Friend’s D is at a public high school and just had this happen to her.
Her D, an excellent student, wanted to take a particular AP Science course but was told that it would not fit into her schedule unless she gave up symphony orchestra, which is a one-period class for which kids audition and is not easy to be placed in. After much agonizing, her D decided to stay in orchestra, since she had worked hard to get into it and did not want to give that up - but ended up not being able to take the AP course and took a standard science instead.
About halfway into the year, my friend found out that two boys were let into the same AP course and also allowed to be in symphony orchestra. The conflict was between the lab part of the course and the orchestra period, so these boys were allowed to attend the lab (which takes up half the periods in the week) and attend symphony orchestra the other half of the time.
When my friend found out, she was very upset and called the principal, who told her that she was unaware this had happened and it was probably because the two boys had a different guidance counselor and friend’s D’s counselor obviously didn’t know this option was available. Friend’s D cannot take this AP course next year because of too many other APs, so she now will never be able to take this course and lost the ability to be on an AP track in science.
My friend realizes that there is nothing that she can do about this (the school told her they would mention in her D’s recommendation that she was unable to take the AP because of scheduling conflicts) - but the whole thing make me so mad and I feel like she should have some recourse. What if that AP class was the tipping point to get into the college her D wants? (No, I didn’t say this to my friend.) Scheduling conflicts are one thing, but to find out that two other kids were allowed to do something your kid wasn’t - it certainly makes me wonder how much of this is going on in general. (My own kid got boxed out of something too this year and of course it makes me wonder about that!)
Advice for her? Set the whole thing aside and move forward? Ask the school to do something in particular to help her D (not sure what that would be)? This is a very highly ranked public school.
I have no advice but it is infuriating. My son was told he could not take AP Music Theory because he was not co-enrolled in one of band/choir/orchestra. He has taken piano and was previously in band and choir. There are no other AP classes for fine arts, and this will probably cost him his valedictorian rank, which in Texas means 1-year free tuition at state schools. Same advisor allowed a friend of his to take AP Music Theory with less music experience because he told her he is “planning to major in music in college”. He’s majoring in engineering.
Perhaps your friend’s daughter could take this missing AP online? Our state had FLVS but there are other options out there I am sure. FL students may take FLVS for free, but out-of staters may take a course for a fee (I’ve heard it is around $800 but don’t quote me). FLVS only offers AP Biology and Environmental Science, but with research she may find other programs with more offerings.
The majority of the coursework could be completed over the summer, and the rest could be done over the next school year at an easier pace, keeping your friend’s daughter fresh for the AP exam in May.
I would suggest your friend discuss this with the guidance couselor ahead of time to see if she is certain that the school will give credit for the class.
Again, this may not be a good option for your friend, but thought it was worth putting out there.
I know how frustrated they must be over this, and wanted to offer a better solution than a “letter of explanation”.
My question would be how on earth the GC and those two students managed to convince the Orchestra teacher to let the students cut half of the classes. WOW!!! Surely everyone in the Orchestra class knew that these two were there only half the time! The Orchestra teacher must have wanted them an awful lot to let the students get away with that. OR the parents of those students have some kind of ridiculous political clout.
I think the boys paid the price by doing half of each class, probably neither well. There is nothing wrong with ‘regular’ science. There is no reason why she can’t take AP biology next year if she missed AP chemistry this year (or physics, or environmental). Daughter chose orchestra. It’s fine.
My daughters changed schools, and attended 3 different high schools. Because of that, they took fewer AP courses but it was fine. One took AP chem, but ‘only’ regular physics. She only got to pre-calc in math. She’s doing very well as a freshman in civil engineering, in chemistry, physics, calc I and now calc II.
My son had trouble with his schedule because many of his classes are “singletons” and there simply is not enough time in one day to do everything he wanted. He chose chamber orchestra over calc BC (took AB) and couldn’t take AP physics until senior year. Honestly, this is not life or death. Having orchestra is important socially and as an EC. So things got moved around. If one science class seems like that big a deal perhaps everyone needs to step back and take a deep breath and relax.
There’s likely no recourse since I imagine the proper response would have been that no one is allowed to do that, and they made a strange exception for those two in allowing them, not imposing some strange requirement on your kid that said she can’t.
Plenty of kids opt for some AP sciences and not others. How is this a catastrophe?
There is no single AP class which is the tipping point for anything. But I would encourage any kid applying to an engineering program to read the pre-requisites carefully- a few years ago we had a parent here who was nuclear because her kid got into Arts and Sciences for their state flagship but not the Engineering school. We finally uncovered that her kid had not met the admissions requirements for engineering (not AP by the way- just plain old vanilla bio, chem, physics and “the most rigorous” math offered at the HS. )
Relax. This kid will be fine. And agree that if so motivated- the kid can do an online course. But only if she wants to…
I’m with @MommaJ on this one; it’s over - move on.
It won’t be.
The GC should, and has already offered to, mention the schedule conflict on the Secondary School Report; that’s the extent that it should be covered in the college application. Friend’s D should not even hint about it on the application as it will only come off as whiny despite best efforts.
Not sure how the friend’s kid did not notice that the boys were not in orchestra half the classes until mid-way through the year? Most kids in a class like that talk, and seems like she would have known about this. Are you sure the kid did not know but didn’t want to rock the boat?
As others have said, there is no reason she can’t take AP chem even if she didn’t take AP bio (or vice versa or AP physics). If being in an AP this year is a requirement to continue next, I would ask the school for an over-ride, since she was not allowed to take the AP this year. It may also be that the two boys that were permitted to do this were off the charts superior in that subject and in orchestra and were able to handle both without a problem.
Things happen that are unfair. It may also be that not having that AP allowed her to get an A in science and to do better in all her other classes as she would have more time to devote to them. It would be annoying but have to let it go.
This is a good example as to why parents of top students should get involved at the middle school level, to seek out who the “best” HS GC’s are - and make efforts to get their kids placed with them. Sometimes it means getting to know more people in the administration - the principal or superintendent, etc. Parents of recent graduates, others who have been through the system before you, can often be helpful in giving advice as to who to talk to, where to turn, etc.
Taking “Independent Study” classes, or other exceptions like online courses, can be costly to a school district, but they tend to be accomodating to families who want to work with them. Being collaborative, stressing you are working toward the common goal, is more likely to get results compared to starting off with accusatory language.
Don’t start with “We have been treated unfairly”, but instead with “We have a problem and we know you want to help. We want to teach our child how to begin to advocate for her best interests, so perhaps the following solutions/accomodations can be made…”
We have been grateful for the advice given to us by others, and we are happy to share what we learned with those following our kids.