<p>My son's biggest complaint is that if he had stayed on the "regular math track" and "regular science track" he would have had much more stellar grades than he does, and that those kids have higher GPAs and therefore will be in a better position than he is. He is one of those kids that took Algebra in 7th, Geometry in 8th, Honors Alegra II in 9th, regular pre-calc in 10th and is now in calc in 11th. He says he knows so many people who started with Algebra in 9th,...which is so easy that they have straight As throughout while he has some Bs. (His Algebra and Geometry won't be on his transcript because they were taken in middle school.) Same in Science...where he had honors Bio freshman year (and got a B) and then honors Chem (and got a C+) but could have taken regular 9th Science, regular Bio and regular Chem with As. (He has an A this year in regular Physics.)</p>
<p>What do you all think? (Good to know for the next kid even if it's too late for this one....)</p>
<p>My D took the accelerated math & science track in high school–all AP sciences starting in 10th grade, Calc BC in 11th, plus Calc 3 and linear analysis in 12th. She doesn’t regret any of it (despite the B’s she got in math and AP Phys C her senior year). She now a college freshman at a school which offered her substantial merit aid–in part because of the strength of her academic preparation. Although she didn’t enjoy the hits her GPA took, in the end it really didn’t matter. She was admitted to several excellent schools. </p>
<p>In college, the rigor of her HS academic coursework has all been to her advantage. She’s been a top student in all her science/math courses so far. She’ll finish her math minor at the end of this semester and she was hired by her university to TA Calc 2 this past semester–only freshman hired by any university department to TA. It’s really opened doors for her and gotten her noticed.</p>
<p>In a way, her senior year in HS was good for her–she was competing against kids who were just as smart or smarter than her–just like she is at college. She learned discipline, how to pace her studying, how to juggle her demanding schedule and most of all-- not to give up because something was [too] hard.</p>
<p>Colleges judge students on the rigor of their classes. So a kid with all A’s in regular classes will be overlooked in favor of another kid with A’s and B’s in honors and AP/IB classes.</p>
<p>Oldest daughter’s AP credits combined with extra curriculars in college have made it possible for her to graduate a semester early…saving about $20G :)</p>
<p>RtoR, I know how you feel. But, really, he’ll be better prepared for college. We thiink the more difficult route is the way to go even with those Bs on the trsnscript.</p>
<p>I have mixed feelings about this. My Ds took all advanced, rigorous and did well. However, we do know students who took the tough classes but got b and b- in classes. One young lady had a 30 ACT and a 3.7 GPA, very good ECs and did not get in to Madison. The AD counselor at Madison told her that she would have been better off taking regular math and science and having the higher GPA for acceptance there. We know lots of kids who did get in with not one honors/AP class.</p>
<p>It does depend on the type of school, I suppose. If my son wanted to go to UT and UT only, it would have been in his favor to take the easy classes and be in the top 10%. Thankfully, he’s no longer obsessed with UT.</p>
<p>I think at most schools, gpa is king. Once you start talking about state flagships especially out of your area, your gpa and SAT/ACT are most important. </p>
<p>However, at the top schools, it’s hard to get in with a soft curriculum. But it’s a compromise. It would be hard to get accepted if the student earns Cs in academic classes, but an applicant is still competitive with some Bs.</p>
<p>It’s a toughie. If your child’s ambition is to go to one of the most selective private universities or LACs, failing to take the most challenging curriculum available in high school, or at least close to it, is pretty much a disqualification. But then so is taking the toughest curriculum and not doing well at it. For most other purposes, you would rather have the easier courses and higher grades.</p>
<p>For “most other purposes” . . . but one. Education. What it’s all about.</p>
<p>At the end of the day, all this college scheming is counterproductive. Children should do what helps them learn best, and let college take care of itself. If that means getting lots of strokes for doing well in a slower, easier class, great. If it means getting beaten up a little in an accelerated class, also great. The idea is to learn the material, and to learn one’s own learning style, and to feel competent and valued. Getting a stress ulcer and poor self-esteem from failing in a class that’s too hard doesn’t work, and neither does skating through a class that’s too easy.</p>
<p>As usual, JHS hits the nail on the head with great advice. I’d only add one encouraging word: the type of schools where your son is likely to find a great match (those in the tier just below the most selective) are probably the most sensitive to the balance between rigor of the secondary school curriculum and gpa. If you look at the Common Data Sets for colleges of that ilk you’ll often find that they list high school rigor as “very important” to their admissions process but gpa or class rank as only “important.”</p>
<p>If the group of top kids at his HS are taking the avanced classes and they are offered at the school, not taking them would have made him not competitive for top colleges.</p>
<p>Well, of course, he’s right that if he had taken easier courses, he would have an easier time getting A’s. If he’s interested in those large publics, that may have been the way to go. My girls have always wanted to challenge themselves, and my much less enthusiastic son takes honors classes for the better class atmosphere. He gets a mix of A’s and B’s and if fine with that. Now if only I could get him to participate in EC’s…</p>
<p>DS took the most rigorous curriculum at his HS, so there were Bs which would have been As in “regular” classes. We were concerned because UCs cap the number of weighted classes (8 semesters) they accept. So his UW GPA was below accepted average at the top UCs (3.7ish). UC GPA: maybe 4.05? Uncapped weighted GPA (10-11) 4.5. He was accepted in all the UCs he applied to.</p>
<p>One other thing… Don’t assume that a B in an honors class would be an A in an onlevel class. That’s cc thinking. </p>
<p>My kids have taken onlevel classes which were difficult. Two examples are Forensic Science and Humanities. They are listed as onlevel because the school district lists them that way but they are not easy classes. The other thing is that often the best teachers around here are in the honors classes so taking onlevel math, for example, gives you bad math teachers. And last: onlevel classes are often filled with paperwork to help the slowest kids accumulate enough points to pass. If you have bright, disorganized kids who are prone to hand things in late (not that any of my kids is less than perfect), the paperwork in a non-honors class could make their grade plummet.</p>
<p>For those that didn’t understand his complaint…he never said he wanted to take the “easier” courses, he just complains that there are kids far less intelligent than he is getting much better grades on the “slow track”. The “slow track” would not have been right for him, of course…but I personally wonder if the schools he is looking at (large publics) are just going to plug his GPA into their formula and therefore he would have been better off having a higher GPA. </p>
<p>He is also not taking the “most selective” courses…he was accelerated in math and science but burned out on the honors courses and is now in regular physics and regular calc as a junior…no APs.</p>
<p>My kids always did better in their hard courses than their easy ones. They got bored if they weren’t challenged. The top colleges are looking at the rigor of the curriculum, but of course they also look at grades. It’s a balance. In general think you want to get at least a B in the level course you are taking, but of course you can’t always predict that ahead of time.</p>