Thanks to everyone here for all the great advice last summer! I meant to update sooner, but DD24 did end up sticking with AP Stat for her current junior year and is signed up to take AP Calc BC as a senior (she read this thread – very helpful, thank you all!), so she will have 4 years of math in HS. I don’t think she was hoping to avoid Calc in general, more was thinking about taking it in college rather than in HS. She scored a 4 on the AP Calc AB exam so hopefully this bodes well for BC.
We have another Rigor 101 question about her Language track. She took German 1 and 2 in middle school, German 3 in 9th and German 4 in 10th. She is not taking a language class as a junior and does not plan to take one as a senior. Will this be a non-issue given that she reached level 4, or will selective colleges prefer her to have taken an additional year (school offers AP German, as well as German 5 and 6). Her current college list (still in the works) is probably Reach: Emory, GA Tech, Davison; Target (or low reach): UGA; Safety she is still thinking about. Grateful for all advice!
This is D24’s (current) Junior yr course list:
AP Stat
AP Lang
APUSH
AP Biology
AP Research (took AP Seminar in 10th grade, so this completes the AP Capstone diploma)
Advanced Studies Forensic Science and Engineering (these are each 1 credit but were taken in 1 semester each as an elective)
Yearbook
And planned Senior yr course list:
AP Calc BC
AP Lit
AP Euro
AP Chem
AP Micro/Macro
AP Env Sci
Yearbook
Can she back off on one of the APs next year? That is a heavy load for senior year. I am afraid she will only be looking at pictures of Senior fun because she is on yearbook and have no time to do anything fun to be in the yearbook.
Yes I think it is a lot too. I don’t really think the double macro/micro is needed (school offers AP macro alone). She thought APES sounded both interesting and likely lighter than other APs. But it’s still a lot - and we still have the concern about whether she should take another year of language or if stopping at level 4 in 10th is just fine. I’m wondering about swapping either AP ES or AP Chem for either AP German or German 5. Another option would be to take a German college class over this summer.
I’d take a look at the language requirements at each of the schools she is interested in. For some, 2 years of the same language is fine - at others they look for 3 or 4 years.
Both you and she are forgetting the invisible class - AP College Applications and Essays, which will take much more time than you both think. While you both know her ability and time management better than us, I personally would switch one of the AP courses to one less demanding
I think our confusion here is whether they differentiate between 4 years total of a language (whether taken in MS or HS) or 4 years taken during HS. The college websites we’ve looked at so far haven’t made that differentiation very clear
thank you! Yes, I think one less would be a good idea. There is a pressure at her school to take all the APs all the time (they offer ~30 APs), but i can’t see 16 vs 17 total having a significant impact on her application (hopefully!).
I think it’s getting to level 4 that matters. My D23 took 2 years of French in middle school, which together were the equivalent of French 1 in HS. So she started in French 2 in 9th grade (no honors option that year), and then the next step was French 3/4 H in 10th grade - two years condensed into one, and then AP in 11th grade. No language in 12th grade, because nothing higher than that was offered, but she’d already gotten to the 5th level of French (if we’re counting AP as level 5). She applied to a number of selective schools (<20% admit rates) that state a preference for 4 years of a foreign language, and she got into several, so I’m assuming they were counting level achieved of foreign language rather than a raw number of years in HS.
She is thinking a Bio major is most likely. She really enjoys history as well, so that is a possible minor or second major (hence the interest in AP Euro). She’s potentially pre-med but not definite (could also see her going into biomedical research or teaching of some kind)
this is good to know, thank you! That is what we had initially thought (that level 4 is enough). I think i am second guessing just b/c the school does offer higher levels than she has taken (AP, 5, 6) and I wondered how that would play into the rigor definition.
5th Year of Language is not needed for her intended major. Only advantage of taking German 5 or AP is the ability to transfer credits(AP) or take the college language placement test (German 5) and test out of any language requirements the school might have, especially 2 years of a language.
That is quite an academic load. I would drop AP Micro/Macro and if she already took AP Calc AB, BC wouldn’t necessarily be needed unless she is using it for math credits in college. It is a good idea if she plans to take Calc II.
I think she could drop AP micro/macro if it isn’t required for graduation, and take German 5 instead. That’s a lot of APs and AP chem and APES make sense together so I wouldn’t drop a science AP (especially if she is interested in STEM). But this is just my two cents : )
If she’s interested in bio then I’d keep APES and AP chem, also does her school offer biology related electives? Those would be fun for her to take! If she’s going to take science APs and get a 4/5 then she can get college credit so I wouldn’t drop them
People are saying the proposed schedule is a heavy load, and I agree in a lot of ways it is.
But if she got a 4 on the Calc AB exam, Calc BC will be mostly review. It will not be as intense as it would be for someone who is taking Calc BC without already having a calculus background. The Calc BC classes I have seen generally cover the eight units covered by Calc AB plus an additional four units of material. If she felt confident with that material the first time (and getting a 4 on the AP test indicates she did) the first part of the year should be fairly easy.
This varies by school. The OP D’s school looks to cover calculus sequentially, AB followed by BC. The BC classes I’ve seen under this model consist of a review of AB covering no more than a few weeks, and then moved into BC. While there are 2 topics in BC by the CB categorization, there’s a lot in those 2 units. But to your point, and as I mentioned upthread, a BC class following this model is much less stressful than one covering BC plus all of AB from scratch.
As a life skill, econ is probably more valuable than German. And I say that as a fluent German-speaker. Not to mention that restarting after a year’s absence may (or may not) prove difficult to catch up.
