Stanford OHS

My D was accepted for her sophomore year, and we’re considering letting her take part-time courses in addition to her public high school. But we can’t seem to find much information… Does anyone have experience or know about OHS? Anything would be appreciated!

What sort of “information” are you looking for? Stanford OHS’s website has a lot of info.

Between 2002 and 2012, my homeschooled D took a lot of classes from Stanford EPGY, predecessor of the current Stanford OHS. She also took some classes from John Hopkins CTY, FLVS, and Regina Coeli. The instruction quality of EPGY was the best.

We’re looking for things like time commitment, course quality (i.e. would their English and science courses be better than taking them at public schools), and how hard the courses are. I’ve read mixed reviews that that it’s impossible for kids to get As, and that the online courses don’t get as much recognition from colleges. My D is self-driven and hard working, so I think she would like the challenge, but I don’t want to overwhelm her schedule.

These are our experiences with Stanford EPGY between 2004 and 2011, not necessarily Stanford OHS.

My D took:

  • English: the whole series: W09ABC, W10ABC, W11ABC, EG20, AP English Language and Composition. Except for EG20, which was a quarter class, each class above was 1 year (3 quarters).
  • Math: Honors Algebra Beginning/Intermediate, Honors Geometry, Honors Pre-Calc/Trig., AP Calculus A/B/C, Multivariable Differential Calculus, Multivariable Integral Calculus, Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, Real Analysis.
  • Physics: AP Physics I/II/III, AP Mechanics, AP Electricity & Magnetism, Light and Heat, Quantum Physics.
  • Computer Science: C Programming I/II/III, Java Programming.
  • Latin I/II.

It is true that the materials were advanced, and the classes moved fast. But the instruction quality and the dedication of the instructors were top-notched. The classes were on-line, but the instructors were readily accessible.

Not having experience with public schools, I can’t say whether it’s better than taking them at public schools. But many classes (Math and Physics after AP) were not available at a “normal” high school, or even at community colleges.

This is not true. I happen to know that in my D’s AP English class, 3 out of the total of 18 students got A.

My D in particular received either A or A+ for all classes above, except for a B+ in AP Physics III, and an A-.in Honors Beginning Algebra.

This is probably true, but not because the course were on-line. My D’s transcript showed that it came from “Stanford University Extension.” The College of L&S at UC Berkeley awarded 27 semester units for the Math and Physics classes she took at EPGY, but the College of Engineering used all kinds of excuses not to grant her anything. Finally she (we) gave up fighting, and agreed with the CoE that she would take the same amount of required units of Math & Sciences, but she could take more advanced classes, not having to repeat the work she’d already done at EPGY.

How were the AP courses for your D? And on average, how much time was needed for each class per week? Thank you for the details, it helps us out a lot.

My D loved the classes she took at EPGY. She took 7 or 8 AP exams after the AP classes (some, e.g. US History and US Government, were from different on-line schools), and scored them all 5.

I can’t really tell you how much time was needed for each class because (1) it is different from person to person, (2) it is different from class to class, and (3) we don’t really keep track of the time.

You can send me a message. My DD attended OHS as a part time student.

My D also was enrolled part time in EPGY while she went to public school . It worked out very well. She wound up taking between 15 and 20 math and physics classes starting in seventh grade . You can also send me a message