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[quote=Anonymous]SJC parent with here with a different persepective on SJC's grade requirements for AP and honors level classes.

1) There are only two options when it comes to AP/honors class admissions - to have a grade prerequisite or not.  SJC and other private schools have grade prerequisites, most publics don't.  The advantage of not having a prerequisite is no one who wants to take the class is denied the opportunity (equity).  The disadvantage to that approach is that some students may enroll in the course who don't have the skills to succeed.  Teachers then have to make the course less challenging and/or inflate grades and/or give the kids with less developed skills poor grades.  None of those are great options. 
2) The SJC grade prerequisite allows SJC to keep the AP/honors courses rigorous enough to challenge the top students. 
3) SJC has high expectations of its students.  Some posters above see that as rigid, but many see those high expectations as pushing students to succeed.  Many parents want high expectations especially since MCPS (and other schools) have very low expectations of students at the moment. (Read the September/October 2024 Bethesda Magazine article "Is MCPS Losing Its Edge?" https://moco360.media/september-october-2024-digital-edition/).
4) You should do your own research, but having read a lot about the college selection process prior to picking a high school and when my oldest went through the process, the consensus seems to be that top colleges don't care about the number of APs taken per se - they want kids who have taken the most rigorous courses available at the students' high school and/or to show that they challenged themselves in school (i.e. may have started in on level courses, but worked their way up to honors/AP by junior/senior year).  This may cut against SJC for some kids, but colleges also will only take so many kids from each school. Public schools' open access to AP/honors classes and grade inflation means that each school has huge numbers of kids with over 4.0 GPAs and all AP/honors classes.  The question then is how can these students distinguish themselves from each other? (The Bethesda Magazine article addresses this as well).
5) One of my kids was placed in on level math freshman year, but was moved to honors math sophomore year without any problem.
5) The SJC Class of 2024 set all sorts of records when it comes to college admissions and scholarships.  SJC graduates do well.

And finally, as of last year, the SJC JV swim team was not walk-on, but also was not super competitive.

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