One size does not fit all. Repeat this parents until you truly understand it. All AP’s can be underwhelming, just right or overwhelming depending on the student. Focus on the question asked by an OP. I get tired of parents who do not realize that gifted students are not like the majority of students who populate the top HS classes.
While I’m at it. Weighted grades should always have unweighted grades accompanying them. A reality check for students who get more B’s than A’s but have a bolstered gpa. Colleges level the gpa playing field by looking at the actual grades. Only getting B’s may suggest a student is better off in regular versions in some cases.
The whole class ranking thing is fraught with problems. I would rather see a student with a lesser gpa because s/he took more classes and/or classes they are not as skilled at- think arts perhaps.
I’m with those that say talk to the guidance counselor. In some cases, having a free period may have less of an impact on GPA than taking an non-honors class. In our HS, most of the top 10% did not have a free period. But plenty of kids that took things like art or music at non-honors level still got into great colleges.
“Do you think the free period looks’ less rigorous’ and will hurt her college application.”
It won’t, in many schools in the bay area, if you play a sport you can’t take a 7th period and you have to take PE in 9th and an Art/music elective to graduate. All these kids do fine wrt colleges like UVA.
But as others have mentioned if the GC says that your schedule is not as rigorous as the top students in the class, that could be an issue. I can’t see that happening since you have 5 APs and one honors, but the GC makes the call on that.