<p>I am so frustrated that I cannot sleep! My son attends a well known New England boarding school. He is also a top athlete in his sport and is looking at DI play in college. I knew early on there might be an issue because he had repeated his freshman year (at the school's suggestion) upon entering. The core course in question is freshman English. He took "Honor's Freshman English" at his public school and "Ninth Grade English" at the prep (they don't offer honors in the underclass humanities). His school assured us it would be fine. I called the NCAA and was told the courses might be considered duplicative in content. I was also told that the "plus one" rule would not apply to my son as he would not be "technically" graduated by the end of eight semesters. The prep school registrar and my son's guidance counselor have both told me that I do not have to report his first freshman year. Of course I do, don't I??? At least that's what it says on the Initial Eligibility registration form. </p>
<p>Evidently, my son's coach spoke with the basketball coach at the school who told him they get waivers for stuff like that all the time and it wouldn't be a problem. Well, I don't want any surprises next year. Because of this, my son is having to add an English for the upcoming semester. This is too bad because his school only allows three major courses per semester. He was hoping to either take AP Calc or begin a new language (Chinese or Arabic). How will it look to top schools...Ivies, Patriot.... if he is taking a "regular" (non-honors, non-AP English) his junior year? His school has a reputation at top schools as being quite rigorous and they don't even offer any honors English courses, just two AP Englishes which are only open to seniors, but I am still concerned. </p>
<p>And...has anyone else had this issue with their prep school??? I was under the ?mistaken assumption that because it was a top prep, college counseling would be a bit more individualized and they wouldn't be so blase about a person's future. I know the school made cuts and the counselors have like 50 students a piece now, but I did bring this issue up to them when he was a freshman, and then again his sophomore year....I really did expect someone to investigate further. </p>
<p>Any thoughts here? Would the courses be considered duplicative and how long does it take to get an answer from the NCAA (fall semester ended today, spring semester begins January 6). Is a waiver truly as easy to obtain as the basketball coach says....keep in mind, this is a rigorous, top college-prep school, not a basketball "diploma mill". (My son's sport is not basketball). Any idea how to tactfully handle this whole situation without coming off as rude? </p>
<p>Any an all comments/advice are greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>I have to say that one of the best things about my son’s PG year at a nonelite but respectable prep school was the quality of the college counselor. In addition to literally sitting with my son for hours while he wrote his essay, when his coach dropped the ball on recruiting (rule one: NEVER send an athlete to a school with a first year coach), the counselor (who coached a different sport) took on the task himself.</p>
<p>On the appearance of your son’s transcript–if the rest of it looks fine, I can’t imagine that having one standard course will be fatal to the chances of a recruited athlete (particularly if it is something that can be easily explained to admissions).</p>
<p>Sorry, your description was a little confusing to me but it appears the school says you don’t have a problem as well as the prospective college coach. The concern arises from a conversation with NCAA. I would rely more heavily on your school and the college coach than the NCAA. Colleges want students to take the most interesting challenging courses so I am sure having the AP Calc or the language on the resume would be better than a simple English. From your description I can’t imagine this is a problem, I think the NCAA is more in place to guard against diploma mills than worrying about 9th grade english in an elite prep school. </p>
<p>Regarding prep school counseling, I think they are probably a great resource but you just have to reach out for the information. I am sure they are very focussed on the current seniors, juniors come second, sophomores third. I am sure they are willing to give input but won’t be as proactive in the earlier grades, you just have to reach out yourself. Make an appointment with a counseler to discuss the issue and join your student if you can/want.</p>
<p>The suggestion of not listing the freshman year at the public school seems like the best solution to your problem. If he completes four years at the prep school, would the NCAA care about the earlier year nine? </p>
<p>You can/email call the NCAA anonymously for an answer. It seems taking the APCalc would be very important for top Ivies. Also, regarding languages, will he have four years of one foreign language finished, before starting a second language?</p>
<p>I have this vague feeling that the rules changed relatively recently regarding athletes with an extra year of high school, although I have to admit I didn’t study the rules since my son was off and running after his PG year. </p>
<p>And the NCAA rulings are important. If a student is not ‘academically eligible’ then it doesn’t matter if he is the best basketball player since Michael Jordan with a 2400 SAT and a 5.0GPA. </p>
<p>I think you need to sit with the counseling and coaching staff at the prep school. They really should know. Have them get on the phone with the NCAA while you sit there. This is important – to the school as well as to your son.</p>
<p>fauve wrote: “It seems taking the APCalc would be very important for top Ivies.” </p>
<p>For anecdotal evidence to the contrary, my S was heavily recruited by Ivies and did not take APCalc. He took a very hard class schedule which included regular old Calc.</p>
<p>^^His gc says he doesn’t need AP’s for Ivy recruitment. I guess he is taking the regular English. He will then have one AP as a junior and two or three as a senior (which is a lot for his school as only juniors and seniors are even allowed to take AP’s).</p>
<p>He has already taken 4 years of Spanish; the course that was dropped for the English was AP Spanish (which he had already decided he did not want to do).</p>
<p>keylyme, if DI is critical, I would focus on making sure he satisfies the NCAA requirements. It is more likely I think that his explanation to colleges about the reason for his course selection will be acceptable and not held against him than that the NCAA will either respond favorably or in time. You cannot take chances w/ the NCAA, but top colleges get explanations of special/unusual circumstances every day. If his school computes and weights GPAs, a regular English course isn’t going to boost his GPA, but that’s a small loss compared to losing NCAA eligibility. As for the counseling issue, my son attends a private day school that turns out D1 and D3 athletes every year, but no one apparently had noticed that several courses including some English courses were not being given credit as NCAA core courses (they should be, but it was because of some misconceptions about course content and that sort of thing). I pointed it out to our counselor and the staff is working it out now, but it’s only because the NCAA agreed to allow credit for this year that it’s not a problem for some kids. Bottom line, parents have to be vigilant, even at top-flight schools where students get close attention in college counseling. Good luck with all of this.</p>
<p>i don’t think u need many ap’s for ivy L, including H if you are a top recruit. emphasis on TOP. for a couple non ivy’s TOP recruits need 8 plus AP’s including AP AB Calc.</p>