<p>Please comment on this development in my son’s high school progression:
home schooled in combination with one-day academy/co-ops through age 15.
99% percentile on national tests (ITBS, PSAT, SAT-2210) by end of 2013.
loves sports, plays high school football/track, and loves travel, having visiting 49 states and 24 countries,
Enrolled by invitation to Stanford Online High School (SOHS) at age 15. He is in his third year there.
life-time straight A’s, including unweighted 3.88 GPA at SOHS.
Expected 9-10 AP classes completed by graduation - maybe 1 to 3 dual credit classes too.</p>
<p>I received feedback that as strong as his academics seem to be, he would not stand out from fellow applicants at Stanford, his #1 hope for college. (We plan to apply to 10-12 colleges with the requisite “safe bets”, so don’t worry!). Of the 50 seniors at SOHS last year, I’ve heard 3 were accepted into Stanford University. Evidently they each had 2400’s on SAT as well as being from SOHS. I’ve been told that the only advantage SOHS gives to Stanford applicants is that the top Director of Admissions reviews their applications rather than regional directors.</p>
<p>With this background, we decided to extend his current “Senior” year over 2 years. It meant going down to part-time at SOHS, and enrolling part-time in a local brick 'n mortar school, which although accredited, is not at the level of rigor of SOHS. Some call this a “Super Senior” year. In any case, SOHS is 10 hours per week per class, so we could not require him to do both a full time load (40-50 hours/week) to graduate him in just 1 more year, and also ask him to strengthen his non-academic extra-curriculars and community service at any significant level. I estimate he needs to be spending 5-10 hours a week in something/s beyond sports. His sports interests are easily 20+ hours per week in season. I draw the line somewhere around 60-65 hours a week of planned activities as being the upper limit for healthy for my son, and that not every week.</p>
<p>So we pulled the trigger and dual enrolled him into these two different high school formats each as part time. He takes 2 classes at SOHS and 4 at the local option, including athletics. Other non-academics are now also available. We hope this allows him the time to dig deeper into the requisite extra-curricular life that now seems required to have any chance at the very top schools.</p>
<p>The added benefit of having 10 AP classes completed when he does enroll in Fall of 2016, saving between one to two semesters of tuition/room/board where ever he ends up, is not insignificant, as we are not a family of great means. He could possibly start in many schools as a sophomore. He will require financial aid unless merit scholarships take care of the need. </p>
<p>Love to hear your comments. I’ve been having 2nd thoughts as all the marketing material pours in from colleges who have him on the radar as a high school senior.</p>
<p>I guess I’m pretty uninformed. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a “super senior” year. I’ve heard of athletes sometimes taking an extra year. I know that the military academies will often send a student to a prep school for a year. I’m not entirely sure whether what you’re talking about fits into either of those two models.</p>
<p>So… the purpose of this super senior year is to allow him to accumulate more extracurricular experiences?</p>
<p>Okay- so you home schooled because your son is gifted? There are more gifted kids than can be accommodated at any elite school. The concept of starting at many colleges as a sophomore just means he will have 30 or more AP et al credits. Not that uncommon for gifted kids. You need to visit gifted and talented websites to find out what other parents of gifted kids find works. My gifted kid went through his public schools with grade acceleration, music and sports. </p>
<p>What does your son think? By now he should be gaining more and more control of his future. What are his thoughts on when and where to go to college? Having the freshman experience at a college is irreplaceable, whether the student is still 16 18 or whatever straight from HS. My concern is for your son’s social development. That can be as important as his academic development. Of course, being gifted implies asynchronous development of intellectual and age abilities.</p>
<p>Remember there is plenty of life outside of Stanford, especially in northern California. </p>
<p>It sounds like you are having your son spend an extra year in high school doing extra curriculars just so he has a greater chance of admission at Stanford. How will he feel if he doesn’t get into Stanford after the extra year? What you are doing makes sense perhaps if he is immature and not ready to be off on his own. Hopefully his letter writers will explain all this in a way that doesn’t make you all just look odd.</p>
<p>@jjloehr You should be aware that not all schools accept AP credits in the same way. Some will use them as substitutes for those first year classes, while others simply allow students with certain AP scores to enroll in a more advanced course in the sequence without awarding college credit for the AP class. I don’t know what Stanford’s policy is, but it might be worth double checking. </p>
<p>It isn’t the Ap classes that necessarily are notable in a resume,but the tests.
Has he taken the tests that go with the AP courses and what were his scores?
Both my kids took a gap year,between high school and college, but not to increase admissibility, as they were already admitted to all their choices.
They didn’t do anything academic, really, but were better prepared for college ( mostly) anyway.
( it is a disadvantage to take a year or more away from math studies)
It can be to his financial benefit to enroll in college as a freshman, but with several AP scores that they will give credit for- this depends on the school. Your instate schools most often are most generous at allowing credit.
Otherwise, admittance and financial aid, will be more restricted entering as a sophomore.</p>
<p>When I google “super senior year,” this phrase describes students who are taking a long time getting through college or low-performing high school students who need to stay around an extra year in order to graduate. Why not graduate on time and do a gap year?</p>
<p>How does your son feel about deferring college for another year- and is he excited about any of his non-Stanford options? If it were my kid, I’d be focused on getting him pumped about attending college (period) and finding an affordable option in case Stanford doesn’t pan out. If he’s on board with waiting- terrific. If he’s going to get bored as a super senior, then not so much.</p>
<p>I don’t think AP’s are actually a substitute for a rigorous Freshman class btw.</p>
<p>This is a new concept (the super senior year), to me, too. Did you do this in order to be more attractive to Stanford? Honestly, I doubt that it will make a difference. How old will your son be when he starts college if you give him this extra year? I second all of the above posters’ advice of putting more energy into finding affordable and attractive options that are more likely. There are soooo many great schools out there!</p>
<p>My thoughts: One year is not really enough to create the kind of extracurricular “resume” that will be competitive for schools like Stanford. It takes three to four years of working one’s way up to become Newspaper EIC, Yearbook EIC, Captain of sports teams, ASB President, etc. Many high schools have unique leadership and community service opportunities that students started in freshman year and were able to make meaningful contributions to after four years. It seems like you may be trying to play “catch up.” </p>
<p>To me, it makes more sense to focus on schools who will welcome your kid with the strengths he has. Is there an extracurricular area that he has already has participated in that he can expand upon- perhaps doing some kind of project that grows from and interest he has had for awhile?
If this were my situation, I’d much prefer that my kid be himself and find a way to express that rather than trying to get involved with a bunch of new activities to look good for admissions. Not that he shouldn’t apply to Stanford. Of course he should, but he shouldn’t put so many eggs in that basket nor should he create a persona just for that purpose.</p>
<p>I think it’s a really dangerous idea to try to craft an application for the “dream school” and the idea of spending an extra year in high school to somehow attempt this is, IMHO, crazy. No matter what you do, the simple fact is that more likely than not, he will be among the disappointed when those acceptances come out in April. Not because there’s anything remotely wrong with him, but because that’s just the way it is. There are plenty of very good schools that would be very happy to have him. Seek those out, DO NOT TALK ABOUT DREAM SCHOOLS/FIRST CHOICES! Tell everyone he will be happy with any school he is applying to and repeat and repeat so that you all truly believe it. There lies the way to happiness. </p>
<p>If you really want perspective,count how many kids are in the top 2% combined SAT and ACTS, all those kids are chasing what your kid is chasing. Will stretching a normal senior year into 2 years make him look better than other applicants? If he was accelerated earlier in life but still take 2 years to do what others do in one, seems more of a negative for a school like Stanford. Community service was something kids here started in 6th grade with a service project. </p>
<p>I would second the idea of Deep Springs College, or possible year abroad after high school. Super Seniors where we live are reserved for low-performing athletes that need remediation and tutoring to meet GPA and SAT requirements for recruitment. </p>
<p>You may have done this already, but make sure you look long and hard at your prospective school’s requirements and policies before assuming that having a lot of AP credit will mean that your son can graduate early.</p>
<p>Many students begin college as a “sophomore” but still stay for the full four years for a variety of reasons. There is nothing special about coming in with some college credit already, and it is certainly not a guarantee that your son will be able to graduate early. Graduating early takes a good amount of planning in advance, so if that is your expectation of him, make sure he knows that from the beginning. For example, according to this (<a href=“https://studentaffairs.stanford.edu/registrar/students/ap-charts”>https://studentaffairs.stanford.edu/registrar/students/ap-charts</a>), Stanford only accepts credit for Calculus, Chemistry, Computer Science, Physics, and language courses. It’s possible that the rest of his courses won’t get him out of other graduation requirements or help him to finish his degree faster.</p>
<p>The credit he gets for his AP classes may not actually get him out of a lot of the prerequisites for his major and they may not get him out of the specific GE classes he’s required to take (rather, they may count only as “elective” credit). If he’s in a major that has a lot of courses in sequence, he may not be able to speed that up unless he takes courses over the summer. Financial reasons are a perfectly good and valid reason to graduate early, but there are also good reasons to stay the full four years, such as getting heavily involved in internships or research experience, taking graduate courses or extra courses that will benefit his future career goals, getting a double major or minor, studying abroad, volunteering, etc. It all depends on what he’s majoring and what he wants to do after college. I find it surprising that you want him to drag out high school but also want him to power through college. If money is an issue, this is a perfectly reasonable concern, but there are many opportunities in college that will help him to be a competitive applicant to graduate school or to get a better job straight out of college.</p>
<p>Two years as a senior in high school? Ick. No matter what you do, there are still a finite number of places in the freshman class at Stanford. Expand your vision to accept the fantastically varied and interesting college choices.</p>
<p>I would say, don’t do anything in order to get into any college. Not to sound corny, but if your son lives authentically he will end up at the right school at the right time. That means learning and doing extracurriculars out of interest rather than to gain admission. If he does that, things will work out just fine regardless of where he goes to school.</p>
<p>Op,
Yes, your son’s stats sound pretty par for the course for most of the kids who apply to Stanford. I’ve heard that sometimes boarding school kids do a post graduate year, or a 5th year, at BS in order to try to boost their admissions to HYP. I’m not sure if a super senior is viewed in the same light. Try asking your question in the boarding school section of CC.</p>
<p>If you are talking pure percentages, sounds like admission from sohs is 3/50 = 6% which is similar to the overall % of all comers. Will transferring to a regular HS improve this percentage? Meaning is the matriculation rate at the regular HS much higher than 6%? I will bet that the matriculation rate to Stanford at this regular HS is much lower than 6% which is food for thought.</p>
<p>The value of “standard high school ECs” like your son will get at a standard HS will probably not be the tipping point for admission for Stanford. More helpful ECs are the type that are done outside of HS because they are more unusual or rare. The fact that he is attending sohs means that he has had the ability to do unique and unusual ECs from age 15 to present so to go to regular HS now for ECs seems funny to me.</p>
<p>More likely tipping points would be:
recruited athlete for track
taking a gap year to do his own unique, “extracurricular” activity which will differentiate himself from the other HS applicants.</p>
<p>Take a look at “How to be a high school superstar” by Cal Newport.</p>
<p>I’ve never heard of a “super senior” year either. I just can’t see holding back a kid like this on a dream that it’s going to increase his chances at a particular school. Especially since, if he started his school at 15 and is in his third year, he would already be 18 matriculating at college, no? You want to hold him to 19? How is he going to feel when all his classmates are talking about colleges all year and go off to college next fall and he is left behind in high school? Will he fit in socially when he joins the lower grade of kids he’s always been ahead of in school? Why wouldn’t he graduate this year if he’s still taking a full load of courses and already has 10 APs? I’d think it would look bad to colleges that it took him 5 years to graduate from high school and this would be something he will have to explain in his application. Can you really just decide to stay in a public high school at taxpayer expense after you’ve already done 4 years of high school and earned the credits to graduate? Would he even be eligible for a 5th year of high school sports–surely there must be rules against that? I’ve never heard of such a thing. None of this makes any sense to me. </p>
<p>Why don’t you celebrate your son’s high achievement and many accomplishments and have him move forward with his life rather than holding him back for an entire year trying to mold him into something you think will appeal to some admission officer? </p>
<p>Truly awful idea. Colleges, especially the Stanfords of the world, will be asking for an explanation as to why he took longer than 4 years. Reflects very poorly on him. Do not do this.</p>