Not directed at you. Your kid is clearly taking the most rigorous curriculum that works based on interests, availability, etc. which is fantastic.
For others reading this thread- whose high school’s offer English course credit for Yearbook (yes, that’s an academic subject in some districts), science credit for “medical terminology”, etc.-- for most colleges it doesn’t matter and for some it does.
Thank you for allowing me to clarify.
Thanks, Blossom!
I understand where you are coming from, but I think it is useful to keep in mind that the most selective “national” private colleges do not really see rejections as penalizing kids. They can’t.
Because their AOs would all quit or go insane if they thought that way.
Generally speaking these AOs like kids, they like reading their essays and recommendations and so on, and yet they spend hour after hour, day after day, week after week, rejecting that vast majority of their applicants in the end. If they thought that was penalizing those kids, they couldn’t take it.
So, their basic mindset is even if this great kid is not accepted by me, surely they will be accepted somewhere else that is also great, and that is all fine. Again, it must be fine, they couldn’t handle it otherwise.
OK, so one of the things we know a lot of them do is take way more kids from independent private high schools than public high schools proportionately. And again, if they thought that was actually penalizing kids for going to public high schools, they couldn’t do it. But they do it, so they must not think that way.
And I think if you held them down and injected them with truth serum, a lot would end up admitting that they think the best result for many great public high school kids is to go to a great public university. Their public high schools were focused on preparing them for that, their families are more likely prepared to afford that, their families in fact have already in some sense chosen public schools over private schools before, and so on.
OK, so I don’t know this to be true, but suppose the NC public school policy you are describing actually has the effect of causing more NC public school students to end up in public universities, relative to otherwise similar NC private school students who are not subject to that same policy. I am pretty sure, again subject to truth serum, that these AOs for highly selective “national” private colleges would just say that was one more thing on a massive pile of things that ultimately leads to the observed effect that they accept more private school kids proportionately.
And they wouldn’t see that as penalizing those NC public school kids, because they can’t think that way about any of that.
Now, do you have to see it the same way? Of course not! But you have not been hired by one of these colleges to serve as an admissions officer and given mandates and policies designed to serve various institutional goals. They have, and if you want to go to one of those colleges, you have to understand that is the game you have to play. Meaning you have to show them you are a particularly good bet to serve those institutional goals.
If you fail in that, you will be rejected, and you might think that sucks, because you wanted to go. But they will not see it as penalizing you, they will just see it as doing their job to give their institution the enrolled classes it wants.
OK, so when people here try to share information we ahve learned to help kids better understand how these colleges think when making admissions decisions, we are not saying we agree with all of those policies! But if these kids want into these colleges, they need to understand what those colleges are looking for. And that includes understanding that these colleges simply do not, cannot, think in terms of whether a rejection amounts to an unfair penalty.
For your specific case:
(I’m asking because your daughter could well be fine as is, no worry).
Note that at many schools, students can take Personal Finance OR AP Econ for that requirement. Is that not the case at your daughter’s school? If not, then she cannot be penalized.
For anyone curious:
We are NC residents as well and affected by this. D24 ended up taking a Personal Finance class during the summer after her junior year as a free online class through the state/school system. It did not impact her summer activities since it was online and asynchronous (though it was a little dicey from a time management perspective from time to time). It also freed up a slot for her as she was mostly taking college classes senior year and it was difficult to align her college schedule with M-F high school classes.
That might be an option if they want to another “true” social science senior year without having to impact electives.
If the college’s website or CDS says required, I would tend to err on the side of caution and just have them take another social science. There are 9APs in the social science/history area, and so many additional choices if they can take a DE class.
Note that does put students in 6-period high schools at a disadvantage. 4 years in each of 5 cores plus 1 of art consumes 21 of 24 slots, and non academic high school requirements like health and PE can consume more slots. A personal finance requirement, whether it is considered an academic elective or a non-academic elective, competes for what little space (or negative space) there is left.
Students in 7 or 8 period high schools may not have as many schedule squeeze problems.
You nailed it. This is exactly my child’s situation. But we’ve gotten some great advice and perspective on this thread, so thank you to all who responded! My child is in a much better place to make a decision about classes.
Not sure if you’re addressing me, but my kid’s school – a relatively well-resourced (graded on an NC curve, of course) public in a wealthy suburb – doesn’t offer AP Econ. The only AP SS that the school offers that they didn’t take was AP Comparative Gov.
Yes, I was - if AP Econ is not offered, then your child cannot be penalized for not taking it. 
(My other question was because, even if selective colleges won’t consider Personal Finance a social science, she may already have a rigorous senior schedule that would make that class an acceptable trade-off in their eyes - but here the case is moot.
So, generally speaking, PF wouldn’t be a social science for college admission purpose but students at your school wouldn’t be penalized since it’s basically the only choice.
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