NCS Parents - "I wish I had known x" type advice.

[Anonymous]

What would be really helpful is for some NCS person to post a full list of college choices from last year's class. That way, we can get a sense of how the whole class did. No names of course, just colleges. TIA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am an NCS parent and I want to weigh in on the HLAVC and Physics C... while it is true only 4 seats are reserved for NCS students at STA in the jr and sr year courses this is only an issue for classes that tend to fill to, the limit of 19 students, basically English and history electives. AP Euro was taught at NCS until recently, within the past 3-4 years, and was replaced with two non-AP semester long electives as part of a curricular change to make higher level history available to students who are interested in it senior year but do not want to take an AP level course. NCS and STA limit the number of AP courses to 2 per student per year. HLAVC was taught at NCS until 5 years ago there are never enough students to fill that course so one teacher at either NCS or STA teaches the section that has 10-13 students in it typically. The STA teacher has not left so there has been no reason to alternate back to NCS. Many of the NCS teachers could teach that course but it seems that the person at STA enjoys teaching it so there is no reason to move it to NCS. Physics C is taught at STA, Physics B at NCS... yes, they have a different focus not a differing level of difficulty. The argument posted above just really bothered me as it was insinuating that NCS was inferior in terms of math science which really is not true. STA is a bit more flexible with their curriculum in US (easier to get to the higher level courses since they do not have 2 separate year of Alg 2 and PreCalc for the honors students) but this effects so few students it is an almost non-issue. Both schools seems to have one full class of AP Calc BC students and then 5-6 that take the post BC HLAVC. There are also engineering and AP level computer science courses at both schools for kids that are truly interested in these disciplines.

From what I understand, Physics C is a broader overview of physics thus a more difficult course. College admission committees know this and if the school offers it they expect the serious student to have it on their transcript along with a strong AP Physics C test score.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What would be really helpful is for some NCS person to post a full list of college choices from last year's class. That way, we can get a sense of how the whole class did. No names of course, just colleges. TIA.

I don't think you'll have much look -- I've never seen an externally circulated matriculation list. At St. Albans I believe the student newspaper puts out a list at the end of the year (can't remember if they include students' names or not) that they generate from asking the seniors, but I've not seen anything similar from NCS publications. (Sidwell is the same way -- they don't publicize it either officially or through the student-run media, so far as I know.)

If this is very important to your decision-making, possibly the school has some type of matriculation list they share with applying families?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am an NCS parent and I want to weigh in on the HLAVC and Physics C... while it is true only 4 seats are reserved for NCS students at STA in the jr and sr year courses this is only an issue for classes that tend to fill to, the limit of 19 students, basically English and history electives. AP Euro was taught at NCS until recently, within the past 3-4 years, and was replaced with two non-AP semester long electives as part of a curricular change to make higher level history available to students who are interested in it senior year but do not want to take an AP level course. NCS and STA limit the number of AP courses to 2 per student per year. HLAVC was taught at NCS until 5 years ago there are never enough students to fill that course so one teacher at either NCS or STA teaches the section that has 10-13 students in it typically. The STA teacher has not left so there has been no reason to alternate back to NCS. Many of the NCS teachers could teach that course but it seems that the person at STA enjoys teaching it so there is no reason to move it to NCS. Physics C is taught at STA, Physics B at NCS... yes, they have a different focus not a differing level of difficulty. The argument posted above just really bothered me as it was insinuating that NCS was inferior in terms of math science which really is not true. STA is a bit more flexible with their curriculum in US (easier to get to the higher level courses since they do not have 2 separate year of Alg 2 and PreCalc for the honors students) but this effects so few students it is an almost non-issue. Both schools seems to have one full class of AP Calc BC students and then 5-6 that take the post BC HLAVC. There are also engineering and AP level computer science courses at both schools for kids that are truly interested in these disciplines.

From what I understand, Physics C is a broader overview of physics thus a more difficult course. College admission committees know this and if the school offers it they expect the serious student to have it on their transcript along with a strong AP Physics C test score.

It honestly depends. If a student is positioning themselves as a "STEM" applicant, yes, I think top level courses are expected are taken by NCS students. For those stronger in the humanities, they don't have to take the highest level math/science (just as the highest level math science kids may not be taking the AP U.S. History option). The same is true at St. Albans -- while there are students who are just brilliant in every subject area, others fall more into the humanities/STEM dichotomy and their course choices reflect this, but with excellent college results for both "sides of the aisle."

[Anonymous]

A few of the PP have offered responses to the post about AP Physics C etc. that contain incorrect information:

1. AP Physics C is taught using Calculus and AP Physics B is taught using Algebra and Trig. If you don't believe it, look up the course descriptions on the College Board web site.

2. STA teaches both AP Physics B and AP Physics C every year. Most years three sections are offered (this year, 2 AP C and 1 AP B). These classes are always full.

3. STA does not have a 2 AP classes per year limit.

4. STA teaches Vector Calculus every year because it is the final class for students in the honors math track (Honors Geometry, Honors Precal, Honors AP Calc, HVLAC).

There is no doubt that NCS students get wonderful and rich education but as a parent I still want to know why NCS has decided not to teach some of the most demanding courses offered in high school.

[Anonymous]

Going back to th original question - I wish I would have known my 5th grader was going to have a nervous breakdown and have to move schools in 6th to mitigate further psychological damage. It's not a place for everyone.....

[Anonymous]

Seriously, PP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Going back to th original question - I wish I would have known my 5th grader was going to have a nervous breakdown and have to move schools in 6th to mitigate further psychological damage. It's not a place for everyone.....

I agree PP, it's not a place for everyone. I've seen some really wonderful girls leave during my dds' years at NCS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Going back to th original question - I wish I would have known my 5th grader was going to have a nervous breakdown and have to move schools in 6th to mitigate further psychological damage. It's not a place for everyone.....

I am not believing that an actual NCS parent posted this, with sensitive medical information, about his/her own daughter. You do realize that your daughter would be identifiable from this post, given the low numbers of NCS students who leave after 5th grade. So I call troll on this one. It's troll, or just plain stupid.

[Anonymous]

18:23 you're being extremely defensive. I'm not the mom of said student but there's no way that she has given away identifying information. There are indeed several NCS girls who leave each and every year for a number of reasons. My daughter is a senior now and I've seen it firsthand each year. This mom may be referring to her daughter's experience several years ago. Do you really think inquisitive dcumers will try to determine which fifth grader left in recent years and why? Unlikely.

[Anonymous]

I'm 18:23, and I think it very imprudent to post anything close to identifying information about my child on a forum like this, especially medical or mental-health information. Not defensive of NCS, but defensive of children with over-sharing parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm 18:23, and I think it very imprudent to post anything close to identifying information about my child on a forum like this, especially medical or mental-health information. Not defensive of NCS, but defensive of children with over-sharing parents.

Relax, several dcumers over share - this one was merely trying to answer the question that was so far off base. And who knows how long ago this really happened - could have been in the 80s for all we know?????? I have heard similar stories from friends growing up here in the area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A few of the PP have offered responses to the post about AP Physics C etc. that contain incorrect information:

1. AP Physics C is taught using Calculus and AP Physics B is taught using Algebra and Trig. If you don't believe it, look up the course descriptions on the College Board web site.

2. STA teaches both AP Physics B and AP Physics C every year. Most years three sections are offered (this year, 2 AP C and 1 AP B). These classes are always full.

3. STA does not have a 2 AP classes per year limit.

4. STA teaches Vector Calculus every year because it is the final class for students in the honors math track (Honors Geometry, Honors Precal, Honors AP Calc, HVLAC).

There is no doubt that NCS students get wonderful and rich education but as a parent I still want to know why NCS has decided not to teach some of the most demanding courses offered in high school.

If there was enough demand at NCS to fill a whole class, they would. Historically that has not been the case.

[Anonymous]

From what the pps are saying, roughly 4-12 girls out of a graduating class of 77-80 girls were qualified in the upper school to take advanced math & science classes? If not on the honors math track or a math year ahead of everyone else, it doesn't appear that you will be eligible to take advanced math/science courses.(?) During freshmen year, about a handful or so of girls are allowed to take Algebra 2 & Trig while everyone else starts out in geometry (reg/honors) with some in Algebra I.

Clearly, there are different tracks. I guess this a non issue as NCS doesn't rank students. At other schools, great overall students take advanced math & science courses. Just a little something to think about during the college admissions process

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From what the pps are saying, roughly 4-12 girls out of a graduating class of 77-80 girls were qualified in the upper school to take advanced math & science classes? If not on the honors math track or a math year ahead of everyone else, it doesn't appear that you will be eligible to take advanced math/science courses.(?) During freshmen year, about a handful or so of girls are allowed to take Algebra 2 & Trig while everyone else starts out in geometry (reg/honors) with some in Algebra I.

Clearly, there are different tracks. I guess this a non issue as NCS doesn't rank students. At other schools, great overall students take advanced math & science courses. Just a little something to think about during the college admissions process

A few points. At St. Albans, same high achieving students, same graduating class size, all-boys school (so no "girls don't like math" as much issue), there are just a handful of boys taking the highest available math class (Honors Linear and Vector Calculus -- HLAVC). It's the type of class for people who might major in math in college -- not even just "great overall students." In fact, many STA boys do not even take PreCalculus (standard at many "college prep" type places) because the PreCal at St. Albans is pitched at such a high, high level of difficulty. At St. Albans you also have to be on the honors math track to end up in that course -- and that is pretty standard for top schools. Math is one of those subjects that everybody, public and private, tracks in.

On the issue of why NCS doesn't offer the HLAVC or Physics C classes, so that the students take them at St. Albans, it really isn't about access -- everybody from access who wants/is qualified for those classes can have access at STA. And, there are other classes (Chinese, Computer Science) only offered at NCS. Both of these high schools are trying to deal with rising costs (as all independent schools are), and one way to do that is to have courses with small demand taught only at one of the two schools. Some of the prior posters' reactions do raise the question of whether, because of the girls school/math/sciences perception thing, NCS should go away from economics and offer its own Physics C and HLAVC classes although they will not be fully subscribed. I could understand if they did that, but I wonder if it might produce a new perception that "the girls couldn't hang" in the top level math/science classes with the boys and that's why a change was made.

Food for thought, I guess.