<p>My son just finished out his first term in high school freshman year. Is it a good idea to ask the school about his rank? I would like to get some idea about this before proceding. Thanks.</p>
<p>Will</p>
<p>wzzzz, I dont' know how it works at your son's school, but I know at my school (people are ANCY) it is almost forbidden until like junior and senior year when actual rankings come out.</p>
<p>It's probably best to ask your school when they do their first ranking for each class. Freshman year ranks mean almost nothing because all they include is one semester's worth of classes. Ranks are bound to fluctuate as you take more classes. My school gave my class ranks after our first semester of freshman year, but has since decided to stop and now does not release ranks until end of sophomore year (I think)</p>
<p>My school gives ranking on every transcript printout. Ranking is done by GPA, so I don't see how'd be so difficult--just let the system sort it out.
So even freshman has rankings...your ranking may even change during mid-semester coz some students leave/come-in to the school...</p>
<p>I don't a reason not to. Ask if you want to know.</p>
<p>Oh.. man.. That brings back a weird memory. Two girls from my pre-ap world geography class decided to go ask for their rankings. Pretty much all of the girls in that class with the exception of one or two (people that didn't really belong there anyway) went and asked. It was crazy.</p>
<p>At my school they release class rank for freshmen in the second semester/term; they print out a list of everyone's ranking and they post it on a bulletin board.</p>
<p>I asked, and guidance told me that rankings are outsourced to a company to figure out, I don't know if I believe them though.</p>
<p>By the end of freshman year, when few or no kids have taken AP courses and most haven't been distracted/given up/gotten seriously ill, there are usually 50+ kids tied for first.</p>
<p>Thats how it was at my school, anyway.</p>
<p>outsource a simple ranking list to some company to do? schools spend too liberally sometimes.</p>
<p>"I asked, and guidance told me that rankings are outsourced to a company to figure out, I don't know if I believe them though."</p>
<p>That's just odd.. couldn't they do it themselves?</p>
<p>You would think that they could do it themselves, which is why I wondered if my guidance counselor was wrong. Of course, our APUSH teacher had us address envelopes to ourselves with trip itinerary in them for our Washington D.C. trip, so it would be easier for them to mail to us. Apparently we aren't trusted to get them home all by ourselves. Anyway, this shows that our school doesn't always do things the most sensible way. It's our tax dollars hard at work for us.</p>
<p>Usually there is a core of 10-15 kids who are up there. They are the ones taking AP's freshmen year(at least that is how I was). They will usually be able to figure it out on their own. You don't want to preassure your son, but explain the importance of rank. If I were him, I would sign up for two or three AP's next year(again, what I did). This way, he will be ahead to the pack, and if he makes a few B's, won't be slaughtered.</p>
<p>sagar_indurkhya, thank you for the advise. How come my son's school only allows one AP European history for sophomores? Should I ask more AP for my son?</p>
<p>Will</p>
<p>You SHOULD NOT be making decisions for your son. You should be talking with him about what he thinks he can handle and what he wants to learn. If he wants to take on more AP's then he should. My parents did not push me into taking as many AP's as possible. I took ones I wanted and was interested in and now I'm an accepted student at a very good university.</p>
<p>MrHappyFace, You are right. Did your high school allows sophomores to take more than one ap course? Thanks.</p>
<p>Will</p>
<p>Wzzz, you certainly can ask the GC if the school ranks (many don't) and if they have ranks for freshmen and what your child's rank is if they do give a rank. It is also your privilige to ask to meet with the GC and discuss your student's schedule for the following year. In this school district NO APs are permitted sophomore year and kids have to apply to take them for junior and senior years with the counseling office acting as gatekeepers. That is part of why my kids are in private schools where they have had the opportunity to take whatever AP level course they wish. As a parent you have the right to know what the opportunities are for your son and where the school places him. If you feel he is under or over challenged you can then look for other options if the district will not budge from their rules. I know here that the only exception to the AP is if the student is already at AP calculus level, or if he is already in the third year of a foreign language and has an 90 average in that third year course, with an 85 average overall and the recommendation of his language teacher.</p>
<p>I know where I go to school freshman can't take APs period, and sopohmores generally never take any, although I know someone who is doing Calculus as a sophomore. Then again, we only have 6 AP classes, so there is no sense in not wating until you are a junior/senior to do them...</p>
<p>wzzz, yes we could take AP's as a sophmore. We had 3 available. AP Euro, AP Bio (or AP Chem if you took Bio as a freshman), and then Pre-AP Algebra 2 or Pre-AP PreCalc (the route for BC Calc). My school offers over 27 AP courses, so this could just be an exception, but a lot of kids took every AP offered to freshmen and sophmores, and they got all 4's and 5's. However, I'll have taken 7 by the end of this, my senior year and I'm in just as good a place as they are. I feel just as prepared to do college work as them. </p>
<p>So frankly, I think as long as your son is in fact challenging himself with a rigorous courseload I think that's all you can ask. From my experiences (and seeing my friends), college admissions put much more into play than courses alone and it seems very shotty at times. The stress of potentially adding just one extra AP to your schedule isn't worth it in my opinion. You might be bringing other grades down and hurting yourself in other ways. Just my $.02 though.</p>
<p>He should take AP's in classes he enjoys and/or thinks he can do well in... it's not worth it to kill oneself over an AP class one absolutely hates and still get a B or a C. Let him make his own class decisions, present them to you, and simply give him suggestions... he's going to have to pick his own classes in college, so he might as well learn how best to balance himself well now. As for ranking... he's a freshman, for God's sake, don't worry about the ranking yet. As long as he works as hard as he can and does the best he possibly can do in a rigorous curriculum, that's all one can do... don't make him crazy comparing himself to the rest of his class... that will come senior year.</p>
<p>many high schools don't have that many AP classes, mine only has three <em>stupid</em> so if yours doesn't, don't worry about that, I would go to the GC and ask if they rank, and if you could have your son's rank.</p>