Honors, AP, Sports, Job, Boy Scouts - in HS

[Anonymous]

Planning ahead for HS next year. I want my son to enjoy his time in HS get a good education. continue with sports have a part time job and finish up a possible eagle scout early in HS. How important is it for him to load up on AP and Honors courses for college acceptance. If he takes fewer hard classes and plays sports, works at a part time job and ends of an eagle scout is that going to have more weight than possibly turning into a study zombie? How should I divide the different activities?

[Anonymous]

Course rigor is number one. Extras won’t compensate unless he’s a recruited athlete and even then it still matters. But that doesn’t mean he has to be a study zombie. And 9th grade isn’t as important as long as you’re laying the foundation to get to higher level classes. I’d take all honors available in 9th unless you have a student in Honors Algebra 2 who is struggling in math. I’d recommend 0-2 APs in 9th grade. AP Gov and maybe AP CS principles, if interested. Okay to skip all the APs in 9th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Planning ahead for HS next year. I want my son to enjoy his time in HS get a good education. continue with sports have a part time job and finish up a possible eagle scout early in HS. How important is it for him to load up on AP and Honors courses for college acceptance. If he takes fewer hard classes and plays sports, works at a part time job and ends of an eagle scout is that going to have more weight than possibly turning into a study zombie? How should I divide the different activities?

It's really going to depend on which colleges he'll be applying to. But very generally, colleges want to see a student taking a rigorous course load from what their school offers. That doesn't mean 9th graders have to start taking AP classes right away. But for junior year, it's pretty typical for kids to have several APs. Honors courses are usually not that challenging, so they should be your default across the board.

[Anonymous]

How many hours is PT job?

What type of school is his target?

T10?T50?instate flagship?

[Anonymous]

Does he need to earn money? Of everything you listed, I'd sooner give up the part time job than intentionally take easier classes than what he's capable of.

[Anonymous]

Please let him take it one year at a time. You don't have to schedule out four years of accomplishments ahead of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please let him take it one year at a time. You don't have to schedule out four years of accomplishments ahead of time.

+ 1. Stop the madness.

[Anonymous]

As a parent of a high achieving student who does all of that, I'd say get the Eagle Scout out of the way sooner than later. If they are done by end of Jr year, they can focus on college apps senior year, and include the Eagle Scout in the app.

I had to really push my kid to finish up their eagle project. It was painful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does he need to earn money? Of everything you listed, I'd sooner give up the part time job than intentionally take easier classes than what he's capable of.

Are you poor? If not then don’t make him work during the school year. Stick to summer jobs only

[Anonymous]

Honors classes are the baseline normal classes. If he’s college bound, everything should be at least Honors, unless you discover a topic (e.g. math) that needs a slower pace.

A common AP pathway for kids is 1 in 9th, 2 in 10th, 3 in 11th and 3 or 4 in 12th. Search the college forum for thread’s about AP classes. There are tons.

I see students who are also athletes accomplish this, as well as participate in other activities. It’s all about balance for the particular kid, and it will change year to year. Don’t let him pick what he thinks is a good balance for his strengths and priorities for 9th grade, and then adjust from there.

-HS teacher

[Anonymous]

SAT and WGPA are really all that matters unless you have an incredible hook or sob story

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SAT and WGPA are really all that matters unless you have an incredible hook or sob story

SATs are becoming optional at a lot of unis, and they look at UWGPA now a days due to every class be tagged as "honors", like "honors health", which is a joke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please let him take it one year at a time. You don't have to schedule out four years of accomplishments ahead of time.

Don't listen to them. THey're just hoping to thin the competition...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honors classes are the baseline normal classes. If he’s college bound, everything should be at least Honors, unless you discover a topic (e.g. math) that needs a slower pace.

A common AP pathway for kids is 1 in 9th, 2 in 10th, 3 in 11th and 3 or 4 in 12th. Search the college forum for thread’s about AP classes. There are tons.

I see students who are also athletes accomplish this, as well as participate in other activities. It’s all about balance for the particular kid, and it will change year to year. Don’t let him pick what he thinks is a good balance for his strengths and priorities for 9th grade, and then adjust from there.

-HS teacher

Yes to the common AP pathway.

It is doable but you have to time things.

AP classes come first. He'll have to learn to work around that schedule. Do a summer part-time job. Don't do it during the school year. What sports does he play? Will he be a one season, two season or three season athlete? If he is not a three season athlete, try to do majority of his Eagle Scout project during the off-season of his sport.