If he really doesn’t want to take English in 12th grade, he can dual-enroll in an Intro to Philosophy class at the local college. It’s the ONLY exception I’ve seen, in part because Philosophy is seen as similar to English but with more abstract content, lots of reading/writing of difficult texts and discussing complex ideas.
Just so he knows, there are really no shortcuts: Most colleges will require 2 English courses, usually one that serves as an intro to writing a college level research paper and one where students must apply their mastery to their chosen field.
The norm for a strong student from a reasonably well-funded school that offers such classes is that they will have taken Foreign Language 1 (and 2 sometimes), Algebra1 (and Geometry sometimes), ELA1, and Biology in Middle School. If you consider “a year” as a year long course in an academic field, these students competing for Top 40 universities and Top 30 LACs will typically have 6-7 years of math, 5 years of English, 4-5 years of foreign language, 5-7 years of science, 4-7 years of social science, 1-4 art, and one EC that places them on the map nationally. Students need to exhibit evidence of intellectual curiosity so teachers can comment on it and be involved in their HS or cultural community, volunteering or helping others, etc.
If your son has 6 periods per school day, he should take
Each of the 5 core subjects + 1 (for your son: theater/drama, sounds like -a good pick because it is a valued class, a social space, and an EC.)
… This, until he reaches Level 4 in his foreign language (he can accelerate through Concordia Language Camps if he really really wants to, it’s a fun summer activity for a rising Sophomore, but expensive): that frees up one period to double up in science.
Does your school offer AP Human Geography ? It’s a “gateway to AP” course for 9th graders, it relates to our current world, it would allow him to take AP Gov as a senior, and it may interest him more. Then again, AP Gov in an election year would be really interesting (does your school organize a trip to DC?)
Are students in the acting classes guaranteed parts in the school productions? All of them? I ask because usually there are some disappointed students after the auditions when they don’t get the parts they hoped for.
Also, with all of the AP courses you are suggesting for your son, he may find that he doesn’t have time to do these plays which usually involve rehearsals in the evenings and performances on weekends and evenings. He loves it now…but he may not if he his taking 5 AP courses.
Also, if he does the acting class/plays, does that mean that his music is entirely out of the picture?
What you described is the norm in our district for top 10% or so of students.
OP - it was common in my D’s HS to double up but not until junior or senior year. Please make sure that your child isn’t missing any core courses in their freshman year of HS. It will unnecessarily close doors.
I thought that if the rigor stayed high, there could be some substituting? Not for English, but if a kid is really into humanities and languages and wants to take say 2 Level 4 or beyond languages, and multiple social sciences and that doesn’t leave room for a 4th science, or vice versa, the kid wants to take multiple maths and sciences, and doesn’t have room for a 4th year of history, they can be treated equally to a kid with a more traditional 5 X 4 profile.
To reiterate the above: he should NOT be taking 5AP classes a year. ECs are more valuable than yet another AP. APs value in establishing rigor/ability to handle rigor, tapers off after 8-10 APs total. There also needs to be a progression and in 12th grade an indication of interests.
For a STEM/arts students, the most rigorous schedule I can think of would look like this
English: Honors English 9&10, AP Lang, senior electives (/dual enrollment Philosophy)
Math: Algebra2H, precalculus honors or AP Precalculus, AP calculus (or senior math: calculus, MVC, discrete math…)
Foreign Language: through Level 4 → frees up 1 slot sr year, 1 jr year if level 4 is completed in 10th grade (the newly free periods can be used to take CS or Mysic/Art/Art History, AP or not)
Social science: AP Human Geography, AP World or Euro History, APUSH or US History Honors, honors or AP Gov, Econ, African American History, Art History, Psychology
Science : (assuming Bio was completed in MS) Chem Honors, Physics Honors or AP Physics 1, 2 from AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Physics C. AP Environmental only as an elective in addition to these. AP bio + chem makes most sense for premeds, AP chem+C for pre engineers.
6th period: Art/Theater/Drama (+ done as EC through HS and in the community)
Senior year should not be overloaded to leave enough time for good college applications, which take time.
Total, about 10 total, with 1 in 9th grade, 1-3 in 10th, 3-4 in 11th, 3 in 12th.
Absolutely - especially senior year and wrt foreign language and science (the most commonly switched).
In addition, not everything has to be AP if the school offers Honors classes in the field the 12th grade student doesn’t intend to specialize in later on (ie., AP Lit is important senior year if you enjoy it OR if you plan on a Humanities major but not necessary if you want to major in STEM. For a STEM major, the schedule should be balanced and thus have maximum rigor in STEM with Humanities/Social science Honors. Reverse depending on major!)
However the student should have some form of English and Math every year and for highly/most selective colleges a social science too. There should be no need to have English, Math, and 3 science classes even as a senior… Doubling up as a senior usually means using the FL or Science period, not using the social science/history period in addition to that.
To me, this is the key sentence. Unless I’m not reading this thread correctly, the OP. Is trying to figure out how NOT to do this…for a student who is currently in 8th grade.
The OP has had many replies and her questions have been answered. This is about an 8th grade student who is years away from applying to college. We have nothing here but speculation and permutations based on what the parent would like to see happen.
I’ll set this thread to auto-close at 11:59 pm EST tonight. When the OP has a different question to ask, she may post a new thread, hopefully when there is something more concrete to share once the student is in high school.
Just came to say, the acting thing could be really fun. Maybe make some friends in there that could contribute to happiness and enjoyment of high school. And hone a skill. That is unfortunate that they require him to be in a class but maybe his chances of being cast go up, then.
Our school requires two years of visual or performing arts. Hardly anyone takes more than this because they are all mostly taking science or social studies electives depending on their interests. The kids in band, choir and orchestra really struggle in the upper grades and sometimes squeeze in an extra class where others have lunch or free period, because they want to continue their music.
Also. If your kid is taking chem, physics and bio throughout high school, he doesn’t NEED more than one AP science to follow afterwards. One of mine took AP Bio and the other AP Physics. No one at our school takes more than one AP science and we have STEM students who are now attending very prestigious schools like Carnegie Mellon, Duke, Rice, WashU, and all/most of the Ivies.
At our school kids take regular or honors physics before taking AP Physics 2 or C depending on their math level. Not sure if Physics 2 is ok as a first physics class, maybe someone else here knows.