My D30 just got her schedule. She got all the classes she requested!
She and her Dad are having second thoughts about her elective. She chose dance, which I think is a great way to balance out an academically challenging schedule and prioritize her health, but she and her Dad are wondering if she “needs” to take an AP instead.
The school district she will be attending doesn’t allow freshmen to take AP’s in most subjects, but they do allow AP computer science.
Editing this to add the question about exercise since on reflection that’s a big part of the decision from my perspective.
Our example of that is, D30’s school only offers one AP, Human Geography, to freshmen. This isn’t known to be a particularly rigorous AP, so she’s opting for Art instead, for which she has a talent and really enjoys.
I’ll add that where freshmen are allowed to take AP’s, they’re often what I call waystage AP’s to get them used to the real AP’s later. So Human Geography, World History, Computer Science Principles, as examples - courses that fewer colleges even offer credit for.
That is my thinking. Any thoughts on how to reassure her and Dad?
It doesn’t help that one of her brothers attends school in a different district where there are lots of AP’s available to freshmen so their dad thinks that’s normal.
A full load of honors classes already proves to colleges that she’s taking on a challenging schedule. Having a physical and creative class like Dance built into her day gives her a much-needed mental break, preventing burnout and actually helping her stay sharp in her academic courses. Admissions officers can easily spot when a student takes a class just to pad their transcript. Unless she’s genuinely excited about coding, jumping into AP CS as a freshman will feel like a chore. Sticking with Dance shows balance, self-care, and a well-rounded personality—qualities colleges value just as much as test scores.
It’s hard to talk about top colleges going into 9th grade - because top is different to all and you don’t know what her entire profile will look like in three years - from grades to tests, finances and willingness to pay and more.
You noted she has a challenging schedule and you worry about mental health.
If she’s challenged, has a great social life and is contributing outside the class, then that’s great.
In 2.5 years, when it’s time to start building a list, everything will take care of itself - whether or not she’s in good shape for the top schools or not.
In our district, kids took AP Human Geo. Did that make a difference on the colleges they are attending? I don’t know.
That she has interest in dance and you want balance in her life (stress wise) I think is much more impactful. Not taking an AP won’t keep her out of a certain college just like taking one likely wouldn’t get her in. My kid took Nutrition in Senior year and got into great (near top schools) and I’m guessing her decisions would have been the same even if it was AP Cs instead.
As you note, they don’t allow APs anyway. Does she even have an interest in CS?
I like your strategy personally. If your child burns out or stresses out, that’s a bigger issue and if they are new to HS, they have to adapt to the work load anyway.
And CS isn’t core - so many take it - and I wonder if it’s adding anything, especially when they take it instead of a core class (like language).
Make sure the English, Math, Science, Social Science and Foreign Language courses are out of the way. And btw - some colleges require a visual or performing arts class - and Dance could be a need anyway.
So I lost track of the number of times I read an AO for a highly selective college being asked about APs, and them stressing that they do not count APs. When they talk about rigor and what is available at your HS in depth, they seem very focused on what are called core classes, and then very open as to what you do with non-core classes and other “electives”.
OK, so I do think reasonably challenging yourself in all five core areas is a good goal, for each year. And then in your HS, this will lead to whatever core APs it leads to.
Whether any other classes you fill in around those 20 classes (5x4) are APs or not? Meh, I wouldn’t worry about that. As others are also suggesting, I would worry about her having a healthy, well-balanced, interesting high school experience.
Including because that is actually going to help her do her reasonable best in those 20 classes that really matter.
I don’t have any worries about her mental health. I encouraged her to take dance because she is a kid whose interests outside of school are all things you do sitting down and I think physical activity is important.
Sorry, I saw this and I put mental in front of it - i.e. mental health as we see a lot of kids posting here later that have had mental health challenges, often related to school work load.
I added to my note above - as long as she’s doing the core classes, I think it’s fine.
And some colleges, like the UCs, require a visual or performing arts class, and she’ll have that done.
Personally, I think it’s fine. I also think it’s too early to stop “assuming” a top college, whatever that means to someone - and for many kids, they do develop stress and other challenges.
If you said you were taking dance over Spanish, I’d say no. But over CS - I don’t see an issue.
I probably overstated my lack of worry about her mental health. I think every good mom pays attention to her kids mental health, especially during puberty. But I was talking about exercise and not workload when I wrote that.
I am curious what other parents of kids who don’t love to exercise do when PE goes away in high school. Do you make them pick something or drop the rope?
does she have grass/plant allergies or pet allergies? Can mom/dad and she take a 30 minute nightly walk or early morning walk?
With the phones, it is tough.
Or if interested in dance, private lessons that will be more specialized and far beyond PE.
I never got the sense kids worked that hard in PE - too many vs. one instructor - unless they were playing a mass game.
Anyway, I don’t think the AP is needed - but I understand why they think. And I think it’s way too early to have a list expectation with so much involved - from that 3 year record to desires to finances and more.
Best of luck and I hope you can get her some steps - because it is a nice stress reliever.
My D was not athletic. She had to take a PE class in 9th grade and complained mightily! Then she joined a couple of low-key sports teams that her friends were on. She became a huge fan of one sport, which then became a surprisingly big factor in her college search, and now she has arranged her freshman year class schedule around her sports practice. So you never know.
And regarding the original query, APs are not allowed at our HS in 9th grade, and they can take max one AP in 10th grade. It doesn’t seem to cause problems.
I would argue that if an AP course is deemed appropriate for 9th graders, then it’s not really AP-level, since HS freshmen are not really ready for college-level work (yes, there are exceptions, especially for students on very advanced math tracks that sequence to AP courses). My kids (now a rising college senior and freshman) had the option of taking APUSH in 9th grade, which is increasingly the norm for advanced students in their HS. My husband and I, both US history professors, absolutely nixed the idea for both kids, despite their strengths in reading and writing and their shared interest in history, because we thought that if done right, APUSH would be too challenging for 9th graders and a great way to turn them off of history altogether. On the other hand, if tailored to 9th grade reading and writing levels, it would not really be a true AP course. They both got a good foundation in 9th grade and excelled in subsequent AP history/social science courses. They both took electives that were not weighted as honors or AP level (music, journalism, science research), because these were true areas of interest, and my kids didn’t feel the need to fill every corner of their schedule with extra APs. It all turned out fine. The absence of APs in their 9th grade records definitely did not bother admissions officers at their colleges of choice, both of which have <15% acceptance rates.
Most 9th graders do not take APs, and for good reason. There’s no reason to substitute an elective that does not interest her for one that does, just because she thinks will look better to colleges. It won’t.
I am not a fan at all of high school freshmen taking AP classes. We put WAY too much stress on our high school students. Starting freshman year with an AP class would be one example of this. There are way too many high school students in the USA who are being treated for stress related medical problems.
For admissions to highly ranked universities, I have consistently believed that students should take the classes that make sense for them, and participate in the ECs that make sense for them. Then apply and see what happens. For the people I know who have attended highly ranked universities, this is the approach that they had taken.
However, in nearly all cases students are better off looking for universities that are a good fit for them (without regard for whether the schools happen to be highly ranked). How does a student get into a university that is a good fit for them? Again, by taking the classes that make sense for them.
I would have them read the “applying sideways” blog on the MIT admissions web site. As I understand it, it recommends the same approach of “do what is right for you, do it very well, and treat people well”. This is the right approach for MIT, but it is also the right approach for a very wide range of other universities, including other highly ranked ones.
And in my opinion 9th grade is way too soon to be aiming for highly ranked universities.
Well…since you asked…we asked our kids to do a couple of things in high school. One was they had to take some kind of arts course all four years. We didn’t care what kind…ours chose instrumental music. We also required them to do one sport per year (not per season, per year). DS played tennis and was in the ski club. DD was on the swim team. This really kept them active year round.
Our hs students took physical education all four years.
I also vote for your daughter taking dance. It sounds like she already has an academically challenging grade 9 schedule. I can’t see any reason to add another course like that to her schedule. Dance sounds like fun!