Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids actually take Calculus before HS? Wow.

Basis is a Charter school in DC. It just started its second year.

Anonymous wrote:And AP World History in 7th and 8th grade?

Anonymous wrote:Kids actually take Calculus before HS? Wow.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Grades in math, science and foreign language matter; even in schools where those courses aren't included on the high school transcript (i.e., most independent schools), the student's record in middle school will determine course placement in high school. This becomes important because applicants who have taken the most challenging courses their schools offer.

Thank you so much for the helpful responses. Just a few final questions:
1) how do I get this universal application;
2) If my dc is taking Calculus in the 8th grade, will that, in and of itself, be reported? or weighted?
3) What is weighted vs nonweighted?
4) finally, in general if you take an AP class do you have to take the AP? And are APs automatically reported to colleges or can you omit the ones you tank if your grade is good.

Again, Basis has all kids on a 2 year world history "AP" course for 7th and 8th, and because they allow you to accelerate in math we are looking at Calculus AB or BC before high school.

Thanks so much,
this has been very educational

Re the AP classes, you don't have to take the AP in the spring and you don't have to report the results to the college. DC didn't take two AP tests (of four DC was taking that year) after DC chose a college and realized the college wouldn't grant credit, or even allow DC to skip the prerequisites and go right to an upper-level class, for these particular AP classes.

You don't need to report the results on your college App, or get the testing company to send the results to colleges you are applying to. This is because the AP is really designed for people seeking credit at colleges. Bear in mind, though, that lots of applicants send in their scores when they apply - if the AP class was taken before senior year and the scores are 4s or 5s. The idea is to convince the college that you not only got an A at the High School of Easy Grading, but you also got a 5 on the national test.

Anonymous wrote:

The things that will play a role in our DCs college application that happened prior to 9th grade.
1) Spanish classes taken in MS are HS level classes the grades and credit follow DC to HS.
2) The math classes, Algebra Honors and Geometry Honors classes are HS classes DC took in MS and those grades will also follow DC to HS.
3) The Scouting stuff both DCs did prior to 9th grade count toward Eagle which eldest DC got as a sophomore, and younger will probably also get as a sophomore (ask me in a year).
4) The Musical instrument lessons and orchestras and practices that added up so that DC could make DHO freshman and sophomore years (too early for Junior year).
5) Younger has been "reffing" sports games since 8th grade. So he will include that as his start year when showing how long he has be a referee.[\quote]

Your list is extremely helpful. Sorry to be obtuse, but when you say the Honors Algebra etc will "follow DC to HS" does that mean that he will have to include those middle school transcripts? Or just that the next obvious step is precalculus

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Grades in math, science and foreign language matter; even in schools where those courses aren't included on the high school transcript (i.e., most independent schools), the student's record in middle school will determine course placement in high school. This becomes important because applicants who have taken the most challenging courses their schools offer.

Thank you so much for the helpful responses. Just a few final questions:
1) how do I get this universal application;
2) If my dc is taking Calculus in the 8th grade, will that, in and of itself, be reported? or weighted?
3) What is weighted vs nonweighted?
4) finally, in general if you take an AP class do you have to take the AP? And are APs automatically reported to colleges or can you omit the ones you tank if your grade is good.

Again, Basis has all kids on a 2 year world history "AP" course for 7th and 8th, and because they allow you to accelerate in math we are looking at Calculus AB or BC before high school.

Thanks so much,
this has been very educational

Anonymous wrote:Does anything a kid does before 9th grade matter? Can you list it on your college applications?

Obviously if you have served in a church choir since you were 5, you can put that on your resume and state when you began, but a week of community service (church sponsored) during 8th grade or being on the debate team - does it have a place on a college application? Again, if you won the science fair in 7th, or a national essay contest maybe. But run of the mill community service or student leadership?

I am having a dispute with dh about this. In my day, unless your college essay was about something in your early years that changed your life and involved an extra curric (working at Martha's table making you realize that the ground is not an even playing field), your extra currics pre 9th grade did not matter and there was not even a place to list them on the applications.

Could you all who are farther down the line let us know?



Thanks in advance

Anonymous wrote:Grades in math, science and foreign language matter; even in schools where those courses aren't included on the high school transcript (i.e., most independent schools), the student's record in middle school will determine course placement in high school. This becomes important because applicants who have taken the most challenging courses their schools offer.

Anonymous wrote:

So can I tell dh and dc definitively that nothing (including not only extra currics but her grades in 7th and 8th) can be used (for or against) dc's chances of getting into college?

I suppose you could say that. But perhaps it would be more constructive to frame it as "doing extracurriculars now helps you grow as a person and learn to manage your time split between many different obligations, so you can excel as you go on in life and in high school." Although I think it's unhealthy to fixate on this stuff in 7th and 8th grade, if he must, if you plan to apply to selective admissions/private high schools, you can say "this will help with your high school applications, though, which helps with college applications." Or if you are not going to have to apply for high school, you can say that middle school is a safe time to explore new things that you might screw up and not be great at, but you could learn from.

The reason why no one cares about how many extracurriculars you did prior to 9th grade is that they are concerned with what you are doing currently in your life, not that you used to be a great flute player but stopped playing in high school. But also there comes a point where it's just not important. How many people list their SAT scores on a job application?