<p>Within the next two weeks my son, my husband and I will pick our son's 9th grade classes. It shouldn't be too much of a big deal because each subject has prerequsites and all classes except one are required. He has space for one elective which will probably be band. For instance, he's doing well in Science, all freshman take Biology, so will probably take honors Bio. He's doing well in English so will probably take honors English. Taking Alg I this year and doing well so will probably take Alg. II. </p>
<p>His English teacher told the kids today that to get into college he only needs two years of a foreign language. His Science teacher told him he only needs three years of math and four years of Science. The school itself requires 4 years of English, math, Social Studies, and three years of Science, although most kids seem to take 4 years of that also. Additional required classes are two computer classes, two years of a language, a technology class, drivers ed, 4 semesters of gym (one semester a year), 2 semesters of health. </p>
<p>The core classes to me seem to be in line with what most colleges want. Does anyone have a HS that does not require 4 years of the core subjects? I probably complain about our HS too much but one thing it does seem to do well is to require the basics for every student to be able to attend a college if they choose to.</p>
<p>His science teacher told him that he needs only three years of math, but for years of science. I'm guessing that if you asked the math teacher, he'd say just the opposite. LOL</p>
<p>Our competitive, public HS only requires three full years of english for graduation, but the selective college-bound kids take nearly 4+ years in each academic subject (doubling up in math and/or science). </p>
<p>IMO, for selective schools, one should take four years each of the core academic subjects, including foreign language. More and more colleges are requiring foreign language proficiency for college graduation, and will allow a good AP score to fulfill that requirement, so HS is a good time to take it. btw: the UCs require two years of a language, but recommend three.</p>
<p>My sons ran into a few colleges, Univ of Colorado at Boulder for example, that now require three years of a foreign language. All three years must be in the same language btw.</p>
<p>Take a look at the most selective colleges that you believe your son may want. Look at what they recommend. That should be kept in mind in setting your schedule. Many schools do require foreign language classes at an intermediate level and two years of highschool language may not cut it for getting that requirement out of the way. If your son wants to go into the sciences, it behoove him to get 4 years of math.</p>
<p>Very interesting about the requirement for at least 3 years of HS foreign language by some colleges.</p>
<p>My sophmore son just finished "Spanish 3" -- but he took Spanish 1/2 (in one year--accelerated/compressed) in 9th grade. Wonder if this would qualify? (he desperately does not want to spend another year memorizing Spanish verbs).</p>
<p>According to the guidance counselors at the school my son attended, "three years of Spanish" means "Spanish through Level 3, regardless of whether the various levels were taken in high school or middle school," not "three years of Spanish taken in high school."</p>
<p>I think that all college-bound kids should take math through precalculus, as well as biology, chemistry, and physics. But I can understand why some kids choose not to take more math or science beyond this; not everyone's interests lie in that direction.</p>
<p>kathiep, unless there is a really compelling reason to do otherwise, it would be a good idea for your son to be in honors courses in as many subjects as possible. The honors courses are where the serious students are.</p>
<p>I'm hoping that son can test out of the first year of Spanish since he's been taking it in MS for 3 years (and also 1-5th grade) but only 2-3 times a week. The frustrating thing is that the expectation is that the kids will NOT test into the second year. My daughter did 3 years of French and older son did four years of German. Both have language requirements at their colleges, my daughter said her one year of Spanish in college was better then all three years in HS.</p>
<p>Marian, I agree. Son has low tolerance for slackers.</p>
<p>" Does anyone have a HS that does not require 4 years of the core subjects?"</p>
<p>To answer your specific question -- yes. The state of Vermont requires the following for graduation: </p>
<ol>
<li>Four years of English language arts</li>
<li>Three years of Science</li>
<li>Three years of Mathematics</li>
<li>Three years of history, civics, and social sciences (including one year of U.S. history and government)</li>
<li>One year of arts</li>
<li>A year and a half of physical education</li>
</ol>
<p>By senior year, kids who are not aiming for selective colleges often have nothing to do but take English. </p>
<p>As for colleges -- there's what they recommend, and then what they are really expecting. I would think it varies for different schools.</p>
<p>NY is impossibly complicated and includes passing various Regents Exams, but the basics is 22 credits with the following:</p>
<p>(i) English, four units of credit;</p>
<p>(ii) social studies, four units of credit (1 year US, 1/2 year each of gov. and econ. it seems you only have to pass the Regents test in Global History, but dont' have to take the course - weird.)</p>
<p>(iii) science, three units of credit of commencement level science, at least one course shall be life sciences and at least one in the physical sciences, the third may be either life sciences or physical sciences;</p>
<p>(iv) mathematics, three units </p>
<p>(v) visual arts and/or music, dance, or theatre, one unit of credit</p>
<p>(vi) health education, one half unit of credit... Learning standards in the area of parenting shall be attained through either the health or family and consumer sciences programs or a separate course.</p>
<p>(4) All students shall have earned the equivalent of two units of credit in physical education</p>
<p>Kathiep, I'm pretty sure that my daughter's high school graduation requirements mirror the minimum requirements to get into UC -- and that is 2 years of a lab science (a general science course without lab doesn't qualify), and 3 years of math -- meaning, math through the 3rd year (algebra II). (Of course the UC's recommend a 3rd year of science & 4th of math - most colleges do have a little leeway between "required" and "recommended") </p>
<p>My daughter was ahead of schedule because of taking a lab science + geometry in 9th grade, but she was thrown off track when she did a foreign exchange junior year -- so she graduated with only 2 years of science & 2 years of math (through the 3rd year level -- if that makes any sense). In any case, she met all the requirements for UC admission and most of the colleges she wanted to attend, and I'm glad she had the flexibility that allowed her to do the exchange. Of course as a parent I would have liked to have seen her have more math and science -- but I guess I will just have to settle for having a daughter who is fluent in Russian instead. ;) </p>
<p>As long as the school requires the standard college prep track to graduate, I don't think you have anything to worry about. A little flexibility can be a good thing for some students. If my daughter had stayed home in high school, she would have taken trig and physics her junior year, and graduated with the full complement of core courses her high school offered. But the irony is that she probably wouldn't have done as well for college admissions.</p>
<p>The thing is it's not 'what you need to get into college' - it's
'what you need to get into the college you want'. I second 'cpt' on making sure you check on the requirements of your target colleges. I recommend targeting at a high level so your S will have the best choice when the time comes around. Keep in mind that meeting the 'minimum requirements' of highly selective colleges is generally not adequate to be admitted. It'd be better to at least take the recommended courses (not minimum rec) and see if you can get an idea of what their typical incoming freshman has taken in HS. Your S will be up against many students who take loads of math/science/english classes. </p>
<p>Many students graduate with all the math offered by the HS (AP Calc plus AP Stats), all years of science (incl. AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Physics), all years of foreign lang (ex: AP Spanish Lang, AP Spanish Lit), AP English, history, and government courses. Throw in some required PE, Art, some band/dance/ EC sports/other ECs, etc. and it can make for a very busy (but hopefully happy) student. Not all students are at this level and at some schools few are and some students have no desire to have that kind of rigor but it's good to understand the playing field. </p>
<p>I think it's a good idea to sit down and plan out not just 9th but lay out all 4 years with a few different scenarios/tracks. This is important because there are often pre-reqs in order to get into the later classes and if you don't take the right ones in 9th you might not be able to get the other classes in later.</p>
<p>Remember that on college apps they're mostly looking at classes/grades/GPA/class rank taken up through 11th grade since apps go in at the beginning of 12th before any grades come out.</p>
<p>I just want to add something here. In our case I learned a little something with kid #1. He took bio as a freshman, chem as a sophomore and AP biology as a Junior. Turns out that our school has a horrible AP bio and physics teacher. He squeaked a C in bio. His friend had to drop physics and tkae one of those online courses. Had I known (by talking to parents with older kids, etc) I would have had him take integrated science freshman year, bio sophomore, chem junior and the last lab science senior year. That is what kid #2 is doing.
So while, yes, it is important to take the hardest stuff offered, if you are dealing with kid #1 (which I know the OP is not) it makes sense to ask around.</p>
<p>Because our HS is pretty small and son will probably do band there are not too many choices. Junior year will be the first time for a sort of fun class. English is either honors or regular until senior year when students can take AP. Social Studies is regular in 9th grade and prescribed AP's for 10th, 11th and 12th - that is 10th grade is AP US History, 11th grade is AP euro and 12th grade is AP US Gov. Each of these classes has a prerequisite grade of the class preceding it so you can't take AP euro or AP US Gov in 10th grade. There are only two tracks for each subject, regular and honors or regular and AP, but not regular, honors and AP. So, it won't be very difficult to choose most classes, if he does well in one, he will go on to the next similar one.</p>
<p>Math and Science will be pretty much the different paths. The math teachers in our HS are very uneven and that's where I anticipate the most difficulty. The teachers are the key as ebeeee pointed out. The best math teacher is also the hardest grader. She also has a very unique style of teaching - worked for our daughter but not older son. The GC's are also not real keen on switching classes around to accomodate student/teacher learning style quirks. </p>
<p>As you've suggested Uscd-ucla Dad, we'll map out some paths for the next few years and see where that takes us. Thanks!</p>
<p>I have two kids in different high schools, zoning changes my daughter's freshman year, which put her in a new high school. (9th only for first year and to add a grade each subsequent year) My son's a senior, graduating in May, my daughter's a sophomore now. My son's graduating with 9 AP courses under his belt. I thought his school was nutty about the AP's until I registered my daughter last year for ninth grade. Our school extensively promotes (for incoming gifted/honors students) AP Bio. 9th, AP Chem 10th, and AP physics 11th. As I have a Master's in Biology Education, I went ahead and enrolled D for the class, knowing I could get her through the year. I ended up tutoring her and her best friend -- essentially teaching them all the material -- as our school had hired a new teacher (one who'd never taught AP Bio, and, in fact, was coming out of the middle school). I realized very quickly how stupid it was having put her in that class as a 9th grader when I saw how much better prepared my son was (taking the class at the same time as an 11th grader with 9th grade Honors Bio behind him). Holy Cow! did we have a year. She pulled an A in the class, however, and a 5 on the AP exam, so there was a huge silver lining. I learned my lesson though. Honors Chem before AP Chem, not doing that again. Although, she is terribly bored in her Honors Chem. </p>
<p>Schools are huge proponents of the AP courses, as they get money, at least in the state of Florida, depending on how many kids take them and how many kids pass them. We're discovering with our son that we wished he hadn't taken all the AP he did, as some of them have hurt his GPA (got a couple of C's, which is weighted as a B at the school but not, necessarily, weighted the same at all colleges when grades are figured).</p>
<p>D took the AP Bio 9th grade, and is in the AP World now. She'll have four AP's next year, with two honors and three AP's her senior year. One of the school's she wants to apply to is University of Florida. According to Time Magazine, the year she graduates H.S. will be the largest group of kids attempting to get into college before a substantial drop-off in subsequent years. UF is turning down kids with huge weighted GPA's, stellar SAT's, and, of course, lots of EC's. It's insane. We have kids who should be in standard courses being told "ya gotta have honors" and now they're floundering. And we have kids in honors who are being pressured into lots of AP's when honors is a stretch for them. Too much pressure on these kids, no wonder so many of them -- including our best and brightest -- are wanting out of school.</p>
<p>My S2's HS has a goofy policy of having kids first take regular chemistry, which is only offered to juniors, prior to AP chemistry, thus, almost requiring the kids to double up on science courses if they want to take physics. Making matters worse, two physics courses are offered, regular physics and calculus-based physics (Honors), which means at least calc AB has to completed prior to taking it. Similarly, three years of a foreign language is required before one can take the AP version. This is not quite the problem since most kids come into HS with at least one year of foreign language credit from middle school. Add the requirement that one MUST take a voc ed and a health course, scheduling becomes pretty crazy. S1 followed a slightly different path than S2. S1 had finished AP calc BC as a sophomore; though good at math, S2 decided he would take it a bit slower and not take BC until he is a senior. I tend to agree with him, I don't think colleges want kids to rush through it all. Accordingly, S2 will be taking stuff this summer he is not able to fit in his schedule, rather than accelerate the schedule. At the inner city public HS S1 & S2 attend(ed), between credits applied from middle school and summer courses, it is not unusual for students to have many more credits than required for graduation, and to have 4 years of language, 5 years (or more of science), 5 or 6 years of math, 4 or 5 years of social science, 4 years of language arts, and other electives such as music, art, drama, etc. Somewhere between 7 & 9 courses will be AP, most of the rest (except for that mystery chemistry course) honors.</p>
<p>Admissions officers from the most selective colleges are looking for "the most rigorous courseload possible". In other words, if your child's HS offers AP classes, the child should take those unless s/he would do poorly in them. Four years of the same foreign language is a definite plus, again IF the grades are good. Our S has no ear for languages, despite having started Spanish in kindergarten. He dropped it after 10th grade, but that may well hurt him at more selective schools such as Cornell. (However, Cs wouldn't have been a plus either.) We were surprised to see, on one application, the question "Have you taken the most advanced math class your high school offers?" The answer was "NO", because S's HS offers classes beyond AP Calculus BC. (Sheesh). S's "elective" last year (11th grade) was AP Biology, and this year they're AP American Literature and AP Chemistry. No Photography, no Ceramics, etc etc. High school was definitely more fun when we were kids.</p>
<p>^^ its ok..i have not much of an ear for spanish either sure..ive taken spanish 6-8th grade and 10th and now 11th grade but did i really ever do good after 6th grade(basic stuff..it was..not even ever day...) i can usually make out things on paper...but im bad conversing...really bad...i can hear something and can understand some words..but yeah my grades in 8 and 10th were really bad b/c they were speaking based(Cs-ish area and i got those grades b/c i had a tutor in 8th grade..she helped me test out w/ a pass on my 8th grade test but just for 9th grade i entered a new school and decided on a fresh new start)</p>
<p>Our school has very minimal requirements for graduation:
4 yrs English
2 yrs Science
2 yrs Math (now 3)
2.5 yrs social studies (Human Geo or Hon. World History, US History, US Gov)
3.5 yrs PE (gotta love IL)
.5 yrs Health
.5 yrs Driver's Ed
.5 yrs Vocational Ed (business, home ec, shop, art)
.5 yrs Consumer Ec/AP Microeconomics</p>
<p>I think that the math and science requirements are pathetic. In addition, our school is very soft on promoting foreign language and very few kids take 4 yrs as compared with 4 yrs of Math or social studies. They also make it tough in that the only language offered to middle schoolers is Spanish, and only one year of that. I think that my school is doing us a great disservice in not making foreign language more available (plus the fact that we probably should all have started spanish in elementary school, but I digress). </p>
<p>The way that our schedule is constructed, we have 6 free periods (that excludes gym or lunch). That makes it "easy" to take for years of the 5 core subjects. However, if you are in a continuous elective (band, chorus, or orchestra) that you really do not want to drop out of, scheduling becomes more difficult. I had to take Driver's Ed and Gov. over the summer, plus test out of the Consumer requirement. I was lucky, though, in that I didn't have to leave any courses on the table that I wanted to take. Even with band filling my 6th free period, I was able to take 9 AP's plus Multivariable Calc w/ the full 4 years in each core class, and others with the free 6th period, or who reached AP Spanish junior year (not an option for non-spanish students) took a couple of more.</p>
<p>advantagious, at least you could take drivers ed and gov over the summer and test out of Consumer economics. The only class that can be taken elsewhere (at local CC 30 min. away) at our school is Alg. I or II. There is no testing out of anything. Our kids have to take 1 credit of health (1 semester freshman, 1 semester junior), Actually 26 credits are required for graduation. </p>
<p>Our High School offers 12 AP classes and only one can be taken before junior year, so even the most ambitious student cannot take more than 4 or 5 because they simply won't fit in the schedule. I'm not sure that's a bad thing though.</p>
<p>Kathiep--on one hand I'll tell you not to spend too much time on CC, because it's easy to get sucked into the whirlwhind of overachievers here. That said, you're doing the right thing about looking ahead towards h.s. classes for your son. I echo what others have said---if he can handle the work, he should take as many honors classes as possible. He'll have to figure out where his interests lie as to which AP courses to take. If he dreams of going to Penn or Princeton, for example, then he'll need all the AP courses he can take, with good grades in all of them. (because that's what everyone else who applies there has). If Penn State is more his style, then good grades and a mix of honors/AP classes will be fine. It's hard to look at an 8th grader and think about that, but you can get some hints by his past work ethic and friends. One of your comments caught my eye, though.....you should expect that Junior year will be one of his most important years, as far as grades, ec's up until then, etc...probably the least "fun" academic year...getting ready for SAT, etc. When he starts his college application process, he'll barely have started senior year. His transcripts that accompany his apps will show through completion of Junior year. My D1 is taking a full load as a senior, but the strength of her applications have been what she's already accomplished. She didn't have much time for any "fun" courses, because she was focused on keeping a high GPA (and class rank, which is based on heavier weighting of APs vs Honors vs "regular"). D2 is getting ready to schedule for junior year and I've got my fingers crossed that she's ready for it, although she's not as driven by the class rank/GPA race. Good luck.</p>