My son is hoping to be accepted to a good school (Georgetown or similar) and he has been working very hard to get all A/A- in the highest courses he can take. He is going for Eagle Scout and is on 2 Varsity Sports so he has been checking off the boxes he thinks he needs.
Unfortunately, he has not found the academic side of school at all engaging - he just studies and takes tests. His high school has a culture of really hard finals where the average of the class is in the mid-70s. He had a migraine in the middle of finals this year.
So he is thinking of backing off from honors trig/precalc and going to the regular level of trig/precalc. His reason is that everyone says this is the hardest class in his school and he knows kids who got C’s for the year and 40’s on the final. He doesn’t like math and feels like the stress from this class will affect his performance in his other classes. (3 AP and 2 Honors in addition to the math). I am supportive of this, be we are afraid of kicking ourselves after if a school like Georgetown dismisses his application based on the one non-honors math class he takes (he is still planning on calculus AB in senior year) Any thoughts on good/idea bad/idea?
– I would not do anything for the possibility of admission to Gtown (or an equivalent school). The acceptance rates are quite low (Gtown was under 12% this year).
–I would also caution you against setting up a school like Gtown as a dream or goal school – the people I see who get hurt by the college admission process are the ones who focus on one or two hyper-competitive schools and then don’t get in.
– In terms of the “super - elite” schools – they will want to see the guidance counselor check the box saying the student has taken the most rigorous curriculum offered by the HS. There is often a bit of leeway (one doesn’t typically need to take every single most rigorous or AP course) so the person you should talk to and see if the revised schedule will still meet the most rigorous criteria is your son’s guidance counselor, not anyone here. It is a plus that he will still be on track for AP calculus.
– That said, son’s health and well being must always be the top priority. Nothing else is close. If the stress is causing migraines then it sounds to me like it is time to take a small step back in terms of course rigor.
–There are so many wonderful schools out there where your son can have a great 4 year experience and get where he wants to go in life.
-When the time comes to apply you and you S need to honestly asses his academic stats (including GPA, standardized tests, course rigor) as well as your financial needs and apply to a wide range of reach, match, and safety schools that appear affordable (you will have to run a net price calculator for each school you consider) and that he would be excited to attend.
The only thing I would consider is if your son is interested in pursuing a STEM field, not taking the honors math track may be an issue. Are you certain he can still take AP calc without being in the honors track? At my daughter’s school that would have sent a student to the CCP calc track.
I completely agree though that your son’s mental wellbeing is more important than anything else and that his heart (and yours) shouldn’t be set on a specific school.