<p>Pulling your kid out of AP classes in which he is getting an A makes no sense.</p>
<p>And drastically reducing your kid’s course rigor is NOT going to improve his chances of admittance to top schools.</p>
<p>I’m increasingly thinking this is a kid posting and pretending to be a parent, or some kind of ■■■■■/nutcase.</p>
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<p>First SAT in 7th grade as part of TIP program. 98 percentile reading. 50 precentile math. State Recognized. </p>
<p>Subsequently, he has taken the PSAT twice and SAT once. The first PSAT (M:61, R:67) was after freshman year/ beginning of sophomore year. The second SAT at the end of sophomore year/ beginning of Junior year (M:69, R:69). The second PSAT was soon after the second SAT in the beginning of Junior year and the results are due in December.</p>
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<p>Interesting point of view. Who else agrees?</p>
<p>Starbright’s post got me to look back at prior threads. Definitely do not think we are getting the straight poop here.</p>
<p>Oct 2011
*our thinking was to encourage S to take the most technically difficult courses offered in his school, so he could know if he would like engineering. We thought we would rather, that he get Cs in high school, change his mind and go into something less technical, than trip and fall in engineering college (when we will be paying for those classes). So, far he is getting mostly As. So, he is doing okay. However, he is having to work harder than anytime in his life. This might be a good thing. He also took the PSAT and SAT this month (Oct). Basically, using the SAT as practice for the PSAT. </p>
<p>…This year, he took Computer Science II instead of Spanish to demonstrate (to himself and colleges) that he can handle a technically demanding curriculum and to see if he likes it. He had to get special permission from the school to do this. Do you think this was a mistake? Senior year he plans on taking a less technically intense course load and work harder on developing his ECs.*</p>
<p>Not a hands-off parent. Not a curriculum unfairly imposed by a GC. Not a “mistake” in allowing others to suggest so many APs this year. This parent sounds in control- maybe too much so. Sooo odd.</p>
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<p>Which is understandable, if one has to fight for it, especially when a child has some experience with computer programming.</p>
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<p>No I am not a hands off dad. Yes, son has an A in Computer Science and APUSH. High B in English Lang. that could become As. Read my earlier posts, but I suggest you keep track of the time line. yes I wanted son in the most difficult curriculum, but did that mean I knew what AP courses were? I was under the impression that AP classes were like honor/ GT classes that he had always taken throughout his school life. I did not want him to drop down to academic, neither did my son. Someone has to say, wait these academic classes in high school are like honor classes. Perhaps someone could have said, Ivy League students on average take 5 or 6 AP classes throughout high school. I am not a pro educator. I never took AP classes myself. I have no idea what they were or how many are needed. It is only now I am learning about what they are and I am not happy.</p>
<p>^ And its not like you could possibly learn something about what you were pushing your kid into; I mean most immigrant parents have never taken AP either but they don’t later blame the school. </p>
<p>The bottom line is that most of what you’ve written in this thread contradicts what you’ve written prior on CC- from what tests he took and when, why he took the courses he did and why, what his GPA is and so on.</p>
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<p>More nonsense. Since went was October ‘the end of sophomore year’. And you said you had him take the SAT to see where he stood, yet clear you already knew from the earlier PSAT. We could go on and on and on but no one can help you when you just make stuff up. It all seems entirely pointless.</p>
<p>^If that is what you think, then thanks for sharing that opinion.</p>
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<p>October 1 was one month into junior year. The practice test at home at home right after sophomore year ended was suggesting he was going to score above 700. What are you saying?</p>
<p>Similarly the PSAT suggested he had a 61 or 610 on the SAT. What do you mean?</p>
<p>When a thread-starter can’t present his info in a straightforward, consistent way, it allows readers the wrong impressions. Why not just clarify when he first took the SAT, when he first took the PSAT. What was a “home test” and what’s real? Old posts make it seem the SAT came first, a “warm up.” Odd. (Never thought of that one before.) You did mention wanting the PSAT to be great enough for National Merit qual. </p>
<p>This is sounding less and less (if that is possible) like an issue with a country club school that’s uncommunicative, forcing the poor lad into CS at too early a stage, overloading APs when the poor dad doesn’t understand the nature of APs. I think you do understand that. It sounds like a parent with a plan. A parent who thinks he has the calculation figured. Now, if only sonny and the school folks will cooperate. Recipe for distress. Since you state the kid is doing reasonably well with is current schedule, and it’s a better hs, there has to be some other beef. I dunno. </p>
<p>The time to take care of the lower math grades is gone. No amount of APs will erase them from the record. No transferring (or homeschooling!!!) will undo the decision to let him test his interest in engineering, with the possibility a C or two would “change his mind” about that path.</p>
<p>Btw, senior year is far, far too late to get to “developing his ECs.” Maybe TX A&M doesn’t care, but I suspect you might also be trying for others.</p>
<p>And, remember, I did warn that posters would get annoyed.</p>
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<p>I agree. This thread is probably helping OP sort through the situation. But the math teacher(s) and GC will have the best input. My sense so far is that this is a bright kid, but no necessarily one that should be chasing ultra-competitive colleges. </p>
<p>At this point the important thing is for him to learn to be organized and on-task. (I give this advise having learned it the hard way). Perhaps backing off on AP courses can help there. Good luck!</p>
<p>lookingforward, you gotta believe what you believe. Thanks for your time.</p>
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<p>Sometimes it is good to chase dreams. His SAT already gets him an automatic admission to Texas A&M Engineering, the school of his choice. He does not need any APs to get into this school. So, it is good to have a dream. Someone tells you an average student at an Ivy League school has 700 on the SAT and takes 5 to 6 AP classes in high school. So you say to yourself hey, maybe I should take 2 AP courses this year and 3 next year since I have about a 700 on the SAT. Then, I could apply to one of these schools. Who knows I might be able to get in. Now if the Ivy dream does not come true, you can go to A&M with 5 APs, which is good too. However, if there is nobody to guide or to warn that the average student at competitive colleges do not take 5 APs in Junior year and seven in senior year, then how is one suppose to know how many is too many? Do you see what I am saying? My son and I obviously have no idea about the number of APs an average student at a competive college takes. If someone had said 5 then, I would have told him take two in junior year and if you do well take three in senior year. however, this conversation never happened and I am disappointed why this conversation did not happen. Does this make sense? I am mad because the conselors never said anything about it. Even now they are saying, yes, kids take the load your son is taking.</p>
<p>Kids DO take the load your son has. Check the Chance Me threads.</p>
<p>^Yes, but the average at top schools do not. This is what most people want to know. I see no reason why information as important as this was not shared by the counselor when son was picking classes, except ONE. Add to this that the freshman counselor dumped my kid into AP CS. Add to it the fact that nobody remembered to tell my son about about the school website in which they get extra problems and solutions. It all makes sense now, why I said, the school is cold and uncommunicative. Okay enough about this subject. Some of you have been very kind and helpful. Thanks to all. This thread can be closed.</p>
<p>Perazziman, why the obsession with Ivy League schools? Whose dream is it anyway – yours or his?</p>
<p>There are kids in Ivy League and similar elites who have never taken one single AP class. Their schools don’t offer them. You seem to think that there is some kind of formula and if your kid follows the formula, he will be a candidate. It doesn’t work that way. </p>
<p>Look, bottom line. Is your son doing his homework and assignments? Is he turning them in on time? Is he participating in class? Is he seeking out the teacher’s help as appropriate? Yes or no – these are simple questions. Stop focusing on SATs and your dreams of Ivy.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl, thanks for your help. Neither my son nor I were really all that interested in his going to an Ivy League. If you did not understand the context in which I mentioned them, then I am not sure talking about it further is going to help either of us. I am not that interested in knowing how admissions at the Ivy League schools work. However, if you have any specific advice on the effects of Juniors transferring on GPA and the National Merit Scholarship Program then I am all ears. Similarly, I will try to share what I learn about the effect of transfers on GPA, as I get in contact with these agencies for those who might be interested.</p>
<p>There are many high schools where it isn’t at all unusual for kids to graduate with upwards of 10 AP tests under their belts, and all the kids who aspire to apply to top schools understand that is the expectation and rise to it.</p>
<p>Two of the high schools in my county are like that. Kids start taking APs freshman year (!). Because “rigor of curriculum” is a very important part of evaluation in admissions to most competitive schools, and it is evaluated in the context of the applicant’s own school, what matters in admissions isn’t what the “average” applicant’s transcript looks like. It’s what the school offers vs. what the kid took. There is a box for the guidance counselor to check that assesses whether the kid took a curriculum that is “challenging,” “very challenging,” or “most challenging.” </p>
<p>(I’ve seen it is a point of irritation to kids on this website when the word “most” is not interpreted by the guidance counselor to be limited only to the student who took the single most challenging slate of courses, but is extended to all students who took a slate that the GC assessed as about as challenging as you could ask for.)</p>
<p>Pulling your son out of school and enrolling him elsewhere is likely to be detrimental because he will have missed 1/4 of the instruction at the new school. To the extent that there’s not a perfect match, school to school, of material covered, it’s likely to really hurt him on the mid-term and final when he’s expected to know what was covered first quarter.</p>
<p>Is there a level of instruction between the standard class and the AP class at your son’s school? (In my high school there was not, but that was 30+ years ago. AP was the “honors” level in the few courses where AP was offered.) Maybe he could lighten his load by dropping down a level.</p>
<p>If this poster is for real, it will be difficult for the kid to refrain from taking the same attitude as the father, i.e., failure is the fault of everyone except the kid. Blame the school, the principal ,the counselor, the teacher, whatever. I’m a teacher. I don’t give grades, my students earn them. When they do well on all their exams and turn in all their assignments on time, they earn good grades. If they have trouble, they come in at lunch or after school for extra help. When they diligently apply themselves, they earn A’s. When parents make excuses for them, students have difficulty learning how to deal with the system known as school. I occasionally have really talented students who clearly would test at an “A” level in the subject, but because they do not turn in assignments or they lose participation points by being tardy or … they end up with a D on the first grade. But after that they figure out how to work at their best and end up earning their A by the semester. Of course, if their parent comes in blaming me or the the school, the student doesn’t end up learning how to do their best and work within the school requirements. When they grow up they will be working somewhere, with rules and systems to follow. Parents do their kids a disservice by blaming the school, teacher, or district policies instead of their kids’ failure to meet obligations.</p>