<p>My son is in 10th grade. Although he received good grades in Honors English last year, he is not this year. Should he drop into the standard 10th grade English class or stick it out with Honors and get a lower grade? Do the admissions folks consider the difficulty of the course? Otherwise, Honors could harm his GPA and class rank. I'd appreciate any help you can offer. My guess is he could get a "C" in Honors, but most likely a "A-" in the standard level.</p>
<p>Thanks,</p>
<p>Jim</p>
<p>I think an A- in standard level is much better than a C in honors. I'd go with that one.</p>
<p>Thanks for your reply GoldShadow.
What if it was a B+ in standard vs. a C+ in Honors? There is the embarrassment factor he will endure which makes it difficult to make the switch.</p>
<p>hmmm... im not really acquainted with the honors system... in my school what we have are IB higher level, in these course when calculating your gpa a certain curve provided by the IBO is used to calculate the grade. This might be the case with honors, i dont really know, but your son might want to get some info on this aspect befor changing classes...regarding the embarrassment factor, it really is nothing to be ashamed of, if someopne asks yuou can just say that you want a higher GPA for your college application..</p>
<p>If he can raise the honors grade to the B-range, I'd say stay in honors. Otherwise, he may want to drop down.</p>
<p>Jim,
I think you need to delve deeper into the problem with the grades - perhaps the course requires more work than he thinks he needs to put into it. </p>
<p>There is a strong correlation between doing honors work in english and higher CR/WR SAT scores. If he is able to hack it, the more rigorous class will better prepare him for standardized tests and ultimately, college itself. Perhaps a conference with the teacher would be useful in helping you learn what your son needs to do to do well in the class. The thing is, once you drop down a level, its hard to pick it back up. </p>
<p>Also, in my son's school at least, the honors courses were a bit more serious, and the students tended to learn more (which is the point of all these little exercises, after all). </p>
<p>Finally - its just the beginning of the year - there is still time to pick the grade up. My son pulled a D in 9th grade honors english one quarter, and managed to pull the final yearly grade up to a B, which was all that showed on the transcript. He ended up with a 790V, 780 Writing, and a 5 on AP lit - so you can see that it is possible to recover from one bad quarter. Sometimes it just takes a while to get the hang of things. </p>
<p>Colleges will look at grades, rank, and the level of the course.</p>
<p>You really don't want to have a C on your report card -- whether or not it's in an honors class. The adcom's eyes will just be drawn to it if all the other grades are A's and/or B's.</p>
<p>If your son thinks that he can bring it up to a B (or at least a B-), he might want to stick it out in the honors class. But he also needs to consider how tough it will be for him -- i.e., is he really willing to put in the extra effort? If he truly feels it would be too hard or too stressful, he should probably switch to the regular class.</p>
<p>The rigor of the courseload is more important at some schools than others. CMU is pretty definate about honors/ap courses, for example.</p>
<p>Generally, go with higher grades, but have some variety and rigor in the courses you take, but don't go overboard. I did and I paid the price.</p>
<p>I think you have offered great advice. Thanks.</p>
<p>IMO:
Try your best to keep him in Honors, and at not getting a C. Even a B- will suffice. </p>
<p>I remember when I was taking American Literature Pre-IB in the ninth grade and I was failing, midsemester, and I managed to get a B-. Granted, I worked very hard for the rest of the year. Saying that, I think your son has plenty of time to buckle down.</p>
<p>If it looks like he might be getting a C, it would look better to have an A in regular.</p>
<p>For years, I would have said, "take honors and AP where available." Certainly from a purely educational view that would be the correct answer. However, now that I have explored admissions more, there are other considerations.</p>
<p>Certainly, it is better to get mostly As in honors courses especially if you are applying to a very selective college such as ivys or top public schools. However, if you are not getting mostly As. it is questionable. Many of the state schools and other schools use UNWEIGHTED GPAs in admissions and class rank. If you can substantially raise your GPA and class rank by taking regular courses, this may well be the way to go, as sad as this sounds.</p>
<p>For example, University of Cincinnati School of Design, Art, Artchitecture and planning wants a minimum unweighted GPA of 3.5 and top 10-20% class rank depending on SATs. Taking honors is almost a waste, if you can't do as well. Sadly , I have found a number of other schools that work the same way. Some schools say that they do give "greater weight" to honors courses; however, when closely questioned, they don't usually give enough weight to justify the difference in toughness</p>
<p>Bottom line for admissions: if you can get mostly As in honors, take honors. If not, take regular , if you can get mostly As in regular courses.</p>
<p>I can tell you that it took us a long time to learn about this. Schools love to push their honors and AP courses on students because it helps their ratings. However, you really have to consider the student's situation and the schools that they are applying to.</p>
<p>Depends where he wants to go to college. I talked to a Yale rep the other day, and his take on this was quite clear. "Given the choice between a tough class or a good grade, choose both. We expect you not only to take the hardest classes available to you, but also to excel in them."</p>
<p>I believe dropping him down would be running away from the problem. Even if he does get into the college of his choice with his nice high GPA, he'll still have to live through college. Keep him in there, and help him with his problems. It's just the start of the year, and a well earned "A" in a tough honors course would be a huge confidence boost. Keep with it, and he'll be better off for it. Not to mention it could make a nice essay down the line.</p>