Reply to A/B Student with no AP classes until senior year

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My son started a at a private high school this year after being in public. It has been a good fit school in many ways for him, but the testing and grade structure has been an adjustment. Grades are fine...mostly B+'s which I am ok with freshman year, but his school will not let him take honors classes his sophomore year without A's for the year. He will have to excel in 10th grade for honors to be an option in 11th and then AP most likely will have to wait until 12th.

I feel like this is very likely going to really hurt his changes for a competitive college (NOT looking at ivies but more like the good state schools.Va Tech, Penn State, etc). I am really considering pulling him and sending him to JR where he can be challenged and take the courses he wants and needs. At this point moving up to take Calculus his senior year isn't even an option at the private which really concerns me. He wants to stay but will likely be really mad in 2 years if I let him. Not to mention I am paying all of this money for them to hold him back. Not sure what to do. And no we are not IB for JR so would have to rent there which is a whole different stress.

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This is a big problem. You need to challenge it politely and ask for an exception.[/quote]

It is the norm at many (most?) private schools. [b]How did OP not realize that AP and honors are heavily gatekept at privates?[/b] OP, you can still usually get into an AP humanities class (not math or science) if you are not in honors the year prior as long as your kid has a high A, advocates with their current teacher, and does really well on the AP class essay entrance test. Good luck.[/quote]

This is not something advertised/discussed as part of the admissions process.  I only realized it at our school when reading the school handbook, which isn't available until you accept your offer of admission.

Our school is not so rigid about this, but there is gatekeeping.  I agree with OP that the jump from MS to HS can be abrupt for some kids and a B+ average isn't completely indicative of ability to succeed in a honors class especially if there is improvement shown throughout the year, as OP indicated her child had shown.  We are in a similar situation, but are fortunate our school isn't so rigid about this.[/quote]

We've been considering private schools, and didn't know this.  This would make me opt for public school instead.  Our kids are smart, but I can't ensure they'll get As in all the classes I would want them to take APs for.  I went to public school and took APs.  I'm not going to spend 10s of thousands of dollars per year on tuition for my kids to not be able to do AP exams that colleges value.[/quote]

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