<p>I have never heard of a college where the typical academic load is more than 5 courses at a time -- possibly 6 for engineering students in some instances.</p>
<p>refer back to post #91 -- 7-8 per year.</p>
<p>Myau,
What takes 1 year to teach in HS is taught in 1/3- 1/2 year in college- the pace is faster, and students need to be able to keep up in order to succeed. That is why strong academic preparaton throughtout HS is so important- Private colleges especially, admit students that they feel will succeed at their school.</p>
<p>myau, the pace of college courses should more-or-less resemble the pace of AP U.S. History and AP BC Calculus -- two courses that your daughter has taken. Each of those courses is supposed to be equivalent to a full-year college course.</p>
<p>The normal college workload is four or five such courses at a time.</p>
<p>Have to disagree with the above, at least for S. He took Calculus II last semester, which started off at exactly where his full year AP HS Calculus class class left off- 1/2 way through the same textbook it turns out, and finished the book in one semester.</p>
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Each of those courses is supposed to be equivalent to a full-year college course.
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<p>Not necesarily - depends on the college. Students at UCLA, for example, go thru the equivalent of Calc BC, in two quarters, i.e., 2/3rds of an academic year, leaving spring quarter to add 4 more classes. The so-called AP Lites (e.g., Enviro, Econs, Stats, Psych, Govt), are the rough equivalent of a one quarter course at the college level.</p>
<p>Exactly! More material is thrown at students faster in college. Students need to be able to 'ramp up" to the next level in order to keep up.</p>
<p>Well, I pretty much understand that college material is taught at the more intense tempo.</p>
<p>But, as people said above, college students spend less time in the class and therefore, have more flexibility with their time than high schoolers; and one more thing which seems to me unfair for h/s juniors and seniors - they need to spend time for college search and selection (right now we are planning spring break college visits, it looks like there is no way to squiz them all into 5 days of that break ... and my D is absolutely hysterical about missing any single day of school - it would cause too much stress afterwards with all the missed work piled up and "participation points" lost from her grades), building up the resume (it's no secret that no adcom would be impressed by the academic record alone - without impressing ECs as well), and, finally, from the beginning of the senior year, writing college applications (+ going to interviews, auditions etc.) Do college students need to spend time for all that and stress about it? I doubt so ...</p>
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He took Calculus II last semester, which started off at exactly where his full year AP HS Calculus class class left off- 1/2 way through the same textbook it turns out, and finished the book in one semester.
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<p>Then he took AP Calculus AB, which is equivalent to one semester of college calculus, not AP Calculus BC, which is equivalent to two semesters.</p>
<p>If he had taken BC, he would have finished the book.</p>
<p>Myau, college seniors have to take GRE's or LSAT's or MCAT's or GMAT's in addition to preparing multiple applications, flying all over the place for interviews, flying all over the place for fellowship interviews. Does med school A care that you'll be arriving in Boston on a red-eye flight from your interview in California for med school B, plus trying to keep up with all the classes you're missing as you zig zag around the country? No way. </p>
<p>College juniors start prepping for internship and summer job interviews the week they get back to campus from summer break, since the banks and consulting firms kick off their interviewing early in the year. And if you're lucky enough to get past first round.... back to zipping around the country for more interviews. College sophomores get a break.... they get to focus on keeping their GPA high enough to get into grad school or landing a summer research job to help them get into grad school..... and Freshman have enough trouble keeping up with a job, classes, section, labs, plus doing laundry, remembering to go to the cash machine, etc.</p>
<p>If your daughter is getting "hysterical" about missing class to visit colleges, you may want to help her dial back here. Thousands of kids across the country manage to maintain a tough academic load, participate in meaningfull EC's, plus keep a sense of perspective about the process.</p>
<p>I'm watching a neighbor's kid apply to med schools and she's a wreck. This is no surprise to anyone who watched her grow up... she was a wreck applying to college, found HS an unrelenting grind with no time to play; was the hardest working fifth grader the school had ever seen. The parents whine constantly about how dehumanizing the med school process is.... and for sure it can be that.... but it seems to me there's an easy answer.... don't go to med school. Voila, pressure off.</p>
<p>Do I want an oncologist who unraveled having to balance MCAT prep while taking Organic chemistry? maybe not. Do I want to be treated by an ER DR who has trouble letting the trivial stuff slide in order to focus on the crises at hand? doubtful. So not everyone who likes bio is cut out for med school and that's ok, but to complain that the process requires being good at lots of things simultaneously and that it makes it hard to balance a "normal life" with such a demanding schedule... hey, that's not news.</p>
<p>Soooo... if it were my kid.... maybe she's telling you that dialing back this year with a lighter course load is in fact, more important to her than getting into whatever college you think she ought to be thinking about getting into... and maybe that's the message here, not whether she should take AP Chem.</p>
<p>If she goes to a tough college the grind begins all over again.... that either excites and energizes a kid, or exhausts and burns them out.... only you can tell us which camp your kid falls into.</p>
<p>I don't know what college is right for my D, but there is one thing I'm sure about: she will never go to medical school. ;)</p>
<p>i got into some very excellent schools with:
Sciences: earth science (honors), regular bio, regular chem, and regular physics
Math: algebra 1,2 (honors), geometry (honors), algebra 3,4 (honors), one semester of AP stats (dropped because i didnt have any free periods as a senior. or ever for that matter)</p>
<p>yup, very very very weak in math.
however, my definite strengths were in the humanities- took 3 foreign languages each for all 4 years, and highest levels of english and social studies.</p>
<p>not everyone is expected to be a science/math wiz, and as long as you have the goods in the other areas (and fulfill graduation/admissions requirements), you will be fine!</p>
<p>Marian, He did take AB Calculus, and it was a YEAR LONG course in HS, and they got only 1/2 way through the textbook. He finished the other 1/2 of the textbook in 1 SEMESTER [1/2 year] during his Calculus II class in college. My point was that the pace in college as faster than in HS. What is your point?</p>
<p>My point is that the pace of some AP courses, such as AP Calculus AB, AP Government, and AP Psychology, is indeed much slower than that of college (in these instances, a full-year high school course is equivalent to a one-semester or one-quarter college course), but that the pace of certain other AP courses, such as AP Calculus BC, AP U.S. History, and AP Biology, is similar to that of college (in these instances, a full-year high school course is equivalent to a two-semester or two-quarter college course).</p>
<p>A student who takes one of the AP courses in the latter group may gain some perspective on the pace of college work as well as doing work that is at the college level of sophistication. A student who takes one of the AP courses in the former group is doing work at the college level of sophistication but not at the college pace, and it would be good for the student to realize it.</p>
<p>Well, at my D's school AP Gov is a semester-long course, so the pace should still be more college-like, I guess? (And nobody at her school would agree it's a "lite AP" - on the opposite, AP Gov is considered reading-heavy class with plenty of summer homework). Then it's followed by non-AP Economics, which probably would be unimpressive for adcoms ... but what other AP could be squized into the rest half-a-year?</p>
<p>And by no means English Lit. AP can be considered "lite AP" there, too. Also one of the most reading/writing-heavy classes. How long its usual college equivalent course is?</p>
<p>Blossom, it's partly a matter of attitude. The student who is a "wreck" can very well be working herself up emotionally far more than needed. Not that I blame her, given that the message given in so many high schools is that that students have to drive themselves to breaking point to stay competitive.</p>
<p>I certainly did not have that kind of stress back when I was applying to law school, at a time when it still was tough for women to get into law schools. (The tide was just starting to turn). But then I had a very relaxed view of it -- I worked in a legal aid office with a night-law school grad and I figured that I would try to get into a couple of high quality law schools, and if they turned me down I would just work full time at the legal aid job and to night school. In other words, one way or another I would meet my goal. It happened that I scored unexpectedly high on the LSAT (one sitting), dashed off a couple of law school apps, and had an early write from the law school of my dreams. </p>
<p>If I were doing it now I'd be a lot more stressed out over the money part... but I don't think the getting-in part has changed all that much, despite all the hype. </p>
<p>There just seems to be some very weird 21st century idea that anyone who doesn't come out at the very top of the competitive heap is a dismal failure-- even your post about investment banker interview illustrates the mind set. Everyone wants to be a brain surgeon or a CEO. </p>
<p>The real world hasn't changed all that much. People can still make a good living, raise families, enjoy their lives at ordinary jobs in ordinary communities where they have interesting and fulfilling work, but don't end up with their picture on the front of Fortune Magazine. </p>
<p>Myau's daughter may never play Carnegie Hall with a sold-out solo performance, but it is quite possible that she can pursue a successful musical career, perhaps combining teaching with playing in some local orchestras that hardly anyone has ever heard of -- as my daughter's violin teacher did -- or perhaps combining her music interest with another academic interest. She doesn't have to drive herself nuts to get there, either in high school or college.</p>
<p>Myau, my daughter took a rather relaxed pace through high school, especially spring of her junior year, and she has made the transition to the greater academic demands of college without a problem. As I noted before, she finds the college pace easier to manage, even though she also found her first semester to be the most challenging academically she had ever experienced. The mental demands are greater, but the time management part is a lot easier. </p>
<p>I don't think high school kids need to work themselves to the point of exhaustion to prepare for college. From a cognitive standpoint, a lot of learning takes place during sleep -- so the kids who are well rested may very well be integrating and retaining a lot more than the kids who are working at a frenetic pace.</p>
<p>Marian,
I would like to know where you get the information that any year long math or core science AP course, such as Calculus, Chemisty or Physics is considered a "lite AP", which is what you are suggesting.</p>
<p>You might be interested to know that S was accepted LY at Dartmouth, Brown, Chicago, Washington at St Louis, Pomona, Carleton, and 6 other colleges and universities -despite his "lite" Ap Calculus class and his 8 other AP Classes, [ all 5's on his AP tests] in additon to 2 years of Geophysics internships and 12 years of piano.
So your tone as reflected in your statement " If he had taken BC, he would have finished the book " strikes me as condescending, and was unnecessarily to make your point.</p>
<p>Calmom, that's exactly my point.... why such a frenzy as a jr in HS? Why "hysteria" over missing a few days of class to go visit colleges? </p>
<p>If the OP's daughter is finding HS stressful, my suggestion was to seek out colleges that wouldn't keep her in the same rat race for another four years.... despite mom's fervent wish that we were all going to tell her that college is easier than HS, that AP's are harder and more time-consuming than college courses, and that since college students don't have to worry about getting into grad school or getting good grades, they've got loads of free time on their hands.</p>