Course Rigor - Majority in Junior year or split across Junior and Senior year - which is better?
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Anonymous
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Hello Parents,
Have heard from many that it is important to show a HS course rigor in HS when applying for colleges. If a kid is in magnet HS like PHS or any other HS, is it good to have majority of rigorous courses taken in Junior year or is it good to split them across Junior and Senior years? If some rigorous courses are taken in a senior year then colleges will not be able to see a grade/AP score because application are normally done by end of October in a Senior year. |
Anonymous
| Take the most rigorous for Junior year and then again for the senior year. Don't try to play game with it. Just take what comes naturally. |
Anonymous
| My 3 kids each had 5 APs jr year and another 5 in their senior year (3 sophomore year and 1 freshman year) |
Anonymous
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Colleges will expect a lot of rigor both years. Why would you make one less rigorous than the other?
Not in a magnet, but my kid is in 5 periods of AP junior year and will be about the same senior year. (My older kid had 6 APs junior year and I don't recall but I think 6 senior year.) Note that colleges don't get grades for second semester senior year, but they do see course choices. |
Anonymous
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Mine did rigor both years but had a complimentary niche art/history elective sr year. Had magnet classes both years of course. Did several math with linear and complex sr year and math elective as well. I think that paired well with some more unique electives plus APs -- lang & world jr yr; lit, comp govt, foreign lang sr. Also did uni exam for mvc in jr.
Colleges want to see students following passions in addition to rigor. |
Anonymous
| My DC is taking 3 APs junior year and 4 senior year. |
Anonymous
Are they in an ivy now? |
Anonymous
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DC did 4 APs and 1 DE in Junior year (probably could have done 5 APs)
6 APs and 1 DE in 12th Senior year Thought it was really rigorous Junior year and I was really surprised DC decided to do even more Senior year. Because DC did really well Junior year, DC was confident about taking more AP classes. Also put DC in a position to ED (and get accepted) by first choice school. (was not interested in Ivies) |
Anonymous
Senior magnet parent here. Rigor in junior year is important provided the child can do well. The fall of senior year has college applications, which are like an extra class of their own with the essays. Rigor continues to be important senior year, but a class schedule that allows for the extra pressure from college apps is a good idea. Many magnet kids delay phys ed until senior year so they have a breather from homework while doing college apps. This all depends on the child, though. It does no good to push a junior or senior into classes they don't want to take or to push them to the breaking point. Mental health is more important than class rigor or even what college they go to. |
Anonymous
That's what I was wondering. That's intense. |
Anonymous
Not this pp but my older had similar schedule and yes, currently in Ivy. My younger is on track for this, too, and probably won't go Ivy (doesn't want to). But it's not as intense as you'd think. Most non-AP courses are not very challenging, so this schedule actually presents a challenge. (It's also very common-- both kids' friends are doing something pretty similar). |
Anonymous
| Rigor both years and still might not be enough |
Anonymous
My senior is similar, with 4 APs junior year and 6 senior year (micro/macro econ are each a semester so count as 2). Though he has applied to one ivy, he is smart enough to know that an ivy isn't a likely outcome for anyone, nor is it necessarily the best potential outcome for a student! |
Anonymous
| My kid will have 15 APs at graduation and got in ED to a top 5 SLAC. It hasn't been hard for this DC (e.g. they still had plenty of time to mess around on IG and watch TikToks) and I think that's the key -- your kid needs to drive it and make choices that work for them. I do think DC is in for a rude awakening when they get to actual college; in my opinion the AP classes didn't seem that hard and certainly weren't reminiscent of real classes I took in college or even AP classes I took while in HS. |
Anonymous
Yup. They've made it much easier to goof off and make things up and retake them over and over. Not sure if college is going that way but high school seems way easier and forgiving now than it used to be. |