As I read more and more discussions on these forums, it appears that most high school students have class choice. They get to pick their classes and their schedules. My son does not. Every student takes the same classes freshman, sophomore and junior year. the only exception is math, where those advanced can skip geometry and start with Algebra 2 then precalc then calc (algebra 1 is assumed learned in 8th grade). Science is bio, chem, physics, no exceptions. English 1, 2, 3, no exceptions and so on. Senior year allows for electives but no AP classes. His high school sends kids to very good colleges but I am wondering if he will be behind when he gets there. Some of the posts here are about kids with 3 years of calculus and three years of physics (A, B, and C?).
Is my son going to be able to keep up without having all these advanced classes and no chance to take them? Is having so much class choice the norm in high school? At least my son doesn’t have the problem of not getting the schedule or classes he needs. But is the lack of choice going to hurt him in college?
My kids had a similar situation, although they did have honors section for sciences (no science APs, though). D1 had no real impact at all. D2 went to a tough STEM school; she worked crazy hard her first 3 semesters as she had some catching up to do. But it worked out. Make sure they study for their standardized tests and do well.
Do you have another choice? If you don’t, there really isn’t a lot you can do.
He might be just fine. His school might have everyone at a high level. I went to school with 700 kids in my class and while there were electives (band, home ec, business, French), for the most part half took the same ‘college prep’ classes (chemistry, American lit, the math sequence), and the other half took general classes (English 1, 2, 3); many of the classes (history, government) were the same for everyone. No AP, just chem, physics, algebra 2. Some kids did go to elite colleges, most went to the flagship or other schools in state, none of us were academically stunted for not having ‘honors’ or ‘AP’ on our transcripts.
Looks like the high school assumes that everyone is already at +1 level in math (calculus in 12th grade), with the option for the most advanced students to be at +2 level (calculus in 11th grade). That means that they students will not be “behind”, unless the courses are of poor quality. Students who are behind in math need to take remedial precalculus courses in college if they need them to prepare for calculus.
Biology, chemistry, and physics are the usual expected sciences that students take in high school. College courses in those subjects may assume high school level courses as prerequisites; AP courses are not necessary (and often do not match well enough to the college science courses to allow advanced placement anyway).
Does he even have a choice in which foreign language (e.g. Spanish vs. French vs. …)?
My high school didn’t have a whole lot of options. If I recall correctly:
Freshman Year:
English
History
Science (Evolution of the Universe–sort of an intro to astronomy, physics, etc.)
Algebra I or Geometry, depending on what your level was in middle school/where you test into
Spanish I or Spanish II, see above
Sophomore Year:
English
Chemistry
Regular US History OR APUSH
Geometry or Algebra II
Spanish II or Spanish III
Junior Year:
English/History: Two pairs of semester-long seminar classes that are taken with seniors (we can choose from 3-4 options)
Regular or AP Bio
Algebra II or Pre-Calculus
Spanish III or Spanish IV
Senior Year:
English/History: Seminar classes with juniors
Science Electives–Neurobio, Environmental Science, or AP Physics
Pre-Calculus, Regular Calculus, or AP Calculus AB (the last two are optional)
Spanish IV or (optional) Spanish V
So as you can see, I certainly know what it’s like to be a little behind other students in that aspect. Especially because we only had to take 5 classes; it took me a while to get used to people here talking about their HS schedules and listing 7 or 8 classes. That being said, CC is not always the most accurate representation of what a lot of people take. I think whether or not your son will be behind really depends on what he wants to go into, though.
He should be just fine with all of the science lab classes as well as calculus. It sounds like a solid HS program even if it is no-frills.
You can ask your guidance counselor if he/she has had any feedback about how kids who have gone to good colleges have done in the past. See if he thinks any classes outside of the HS are needed to fully prepare your S for college.
No. Please remember that the kids here are not a representative subset of HS students as a whole. Most freshman/sophs have limited choices (usually only which language to take) I would not worry about it.
No. Colleges are going to review his schedule in the context of what your school offers. The GC will generally send a school profile which will discuss any limitations that the school puts on course selection.
Since you wrote that your HS sends kids to very good colleges, I wouldn’t be too worried about preparation. Do they offer honors sections? What electives are offered? Surprising that no AP science classes are available, even to seniors. What science class do the seniors take?
This is a wonderful site with a great community. I have learned a lot visiting this site. But, there are a lot of parents/students from highly competitive high schools with more robust curriculum.
I want to reassure you your student is not alone. Our D17 attends a public charter school. They just started building an AP curriculum four years ago and offerings are very slim. The current AP instructors are certified but not the greatest. I don’t think any students got above a 3 on ANY of the AP exams this year from what I’ve heard. From the admissions counselors I’ve spoken to (or D17’s spoken to), this isn’t going to be a concern. Most schools look at the total package and will consider the curriculum available.
Focus more on the course requirements for acceptance. There are schools like Harvey Mudd who are expecting certain AP courses; most aren’t.
What is probably more of a concern is that the curriculum and teaching quality in the AP courses is not that good if there are no students who scored higher than 3. That may mean that students going to college with a weaker base (whether or not they took AP courses) could find it difficult to do well in college.
Thanks for the replies. I am amazed at how different high school education is around the country.
I did not realize that the guidance counselor gets to explain that the school does not offer any honors or APs. Everybody is taught at the same level so I would think that this means he his taking the most rigorous curriculum he can. His school does let them pick a language (Spanish or latin) but they have to stay with the same one all four years.
I guess my fear is that he goes into college calculus or biology with one class from high school and the kids next to him have had 4 classes in the subject and thus a much deeper base of knowledge. Would an MIT or Stanford assume more previous knowledge in beginner classes than say a Duke or Boston College? Or is a beginner class a beginner class and only basic high school knowledge is assumed?
My daughter did not have calc in high school (it was offered, but because of moves and transfers she didn’t have the chance to get ahead). She’s in engineering and was given a placement test for math at her school. Placed her in
Calc 1. About half of her calc 1 class had already had one or two calc classes in high school. She did fine.
If you son isn’t ready for a class, he will be put in the appropriate level at most colleges. If you feel he needs more in a math or science class, he could take an online class or if there is a community college near you he could take a class there. I bet he’ll be just fine with his school’s classes.