Hi, My daughter is selecting her classes for junior year and she is a straight A student so far. She has done very well with science fairs bagging a couple of awards at ISEF . Her schools is not offereing the science elective she wanted. so she is considering ROP(Honors medical interventions plus one semester research). She will also take 3 APs - AP Chem, APUSH and AP Calc AB. We are very unsure about this ROP thing. I am hearing that it is a good option for kids who are not college bound. She is one of the top kids at her school. Will it negatively affect her chances for a top tier college?
Who, exactly, told you that it is not for college-bound students? What, precisely, is it that those people are recommending she take instead?
Where have students who took the class in previous years ended up for college?
What are the research projects that students have engaged in in the past?
What are the other science classes that she has taken thus far?
Provided that she has taken Bio, Chem, and Physics in high school, this class is likely to be treated as a science elective when she applies to college. Electives are not bad things.
Based on other courses taken by the student - CTE (or ROP) courses can be an advantage rather than a disadvantage for college admissions. I know a few students who took CTE courses in medical/biomedical/cyber to went onto do undergrad at Ivy League schools. But these courses need to be in addition to base core courses - if the CTE course is in the same major as student is thinking about, it can be really a positive.
Thank you @happymomof1 and @hs2020dad Kids in my daughters school who aim for top colleges do 4 APs minimum. This is a new course only a few years old. So I am yet to have the data as to where these kids got into college. Initially I thought they will get an opportunity for a one semester research project which might not be the case. I am trying to find that info. My daughter has taken Honors Bio, AP Bio, Honors Chem so far. She will be taking AP Chem in junior year. In Math she has done honors algebra2 trig, honors precalc, AP Stats and will be taking AP Calculus in junior year . the CTE course will be in the same major she is thinking about. I learnt that it has college credit
The thing i recall for these CTE type courses for academic kids in my kid’s school was logistics, like they took a big chunk of time, more than any normal period. They were not on the HS campus. I assume she has physics in her plan?
She is planning on taking AP Physics senior year. Is that ok?
Yes. That’s OK. Students who are headed into the sciences are expected to have at least one year each of Bio, Chem, and Physics while in high school.
Since she wants to take ROP, she should do that. She will be happier and perform better in her classes if she has an elective that she wants to be taking.
I’d speak with the GC, learn more.