<p>Is it safe to bang my head on the desk here? </p>
<p>Son will enter 11th grade this fall. At this point he's interested in studying French and/or Psych in college. His career interests include:
CIA, UN, or State Dept
hostage negotiator
Counselor for vets with PTSD
French teacher</p>
<p>So, his primary 11th grade schedule objective is to fulfill the prereqs he'll need for AP Psych and AP French as a senior. </p>
<p>Guess what. Honors Psych conflicts with French 4 this year. He could meet the prereq for AP Psych if he took academic psych instead of honors. This would also get French 4 on the schedule. </p>
<p>But, yuck. He hasn't taken an academic-level "book" course since 6th grade. I've requested that he merely "audit" academic psych while he completes honors assignments. But, no answer yet. </p>
<p>Oh, and AP World conflicts with AP Physics. He has to drop one. Has to. </p>
<p>So as it looks now he will have 1 AP, not 2.<br>
His honors load could be anywhere from 4 to 6 classes, depending.
His academic load should be just 1 (percussion), but might be 3. </p>
<p>ARGH. The GC is <em>trying</em> to help. But everything she offers would require dropping French 3 or 4. No thanks. </p>
<p>And I emailed the VP to discuss AP pre-req waivers as another possible resolution 3 business days ago. No answer. I hope he's out and not just ignoring me.</p>
<p>If you read this far, thanks for listening. </p>
<p>If you have thoughts or ideas, feel free to share.</p>
<p>Is there any possibility of taking the French class at a nearby CC? Or, for that matter, taking the pre-req psych class at a CC? </p>
<p>If your son has been doing well in French, perhaps have him talk to the teacher and see if the teacher has any suggestions about working out an independent-study version of French 3/4. Maybe the teacher has a home-study audio-based program that they'd recommend or be willing to work with (I'm thinking e.g. Rosetta Stone here).</p>
<p>Sounds like your school district runs the same way ours does. One school scheduled top band class same time as AB calc. Soultion was school hired people (qualified students) from local college to come and teach the calc class to the kids with the conflict. Do you have a local college? Might be able to work out something with them (e.g. take French at the college). Here the school district pays for courses kids are not able to take at the high school for some reason or another (courses are taken at the college).</p>
<p>Perhaps your S can self-study pscyh over the summer and go straight into AP psych in his junior year. That is what my D is doing with physics because in her school you have to take the regents or honors science class before the AP. I think it would be easier to do a class like psych on your own than a higher level language course.</p>
<p>If he is going to major in psych, I would strongly suggest that he take the intro psych class in college ... the college he will be attending. My D took AP Psych in high school but took intro psych in college because she was considering majoring in psych. She learned TONS more in college than she had in high school ... different info & far more relevant ... she felt that she would have been at a disadvantage in future classes had she not taken that class.</p>
<p>In my state, a student can take classes at a CC for free if he can't fit them in due to scheduling difficulties. You might check into that.</p>
<p>I'm wondering why there would be a prereq for AP Psych. That seems weird to me.</p>
<p>In any case, you might want to look into distance learning options. The state of Maryland offers online courses for students who have just such problems (well, and for other reasons, too). You'd need the cooperation of the GC to take these, but they are considered high school classes and go on a transcript just like butt-in-seat classes do. </p>
<p>I have a link somewhere to these. Back in a few with it, I hope!</p>
<p>As to the french vs. psych, I would choose french. If you study psy in college the classes will be so much better. If he has interest in using french for a livelihood, much study is needed. When I attended school, years ago, and was interested in foreign service, my advisor, who was the chairman of the government department and a specialist in international, thought that my four years of high school spanish, and two years of hs french and two of college french was not enough. He politely told me that most people who go into foreign service have "international experience." Travel/study abroad being advisable/necessary. I never did do this btw.</p>
<p>FWIW, FBI and CIA some posts are available to those with law degrees or accounting degrees. Good Luck.</p>
<p>Wow. That was quick. Thanks for all the replies. </p>
<p>To answer some questions:</p>
<p>The CC doesn't offer French 201 or 202 during the semester(s) he could use them. They only have 101 and 102. :(</p>
<p>The CC has several sections of Psych 101. But during the school day transportation is an issue, not to mention the impact his absences would have on other classes and sports. And, in the evening, he'd have to give up at least one, maybe two, ECs. As a last resort, next summer may be an option. But the catalog's not out; it's too soon to tell.</p>
<p>Yes, I've heard that HS Psych is of questionable value. But, have you ever seen a kid DYING to take a class? Wondering deep if it's his calling? That's how he is. Quashing that enthusiasm is the last thing I want to do right now. Plus, if he ends up hating it, I'd rather he found out in HS than college. </p>
<p>I looked at the Maryland offerings, and it looks like they won't help; don't have the courses your son is looking for. I know there IS an online psych course, though, and will find it, by golly! And when I do, I'll post the link.</p>
<p>I would take the French as a regularly scheduled course not as independent study. If your school is like ours, the grade as ind. won't count in the gpa. And I'm guessing your son will do very well in it given his interest. Don't worry about the psych. If you can manage it, that's the course I'd suggest taking at a community college - perhaps even over the summer if that's a possibility.</p>
<p>Here ya go: online AP Psych: CTYOnline</a> Course List & Schedules If it's available from CTY, I'm sure another place has it, too, because CTY gets their distance learning courses from someplace else; they don't write them.</p>
<p>I would definitely pursue the course of getting the pre-reqs for AP Psych waived. Son took it in 10th, received an A and a 5 on the test with little prep. He too took another Psych course while in college this year and it was far, far diffeent than the AP Psych. His experience with AP World was much of the same. It is AP Euro that is more difficult. Took both the same academic year with the same teacher, with above result.</p>
<p>I would strongly advise the AP Physics and either self-study the AP World or take a history course or two from the local CC. Oldest daughter did it this way and enjoyed herself more than son. And son LOVES history. Also follow through with the foreign language, son did through AP Spanish 5 and 6 and was glad he did when taking foreign language classes in college.</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Kat
ps son's last exposure to AP classes were not last year but the year before so probably not too much of a change</p>
<p>He could self study psych and take the CLEP test for it, to show he understands psych at the college level. (Actually, depending on where he goes, the CLEP psych test might be as useful as the AP psych test.)</p>
<p>Another thought - the one-month high school credit French immersion progream at Concordia Language Villages done next summer would definitely prepare him for AP French his senior year.</p>
<p>Just to appease you..... I think EVERYONE has scheduling issues. There are so many singlet classes at my daughter's school, especially among APs that difficult choices are the norm. The Admissions' offices we dealt with seemed to understand.</p>
<p>The HS Psych class she took senior year was a waste of time. Some things are just meant to be taught at the college level, imo.</p>
<p>you have a pre-requisite for AP Psych? Skip that and have him just take AP Psych. At our high school AP Psych is independent study and nearly all the kids pass it, of those almost all get 4's or 5's. This is the only Psychology course offered.</p>
<p>Is AP Physics the Physics B? Is it in lieu of Honors Physics? He could just take another science course, it doesn't have to be physics.</p>
<p>To continue with French, which he should if he wants to - that should be a priority.
Taking AP Psych in 11th grade is not all that important for college applications - even for a Psych major.
Don't worry if he "only" has one AP his junior year. What you want is a well rounded ACADEMIC schedule with hopefully 5 core courses each year. Core would be English, Social studies, Science, Math and Foreign Lang. Academic means don't substitute "fluff". If he is taking Honors and AP that is fine. Make sure he is progressing in Math. So, for 11th grade he should be taking English, Alg II or Pre-calc, a "Hard" science (at least Honors with lab), French IV and an AP or Honors Soc Studies class.<br>
While AP Psych is technically a social studies - don't substitute it for whatever history is normally required - i.e. American, World etc. just my opinion.</p>