How many honors classes to take in 9th grade?

[Anonymous]

My daughter is a rising 9th grader in FCPS. She currently (8th grade) takes all honors classes (inc. Alg. I Honors). She has straight A's, but she does work at it. She plays a travel sport, which takes up a ton of time. I am hearing conflicting reports from people (inc. parents and counselors) about how many honors classes she should take (AP classes start in 11th grade at her school). She wants to do well in school, continue with sports, and not be totally stressed. She wants to go to the likes of VT, Davidson, JMU, Wake Forest, or UVA.

Does she need to take all honors classes (Bio, History, Eng, Geometry) in order to start her "track record" off right? Her ultimate goal is to go to medical school, but obviously she needs to figure that out in a good college.

She is currently signed up to take 2 Honors classes as she was told by some teachers that kids who take too many are a stressed out mess. Others have told her that many kids take all honors, and that the schools mentioned above will be looking very closely at the rigor of her classes, starting in 9th grade - they expect 4 honors or AP classes each year!

I have no idea what to believe... please help me, based on your child's experience. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

It depends on her high school. Many schools require students to be in honors classes as a prerequisite for AP or IB courses in the junior and senior years. You should check with the guidance counselor. Admissions committees at selective schools are looking for students who have taken the highest level available at the high school in math, science, English, history, and foreign language (often referred to as "The Big Five").

[Anonymous]

Is she good enough to be recruited for her sport? If so, she can relax on the academics a bit.

[Anonymous]

Sometimes you just have to recognize there may be a trade-off between travel sports and lower stress, on the one hand, and getting into selective colleges in the future. (Some of the ones you mention she is targetting may be doable on her current track, but not UVa). Can't necessarily have it all, so just recognize that if she didn't do travel sports she might be less "stressed" to get her academics done, and that might be a better ticket to a better school. It may be fine for the counselors to tell her to avoid honors classes b/c of the stress - that is true. But she may indeed pay for it later, and the counselors have no accountability. In this sense, I think Amy Chua's point is right.

My niece - straight A, state ranked gymnastics and spends a lot of time on it too, OK scores, but avoided hardest classes in math and science to be sure of the As. She got into the lesser schools you mentioned but not the tougher ones.

[Anonymous]

Unless she is truly a regional/national soccer talent (and by GU14 you should have an idea of that, ie ODP, on a Region 1 premier league team or on the A team in an ECNL club), then she is not going to get into any of the schools you list because of soccer, and she should not be letting travel soccer interfere with a strong academic program. That said, most kids that belong in AP/IB/honors classes can do both high level sports and those classes, because they are very driven and organized, sports help motivate them to academic success and vice versa. But if the child is simply playing on an average travel team as an average travel player, at best shooting for d3 and a bit of help in the college admissions process, but more importantly exercise and fun, and it shouldn't be pursued to the point that academics suffer in any way. What if makes course decisions based on sports and then ends up with a season ending or even career ending injury in 11th grade?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unless she is truly a regional/national soccer talent (and by GU14 you should have an idea of that, ie ODP, on a Region 1 premier league team or on the A team in an ECNL club), then she is not going to get into any of the schools you list because of soccer, and she should not be letting travel soccer interfere with a strong academic program. That said, most kids that belong in AP/IB/honors classes can do both high level sports and those classes, because they are very driven and organized, sports help motivate them to academic success and vice versa. But if the child is simply playing on an average travel team as an average travel player, at best shooting for d3 and a bit of help in the college admissions process, but more importantly exercise and fun, and it shouldn't be pursued to the point that academics suffer in any way. What if makes course decisions based on sports and then ends up with a season ending or even career ending injury in 11th grade?

Not the OP, but she didn't mention soccer or that they were expecting soccer scholarships. It seemed more along the lines of mentioning travel sports (could be swimming, softball, lacrosse, etc...) because it was a time consuming activity the kid has.