Parents of the HS Class of 2026

At our HS, the kids submit their requests in March, but don’t actually get their schedules until August. In our experience, the schedule they receive in August is usually not exactly what they want… and then they have to scramble around to try to get it changed… if there is space in the classes they want.

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Kind of same though submit in Feb and find out in August the day before school starts. So far C26 has always got what they requested and in my recollection D19 did as well. I know they start the schedules with the math class as fixed and I think they try work the other cores in as much as possible, so issues would usually be with electives.

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Pretty much the same here. Though courses were selected in January.

Same, except we find out in May – last week of school – what they’re enrolled in, although the actual schedule with teachers comes out in August.

And my kids always had/have a bunch of one-section classes, so you have to hold your breath and manifest that you get what you want. I think only one year it worked out seamlessly for my D22, and she texted me from school saying we needed to send the scheduler an Edible Arrangement. :sweat_smile:

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My S20 (Chem major) took Organic Chem in high school (as well as AP Chem and Biochem). Went on to get his BS in Chem. While the pace of his high school classes was much slower, it was good exposure to the early units in his college classes. He breezed through orgo 1 and 2!

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I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say this before, LOL!

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My chemical engineering major also took a semester of o chem in HS and found it to be a nice head start. She also breezed through her entire chem sequence, even p chem. She credits her HS foundation.

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At our school ALL classes are full year. There are no single semester options. So it is pretty limiting. 7 periods per day. Traditional bell schedule. When you remove all the requirements (4 yrs math, ELA, science, social studies, minimum 2 yrs PE/Health/Drivers Ed, comp sci, civics, 3 yrs language, and 2 years arts classes) you are left with very few electives.

Mine is taking
AP Calc AB
AP Bio
AP Bio Lab*
Honors Anatomy & Physiology
AP Gov
Honors English 4
PE Leaders (adaptive PE buddy)**

*AP Bio is a 2-period class with separate lecture and lab grades. It apparently allows more time for labs.

** Our high school houses a self-contained program for multiply disabled students. Many are non-verbal, non-ambulatory, and have complex needs. So, in the PE leaders class, a non-disabled student is paired up with a peer in the self-contained program to help with adaptive PE activities.

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D26 is looking into majoring in biochem, this is reassuring.

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We don’t get the actual schedule until 2 weeks before school starts in August. But you pick classes in February.

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I love this.

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As a habitual planner, this would be nice even if we don’t hear back a confirmation until closer to the school year.

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Even though school doesnt rank, just found out that after the first semester, D26 is currently #1 in her class.

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Not sure if they are looking at LACs, but I think most of them offer a lot of opportunities for non-majors. My D23 is a math/psychology major and has been a member of the school choir (1-credit class) every semester and sings with an a cappella group, too. She’s also been able to take private piano lessons for credit (voice available too).

With my S23 we found that there was a lot of variation in music opportunities available for non-majors. We ended up making a spreadsheet to compare.

  • Ensembles available to non-majors, audition process, number of performances yearly, number of rehearsals weekly, repertoire and quality (S23 watched videos of performances…)
  • Amenities available to non-majors such as practice rooms, private lessons, rental instruments
  • Some schools have music scholarships for non-majors
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AP classes are all full-year here, too. And students are required to take the AP exam at the end of the year; if they don’t, the class gets weighted as an Honors class vs. AP. I’ve never been a fan of this policy as someone who opted out of a couple of AP exams my
senior year (I knew I couldn’t get credit for them anyway at the school where I was headed). Plus, if students have completed the course, they should get credit for the course, period.

Juniors here are just submitting course requests now and will meet with school counselors next month to finalize their picks. Official schedules won’t come out until the last week of school, which is mid- to- late June here. Then, there’s a bit of scrambling in the last few days to correct mistakes and accommodate changes if students don’t get their first-choice class. Schedule releases in August would not work here since many AP classes assign summer work.

S26 mostly has his selections in, but he was invited to be a “fellow” in a writing center initiative the school is trying to launch, and he’s waiting to hear if this would fulfill his senior year English requirement. The English department is lobbying for that since they know kids don’t have much room in their schedule for electives. I think it sounds like a cool opportunity and much more appealing to him than the traditional English course offerings.

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Our school has the same policy: you must take the AP exam to get AP weight.

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Not LACs but we looked into her first choice school last night and they do have various ensemble options, also 1 credit a semester, for non music majors. Plus a list of classes open to non music majors (not sure if they will fit with electives but a couple are designated as gen ed classes ). So big smiles to discover this, assuming would find similar elsewhere.

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Good idea to add to our college spreadsheet! Thanks

Edit: bet when I suggest it I’m going to be told we need to add a column for Pokémon clubs too :rofl:

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Same here. The request goes now, but August is when we will know. And they say no changes are allowed except if an hour is open, double booked, or a graduation requirement is missing and you’re a senior.

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