<p>Hi editor,
I am a parent so I totally understand how you feel. My kid will be going to UVA this fall.
It is never too early to think about college ( either in general or a specific one )
& I think since your D will be selecting classes for 11thgrade now…
this is a great time to get a feel for what some colleges “look for” in terms of work load, courses selection etc.</p>
<p>My initially thinking is that the HS counselor is giving out some advises about AP / GPA that may work for some colleges & not work for the highly selective colleges.
For ex: mostly straight As from mostly honor class in 4 yrs of HS does not have the same weight as mostly As from "Magnet Classes/IB/AP ".
For ex: students from my kid’s HS who will be going to UVA have taken an average of 9 to 11 plus ( I heard that some even took 14 - 15 ! I know, its un-believable!!! ) AP classes …& all the other classes are not even honors…they are all magnet classes! Many of them took 2 - 3 AP classes in 10th grade ( some even took 4 ! ).
Keep in mind that some AP classes are actually “easier” than regular honor classes…it all depends on the individual HS teachers & how they teach that class.
For ex: my other kid who is in 9th grade now, told me that students there “wanted” to take AP because AP is “MUCH easier” than the IB program classes & all the IB kids actually wanted to do the AP to get the A ! can you believe that ?!</p>
<p>so think about the AP classes & see which one your D may like to take…some may not be any harder than honors…have her talk to the AP class teachers & ask …those AP teachers will tell you about how that class is / work load etc …so you will get an idea .
My kid talked to all the AP classes teachers before signing up for any of those classes those teachers are usually very helpful & will tell you up front ( yes difficult ) or (no its easy )! </p>
<p>hope this helps ya !best of luck to you & your D !!!</p>
<p>P.S. about visiting colleges before junior year:my 2 kids “visited” UVA while in middle school…And not ‘officially’ until spring break of junior year & in retrospect I wished we had started earlier >>>like you do now<<<< …this is a great time to go visit & think about colleges ( in state or OOS or any school you have in mind! ) because they will be so busy later in 11th & 12th grade.</p>