There are about 40 kids in the “honors” track however the top 5 are the only ones that have the top grades. The other “honors” kids are solid but certainly don’t have a 4.0. The bottom 30 kids are more the 2.75-3.3 gpa in the same classes - although only the top 15 take all of the 4 AP classes offered. The school offers dual credit classes through a local small junior college and the HIGH SCHOOL teacher is the instructor. There is not a college professor to write a LOR because he has never had one teach a class for him. The “honors” kids make mostly 3s on AP tests but the top 4 all made the same as him. There was one kid that made a 5 on Chemistry but he is a serious STEM kid. DS is more of a Humanities kid NOT STEM at all! He is the only one that is applying to anything in the T20.
Dual credit was one year of Spanish (Spanish 3 in 10th grade) but they didn’t offer anything past that due to not having a qualified teacher so he only has 3 years of another language. He took Spanish I in junior high. Also took DC Physics and taking DC Economics/Government now. But again all taught by the high school teacher that has a masters degree. There is a SERIOUS lack of qualified teachers at his school so it limits all upper level classes. He made 99-100 in all those classes and honestly they were easy classes when he compared them to his AP classes.
He has a college fund that his grandparents left him. We would/will qualify for financial aid at the top schools but not for the whole amount. We have run the NPC and are willing to take care of what he is lacking. We aren’t allowing that to be part of his decision. And no - neither of us are college professors, doctors, or lawyers. We went to school at a close-by commuter college and now local business owners.
Summers: he works full time - no prestigious summer programs. He did list those on applications. He did qualify for those Duke TIP summer programs from his 7th grade test but we weren’t able to afford them. We are middle class so in that in-between area. He also has solid volunteer hours including one local non-profit he has been volunteering with since elementary school.
There is typically only 1 student a year that attends UT but certainly not get accepted to the honors programs…not sure when or if that has happened in the last 10 years. Typically 6-8 kids attend Texas A&M; 2 attend SMU/TCU; and another 10-12 attend other smaller colleges. Maybe 6-8 go on to the local junior college and/or Vocational school but the vast majority of the class of 200 do not go off to college.