It sounds like those are their equivalent to to cum laude, magna cum laude and summa cum laude.
Other than the higher performance will matter to colleges, you are correct; the name of the diploma will mean little. Neither will NHS, AP scholar awards, and several others that are really just nice pieces of paper.
Shhhhh! College Board might hear you. To quote Sonny Corleone, “There’s alot of money to be made in that white paper.”
So. Meeting with school tomorrow to discuss regular vs honors. For III form they have honors in math, science, history and language. I agree with trusting the school. I am concerned however re tracking as well as him being with kids most like him. He is likely above the 75 percentile for SSAT. I imagine grades don’t differentiate that much. Does the advisor letter from his current school probably convey his aptitude for science and history? I am not concerned re math and language as it seems there are pretty clear objective measures a school could use. I do not want him swimming upstream but I prefer him to be average in an advanced vs top in regular. I would not want him stressed out in advanced. I will 100 percent trust the school. My son has no strong leanings. We chose a school that would not be a pressure cooker. On purpose.
I tried to tell my kids to tone it down and smell the roses, I have been told to mind my own business. Counselor is taking kid side and what I see next year couse recommendations is really making me nervous, but then again she has company of her friends doing similar track. What can I say?
I think kids (and people in general) will often rise to the challenge if held to high expectations. In the process they develop confidence in themselves and may discover new skills and abilities.
@infinityprep1234 I think you should trust the counselor and your kids - but - privately I would ask the counselor if there are any backup plans if things don’t work out. I would do it privately rather than let my kids think I don’t have confidence in them. I would also ask whether there was anything the kids could do over the summer to better prepare for the challenge.
@sadieshadow At our high school, the honors and advanced courses are typically taught by the best, most experienced teachers. This has always been a consideration when putting together their schedules. Of course the material is more challenging and moves at a quicker pace, but we’ve found that a good teacher can help compensate for those challenges. Choosing specific teachers/courses is not always possible, but we do try.
@HMom16 She can easily do it, I have no doubt abou it. My problem is that by doing this way, she is going to be more sleep deprived, she is involved in with a heavy EC activity. Her plate for summer is already full. My other issue is how she will find a boy friend if she is so busy.
She chose to go to boarding school on her own despite opposition by my husband. Now we know what she did was right, our second kid is on her way to BS. We the parents are less risk taker, but she plunges into doing her own way by taking more risk. It is just fear of unkown that is making me jittery.
@infinityprep1234 - Something to consider - if your daughter toned down her classes, she might just take on more EC or other activities. Some people just love to be busy and involved.
Interesting thought regarding the boyfriend - I’ve actually been thankful that my daughters haven’t had boyfriends in BS. The hookup culture and lack of appropriate venues for dating scare me. I’m happy to leave that chapter of their lives to college. 
Next year’s curriculum came out and daughter will meet her counselor to figure out what classes to take.
This time, I made an announcement of none-involvement: no recommendation, suggestion, or hint from me, except one advise of trying to choose subjects that interest her without considering future college admission.
@SculptorDad , can I just say that I love you? !
You have had a bigger transformation in the last 2 years of the BS journey than most kids have in 4. Very cool indeed.
I am only trying to learn what’s the best way. 
Daughter says I have changed too.
Do students who take all AP classes have substantial free time?I would like to take APs but I’m worried.
I don’t think anyone at a BS has substantial free time. Or at least that what I hear from guskid.
Substantial free time? No.
AP US History will take up all of your substantial and unsubstantial free time.
Boarding school classes can be more demanding, and their AP classes can be even more demanding, and teach much more than the AP exam scope. They likely take huge time for assignment even if you can understand the materials well.
@STEM2017 I don’t think it’s always the case that more experienced teachers teach the ap’s or higher lever courses. I have found at my kids school that the freshman course teachers are excellent, some of the upper level course teachers may be hit or miss.And this does not mean qualifications by the way… in many cases the Harvard or Williams educated teacher can be dull and a poor communicator versus a less prestigious pedigree teacher who may be an excellent communicator and the “best teacher I ever had”.
My first was inappropriately placed in a non honors freshman math the first year which affected the “math path” for the four years of High School. Not their fault: kind of choked the summer placement math exam, and didn’t want to change around the schedule after the first 2 weeks when the realization came that it would be an A+ coming in this course because it was so easy. It all turned out well: AP Calc AB as a senior is perfectly fine and it didn’t prevent a acceptance to any Ivy with less than 7% RD admit rate.
Agreed on all accounts.
But once again…
At boarding schools that are trying to jettison APs, and many are, the very best teachers are not being wasted on that restricted curriculum. As it was explained to me, “it’s the teacher who draws the short straw who ends up with those courses; no one wants them, and the best teachers don’t have to pick a straw.”
As I always say, if you are interested in an AP curriculum, why waste your time at BS? Our kid could get APs in spades at home. A primary reason for allowing him to go to BS was to avoid that rat race. He sat for several AP exams just in case he might be able to use them, but did not take any AP courses other than calc because, at the time, it was part of the Choate math path. Choate reluctantly added APs to its curriculum years ago due to parental pressure and it was made very clear along the way that Choate’s regular curriculum (not just honors) was more than adequate for students to do well on any AP exam they wished to take. APs were never considered a good use of anyone’s time from a faculty or education perspective and no advisor ever recommended our kid take them. The current headmaster was new our son’s first year, and he mentioned several times about he’d like to phase them out. Perhaps someone who is currently at Choate can speak to what direction the school is taking.
In any case, APs or no, no BS student has substantial free time.