Congratulations on all your son’s success, you should be very proud of his maturity throughout. I’ve been following the music major threads and am fascinated by how different it is to most other college searches. What was your biggest and smallest takeaway from this application season?
We also just finished a successful college application process for D23. Can’t believe we get no break. However, S25 has a very different path, he will be applying to USNA, then as a backup NROTC, and we hope to find some TE schools that also have NROTC.
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We have 2 young ladies in my sons class so far that are entering into US Air Force Academy.
Learned that the Tuition Exchange process is complicated. That music admissions was a whole different ball game! Especially since my oldest did a tech school/workforce route. But mostly, that it is true that private schools should not be ruled out as they do give lots of money at times.
My son really struggled with giving up the warm weather schools he was accepted to such Jacksonville U/FL, U Louisiana-Lafayette, and Loyola New Orleans (although LoyNo ended up not financially an option. I struggled with him giving up a highly rated music program at Baldwin Wallace. He felt validated that he got into Indiana U/Jacobs school of music as it was well ranked and highly recommended by his voice teacher but he went in knowing it wasn’t going to be affordable. He applied for his own pride. His version of Ivies so to speak.
We started with my son being pretty clear that he did not want a small school and he preferred school spirit. He wanted travel opportunities and a place to explore his interests. If I could move Syracuse to the beach, it would have been perfect. But I learned that “fit” and “feel” truly are important.
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I’m curious what everyone’s children took for history this year? It seems most schools do AP Gov senior year, so what do most sophomores take?
At our school it’s F-World, S-Government, J- US and S- nothing required but some take History of Chicago (one semester)
The sequence at my D’s HS was no history in 9th, euro in 10th, US in 11th, gov/econ in 12th (1 semester each).
S23 took:
9th AP Gov
10th AP World
11th APUSH
12th IB HL 20th Century
S25 is in the fence about IB diploma so may do something different.
Generally though I think it’s some sort of Gov/civics type class in 9th, world in 10th, and US in 11th. Econ is also required for graduation and is usually taken in 11th or 12th.
F - world (cp, adv, hon)
S - US history I (cp, adv, hon)
J - US history II (cp, adv, AP)
Sr - lots to choose from like AP Euro or Af Am his etc.
My D is taking adv history II next year and AP macroeconomics sr year. Macro has a personal finance component that is required for graduation, student have the option to take a regular personal finance class instead.
CP regular credit, Adv +0.5, H/AP +1
9th World
10th AP Euro
11th AP US
12th AP Gov and AP Psychology
My C25 took AP world history.
That’s the standard 10th-grade advanced social studies course in the school district here, and the only AP class sophomores are allowed to take, unless they place into an AP math or foreign language class. (9th-graders take a semester of ancient history and a semester of Alaska history. Aside from advanced math or foreign language placement, 9th-graders aren’t allowed to take AP courses at all.)
Ours is
9th- AP Human Geography
10th -AP World
11th-AP US
12th - AP Gov
Ok. I did leave out that she has to take Economics also. I guess that fits into the social studies category then. If the kids don’t take AP Gov they take regular Government which is just a 1 semester class.
California now requires (or will be requiring, but our school district is already on the bandwagon) Ethnic Studies, so it looks like this:
9th: Life Skills/Ethnic Studies
10th: World
11th: US
12th: Gov/Econ
Our schools official sequence for social studies is 9-None; 10-US History 1; 11-US History 2; 12-World History. There are other electives Psych/Gov/Euro etc. that you can take as an elective, but not a state requirement.
My D doubled up this year with US Hist 1/AP World in order to free up a spot for an elective she wants to take that is only open to seniors. As that is her top class, she wants as much space in her schedule as possible. She is also doubling up next year with APUSH/AP Psych. Senior year will have one of the electives IF she has space after the other class she wants.
S25 took/is taking:
9th: AP World
10th: AP Modern Euro
11th: APush
They don’t require social studies beyond three years, thankfully. It’s definitely one of his weaker areas.
I will be so ready for the AP to be behind him for the year. In true ADHD fashion, he has hyperfocused on his project for AP Computer Science Principles to the exclusion of all other work. The portfolio was due at 10:59 last night and at 10:59 I was shrieking at him to submit it. (He wanted to perfect it!) Unfortunately, he’s so far behind in prepping for the AP Euro exam that I’m not sure he can pass it at this point. Thankfully he seems pretty reflective about what he needs to do next year to avoid this situation. May is always tough with the end of year band performance and his skeet competitions. I’m grateful that he only has three weeks to go.
In the meantime…SERENITY NOW!
Our school does:
9th: Ancient History
10th: Modern World History
11th: US History
12th: optional history electives
It’s interesting how different schools manage this requirement.
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FWIW, expanding this beyond social studies, the State of Alaska requires, for graduation:
- 4 years of English (which can include public speaking and debate)
- 3 years of math
- 3 years of social studies (which must include ½ year Alaska history)
- 2 years of science
- 1 year of phys ed
- sufficient other courses to get up to 21 units (where 1 year-long course is 1 unit)
The Anchorage School District adds the following:
- English must include ½ year of composition
- 1 more year of social studies for a total of 4, which must include 1 year each of US and world history and ½ year each of US government and economics (meaning that social studies is the subject area with the least flexibility for ASD students)
- ½ more year of math for a total of 2½, which must include Algebra I or higher
- 1 more year of science for a total of 3, including at least 1 year each of life and physical sciences
- ½ more year of phys ed for a total of 1½, which must include ½ year of “Lifetime Personal Fitness”
- sufficient other courses to get up to 22½ units
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Our state requires 3.5 years of “social studies” of which at least 1 semester must be stand-alone civics (although if a course could grant college credit it can count – so APUSH and APGov count).
9th - 1 semester “world history” (which is usually matched by 1 semester “health” to get it out of the way and get a little “just say no” into the kids in their freshman year)
10th - European History (regular or AP)
11th - US History (regular or AP)
12th - AP Gov, Civics (regular, year-long course, for those not taking APUSH or AP Gov), or “Ethnic Studies” (an intersectional survey of social studies topics, not necessarily history oriented) – some years, at some HS in the district, AP Psych is offered.
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I just looked ours up today to make sure D25 can fit it all in . We are required:
4 credit English
3 credits Math
3 credits Science
2.5 credits History + .5 credits Econ
2 credits Bible
.5 credits Fine arts
.5 credits Computer Apps
1.5 credits PE
6.5 credits for Electives
Total 24 credits for graduation
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Our school requires:
| Subject | Class of 2022 & Beyond — 25.0 credits |
|---|---|
| English | 4.0 credits |
| Social Studies | 4.0 credits |
| Mathematics | 3.0 credits |
| Science | 3.0 credits |
| Health & Physical Education | 1.5 credits |
| Electives | 8.0 credits |
| Communication | 0.5 credits |
| Arts and Humanities | 1.0 credits |
- Science Requirements: Students must successfully complete the following three Science courses: Biology, Chemistry and Physics.
- Mathematics Requirements: Students must successfully complete the following three Mathematics courses: Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II.
- Technology Education Requirements: All 9th grade students must be enrolled in Foundations of Technology in the Technology Education area.
- Business Education Requirements: All 9th grade students must be enrolled in Foundations of Business in the Business area.
- Communication Requirement: All 10th grade students must successfully complete Foundations of Communication.
My son is just taking regular history 9 and 10. There is no advanced and he didn’t want to take APUSH. Weirdly both are US History. Next year he will take APEuro.
I think I heard they are no longer requiring physics but I think it’s still a 3 year science requirement.
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I’m envious of all of you with your 1 year or so of gym requirements. My district requires 4 years of a gym/health class even if you do sports. I do appreciate that health this year is drivers Ed but could really scrap it after her taking 2 years of these classes. She’s giving up the 4th year of German and science to take electives more important to her like music theory and keeping her band/jazz classes plus a required CTE class which is a practical job type course. I’d happily have her give up pe/health and do the CTE class junior year and keep German senior year, science is just not going to work with this kid going for a music degree but if there’s room she could do either AP bio or environmental.
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