<p>Second all the folks who’ve said that Web design isn’t computer science. If his interests hold (and my son’s changed dramatically between soph and junior years), have him look into Graphic Design or Multimedia Writing programs. He might also enjoy photo editing and photography, which would make use of that mathematical talent in an engaging way. But don’t bet the farm that his interests won’t change in the next year and a half.</p>
<p>A kid should not be “tracked” into a 1-sided education in HS. HS is a time to get a solid general education. That’s why good colleges want to see 4 years of English, 4 years of math, 4 years of foreign language, at least 3 years of lab science, at least 3 years of history or social science, and so forth. Your son should have 4 years of math even if he plans to be a poet. (Although those 4 years might look somewhat different than the 4 years of the kid who wants to get a PhD in Physics.)</p>
<p>In college he will have the opportunity to explore subjects he will never encounter in HS. (That is, if he goes to college to get an education, rather than job training.) He will have the opportunity to delve into whatever interests him. In graduate school he will have the opportunity to delve even more deeply into his field</p>
<p>And yes, believe it or not, people with degrees in the humanities and social sciences have good careers. Plenty of programming jobs have been outsourced to India, you know. As emeraldkity4 points out, the career your son may eventually have may not have been invented yet–and that career may not be his only one.</p>
<p>You might consider that if he isn’t the kind of kid who actually ENJOYS taking the hardest classes across the board, that he may not be suited to the kind of school that looks for that kind of kid. On the other hand, if he prefers to be a generalist, he would not be suited for Georgia Tech–or Julliard! </p>
<p>I find the situation with your G/T classes and AP classes hard to understand. It seems very strange to set up G/T and AP as competing tracks in a school, since in most situations the G/T kids would naturally take AP courses (or IB, if available).</p>
<p>Relax! 9th grade is too early to stress about college and career. Young kids and even adults change their minds all the time.</p>
<p>Take as many AP classes as your son can handle. For subjects your son is interested in and good at, take the hardest classes possbile. For subjects he is not ineterested in or good at, take the easier path.</p>
<p>My senior took the hardest classes possible for all subjects because he is interested and can handle them. My freshman is much more interested and better at science/math than at humanities. He will likely take AP science/math classes but not AP humanities.</p>
<p>Web design/multimedia has very little to do with computer science. Computer scicence is all programming. Web design/multimedia is much more art. Think of CS as the backend engine and web design/multimedia as the frontend human interface. They do work together but requires very different skill set.</p>
<p>Have your son learn Flash, PhotoShop, Illustrator and see if he likes them.</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>Computer Science is all about theory and mathematics.</p>
<p>Computer Science programs teach programming skills, theory and mathematics, systems, systems and hardware.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>One doesn’t learn software in a vacuum. What about Dreamweaver, which people actually do use to create sites now? And where is he supposed to get copies of this software? It often costs $600 and up if you can’t get a special student price. Not to mention that anything he learns will be out of date in five years.</p>
<p>Better advice would be to encourage your S to create a website for his own purposes and experiment with cool stuff there, and to volunteer to be the webmaster for organization(s) he likes or that need help. But unemployed and self-employed web designers are a dime a dozen these days I’m afraid…I know a bunch, personally.</p>
<p>I have a gifted son in 9th grade.</p>
<p>I “get” what you are saying.</p>
<p>As I have been starting the college process helping 11th grader, I understand how some high schools track the “bright” kids to AP courses. It is very easy to be convinced if your kid doesn’t have all the APs it will look poorly on the counselor’s recommendation as compared to the rest of the graduating class.</p>
<p>CC is VERY confusing – A 9th grade parent gets bashed for “pushing” the kid & being worried about the future, while the spring juniors/fall seniors get an earful for not having enough APs and ECs.</p>
<p>What I have learned from lurking on CC:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>There IS a choice of colleges for everyone. Don’t get stuck in the HYPS all or none.</p></li>
<li><p>Take 4 years of core classes in high school.</p></li>
<li><p>Match the Student to the College fit – DON’T let the student have dream school and then try to “poise” into the College Admin profile for that school.</p></li>
<li><p>APs in every subject is not required. Preferred for top LACs - yes. Required for most colleges - No.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>So – Yes I think you should be worried about college & careeers at this stage. I think you should try to find summer programs, ECs where the kid can wet his feet in the field and what it involves. Some kids need this as motivation to get through the tedious classes and keep their eye on the prize. Others need it just to expand the wings and explore.</p>
<p>I also think you need to not allow the counselor/peer pressure to make it feel that your son needs to take all APs to stay challenged.</p>
<p>And as a side note – Only one of the 9th graders I know gets 9 hours of sleep. My son sure doesn’t. I <strong>know</strong> it is recommended, but OP is right – with the academics & ECs it is impossible during weeknights & even some weekends for him to get 9 hours.</p>
<p>Another option besides web design and computer science is Information Science and Technology or Management Information Science. My son is a Junior and loves computers and technical stuff but is not taking the most rigorous math classes. He is in his third programming class and is doing very well but it’s not coming easily to him as it is to some of his classmates, but he realizes that he has to know how to do basic programming if he wants to go into a CS related field. </p>
<p>My oldest son took the same sequence of programming classes and we thought he would end up in a CS field. Guess what - he’s about to graduate college as an English major! He always did well in the humanity classes at school, but spent so much time on the computer that we thought for sure that was his path. </p>
<p>In the real world, as opposed to the CC world, kids don’t aspire to the tippity top selective schools. Take that burden off yourself and your son. As most everyone else has said, let your son find out what he really likes and that should lead to a college that fits and a career path that is right for him.</p>
<p>Thanks you so much guys… you’ve really made me feel better and gave me so many good suggestions. S. has been taking Dreamweaver, game design, web design etc. classes through the local community college for a few years now and really liked all of them. I’ll let him read your posts too just so he knows he is not alone in this confusion.</p>
<p>As far as worrying too much too early, well, that’s how I do everything pretty much. Everything gets done way before any due dates or any deadlines at work and I find it works out better that way but in this case, I really needed to hear your opinions as he is our one and only and I actually always knew what I wanted to do and my interests never really changed but that was x years ago and in a different country so hopefully it will be different for him.</p>
<p>I know that web design is not as involved as let’s say heavy software development but having that degree can help tremendously even though we all probably know really talented kids without the actual college degree.</p>
<p>As far as him being a “young” 15 yo, I don’t know, he seems to be pretty on track developmentally and his voice did change more than 2 years ago… good thing because now he can hang up on all those pesky telemarketers without them bugging him to let his parents speak… 
and yes, he does sleep almost 9 hours each night mostly due to his mom being a health nut and nagging him about but also due to his temperament and biological clock… this is a child who would stay up until midnight on New Year’s Eve and would still wake up at 8am the latest next morning plus he is not into partying and no girlfriend yet either… but that’s a whole other subject…</p>
<p>There is no reason why a freshman in high school needs to have figured out what career field he/she may go into. </p>
<p>Speaking as a parent of two college graduates (and one is now in grad school), one of my kids knew from preschool her area of passion and has pursued it ever since and now professionally. Her field is musical theater. My other kid liked many things and by the final years of high school, had some direction or interest in a field but wasn’t ready to commit yet. She did end up committing to that field (architecture), though now even in grad school, it has taken some twists and turns. </p>
<p>But in BOTH cases (and both were excellent students…“advanced” if you will)…they took the strongest and most challenging curriculum that our high school offered and took all the core subjects each year. This is true even for my kid who knew she was going to be a performer and would pursue conservatory training in college even. She didn’t like math but was good at it and accelerated and took AP Calculus as a junior actually. Never had to take math in college. But both kids were able to get solid high school educations that were well rounded in all academic core subjects and frankly, that is what selective colleges wish to see. High school is too young to specialize too much in terms of the academic curriculum. It is not too young to pursue an interest area if one develops (and it is OK if one hasn’t yet too), but this interest area should not supersede a solid broad academic background in the basic core subjects in high school. Once in college, a student can major in something. High school is not about focusing on one academic area. One can pursue an interest area but should not give up the core subjects in order to do so during the high school years, in my view.</p>
<p>As an aside, neither of my kids ever had time to sleep nine hours per night, but they were happy to be doing the things they were doing and craved busy lives. They didn’t do that to get into college. It is just who they are and this also continued IN college. If your son has time to sleep nine hours a night, that’s great!</p>
<p>For me, Longhaul hit it right on the head. I would only add that you need to trust your own instincts. More often than not that inner voice has served me well with each of my children.</p>
<p>My oldest is off to college in the fall, just accepted at first choice school this week He is bright, curious, but doesn’t love school all the time. Studies hard and excels in his favorite subjects, but equally capable of “blowing off” the ones he hates and/or finds too difficult. When he was a sophomore we were advised by his counselor to push him into all APs, even in subjects he had struggled in previously. They felt he could be a top tier kid, but needed a challenge. I agreed in Eng/hist/languages, but felt the math and science would be an unnecessary struggle, and that it could even compromise his success in his “strengths.” They pressed; I relented. The result was a disatrous sophmore year. He struggled with an all AP/high honors schedule and was turned off in general. Junior year, I followed my own voice and placed in in English AP, French AP, US History AP, but backed him down one level in science and two levels in math. He had a great year and scored the highest math grade in the junior class on his finals.</p>
<p>My second child is entering HS. She scores high across the board and thrives when challenged. She will start in all honors/AP because she wants to try and and we all think she can. Different paths for each kid. </p>
<p>Just remember, you know your child better than any couselor or any teacher. Don’t feel swayed by what everyone tells you is the right path or eventually the “right college.” There are thousands of schools out there. The only right school (s) is the one that fits your child.</p>
<p>It’s one thing to finish a project at work early. It’s quite another to plan your child’s employment career a decade in advance. (I know it’s fun to think about those things, though. Especially when he hasn’t done anything yet, so there’s no conflict about it.)</p>
<p>Anyway, the chances that he will make it through college sleeping 9 hours a night and not having some significant girlfriend-induced conflict with his mother are slim to none. You have lots of fun ahead!</p>
<p>My wife is one of the most focused people I know, with an absolutely constant set of core values. If you asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up, she would have given the same answer at 14 and 17 (clinical psychologist treating autistic children – essentially Theodore Isaac Rubin). Yet between the ages of 18 (college sophomore) and 35, she made four or five radical changes in the way she translated those values into her working life, and only the first of them was abandoning psychology. I doubt her 17 year-old self could possibly have imagined who she is and how she spends her time at 50.</p>
<p>Emily - one other insight on APs that I offer up for your consideration is their weighting. Due to weighting, getting a C in an AP is more detrimental to the overall GPA than a B in an Honors course. AND colleges will likely recalculate the student’s GPA for admissions consideration…which eliminates the weighting element of the core classes’ grades. So…he’d be recalculated with a C in English (not a C in AP English Lit). Just a simple example. But I have kept this in mind as my kids have chosen their classes each year. It’s hard to choose to not keep up with the AP-Joneses!</p>
<p>
As one who has 2 kids who pursued CS majors I can tell you that he’ll be miserable and likely not succeed in getting a CS degree if he has no interest in math, science, and the theory behind computers including programming. This is especially true at those colleges that have very rigorous programs with lots of weeder classes and difficult curves (such as UCSD and UCLA).</p>
<p>The good news is that as others have said, web design and multimedia generally have nothing to do with computer science and is generally more focused on the artistic side of designing the ‘look’ of the web pages, etc. The underlying mechanisms of how those web pages interact with databases, etc. is usually not done by the web page designer but rather by someone with more of a CS background. The point is that they’re two different areas just as the person who designs the style of a car isn’t a mechanical engineer who actually designs the mechanical aspects of a car. They’re both needed but they’re different disciplines with people with different backgrounds.</p>
<p>He’s in 9th grade and he’s in some very ‘formative years’ right now and just starting to develop his interests so who knows where he’ll end up? </p>
<p>I think you should forget the whole ‘gifted’ aspect and focus on his ability and willingness to do the work. What’s needed at this point is to position him to be able to choose what path to take later when he knows better what he might want. This generally means making sure he’s competetive which generally means enrolling in the core courses, including APs and including math, science, English, foreign language, etc. courses, that the higher end colleges are looking for. This includes taking the more rigorous coursework as well as getting a high GPA and being competitive in class rank. This needs to be within reason of course depending on his interests and abilities. If he can do all this and is willing to then when he’s applying to colleges he’ll have more open to him depending on his interests at that time. Even then he might have no idea what he wants to do, which isn’t unusual, but he can sort that out after he’s in college if need be (although for engineering/CS majors it’s best and sometimes necessary to start college in the major due to the number of courses needed to complete the degree depending on the college).</p>
<p>I think it’s good that you’re considering all of this now so he can position himself well but just keep in mind that his interests are likely still being developed and he might end up surprising you and himself in the next couple of years as to what direction he wants to head.</p>
<p>I’m amazed any teen gets 9 hrs of sleep. Here, HS kids leave the house around 6:30am. I’m happy if I can get them to eat breakfast that early. 9 hrs sleep. WOW! My youngest DD (a HS junior) plays 3 sports and is lucky to get home around 7pm during 2 seasons. BBall season she gets home around 9pm, later if away games. Add dinner, a shower and a little downtime before probably 3+ hrs of homework (all honors/AP classes) and she’s LUCKY to be in bed at midnight. 1am is more typical - only to get up at 6am and do it all over again… BUT then again, she goes out on weekends with her friends, does other ECs and still finds “hangout” time watching a Devils game or movies with friends. And of course, there are weekend sports games and practices as well. But it’s her choice to play 3 sports (and additional club teams). My older 2 kids chose to take weekend college classes in addition. Wouldn’t have been my choice. But it’s good to let them make the decisions and learn the time management skills necessary to pull it off. The older two said they were well prepared for college and found they had MORE free time available in college with only 4-5 classes at once (unlike 7 academic subjects at once in HS).</p>
<p>My oldest graduated with a BFA in Graphic Design and it’s a very demanding, time consuming major. SHe followed an academically challenging HS schedule (up through Calculus) and that helped her prepare for college. Her AP/college credits allowed her to skip some of her college gen eds and her grades/SATs/tough curriculum won her merit $. Some of the GDesign/New Media type classes do require higher level thinking and in her experience, there’s a strong correlation between design and math. Some majors like animation have really tough admit standards (at least at her school). BTW, she disliked “art” classes, especially drawing, but understood the purpose of the foundation year classes. Sometimes you “need” to take classes in areas you don’t love. She got a minor in Communications and took quite a few business classes as well so the academic HS classes help prep her for the academic challenges in college.</p>
<p>Now is not the time to be “very upset”. Nothing bad is happening. :)</p>
<p>Emily, I sympathize with the desire to have everything all wrapped up in a nice bow, but it’s way too early. He doesn’t even need to enter college with a career plan. Just have him take the courses he likes. It’s as simple as that.</p>
<p>When my S was in 8th / 9th grade, I had him pegged as the Next JK Rowling – Creative writer, did several competitions, really seemed to love it. Because I’m a jump-the-gun type of person, I even started looking at the Iowa Writer’s Workshop and other places of that nature. Guess what? He completely “turned” and is now fascinated with history, politics, international relations and philosophy. No more creative writing. It’s ok, though. It doesn’t matter. My D (twin) thinks she is interested in math and chemistry, but who knows? But it doesn’t really matter, at all. You need to stop worrying at this stage in the game.</p>
<p>Thanks again everybody!
As far as getting 9 hours of sleep, like I mentioned, my S. doesn’t participate in organized sports, I honestly couldn’t imagine him doing that plus all the homework and still have some free time which in my opinion is really important too… He goes to the gym and swims recreationally so this allows him greater flexibility with time but everybody is different and if someone enjoys sports that’s great - not my S. though…</p>
<p>It’s not just the athletes that have a full schedule. Talk to any parent that has a child in a HS musical or someone like my son that’s in Robotics club, or someone in Marching band in the fall season. Add in one of those AP’s and all of the sudden 8 hours of sleep goes out the window. I would like 8 hours of sleep! :)</p>
<p>Yeah it may all change when he takes AP classes, that’s why I am so leery about it all… it’s like we all complain about being stressed out and how hectic our lives are but our kids are made to believe that that’s the only way to succeed… sad but true… </p>
<p>And it’s a matter of priorities, I guess if a child functions fine and has enough energy without getting enough sleep then it’s ok but if not, health comes first I think…</p>