<p>Looking for advice from seasoned parents and students with respect to more selective colleges... DD15's high school is switching from a seven period to eight period schedule next year. It is their presumption that most kids would use one period as a pass/fail study hall (which would have no impact on gpa from the way the current schedule works). The question being asked by parents with students looking at more selective colleges is this: should those students build a study hall into their schedule, or should they fill that period with an 8th academic class? The high school does not rank, but you must have a 4.6 or above to reach summa cum laude status, which means the students wanting to take 8 classes will need to take at least 5 that are weighted (honors or AP, in our instance) on average EVERY semester of high school, which is unusual for freshman and sophomore years, before the students get to the higher levels of world languages. Would a study hall built in every semester be considered too non-rigorous of a schedule by more selective colleges?</p>
<p>"Would a study hall built in every semester be considered too non-rigorous of a schedule by more selective colleges? "</p>
<p>NO</p>
<p>College admissions offices dont ask to see a students actual schedule- only the classes taken and the grades achieved. And they know there is limit to how many classes even the best students can reasonably be expected to take, especially at the AP or IB level classes. So relax, and encourage your student to take advantage of the study hall period to do homework, review for tests, grab a snack, etc .etc.
My DS took 7 classes each semester in HS and would have killed for a scheduled study period.</p>
<p>Our school has added an 8 th period also. Seniors are now required to take 6 classes and ap sciences are 2 periods so that means 7 periods. I was really looking forward to s only having 5 core classes and some flexibility to leave during open periods.</p>
<p>It will be too much to add another academic class to his load. Too much homework. So why pad his schedule with electives that he doesn’t care about. He will try to take an on-line class and maybe repeat an art class for credit. </p>
<p>I like the advice about not seeing empty periods but actual classes.
Younger son will be able to fill in with music classes.</p>
<p>can your kid leave early or start later? that is what mine did</p>
<p>D has 9 periods. One is Gym (only certain days) and she has 8 courses. She overbooks so she has no lunch.</p>
<p>Our high school had some weird number of periods - 7 1/2 I think. Anyway, both kids ended up with a study hall period senior year. Both did fine - more than fine in admissions.</p>
<p>The school counselor will be required to checkmark if your DD is taking the “most rigorous” courseload or something less. My guess will be that taking 7 or 8 periods of mostly AP/IB classes will qualify as “most rigorous”. If you take 8 of 8 periods of mostly AP/IB classes, it would seem to be a “lock” on “most rigorous”.</p>
<p>Whether they take 7 or 8 classes should depend on the kid.
My son’s school had 7 periods (no lunch period). Second semester freshman year he took 6 classes. The rest of the time he took 7 and ate lunch during class. (There was no guarantee that if you took less than 7 that your open period would be close to lunchtime in any event). Senior year he had a conflict between Latin 4 and another class, both taught only in the same period. His Latin teacher said she would allow him to take Latin 4 as an independent study. When he heard that he immediately made plans to take another class to fill the now open period. Fortunately, she told him that he would have to do his independent study with her in the lower Latin class that met that open period so she could call on him to help other students.</p>
<p>On the question as to whether or not college admissions officers will see a study hall on the transcript. That depends. Some schools, such as the OP, grade study halls Pass/Fail. Many of the schools that do this do put the study hall and “grade” on the transcipt. That’s one question the OP will want to answer. </p>
<p>At the most highly selective colleges a study hall won’t kill one’s chance but it certainly won’t help bolster admissions chances. But then, maybe a student that needs the time to de-stress and reflect in order to do his or her best would be better off at a WPI or RPI than an MIT or CalTech.</p>
<p>Why don’t you ask guidance? I do not think it will matter at all as long as " most rigorous" is checked off.</p>
<p>Didn’t realize how differently each school does things. My daughter’s school has 8 periods a day (gym being mandatory every day). In order to accommodate her freshman and sophomore year honors classes, she was required to take a Zero Period Gym, i.e., she comes in earlier than most of the school and fills her gym requirement at that time. She has stuck with that schedule and will continue to do so senior year, even though it is no longer required of her, in order to take an extra class each year. She has also been required to miss cafeteria (also mandatory to build into their schedules) once a week for lab days. My daughter has never had time for a study period in her schedule due to mandatory/requirement classes. She may not have the hardest schedule (not all AP classes) but I do feel this extra effort should be recognized somehow. I’m assuming that will show in her GPA.</p>
<p>"Some schools, such as the OP, grade study halls Pass/Fail. Many of the schools that do this do put the study hall and “grade” on the transcipt. "</p>
<p>Most college admissions offices recalculate the academic GPA’s of applicants, and they throw non-academic classes such as PE or study hall out of their calculations. They also learn what classes are and arent required for graduation from the school profile information included with the counselors letter of recommendation.</p>