My son is a freshman at a highly ranked Westchester public high school. Assuming he’s continues on the way he’s begun, he’ll likely end up in the top 10% of his class. I expect he’ll be applying to very competitive schools. I’m sure we’ll at least consider Binghamton as a safety, but I think there are better fits. CUNY schools won’t even vaguely be under consideration.
Is there any reason on earth to care about an advanced regents diploma? Will Brown, Brandeis or BU care even the tiniest bit? For that matter, will Binghamton?
Fellow NYer here! I think the amount of course rigor a student would generally pursue in order to be applying to places like Brown, Brandeis or BU will have them winding up with the Advanced Regents Diploma anyway for the most part. Were there particular requirements of the Advanced diploma that your son is worried about?
Your regents grades are most likely going to be on your transcript. Bing will definitely care because the SUNY application asks why type of diploma will the student attain at graduation. The AIMS scholarship from HESC is tied to getting an advanced regents diploma.
There is probably not a selective school on the east coast that does not know what it takes to graduate from the NYS public schools because of the sheer number of students that apply to these schools. I graduated from one of the specialized high schools when the dinosaurs roamed the earth and you had to get an advanced regents diploma then to meet the graduation requirement for their diploma, when students were not even graduating with a regents diploma.
Agreeing with @thermom , it is most likely going to be tied to rigor as you will need 3 years of foreign language in addition to the LOTE. For an advanced regents diploma
If he is considering Brown Brandeis, etc, he should consider getting an advanced regents with mastery in math and science plus honors; 3 math regents with 85+ and 3 science regents 85+ And an overall 90 average on his regents trust that most of the students graduating from the specialized high schools in NYC and other rigorous/ selective high schools across the state will probably be bringing one to the table.
When my kids were applying to the more competitive SUNY schools it was definitely said at information sessions that the course of study should be the one leading to an “advanced Regents diploma” I don’t think private/out of NY colleges care about advanced Regents per se but their requirements will be very similar.
High schools (public) typically list Regents grades on the transcript. I agree that by wanting to apply to competitive schools, the required coursework will automatically lead to the advanced diploma.
Private high schools don’t list Regents grades on the transcript, although NYC public schools do. Does anyone know what schools in NY State but out of the City do? or is it a school-by-school thing?
My experience with several public high schools in the NYC suburbs is that they do list Regents grades on the transcript. Of course this is my observation and does not mean that every school does.
Regents grades were on our (suburb of NYC) transcript (and figured into the GPA calculation as well - they took the 4 quarter grades and counted the test results as a 5th quarter). The fact that my kids got an advanced diploma was presumably on the final transcript, but it wasn’t on it yet when they were applying as they hadn’t graduated yet.
Like others if your kid is doing the kind of coursework required to get into selective universities, they are going to end up with an advanced Regents diploma. I don’t think schools outside NY state care about the designation particularly, but they do care about rigor and depth - so yes take the required amount of math, science and foreign language for the Advanced Regents.
My younger son had an advanced arts designation from our school on his diploma, have no idea if it made a difference, but he did get into some quite reachy for him schools.
Amazing so your 9th grader already knows where he is going to be applying, and to such a wide range of schools like Brown to BU…LOL, here’s a thought come back in 2 years and see if your little snowflake is still on the same path…SMH
What is the concern about the advanced regents diploma. My experience is the same as @sybbie719 so to graduate at all, you needed to have met the requirements for the advanced regents diploma. For a kid interested in the schools you listed, the advanced regents diploma requirements should be the bare minimum.
@fm0101 My 9th graders both had already taken the SATs as part of Talent Search. Between that and their middle school grades it was pretty clear that they would be able to apply to very selective universities if they wanted to. (They did ultimately.) As a parent you want to make sure you don’t close any doors for your child through not knowing the rules. I’ve heard of many parents whose kids were shut out of math and science tracks for decisions they made early on without knowing the longterm consequences. Information is good.
@mathmom, there is a difference in making sure that your children are not shut out of any programs and declaring that your 9th grader is going to apply to such a diverse population of schools like Brown to BU, and as most NY parents know if your child is so academically blessed and in “highly ranked Westchester public high school” then an Advanced Regents Diploma will be automatic, just by the nature of the classes they will be tracked to take. If the OP is in “highly ranked Westchester public high school” then they probably live in an affluent neighborhood where the parents are very involved with their children education and knows this already.
Both my D’s, one is a Senior this year and one is a Freshman have both already taken AP classes in 9th grade, its just a given that the track they are/were on will lead to an Advanced Regents Diploma. That being said my 9th grader, and I will venture to say 99.9% of 9th graders, has no idea where she/they want to go to school and even if they did have some inkling they will probably change their minds 100 times between now and Senior year. Let your children be kids while they can, and stop with the “my little Johnnie got straight A’s in Kindergarten, he’s definitely going to be Valedictorian and go to Harvard”…
@fm0101 I think the OP was just giving a range of schools whose names all begin with B. This was not a final list. In fact, I’m impressed that the OP did not limit themselves to the usual top 20.
My oldest knew he wanted to go to a good computer science school in 5th grade. (He did.) My youngest had no idea in 10th grade. (But figured it out by 12th grade.) It’s all good. In 9th grade I had some ideas where my oldest would likely applied and if I had posted here, might have listed them.
I don’t disagree that a kid in the top 10 percent of the class will be nudged to take the courses they need to take. (My oldest tried to wiggle out of APUSH.)
I’d talk to your S’s guidance counselor to see if being on track to get the the advanced regents diploma has made any difference in college admission for prior applicants to top schools from your HS. He/she should have the most useful history.
Our very competitive NYS public HS does not even offer the advanced regents diploma and gets many kids into Ivy and equivalent schools as well as top NYS public colleges without it, but results may be different in schools where the option is offered.
@happy1, are you sure about your HS not offering advanced regents diploma’s because according to NYS graduation requirements all students can earn an advanced Regents diploma. Maybe you are confusing it with your district not offering AP classes anymore?
My daughter is a senior set to graduate with an Advanced Regents diploma - WITH HONORS - Question is this: She has Physics this year; if she takes the Physics regent she is likely to not get high enough score to maintain her Honors designation (over 90 average on previous 8 exams). If she skips the Physics Regent, can she keep her >90 average on the 8 regents previously taken??
Or by NOT taking the Physics Regent would she receive a -0- , thus killing her >90 average as well???
Can she skip the Physics regent?
@emilybee Yup, I’m sure. Two kids went through the HS. If anyone is desperate for an Advanced Regents Diploma I guess they would have to figure out a way to take the extra exams at another high school. Never heard of anyone getting and Advanced Regents diploma from our HS and my D knew many top students.
Our HS never liked NYS Regents exams and feels that they can prepare better exams in-house (a bit cocky, I know). Nobody took any Regents in our HS until NYS made it mandatory that high schools in NYS must issue Regents diplomas. As a result the high school gives the minimum number of Regent exams needed to get a (basic) NYS Regents diploma. (I think World History, US History, English, one math, and Science (just bio and earth science). The school does not offer Regents exams in foreign language, physics, upper level math etc. In addition, Regents typically count for almost nothing (maybe 10%) in terms of the students final grade for a course.
I’m guessing our HS is an exception, but that’s the way it is. And it does not impact college admissions, even for the SUNY schools.
Again, if a HS does off an Advanced Regents Diploma and a student did not go that route, the implications might be different.
@zebra678 You D should talk to her teacher and guidance counselor. The Regents may be used as the final exam in the class so not taking it could have a big implication on her final grade. In all honesty what difference will getting that designation make in her life? I would have her do her best and finish out the course, including the Regents if it is a required component of the class. Presumably she is into a college and ready to move on. I don’t think my kids ever looked at their HS diplomas after graduation.
@emilybee To clarify my understanding is that NYS schools must have students complete the requirements for a NYS Regents diploma but there is no state requirement that a HS must offer an Advanced Regents Diploma.