<p>I am a mom of a junior in highschool. Almost all college websites say they look at rigor in college prep courses in highschool . My son has not taken any. Do colleges look at rigor seriously? Is that going to be a problem to get into mid tier colleges ?</p>
<p>This is a good question to ask your son’s high school guidance counselor. College ready generally means 4 years of math, 3-4 years of science, 4 years of English, some foreign language, some arts - and many states have set minimums close to those numbers since every state is pushing kids toward college. The top kids take the “hardest” classes the high school offers and the 20-30th percentile college ready kids take classes that fit their ability level, But in this day and age many middling kids go to college and there are plenty of colleges looking for the B kids (or A kids that didn’t challenge themselves with the hardest classes the high school offers) and believe it or not, there are colleges that take C kids… so your son might be just fine for the colleges he is looking at. Some public colleges have non-degree-counting remedial classes for the kids that aren’t quite ready for the rigor of college classes, too, so there can be a fall back position if he finds himself not quite ready in some particular area. your son should take the ACT or the SAT this spring depending on what part of the country you are in (I suspect from your screen name it would be the SAT) and that score will give you an idea of where he fits with regard to college choices. But I do think the high school guidance counselor will have a very good sense of your son’s situation and where “others” like him have landed so don’t be afraid to call and schedule an appointment for you AND your son. He needs to hear it also. </p>
<p>Thanks for your input. I will make an appointment with the counselor and go talk to her. He is a late bloomer who is doing well in his junior year( no rigorous courses).The first 2 yrs were B’s. He has scheduled to take 2 AP’s in his senior year.He has scored 720 in math SAT & 620 in Critical Reading. How much importance do the colleges have for SATscores?</p>
<p>It varies. The two things that are usually used to “group” applicants are their test scores (ACT, SAT), and GPA. Then they consider the rigor of the classes, extraicirriculars, etc.</p>
<p>It really depends on where your son is intending on applying… More selective schools will want to see rigorous schedules, but state schools that accept the majority of applicants will not be as much as an issue.</p>
<p>Those are good scores for someone who hasn’t done any honors or AP classes. You may end up facing the perception of “bright but lazy”. Might be worth thinking if there’s anything you can do at this point to counter that.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for all your valuable comments. He is a late bloomer. He is doing well this year & that’s why the better scores in SAT too. I hope the colleges sees the upward trend in his transcript & make some considerations.Also, he is very actively involved in school’s Debate & Golf Teams.</p>
<p>Jerseymom, I wouldn’t sweat this at all. A lot of boys are late bloomers. My son is one. He took only CP classes his freshman year, then gradually added a few honors class his sophomore year, and is now, in his junior year, taking a rigorous load. While he won’t graduate at the top of his class (weighted grades at his school), I do think colleges will look positively at this gradual transition to more challenging work.</p>
<p>Schools are very interested in upward trends.
I also wouldn’t sweat it, if he wants to take a year doing something non academic before college.
Both my kids took a year off, and while they did apply to colleges senior year, ( and reused the recommendations etc), my oldest found an additional school during her year off that she hadn’t even considered before and that was where she ended up. ( With money, even though her grades & scores were below median)
Both kids were accepted to all their choices.</p>
<p>Thank you very much! Very helpful suggestions…</p>
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<p>Not taken any of what? I.e. not taken any honors/AP courses, or not taken core college prep courses (even just the regular non-honors ones)?</p>
<p>Taking a full schedule of core college prep courses, even without any honors courses, should be sufficient for many moderately selective universities. These courses would typically be (though amount may vary from one college to another):
- 4 years of college-prep English
- math through precalculus (though many accept math through algebra 2, that could mean taking remedial math in college)
- 2 or 3 years of history and social studies
- 2 or 3 years of lab science (preferably all three of biology, chemistry, and physics)
- foreign language through level 2 or 3 (higher level is generally better, particularly if the college or major has a foreign language graduation requirement; some moderately selective schools do not have such an admission requirement)
- 0 or 1 year of art or music</p>
<p>Of course, more selective universities want to see more courses, higher levels, and/or honors/AP courses or other more rigorous options selected (and that may be looked at more favorably even at moderately selective universities).</p>
<p>If he is significantly short on the college-prep course pattern (e.g. won’t have 4 years of college-prep English or some other deficiency), then he can start at a community college (possibly making up any deficiency in high school preparation), complete two years’ of college course work there, and then transfer to a state university as a junior (when the high school record is of minimal or no relevance).</p>
<p>Thank you!! He has completed all the courses required for college. But they are all academic level courses. No Honors or AP.</p>
<p>Most moderately selective colleges should be fine with that (to them, rigor generally means completing the desired pattern of college-prep high school courses, rather than the low level non-college-prep high school courses that may be offered). At least in theory, regular college-prep high school courses should prepare students for college level work. You may want to see if you can find out if your high school lives up to that expectation, or if its courses are of inferior quality, leaving graduates to struggle when they get to college.</p>
<p>Colleges will figure out rigor of your son’s course load by looking at his school profile (if they have one), and what his GC will check off on his recommendation letter. Top tier schools are going to want top 1-5% (most rigorous), but middle tiers may not be as rigid.</p>
<p>One of my nephews didn’t take any APs until senior year because he transferred to his US school when he was in 10th grade. He wasn’t on the right track to take the APs junior year. His GC addressed his situation in the letter, and he also aced his APs senior year. His not so rigor course work didn’t prevent him from getting into a top 20 school.</p>
<p>Another nephew(from another family) went to the same private school his whole life. Even though he had straight As in high school, he didn’t take the most rigorous course load. He was shut out most of his top choices, even where he was a legacy.</p>
<p>Schools want to see whether a student has taken advantage of all his/her school had to offer and if he/she is prepared for college level work.</p>
<p>The main advantage of AP/IB in my view is not what the college wants to see but how good a teacher you end up getting. Our high school is about the size of a decent size college (under 5,000 students) and invariably lousy teachers will show up (law of large numbers and so on). We had/have two kids, one with mostly PLTW classes and one or two AP’s and the other nearly all honors/AP/IB and the lousy teacher % is much lower in the AP/IB classes.Also number of students in class tends to be lower.</p>
<p>75% of the colleges in the country take 100% of their applicants. Your kid will have plenty of choices. </p>
<p>Thanks everyone!</p>
<p>Nice SATs for a kid who has not been taking honors/AP. I think that I would go in and have a chat with the GC, and prime the pump for the recommendation, saying that you are afraid they will think he is “bright but lazy” but you HOPE that they will see that he is a late bloomer with a significant upward trend instead. This is what you want the GC to put in his/her recommendation. 
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<p>I also think that it would definitely help your S to get As the first semester in those AP courses, if he can. The mid year grade report would thus help quash any lingering doubts.</p>
<p>Has he shown interest in any types of colleges? I would think his high school rigor might affect admissions to very selective colleges. However, as noted upstream, most colleges accept a very high percent of applicants. I would guess that if he is looking at your instate public universities, he will be fine. He will be fine at other places too.</p>
<p>My two kids each took only 3 AP courses each. They did take mostly honors courses. Their SAT scores were not as high as your son’s (are those scores from a taken SAT or are they estimates based on the PSAT?). </p>
<p>College admissions are a combination of many factors, GPA, standardized test scores, letters of recommendation, essays. It’s not just ONE factor…it’s a combination. </p>
<p>The SAT scores I’ve mentioned are his actual scores. He will be taking it again in summer.</p>
<p>Thank you Consolation. That is a great suggestion, we will certainly try it.</p>