My child’s high school is the same, @helpingthekid73. The only AP class available to 10th graders is AP Music Theory, and that’s simply because the course is only offered every other year. I am very glad that the school has this philosophy; I think it cuts down on the “rat race” mentality that I read about at other schools, and it keeps students from taking classes that they aren’t prepared to succeed in.
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Agreed! Our school only allows 10th graders to take APES or if they are on the very advanced math track AP Calculus (and that is maybe 1 or 2 kids a year). The honors classes are just as rigorous and having to take them before the AP classes sets them up for success both in the AP classes and in college. Our HS has excellent college results with this policy.
The flip side of D24’s school’s AP class grading policy is that if you earn a 1 or 2 on the AP exam, it then drops your grade for the class for the entire year. The official HS transcript doesn’t list the individual trimester grades, just the annual grade for the whole class at the end of the school year. In 9th grade, though, since COVID threw everybody for a loop, they temporarily suspended the “drop your grade if you get a 1 or 2” policy. D24 still ended up with a B- in AP US Gov’t & Politics though.
The hit to her grades in 9th grade WILL end up limiting her choices for smaller schools because we’re chasing merit and, honestly, cannot afford >$28k/yr for tuition+room+board. All of the private schools say that we should be able to pay $45k and that’s just not happening, nor am I going to take out parent loans for it.
It’s interesting how much variation there is from 1 HS to another in terms of grading, course offerings, and policies around who can take what classes in which year of HS.
Looks like you have a good School counselor. Here the in House school Counselor is to busy they manage (each counselor managed 500 to 600 kids at a time).
Never heard of GPA increase if you do well in the the AP test and glad it helps raise the GPA for your daughter.
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There are some colleges that do not consider 9th grade grades for GPA calculations. Example the UC’s in California and other public state schools also.
You can may be look at schools like that if they fit your other criteria.
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Wow that is crazy, does your school have naviance or scoir? We are using that a lot to figure things out. Our counselors are great but they dont get involved until the end of junior year when they are done with the seniors.
This sounds like our school- No AP Freshman year, only AP Euro sophomore year, etc.
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We do not even have access to Naviance yet. I think they are 100% focused on the seniors right now so have heard zero about anything pertaining to juniors. It’s frustrating b/c I would like to be able to start getting an idea of what is realistic for him in terms of schools.
Our school changed to scoir this year and they gave access over the summer, they will not get to the juniors until the end of the year either
Our school gives access to Naviance starting in 9th grade.
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Depends on her stats of course, and finances - but much of the above would fit Barnard College at Columbia University. Classes, faculty, facilities, campus etc. are co-ed - but “attitude” (and first-year housing) is “women’s college”.
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BC, BU, Tufts?
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BU doesn’t have a traditional campus and is larger than the desired size.
And similarly, BC too small.
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Georgetown!
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Thanks for the suggestions! We have toured Tufts and LOVE it! She probably will visit Barnard this fall but will have to be persuaded on a women’s college. . . She is at a girls boarding school and really wants a change. Georgetown checks a lot of boxes, but she is not sure about Jesuit or its reputation as very pre-professional school. We are enjoying exploring options!
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My older d just graduated from Georgetown. The Jesuit thing is completely ignorable if you choose - my d is a progressive very liberal and secular Jew and had an amazing experience. Not completely sure how to address the preprofessional point - you may be right, most of my d’s friends graduated with jobs or went to medical or law school. As a mom I don’t view that as a bad thing…
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We do have Naviance and that helps to get a general idea. The counsellor my son has is very good but with so many kids she cant focus in individuals that much. So we are going to get some outside help as needed as sometimes my S24 listens better when we have neutral party suggest something vs coming from us 
Thank you for your perspective @relaxmon , that is very helpful! I love Georgetown and would be thrilled is my son were interested. Pre professional is not a bad thing at all and what my son likely will pursue so I didn’t at all mean it as a negative for most people, but may be a negative for my humanities/social sciences kid who wants to stay up all night comparing Mayan to Incan culture or Shelley v. Keats etc.
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This seems to be the direction my S24 is headed (business/econ). We are in CA and have USC on the radar as well as UVA and of course a few of the UC’s. Berkeley is starting a 4 year business program in 2024, previously they admitted people into the business program in Junior year. Good to know about Indiana Kelley (seems to be rolling admissions ?) and will look into U Iowa, I have heard good things about their business program. Have you looked into Northeastern - they have a strong business program (with two 6 month coops required for graduation)
Being a Cal resident gives you so many great options. My D would love to attend Berkeley or UCLA but the deck is stacked against OOS residents (even more so than in previous years), especially since they’ve gone completely test blind and have a mandate on prioritizing in state students. This year, my niece was rejected by Berkeley, UCLA so she’s attending Amherst. It’s going to be even harder going forward for OOS.
Did some research on UVA and it appears you have to complete 54-60 hours of credit before applying to the business school and Im not sure she would love Charlottesville and there’s only so many schools you can visit.
We’re on the fence with Northeastern. It’s great but probably wont be her first choice and they seem to reject a lot of high stat kids when they dont think they’ll attend (like BU) but Im not sure if that’s true. My niece was flat out rejected by BU because of yield protection (they were right because she wasnt going to attend) given her choices (Amherst, UMich, Georgetown and a few others).
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