It sounded to me that the GC said it was rigorous enough since OP is an athlete. If that’s the case it’s bad advice.
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She said this in the context of expressing concern for his well being. The school has been doing a lot of mental health assemblies in advisory so she was probably thinking about that.
He’s getting 8 hours of sleep every night and seems fine to me, so I thought that was odd. I think you are correct. I’m glad he mentioned it to me or else I wouldn’t have found out until I had to sign the form!
If he is doing pre-reads for the schools at which he is recruited, ask them about expectations for his senior schedule. The answer will depend a lot on the college, but at least gives you a datapoint for schools in that range of selectivity.
If he is able to add another core, I wouldn’t take more selective schools off the table. He will have 5 cores. Even though he doesn’t have one of each, the counselor can explain why.
In general, the advice the counselor gave about taking a lighter load as an athlete wasn’t good. If he is a top D1 recruit, it’s another story. But if the situation is more that he is hoping to play a sport in college and coach support could tip the admissions scale for him, then he needs to have the same kind of academic profile as other applicants.
Does he have friends in his concentration who are seniors who have been admitted to some of the schools he is considering? Does he know the schedules they had this year? He can’t draw an absolute conclusion from their schedules, but it could be helpful to know.
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Not having four years foreign language does NOT rule one out from selective colleges. My S took Spanish for 2 years in middle school (counted as high school credits) and Latin in 9th grade. He’s accepted to universities with acceptance rates 6%, 7%, and 8%.
If the school offers APCSP, it’s relatively easy.
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Since when is foreign language considered a core class? It certainly isn’t in the Midwest! Some schools don’t even offer one! It is considered an elective here. Most colleges require at least 2 consecutive years of a foreign language and 3+ to fulfill the college requirement. At our high school it is also extremely rare to take more than 3 years of history. I honestly can’t recall a single kid taking more than 3 years.
OP- your son’s schedule looks pretty rigorous to me. He only has 1 non honors/AP class in there!
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The first question is to ask whether or not the HS GCs even fill out that part of app. Many GCs don’t answer the rigor ranking question (subjective/bias/may suggest a class rank), especially schools that don’t rank.
FL is generally considered a core course, it certainly is at our Midwest HS and those in the surrounding area. Colleges also consider it a core subject.
For OP…I agree your S should ask the coaches he is in contact with for advice on senior year classes and the expectations. Are the 2 schools he’s speaking with now highly rejective? Can he take a SS or FL this summer at his HS or online?
I want to thank everyone who has shared their views on my DS’s situation with what little information I have shared, especially those of you with whom I’ve disagreed on other unrelated topics.
I did have him email the coach that is in regular contact with him to ask about his schedule. This is a somewhat rejective school but not an Ivy.
He added AP World History as his 6th class (5th core).
I’m disappointed that he can’t fit a fourth year of Spanish in there because he is a strong Spanish student (especially for a beginner non-native speaker), but the rigidity of the schedule is what it is.
He will graduate with 7 APs and as many honors courses as his school would let him take as he moved through high school.
I hope that’s good enough for the colleges, but if it’s not, he’s got 4 favorites, three of which I/he confirmed are okay with 3 years of FL (we juggled the outreach because he doesn’t post on here and I can internet search as well as he can). The 4th I’m not so sure as they are not as responsive, but that’s okay.
It’s so much to juggle the opinions of so many, including school advisors, AOs from different schools, even private counselors who, IME, are not as up-to-speed as what AOs are looking for as what can be found online. Thanks for giving me the info to push back against the GC’s errant advice.
So, gratitude to you all.
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I assume when you say he is being recruited you mean as an athlete. If that is the case then he should reach out to the coach and/or the admissions officer he has been working with and ask about this senior schedule. has he done an academic preread? if he does them this summer they will look at his senior schedule and either approve it or make suggestions for changes to increase his likelihood of admissions.
@roycroftmom my daughter skipped history junior year (she took a super easy online summer class instead). She did this to free up her schedule to take two AP sciences (and 4 other AP classes). She was applying as a STEM major and was accepted to UPenn, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, and GTech.
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