High rigor kid may have 2 free periods senior year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way.....1 free period is fine, not 2.

+1. Top schools are looking to see if your kid can handle the rigor of college -two free periods says no

Have you been to college? Two free periods in a high school day is nothing compared to college free time.

top slac. Yale law. Parent of Ivy and UVA students, now at Ixford. Want to try the sarcasm again? Top schools are looking for students who have exhausted the top
curriculum the high school offers. It's called rigor. Two free classes says no rigor. And yes the college-assigned representatives know everything about your high school. Since they take first read of the application after the contract readers are done, two open slots will jump out at them, especially if your kid doesn't have four years of foreign language.

My kid currently attends a T10. Kid's senior year schedule looked like:
- multivariable calc, dual enrollment online
- AP European History
- AP Physics C
- regular English
- random elective
- TA period

DCUM striver culture gets so caught up in a race to the most APs. OP's kid is already taking 5 senior year. A 6th AP course senior year is not going to move the needle one iota on whether he gets in. The decision will rest on the rest of the app.

If a top school wants to see a "most rigorous" courseload, it is going to notice two free classes. Also, the college counselor (who often writes letters of rec) will
see it and wonder. Colleges are very leery
of kids who get Senioritis which is why they reserve the right to withdraw offers if the kid goofs off spring term. Two empty periods screams Senioritis. At least check with your high school counselor before doing this. They will warn against it.

How many times do you have to hear from people with kids at top schools who had two free periods before you will accept it.

No college counselor gives a shit if the kid is top 5%, straight A, captain of whatever…and they have 2 free periods as a senior.

This, basically. But this top scoring balance has to be there, or the kid looks like a slacker.

Well, that's the point of this entire thread. The kid has a rigorous course load senior year but may potentially have 2 free periods (unacceptable say some!) rather than 1 free period (perfectly fine) just because the kid wants to take PE before the regular school day starts to get it out of the way.

Oh shut up

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way.....1 free period is fine, not 2.

+1. Top schools are looking to see if your kid can handle the rigor of college -two free periods says no

Have you been to college? Two free periods in a high school day is nothing compared to college free time.

top slac. Yale law. Parent of Ivy and UVA students, now at Ixford. Want to try the sarcasm again? Top schools are looking for students who have exhausted the top
curriculum the high school offers. It's called rigor. Two free classes says no rigor. And yes the college-assigned representatives know everything about your high school. Since they take first read of the application after the contract readers are done, two open slots will jump out at them, especially if your kid doesn't have four years of foreign language.

My kid currently attends a T10. Kid's senior year schedule looked like:
- multivariable calc, dual enrollment online
- AP European History
- AP Physics C
- regular English
- random elective
- TA period

DCUM striver culture gets so caught up in a race to the most APs. OP's kid is already taking 5 senior year. A 6th AP course senior year is not going to move the needle one iota on whether he gets in. The decision will rest on the rest of the app.

If a top school wants to see a "most rigorous" courseload, it is going to notice two free classes. Also, the college counselor (who often writes letters of rec) will
see it and wonder. Colleges are very leery
of kids who get Senioritis which is why they reserve the right to withdraw offers if the kid goofs off spring term. Two empty periods screams Senioritis. At least check with your high school counselor before doing this. They will warn against it.

Enough of us have said our kids at top colleges had 2 free periods senior year that I'm starting to think this doomsdayer pp is just jelly that she forced her kid to stress out and suffer every minute of every day senior year. And if that worked (or didn't work) for her kid, then every kid must also suffer. So ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

It could matter more at UCs, where admissions review explicitly states rigor of senior year courses and number of total courses taken.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way.....1 free period is fine, not 2.

+1. Top schools are looking to see if your kid can handle the rigor of college -two free periods says no

Have you been to college? Two free periods in a high school day is nothing compared to college free time.

top slac. Yale law. Parent of Ivy and UVA students, now at Ixford. Want to try the sarcasm again? Top schools are looking for students who have exhausted the top
curriculum the high school offers. It's called rigor. Two free classes says no rigor. And yes the college-assigned representatives know everything about your high school. Since they take first read of the application after the contract readers are done, two open slots will jump out at them, especially if your kid doesn't have four years of foreign language.

I'm the op, not the pp you've been conversing with but my kid's senior year schedule, as it stands, wouldn't exactly scream slacker even with 2 free periods. He will have MV Calc, AP Physics/Chem (Chem + Phyics C: E&M), AP Lit, AP Euro, Japanese (super hard class, much more difficult than AP Spanish, but AP not offered). As I mentioned, he's not allowed to take AP Psych or AP Gov as 2 ss/history courses in one year are not allowed at his school. He's hoping for an additional post-ap math, but seats are limited and not guaranteed.

To clear up confusion over no. of APS: he is taking 5 AP now as a junor, similar schedule to above but with 2 math slots (Calc BC and Stats). There is no other math, SS/History, English, FL for him to take next year. And I don't see the point of taking another science (bio or environmental) when he's already essentially taking 2 in the science block and doesn't really want either of those.

But there would be an appearance of slight decrease in rigor: 5 AP jr. year vs 4 AP senior year if he doesn't get that second math course. It hurts him that his FL doesn't offer AP I guess, but that's the one he wanted to take.

AP Japanese exists, so he could possibly add that it’s not offered by the school but he’s self studying for the test. This could be
mentioned by his counselor or in the additional info section.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way.....1 free period is fine, not 2.

+1. Top schools are looking to see if your kid can handle the rigor of college -two free periods says no

said nobody ever

There is advice against free periods from college counselors and admissions officers. Take an elective.

agree this is correct

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way.....1 free period is fine, not 2.

+1. Top schools are looking to see if your kid can handle the rigor of college -two free periods says no

said nobody ever

There is advice against free periods from college counselors and admissions officers. Take an elective.

agree this is correct

disagree

[Anonymous]

The one kid on my street who was rolling out late and coming home early every day of senior year, presumably with strategically bookended free periods, went to an Ivy. They may have done an internship in the afternoon at some point, but they defnitely had two free periods.

[Anonymous]

Similar situation here.

I believe 220 credits are needed in CA.

If a junior has 210 credits by the end of the semester, by the time he finishes HS he will be comfortably over the limit and might end up with 260 credits with W GPA of 4.55.

Does this scenario help or hurt in t20 admissions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Similar situation here.

I believe 220 credits are needed in CA.

If a junior has 210 credits by the end of the semester, by the time he finishes HS he will be comfortably over the limit and might end up with 260 credits with W GPA of 4.55.

Does this scenario help or hurt in t20 admissions?

That's not a typical way to count high school credits. Most high schools use 1 credit for a full year high school course, 0.5 for semester.

UCs count number of A-G courses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Similar situation here.

I believe 220 credits are needed in CA.

If a junior has 210 credits by the end of the semester, by the time he finishes HS he will be comfortably over the limit and might end up with 260 credits with W GPA of 4.55.

Does this scenario help or hurt in t20 admissions?

That's not a typical way to count high school credits. Most high schools use 1 credit for a full year high school course, 0.5 for semester.

UCs count number of A-G courses.

dont be provincial. our school does 3 credits per semester, except for PE/Art/music which is 1 credit and fewer periods in a cycle.

I'm not saying it's standard. I'm saying I know schools are all different,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Similar situation here.

I believe 220 credits are needed in CA.

If a junior has 210 credits by the end of the semester, by the time he finishes HS he will be comfortably over the limit and might end up with 260 credits with W GPA of 4.55.

Does this scenario help or hurt in t20 admissions?

That's not a typical way to count high school credits. Most high schools use 1 credit for a full year high school course, 0.5 for semester.

UCs count number of A-G courses.

dont be provincial. our school does 3 credits per semester, except for PE/Art/music which is 1 credit and fewer periods in a cycle.

I'm not saying it's standard. I'm saying I know schools are all different,

I think PP poster is correct on 220 credits
Per CA Website . There may be changes based on local school district https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/gs/hs/hsgrfaq.asp

[Anonymous]

Shouldn’t the student be viewed as a high rigor if his/her total credits is greater than the minimum credits needed by the state/district.

In the aforementioned case, outside of UC schools, does it help the student case in t20 colleges?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Similar situation here.

I believe 220 credits are needed in CA.

If a junior has 210 credits by the end of the semester, by the time he finishes HS he will be comfortably over the limit and might end up with 260 credits with W GPA of 4.55.

Does this scenario help or hurt in t20 admissions?

I don’t believe T20 schools outside of UCLA/Berkeley actually count credits. Overall rigor in core subjects is of greater importance, and 4 years of all 5 core classes would cover what these schools are looking for as a baseline - despite some claiming that their kid took only 3 years foreign language, science, etc. and still got admitted.

[Anonymous]

No college will see the schedule and see there are two free periods. The transcript is just a list of the classes and grades with credit earned. It does not reflect a schedule.