town in Ohio. But the real focus was on launching those extra tracks to steer kids toward STEM or technical fields—so either the PM track or just pure sciences. Honestly, either way works fine. Personally, I don't see any reason why entrance exams shouldn't be standardized. If they set, say, 20 questions, maybe the last few should be at a competitive level just to shake things up. That’s how you actually filter people. Speaking from my own experience as a former high schooler, if you're studying consistently every single day, there isn't really a problem—nor is there any massive amount of extra stress. Looking back now, I realize just how much useless stuff I spent time cramming... though, I suppose I didn't really know what I wanted to major in back then, so what could I do? If I could turn back the clock, I definitely wouldn't have enrolled...
PM programs have become incredibly popular over the last few years. A friend’s kid was applying for a chemical technician track at a small town in Ohio recently—there were over 300 applicants, and I think they only accept one class per year. Back in my day, those kinds of tracks were basically just like an Agricultural high school. It's funny how much things change, I guess. Still, I suppose opening additional PM classes is a good move—it probably increases the odds that these kids actually head toward related university majors, rather than pivoting to something like cultural anthropology or indiology. The entrance exams really ought to be unified and standardized. We shouldn't have kids jumping from one test to another—it just creates more unnecessary stress than they need. There should also be some sort of way to encourage or incentivize students from surrounding areas to attend schools in their own local hubs if that's the specialty they want. Otherwise, you end up with this massive influx of kids from, say, a suburban town near a major city, all descending on the general high schools in New York City.
I was under the impression that having more schools in New York City would mean they’d lean harder into entrance exams. If they end up forcing us through a combination of both the DM and an exam, honestly, that’s just a total mess—and I really hope we can dodge that scenario. It’s obvious that some kind of evaluation has to happen, obviously, but doing both? That seems excessive. At that point, they might as well just scrap the points system entirely; there wouldn't be much point in it.
That’s certainly true. I was actually thinking more about the logistics—specifically whether and how the Department is going to coordinate all of this. Will there be a standardized entrance exam that applies to every subject and school, or not? And will they even recognize the credits? It’s this current generation that’s really going to bear the brunt of it all.
Peter Rogers said:I mean, I honestly have no clue why, because when you look at the school's list of requirements, it clearly says medical diploma medicinework blah blah blah... but it’ll probably turn out everyone at the school is just on vacation anyway, so we can check it then.
That link you shared includes a table covering all the different professions and their potential contraindications. I actually took some time to look through it quite thoroughly. It seems like some jobs require clearance from the school doctor, while others specifically need it from occupational medicine. It really just depends on the career path.
Peter Rogers said:Hey guys, quick question—does anyone know where I can go in Cleveland to get an occupational medicine checkup done? Is it just a bunch of private clinics around there, or is there actually a public option?
Down in Washington, D.C., you can head to an Occupational Medicine Clinic—but, well, you're looking at paying out of pocket for that. I suppose there might be a workaround, though... if your employer sends you specifically for it, they usually pick up the tab. Looking at that PDF, I'm assuming this is for getting a kid enrolled in High School. If that's the case, I suspect you'll have to pay for it yourself too.
I'll jump in here just to confirm—it really is all just phases. Mine goes through these stages where they just refuse to leave the house; they’re constantly glued to their phones, texting, doing group calls, playing online games... you know how it is. Then, suddenly, it flips—there are those phases where they want to be out wandering the neighborhood with their friends every single day. And I guess, during those times, homework somehow gets pushed to the middle of the night. Honestly, I'm just counting down the days until this whole puberty thing is over.
rowdypanther12 said:I’ve always wondered where people used to find actual black nail polish back in the eighties. Back in '91, I was basically just mixing ink into my clear coat to try and get a dark shade, and it wasn't until around '93 that a friend visiting from London finally gave me some real black polish. 😂
Back in the mid-90s—I think it was around then—you could pick up those black nail polishes all over Chicago. I remember back in my high school days, there were quite a few goth girls running around; everything was pitch black, including the nails, of course. I recall everyone used to call them "typhus girls"—though, I suppose, that wasn't exactly accurate.
Andrew Sanders64 said:My kid is nowhere near puberty yet, but thinking back to my own teenage years makes my skin crawl. It was a completely different era in the 80s; nobody gave a damn what kids were up to. In the summer, you’d be out the door in the morning and wouldn't come back until dark. No smartphones, no tablets, no security cameras—I was basically home alone from the first grade onwards. Growing up, my mom's sister lived in the house next to ours—she was only eight years older than me and a total icon. She was obsessed with getting into art school, though she never made it. She leaned hard into the goth look, wearing ripped tights like it was a uniform, dyeing her hair black and red, listening to music I couldn't wrap my head around, and doing her makeup like Quincy from the Cure or Slađana Maddox. I remember being in fifth grade and raiding her makeup bag just to mimic her, then frantically scrubbing it all off with water and cheap shampoo before school. Once, she used black nail polish, and since I had nothing to remove it with, I ended up scraping it off with a nail file and a kitchen knife. Around that time, I started stealing cigarettes at home—either from my mom or from my aunt, I can't even remember how. I still remember that first cigarette; it was a local brand, and I was just pretending to smoke because I didn't actually know how. This went on for months until my aunt finally caught me smoking her stash behind the house. She looked at me and said, "For heaven's sake, let me see if you're actually smoking." Then she realized, "You aren't even smoking properly, you're just puffing air." She told me to keep the cigarettes but warned me not to let my mother find out, or she'd kill both of us. Even as a little kid, I knew how to light up in front of my aunt, who didn't care much because she was just as rebellious as I was, acting more like an older sister than an adult... she just covered for me. By seventh grade, I was smoking for real. I always had some flimsy excuse to go visit my aunt, when really I was just going for a smoke. That was also when I dyed my hair black for the first time, at my aunt's place, obviously. My hair is naturally dark, but not black, and when I showed up with the fresh dye job, my mom nearly fainted. She made me wash my hair five times just to dull the shine so I could at least go to school with my hair tied back. That was the first and only time I ever dyed my hair, but I loved having a bit of makeup on. Back then, if you had a strict teacher at school, you better wipe that makeup off or they'd call your parents in for a meeting. They caught me smoking at home pretty quickly, but they teased me more than they actually tried to stop me. Mom used to call me Grandma Hatidža, like that character from the prison, when she saw me smoking like a Turk despite being such a little kid. And back then, everyone was smoking, young and old alike. Tattoos and stuff like that weren't a thing back then. I remember my uncle had one on his arm from his time in the military... I did whatever I felt like doing until halfway through high school, but by 16 or 17, I had settled down. My first real love happened at 18; we waited for college until 19, and I stayed with him for three years until he moved to Germany and everything fell apart.
Believe me, growing up like that was much better and healthier than how things are today.
Olivia Jackson64 said:They finally got back to me via email from Centralized Scheduling, and then the clinic actually gave me an appointment date.
I think I heard somewhere that the director of Rebro claimed they "fixed the application" and that waitlists were shrinking. I guess what they really fixed was... well, I won't even say it—it’s like the whole system just stopped working entirely now. 🤣
So, when did you actually get that appointment for the GI specialist?
Terry Hernandez10 said:Did the CDC actually announce that they're lifting the quarantine requirements
Yeah, they did. Things are getting pretty chaotic at my office—I guess you could say we've all lost our minds a bit. They're lifting the isolation rules, yet here we are, still being forced to follow these ridiculous testing protocols like we're being poked with sticks. It makes you wonder who's actually running the show anymore—it feels a little nonsensical, if I'm being honest.
Susan James said:It’s not really about the specific questions themselves; the real issue lies in how we prepare for that entire style of testing. I’ve been thinking lately about whether we're heading toward a future where basic schooling is basically just training kids to bubble in multiple-choice answers. It feels like the whole education system might eventually boil down to nothing more than mastering the art of circling the right option on a standardized test.
I’ve been lurking on these forums for over a decade now—I can drop a link if anyone wants to see the threads—and I keep seeing this same pattern from teachers. They describe how high schoolers will look them right in the eye and ask, "Is this actually going to be on the SAT?" If the teacher says no, the kids just completely tune out and refuse to learn the material. I hear the exact same thing from the students themselves, too. It’s like they won't engage unless there's a direct guarantee that it'll be on the big exam. The way students are expressing themselves in writing lately is honestly a bit of a disaster. It feels like we’re seeing this decline from a few different angles. For one, they just aren't writing enough long-form essays during the school year; most of what they turn in is just brief responses to prompts. On top of that, there's been a noticeable shift away from essay-based testing and oral exams in favor of other formats. I also notice they aren't reading nearly as much as they used to. It all culminates at graduation with those final exams—and let me tell you, if you want to make sure those scores get rounded up in your favor, you really have to be prepared.
Honestly, we might as well just add a "how to be clueless" course at the end of elementary school. That way, people could really round out their education by mastering the art of being completely oblivious. If you don't include negative marking—and you probably won't, since you wouldn't want to stress everyone out just to justify adding an extra test—you’re looking at a 20% or 25% chance of guessing the right answer. With a little bit of process of elimination and a little luck on your side, you can pull it off. Honestly, at that point, it's more about luck than actual knowledge. Or maybe there will be opportunities for those who really put in the work to prepare—people who go all out to compete on shows like The Chase just to bring home some serious prize money.
I’m a huge advocate for external grading, and honestly, I’d be all for rounding up scores—provided we factor in those negative points too. My only hesitation is that I'd need to be absolutely certain that when students ask professors if a specific topic will show up on the SAT, the instructors would either stay neutral or simply say they have no idea and that it doesn't matter. That’s just not going to happen. Honestly, as long as students have plenty of ways to express what they know during their school years—whether that's through various creative projects, a few check-in tests throughout the term, or just two or three big finals at the end to wrap everything up—I don't see any harm in it. In my experience, having that kind of variety actually helps. It adds depth to the whole assessment process and gives us a much clearer, more complete picture of how a child is truly performing. I mean, honestly, I think it all really comes down to the specific school and the teachers you end up with. From everything I've been reading lately, there’s such a huge variety out there that the individual instructors make all the difference.
But don't those professors teach material that won't be on the SAT? I mean, feel free to give them that information and then still test them on it or include it in a quiz. The SAT is the SAT. I don't see the issue.
Michelle Nelson4 said:If you have a, b, c, d, e, and then a 50% chance of passing, you definitely aren't clearing the bar if all your answers are c. On another note, I still remember that pure shot of dopamine back in college when they finally implemented instant grading. There was nothing quite like grinding through those problems, bubbling in your Scantron, and actually getting your results that same afternoon—instead of playing that agonizing waiting game for two weeks or more, which is how some professors used to handle grading tests 👍
So, what’s the deal with these essays no longer actually impacting our grades? It feels like I could practically hand in a blank sheet of paper and still get by. And regarding those multiple-choice tests—I was watching this documentary recently—it seems like if you truly have no clue, you might as well just bubble in every single answer as 'C.' There’s a pretty high probability that it might actually work out for a passing grade, I guess.