<p>Just because your son’s schools administrators are that finicky about what course schedules a student has, does not mean that your schools are difficult. Students at each school across the country are limited by whatever rules and other nonsense are in place in each school or school district.</p>
<p>Just because a student can take a schedule of dual enrollment and AP here does not mean that those classes are less difficult. There is still a standard that each class must live up to; in Florida, if teachers have continually low pass rates on AP exams, they are generally removed from teaching that course. No school wants to have a low test taken to test passed ratio for AP or IB- it looks badly on the school. Not to mention that many school districts will give teacher bonuses (mine did) for each student that passes an AP or IB exam, so there is added incentive to have students that are likely going to pass. </p>
<p>Pasbal - yes it does mean that my son’s school is difficult. They are not finicky. They know that freshman and sophomores are not ready to take AP courses and that students who qualify for AP courses (you must take honors Biology and get an A or A-, for example, to qualify for AP Biology) typically receive (75%) a 5 on the AP exam. My son’s school sends a large number of students to Ivies and other top 20 schools, with 4-6 AP courses. We don’t do IB courses. It just seems that our two states have different ways of preparing students for college.</p>
<p>Conleche - congratulations to you for taking 5 AP courses and 2 Dual Enrollment and having a life. You are obviously a smart and dedicated student. The point I was trying to make - and obviously many on this post didn’t like how I made it - is that different high schools have different standards regarding AP courses. As explained above, we don’t have IB courses. You could not take 5 AP courses at my son’s high school senior year. It’s not allowed. Our best students take 4-6 AP courses during their high school career. If that’s enough for Harvard, MIT, Brown and BC, for example, it’s good enough for any college or university. I wish you the best at Florida State.</p>
<p>Lilemo - you are delusional if you think the Ivy League schools are not the best universities in the country. Your southern school inferiority complex is amusing. The top three universities are in the U.S. are Harvard, Princeton and Yale. The top engineering school in the country is MIT. The top four liberal art colleges in the country are Amherst, Williams, Bowdoin and Middlebury. What do they all have in common? They are in the northeast, mostly populated by NE students. There isn’t a school in Florida that compares favorable with any of these schools. You have to travel to NC to find comparable schools - UVA, UNC and Duke. By the way, Florida State is a safety school for my son.</p>
<p>Then I suppose you will find it most curious that the the NSF took the Mag Lab away from MIT and awarded it to Florida State. Happy safety schooling.</p>
<p>@16apache First of all, I’m not even from FL. Being a military brat, I’ve lived all over the country. I’ve gone to school in many states. FSU is also a safety school for me, not that I need one. I specifically in my last post discussed why the Ivies are the top schools in the nation. Again, I’m assuming you’ve never lived in the South, nor had any experience with our schools. Since I actually do have experience with schools in the South, let me just assure you that our education system is fine without criticism from Yankees. The reason most students in northeastern schools are from NE is because nobody from the South has any desire to go up north. Why would they? You’ve made it quite obvious that they would be patronized by people like you. Call me delusional, but at least I can base my opinions on experience rather than stereotypes. </p>
<p>I’m not understanding how freshman and sophomores aren’t ready to take AP classes. I passed my AP test freshman year and had some friends who took 2 and made 4’s and 5’s. Also, AP classes are the only courses that my school weights, so our best students take around 3-4 a year just to compete for valedictorian, and they make mostly 5s. We actually had a guy take 3 classes one year and make a 5 on 5 tests (so I do to know what that says about the difficulty of the AP tests?). Back on topic- I will admit that the the difficulty of the AP class at my school depends on the teacher, as I had one that was far more difficult than any of the dual enrollment classes I’m taking now.</p>
<p>As far as the whole college superiority thing goes, yes, some of the best colleges in the world are located in the NE, but that doesn’t mean your sons high schools are the best too. On Newsweeks ranking, the southeast has 6 of the top ten best high schools (4 of which are in Florida)</p>
<p>@16apache I am not attending Florida State (I’ve gotten accepted to other universities), but your comments have struck a nerve. The more well known universities are located in the Northeast, sure, but it doesn’t mean that all of the best schools are located there. You’re forgetting about Vanderbilt, UNC Chapel Hill, Rice, Emory, and plenty of other schools that are phenomenal and located in the South. As for the comment about IB courses, my school doesn’t offer IB courses at all. At my school, freshmen are not allowed to take AP classes either, and students can only take dual enrollment classes in 11th or 12th grade. You can’t sign up to take AP classes. You have to get approved and have certain grades in certain classes in order to be able to sign up. The teachers also look at your FCAT and SAT scores for that. </p>
<p>@16apache One more thing. I don’t have a “southern school inferiority complex.” Quite the opposite. You have a northern school superiority complex and it’s not amusing. It’s insulting, as is your smugness.</p>
<p>16apache your ignorance is very telling. You have “drunk the cool aide” that your school board has sold you. As stated, I recently moved from the NE region from a “blue ribbon” school district. We paid outrageous property taxes and all liked thinking because we have the best. It was a lot easier than thinking we are being scammed by the unions and the politicians they support. I have been extremely impressed with the high school down here our first year. My daughters AP classes are just as rigorous as they were back in CT. As others pointed out, you failed to mention any of the other tops schools south of the Mason Dixon line. As the North was where we started as a country, of course that is where the Ivy’s are located. Location had nothing to do with the student population. I could share statistics of SAT’s and geography having nothing to do with it as much as family income does. There are several holes in your theory but as you have shown in your condescending manner, you prefer to remain ignorant. Your opening post inferring that no school wants to rescind (FSU sent 300 out last year) or hide you bad grades or don’t call attention to them speaks volumes about your ethics…let alone your willingness to give the wrong advice as though you had a clue as to what you were answering. On behalf of those of us Yankees that wised up and got sick of living with those ridiculous taxes, we hope your child get’s into your schools up north. We do not need your ilk visiting this great state.</p>
<p>As someone who is originally from NY, I can confirm the NE-bias against non-NE schools.The REAL bias, however, is against state schools. Going to a local, decent, state school is seen as a “failure” in some of the crustier social circles. It is common to spend a fortune to send your kids off to a small, relatively non-selective, but seemingly respectable, private school, in to avoid the “embarrassment” of going to a UMass or SUNY.</p>
<p>There is no disputing that the best <em>private</em> schools are mostly in the NE. This is simply because the NE was economically developed long before the rest of the country, and many of the schools are now unfathomably wealthy. </p>
<p>I’m in a similar but not as bad situation. I currently have a D in my college statistics class. I still have a chance to get a C in the class but if i get a D what is the chance i’m rescinded? My first semester grades at the high school were straight A’s and this semester will be around a 3.4. I’m going to have a 2.0 college gpa average if i get the D in stats. I got a B in college Algebra in the first semester.</p>
<p>The comment about their school having “real” AP classes made me laugh out loud - so other kids AP Classes are fake? They all cover the same material because there are standards, though the teacher makes all the difference. The goal is to pass the SAME AP Test that everyone in the country takes - so AP Human Geography in Jersey takes the same test as they do in Georgia. Let’s try to stay away from belittling other programs because you’re in a bubble…makes me wonder why so many brilliant doctors come from India, yet what do their classes look like?</p>
<p>Oh and about the 5.0 average - it’s made up based on wherever they are from (or their own mind). What matters isn’t what their transcript says they have, because colleges typically add 1.0 above a 4.0 for AP/IB/Dual Enrollment and .50 for Honors, at least many do. In order to earn a 5.0 the way an actual college would look at it, yoou would need to take 100% AP/IB/Dual Enrollment and make an A in every core class at the HS Level (because non-core electives like PE and Music don’t count either). It’s possible, but those kids are generally classified as “gifted” and are looking at Ivy League schools…</p>