Stanford EPGY OHS: calling ryanone, tokenadult

Pre-College Issues Home Schooling and College
1

<p>Please help me out if you are familiar with this school!</p>

<p>I am thinking of going here next year. I decided to leave my private school (by choice, I was getting good grades, just not happy), but the deadlines to apply to other private schools had already passed. Therefore, my only option is my local public school, which is OK but not amazing...or Stanford EPGY OHS. I've checked, and I can still apply. I'm a rising sophomore.</p>

<p>Questions:
1. What's the typical course load? I've seen that 5 is the norm (?). Is it possible to do more than 5?
2. Can you take other courses with EPGY OHS? (like the language courses, such as Honors Spanish III or Honors Classical Greek at Northwestern CTD GLL?)
3. What are the extracurriculars really like? For instance, is the newspaper legit? Do people really participate in the Cross Cultural club? etc.
4. "Seminar" course scheduling...are multiple times offered? Do course times overlap a lot? Are they mostly during the day (before 3 pm)? Are they ever too early for pacific time?
5. I've heard it's rigorous; that's fine with me as long as there's quality learning. Quality of...discussions? instruction? feedback?
6. Do you/your kids like it there?
7. College admissions...are you able to build relationships and get good letters of recommendations? is there good college counseling? do they calculate GPA? do they calculate class rank? do kids get into some of the colleges they want, including top colleges (how many kids out of the class, which colleges, etc.)?</p>

<p>Thank you soooo soooo much in advance for any answers you give me. Any more info would help me greatly!</p>

2

<ol>
<li>What’s the typical course load? I’ve seen that 5 is the norm (?). Is it possible to do more than 5?</li>
</ol>

<p>I believe 5 is norm, and you might be able to take more than 5 with permission</p>

<ol>
<li>Can you take other courses with EPGY OHS? (like the language courses, such as Honors Spanish III or Honors Classical Greek at Northwestern CTD GLL?)</li>
</ol>

<p>Yes, my D takes German from Oklahoma state univ.</p>

<ol>
<li>What are the extracurriculars really like? For instance, is the newspaper legit? Do people really participate in the Cross Cultural club? etc.</li>
</ol>

<p>The newspaper is legit but comes out infrequently. I’m not sure about the CC club.</p>

<ol>
<li>“Seminar” course scheduling…are multiple times offered? Do course times overlap a lot? Are they mostly during the day (before 3 pm)? Are they ever too early for pacific time?</li>
</ol>

<p>multiple times are offered for MOST courses, not all. On the west coast, my D has taken courses at 7:00am and 6:30pm - they’ve never been earlier than 7:00 if I remember correctly, maybe a class offered to students living in Asia was offered at an earlier time. Most are during the day, and they do a good job of not overlapping.</p>

<ol>
<li>I’ve heard it’s rigorous; that’s fine with me as long as there’s quality learning. Quality of…discussions? instruction? feedback?</li>
</ol>

<p>The school is rigorous, probably more rigorous than many elite boarding schools. Grading is brutal IMO. If you want to get A’s be prepared to work HARD. I believe this school will prepare you for the most rigorous colleges on the planet. </p>

<ol>
<li>Do you/your kids like it there?</li>
</ol>

<p>My D does like the school, but does think the workload can be over the top (if you want top grades). I personally think you need a lot of self-discipline for this school. High school students who have relied on teachers to motivate them on a daily basis may find this situation too challenging.</p>

<ol>
<li>College admissions…are you able to build relationships and get good letters of recommendations? </li>
</ol>

<p>yes</p>

<p>is there good college counseling?</p>

<p>yes </p>

<p>do they calculate GPA? </p>

<p>yes</p>

<p>do they calculate class rank?</p>

<p>no</p>

<p>do kids get into some of the colleges they want, including top colleges (how many kids out of the class, which colleges, etc.)?</p>

<p>I’m not sure I can disclose yet where the students matriculated to, but it was a very good year. Top top schools.</p>

3

<p>Thank you for your very prompt and thorough reply! Those are some of the answers I’ve really been needing. Extracurriculars do sound a little hard to coordinate, and I’d be focusing on my main ones which are outside of school anyway, but I’m glad that the newspaper is an option. I appreciate the honesty about the workload; I’ll have to really consider whether I can handle it and if it’s worth it. </p>

<p>A few follow-up questions:
Say you have extracurriculars in the evening, which would preclude you from taking a 6:30 pm class. Can you work around this and still, for the most part, get the classes you want? Are there multiple class sections? And how many times weekly does an average seminar class meet?</p>

<p>Also, for “Directed Study” classes like Music Theory or Math, would it be possible to focus on them only a few days a week and work ahead, rather than daily?</p>

<p>Is it required to go to the summer sessions, or more for fun and to meet your classmates and such? These sound a tad expensive, and what if you got a summer-long internship or something?</p>

<p>Sorry for overloading you with questions! Once again, thanks for answering!</p>

4

<p>A few follow-up questions:
Say you have extracurriculars in the evening, which would preclude you from taking a 6:30 pm class. Can you work around this and still, for the most part, get the classes you want? Are there multiple class sections? And how many times weekly does an average seminar class meet?</p>

<p>Classes meet twice a week. You can usually take a morning class if you are busy at night. </p>

<p>Also, for “Directed Study” classes like Music Theory or Math, would it be possible to focus on them only a few days a week and work ahead, rather than daily?</p>

<p>Yes, you work on your own schedule.</p>

<p>Is it required to go to the summer sessions, or more for fun and to meet your classmates and such? These sound a tad expensive, and what if you got a summer-long internship or something?</p>

<p>Summer session participation is not mandatory, but encouraged. It’s a great opportunity to meet your classmates. My daughter only went once because she had summer internships and wanted to attend a wide variety of academic summer camps.</p>

5

<p>OK, great, thanks once again for the responses!</p>

6

<p>I am an IB student, and I want to take part-time classes in OHS. I want to know what the experience is like with IB since most of the threads are about AP. And how hard are the university level courses?</p>

<p>I am planning to take Methodology of Science and College level Making Moby Dick. I also want to take COmputer Programming but do u think three subjects along with IB will be too difficult?</p>

7

<p>Blackeye,</p>

<p>MSB is a pretty hard course that combines statistics and biology, but it is a 9th grade course. I’m not very familiar with Programming but I’ve met some seventh graders at the school who are taking the intro course in the series. I would advise choosing two of the three courses you are considering.</p>

8

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I have a 6th grader going into 7th coming fall. We are Americans living outside the United States.
English is the only subject we need to compensate. I was wondering how difficult it was to get into only 1 course ? Should I just apply for part time and take up English every year ?</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

9

<p>I’m confused. Are you homeschooling and can handle the math and science and history, but need help teaching English? Is your child in regular school but you want him or her to learn English as well? Are you trying to figure out if Stanford OHS allows you to take only one class?</p>

10

<p>The OHS allows you to take only one course. If your child is accepted, you can discuss the best course with a counselor and/or arrange for a placement test. I would recommend Gilgamesh-Shakespeare (World Literature) or Introductory to Expository Writing. The former is the 8th grade course, and the latter is the 7th grade course, but I took Gilgamesh in 7th.
ohs.stanford.edu</p>

11

<p>sg12909,
my daughter applied this year for the middle school. What was the video interview process like? Any advice for the period between app deadlines and notification (are there any surprises)?</p>

<p>thanks, TF</p>

12

<p>I actually did not do a video interview, although I was accepted three years ago. The application/notification process is pretty smooth, and our acceptance rate is actually pretty high- about 70 percent, I believe, although the applicants are almost all in the “gifted” range. Has your D taken the SAT or ACT? Does she have extracurriculars? If so, she has a good chance of getting in. Good luck :)</p>

13

<p>thanks. Nice to hear about the high acceptance rate. Self-selective, I am sure. of course, like all parents it is the 30% that I worry about. SSAT score was good, 98th pcntle overall. Very 12 year old, though without the grooming of ultra competitive environs. </p>

<p>A few other questions if you don;t mind?
How did you find those English courses? Did you do the US & world history courses? Opinions? And the two middle school physics courses? how well did they prep you for high school physics? On paper, each seems amazing.</p>

<p>One final set of questions: in moving form the middle to the high school, was there a fundamental change in how you have been treated institutionally? Interaction with peers? Rigor? Expectations? Nurturing? Have students left the OHS after say middle school for any of the reasons above?</p>

<p>thanks!</p>

14

<p>I’m still in 8th grade- I started at the OHS in 5th grade, although I only took one language course. In 7th grade, I started full-time and took World literature, world history, Honors Algebra II, Inquiry Based Physics, and Chinese III (basically an 8th grade course load). I was placed into the English and History courses after I took a placement test. World history was pretty demanding, although we did not have much homework (a rarity in the OHS!). For English, we had weekly mini-essays and monthly-or-so larger essays (800 words). It was a reading-driven course, and the texts were from a wide range (hence “Gilgamesh-Shakespeare”). If your daughter enjoys the liberal arts, reading, or history, I would suggest taking these courses. However, it was hard to handle these along with an advanced math course (although I did managed to get all A’s).</p>

<p>Inq. Physics was a great course, and Dr. Oas was a great teacher. The first half-semester was pretty easy- we mostly talked about theoretical concepts. The course gets challenging later in the year though, with vector addition and physic calculations. We also had almost no homework, though.This year, I skipped Foundations and went into Honors Chemistry. Honors Chem is a much more demanding course and the material isn’t closely related to physics. My advice is to consider Foundations if your daughter isn’t sure what branch of science she wants to focus on, and consider Physics if she wants to take Honors/AP physics next year.</p>

<p>In 8th grade, I have much more homework than in 7th grade, because all my courses (TAA, AoR, MSB, Honors Geometry, and Honors Chemistry) are high-school level. </p>

<p>Truthfully, there is not much interaction with peers and my close friends are all local. I know a Juliard-level pianist who left the OHS after 8th grade, but the OHS tries to encourage peer interaction and requires homeroom for full and part time students. Many students attend the OHS part-time and take advanced course in their area of interest, so if your daughter depends on close social interaction, I would advise this.</p>

<p>We students at the OHS are almost all very independent and self-driven- very often, we are the ones who place the hardest expectations on ourselves. Our discussions can be pretty lively, and there are much fewer inactive students in the high-school courses.</p>

<p>Hopefully this helps! Apologies for any grammatical errors- I’m typing from a mobile device.</p>

15

<p>An incredibly helpful post. I appreciate your candor. Not only am I impressed with your workload, but also with this conversation. You represent the school well.</p>

<p>thoughts on an 8th Grade with…
Honors Chem
Honors Pre-Calc
AP Comp Sci
History & Lit
World Civ ?</p>

<p>thanks again!</p>

16

<p>I am considering taking 1 course as a 9th grader next year (AP Calc BC). I took Trig/Precalc as a 6th grader in CTY, can I place into AP Calc? I have 2370 SAT score and nearly straight As. My only A-s are in 2 in English (93.9 is A-, our school is on quarter basis, no A+s are possible). Do you think I can get in? 3500 dollars seems a little expensive…</p>

17

<p>@TigerFree Thank you! :slight_smile:
The course load seems great for an especially scientifically/mathematically talented student, so if this is true for your daughter, I encourage you to discuss them with a counselor. I’m not very familiar with the computer science courses, but neverless an AP course in 8th grade would be very impressive!</p>

18

<p>@Tomatox You have a 2370 as an 8th grader!? As a current OHS 8th grader who <em>only</em> has a 2240, I’m 99.999999% sure you’ll get accepted. They’ll probably ask you to take a placement test for AP Calc though.</p>

19

<p>tomato,</p>

<p>Do you have other options for AP Calc BC? What about taking classes from Art of Problem Solving? What about doing math competitions and math competition math? Do you have other cheaper options?</p>

<p>$3500 does not sound a <em>little</em> expensive-it sounds ridiculous unless your family can qualify for some type of aid.</p>

<p>My son is a former homeschooler, now a freshman at MIT, and he did calculus I-III, Dif. Equations, and Linear Algebra at the local community college, and the total for all those classes was probably $500. MIT took all those classes as transfer units and he was able to start in upper division math upon arrival. My son never did OHS.</p>

<p>Explore other options if you don’t want to pay $3500 for one class. Even if you can only do online classes because of your location, surely there must be other options for you if cost is a problem.</p>

20

<p>I’m registering late by like 2 weeks though. :(</p>