What classes does your High Schooler have this year? Let's compare...

[TigerCheer2009]

Sophomore here! Eight period day not counting AA and lunch. AA, if you don't know, stands for your choice of Academic Assist or Advisor Advisee or Homeroom. We get lots of weird looks because people think it's the actual AA.

*Band (marching and concert)
*Spanish II
*Advanced Placement College Prep English (but we've never had an English teacher last more than a year so...)
*Advanced Placement History
*I think Geometry
*Yearbook/Publications
*Nutrition and Wellness
*Physical Science
...but not in that order. I get my schedule the 17th.

Edit: Do any of you have Post Secondary Op (PSO) as an option? It happens if you take AP classes at my school. By the time you are a senior (you have no more English or History or Math etc. classes to go into), you can go to college and take a few classes you need for your electives. You can go on the schools' dime to get HS credit or pay for it yourself and get college credit.

 

[DVC Jen]

That is so cool!!!!
I guess she knows her career path.

thanks We are really proud of her. She has had some health issues that has affected her and at times makes things more difficult.. so this really is one of those very proud mommy moments.

 

[missypie]

Maybe we Texans need to explain to the rest of the world why class rank is so important here. Our courts have ruled that race cannot be considered in college admissions; no affirmative action. So the "top 10% rule" was put into place. If you are in the top 10% of your class, you are guaranteed admission to any (or is it just "a") state university. So, that means that if you are in the top 10% of the high school with the lowest test scores and lowest academic standards in the state, you would "beat out" a student in the top 15% of the school with the highest test scores and the highest academic standards in the state.

Two of the state schools in particular - Texas A&M and University of Texas in Austin - are very difficult to get into; conventional wisdom (though not entirely true) is that you "can't" get into A&M or UT unless you are in the top 10% of your class.

At freshman orientation last year, the principal said there was one thing he could promise all of us: That 90% of our kids would not be in the top 10% of the class!

 

[my3kids]

double post

 

[my3kids]

Junior:

Honors English
Honors Chemistry
AP US History
Honors Math IV
AP(or honors?) Economics
Journalism II
second year of a foreign language (had 3 years of 1 and will end up with 3 years of a second.)

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Two of the state schools in particular - Texas A&M and University of Texas in Austin - are very difficult to get into; conventional wisdom (though not entirely true) is that you "can't" get into A&M or UT unless you are in the top 10% of your class.

At freshman orientation last year, the principal said there was one thing he could promise all of us: That 90% of our kids would not be in the top 10% of the class!

My dd is in 10th and all this top 10% stinks! There is NO WAY she can get top 10%...ugh.
You have to take ALL HONORS classes and my dd cannot do that. It will be interesting to see what happens...

 

[lucyanna girl]

Sarah (Dark Dancer) is a freshman this year. She is taking Honors Algebra I, Honors English I, Physical Science, Civics, Art Appreciation, Health and Art I. Sounds like there will be some late night study seasons at a lot of DIS households this year.

Penny

 

[missypie]

My dd is in 10th and all this top 10% stinks! There is NO WAY she can get top 10%...ugh.
You have to take ALL HONORS classes and my dd cannot do that. It will be interesting to see what happens...

I hear ya! Last year, DS took one AP course and two pre-APs (thus, extra points) and got mostly As with a few Bs (low As, not high) and ended up in the top third of his class. I have a client whose daughter took only one pre-AP class and got almost all As - they were shocked when she was only in something like the top 46%!

I have a friend whose son is bright but very dislexic. She always says, "When the time comes, I'm sure there is SOME college that will be willing to take my tuition money."

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Ok missypie..when do they get their class rank? Someone told me August.

 

[missypie]

Ok missypie..when do they get their class rank? Someone told me August.

DS came home with his a few weeks into the second semester. I guess he'll come home with another one in a few more weeks. I thought they might mail them out over the summer but they didn't.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

DS came home with his a few weeks into the second semester. I guess he'll come home with another one in a few more weeks. I thought they might mail them out over the summer but they didn't.

Heck we haven't got a darn thing yet.

 

[missypie]

Heck we haven't got a darn thing yet.

I think it would be most effective if they sent it out only once a year - a few weeks before they sign up for next year's classes. Then, they could look at where they are and see if they want to try to add an extra pre-AP class or whatever for the next year. I really doubt that getting the class rank makes someone who doesn't study decide to study. Class rank these days is so tied up in the weighted classes.

 

[punkin]

Class rank these days is so tied up in the weighted classes.

This whole class rank thing is just wrong. Way back in the day, my high school would not rank anyone other than valedictorian and saludatorian (yes, I can't spell) and those were just the two highest grade point in the school (sometimes calculated to the tenth decimal point). My college wouldn't rank us either. Both schools were VERY competitive.