I met with my college counselor today to discuss my classes for my senior year. When I told her I wanted to take 4 AP’s she said “No.” I sat puzzled and said “What?” She said you needed a 3.5 GPA first semester and I had a 3.4 GPA I said that that was not the rule last year and she said it is a new rule. So now I have to take regular classes. I went to my school website and looked at the handbook and it said nothing about the GPA requirements, only prerequisite classes. The problem is that I really want to take computer science and statistics but my school only offers these as AP. How could I fight this? All of my friends take AP classes which means I could not be with my friends and I would be stuck with people who do not care about school. I feel really depressed. Should I tell her that I was diagnosed with ADD and due to my disorder I could not focus in Pre Calculus? (Which is true btw)
Wait, you want AP because otherwise you “could not be with (your) friends”?
And a disorder which kept you from focusing in PreCalc is the reason she should let you take College math courses in high school?
Sorry, but if they changed the rule, it was for a reason.
And, for what it’s worth, it’s vastly unfair to state that kids who don’t take AP courses “do not care about school.” You’re wrong. Some of them simply are “unable to focus” and have a GPA of less than 3.5.
Get your parents involved and set up an appointment for the 3 of you to talk to the guidance counselor.
Some high schools can make exceptions and allow parent consent to have you in AP classes without meeting the gpa requirement.
Leave out the part of wanting to be with your friends.
That is not the best reason to be placed in AP classes.
Work towards a solution instead of making false assumptions about other students in non AP/non Honors classes.
Ok, maybe it was unfair to say people that are not in AP’s do not care but at my school the majority do not care. Of course being with my friends is not the only reason to take AP classes. I want to be challenged and if I am not challenged the work becomes tedious. This was the case in Pre-Calc, the class was easy for me thus I was unable to focus. Unfortunately, that is one of the affects of ADD; not being able to focus on things you are not interested in. Since the GPA requirement is not in the handbook there can be exceptions right?
I have one chance to convince them that I can handle AP; I do not want to screw this up.
Not necessarily… the handbook is for the year that is ending, not next year.
My point about your classmates was that your inability to focus could just as easily be misinterpreted by someone else as evidence that “the majority do not care.”
And, I’m sorry, but how on earth are you going to get through college if you’re not able to focus on things you’re not interested in? How will you be able to hold down a job if you can only focus on things that interest you? Lots of things in my job aren’t interesting…like the carton full of Geometry projects awaiting my attention. It doesn’t get me a bye on doing them.
I think your first step is to stop making excuses. I’ve taught lots and lots of ADD kids. If your GPA isn’t where you want it to be, then come up with some concrete plans to present to your guidance counselor. “The class was too easy, I got bored and was unable to focus” is NOT going to win this argument for you.
Well, Pre-Calc has a lot of topics. If you study them, you should do fine in AP Calc, as there are fewer topics, you just have to apply them to a lot of different situations.
I can’t dispute what you say (b/c I don’t go to your school) - but as bjkmom said, you shouldn’t dismiss non-AP students as being lazy/not caring. Did you ever think that maybe people don’t take AP courses b/c they may not be good at that subject?
Actually a LOT of students may make the decision to not take an AP class, even if they were recommended for it. They instead may make the decision to take honors/regular - rather than taking an AP class and risk struggling with or even failing the course?
Not only that, but being in an AP class doesn’t immediately make you superior to everyone else. My schools forces about 95% of students to take AP Lang before they graduate - obviously not all of them care about English. I had some lot of classmates who were lazy and didn’t care. Some (emphasis on SOME) people just take AP classes just b/c it “looks good” and don’t actually put in effort.
TLDR; Taking AP classes doesn’t immediately make you smart/hardworking nor does taking regular/honors classes make you lazy/stupid/unmotivated
And no offense, but the “I was bored so I couldn’t focus” thing sounds like an excuse - your counselor won’t buy that. You shouldn’t be pointing fingers at the “lazy” kids if you’re making excuses like these…
That aside,
I’m assuming that you aren’t taking any AP classes right now? Going from none to 4 is a huge jump, especially considering that you’re having trouble in Pre-calc. If you’re gonna attempt to appeal this, maybe try to compromise - you may want to consider asking for 2 AP courses instead of 4. You may want to stress that you are interested in Computer Science and that it’s not offered as honors/reg.
I haven’t taken AP in at my school but I have taken college level courses at a state university nearby. Those classes aren’t recognized by my college counselors unfortunately.
I think your only option is to include your parents. Schedule a meeting with your counselor and parents and have your parents ask for you to be put into AP courses. Your parents and you should be on the same page so make sure that you explain your choice and why.
If that doesn’t work, you’re probably out of luck. You could self-study and take the exams if you’re just worried about credit once you get to college.
One last option, depending on your school and district, is contacting your student representative for your class. In my school, our student representatives sit on an internal school board that also includes the principal and vice principal and they can fight for us students. I’m not sure if you’re school has any thing similar; you can also contact your school board representative. Explain your problem; ask if there is anything they can do - my school board members can introduce policy changes for schools, I’m not sure if yours is the same.
Instead of askinf for 4 APs, be more reasonable and focus on the two you really want - AP Stats and AP Comp Sci. Discuss this with your parents beforehand, then make an appointment with your guidance counselor so all of you can see if taking 2 APs next year is feasible, seeing how you’re close to 3.5 and feel you can handle the work in these two classes. Bring a plan about how you are going to go to ensure you’re focused in class and out of class. (“I just know I can focus” isn’t going to cut it - you need actual concrete steps to ensure high-quality work in those two AP classes as well as in other classes, including those you find boring.)
Yes, get your parents to contact the counselor but please leave out the bit about how your lower grade in math was due to (1) that it was too easy and (2) your ADD makes you unable to focus. The first part makes you look silly and the second part is a good reason for you NOT to take the AP classes.
Honestly, I’d save calling parents as a last resort, mainly because I don’t think bringing parents is all that effective.
I’d personally would go to the teacher(s) that teach(es) the class(es) and see if there’s some way to prove that you have what it takes to succeed in their class via some kind of assessment.
Have your mom call the counselor, begging for you to be put in the classes. Emphasize how you have been a top notch student, and that you deserve to be in the classes that you have worked so hard to be in. Tell her that the new policy is unfair and that you had no idea of the new lame gpa prerequisite. The gpa prerequisite sounds completely unfair. Also, if you are able to, your school might allow you to sign a course waiver that may allow you to be in the classes despite not meeting the prerequisites. Since you are only one gpa point off, you should be able to be in the classes if you convince your counselor.
^except that the poster has NOT been a top-notch student at all! And the mother “begging” will only irritate the school administration. “This is so unfair” will not get OP anywhere, you know.
OP needs to be able to explain exactly what steps will be taken to do well in these classes. S/he doesn’t deserve them and is asking for a favor. If s/he is able to explain what steps will ensure success in these classes, his/her odds are better.
I think that any student capable of taking college level courses should also be capable of making his/her own case for being in those classes. Calling in mommy screams “I’m in over my head here.”
In my state, policy changes like this require approval from the school board. You might start by asking the GC when the school board voted to change this policy (or is this still a prelim policy guideline), and when is the next board meeting where you would want to address the school board.
It is possible the school wants to only offer APs to high-GPA achieving students as a cost-cutting measure. But introducing a policy change mid-stream is patently unfair to students caught in the middle - had you known they were going to change the rules, you might have taken different courses previously, etc. Perhaps they can accomodate you instead of you having to write a letter to the editor of your local paper slamming them for something unfair like this.
The other option is that since you have ADD, does your school policy allow special ed solutions to accomodate your needs. These vary widely by state and local board.