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Well I am trying to convince him to stay with the honors classes and try them again for another year. After talking to him, and saying the only thing he has to cut back is the tv time at night in order to succeed, he does understand and I know he is capable of it all.
His sports are great.
I'm so glad,Dorothy, that things have improved and that your boys are doing well. This is a nice thing to discuss, honors classes, AP, instead of all that other stuff. So glad that they like school.
When a high school senior applies to university, a guidance counsellor's report is generated. One of the things on that report is a note re: the rigor of the classes taken. If your son is likely to apply to a name school (highly ranked on the USNWR lists, a state flagship such as U of Michigan or Florida, many of the University of California system schools) he will need to have taken "highly rigorous" classes. (That's the specific term used.) If his school offers a dozen AP classes and he takes three, or they offer honors or dual enrollment classes that he turns down in favor of gen ed, that will not be considered "highly rigorous".
OTOH, If he's planning to start at community college, or a state directional (University of Northern Ohio, Western Connecticut-- but NOT Southern Cal!), then he needn't take as many AP/IB/dual enrollment classes.
We encouraged our kids to take the hardest classes the could do well in. And by well, I mean B's and A's. In our schools, it seems that the best teachers and the motivated students were in the honors classes and that's where my kids wanted to be. That's where their friends were. Even if they weren't the best students in the classes, they did well, stretched themselves and yes, got merit aid for college.
Colleges don't especially want students that do well in everything. They'd rather have kids that have a passion for something and know how to challenge themselves.
Exactly. I've had college admissions counselors tell my students that they like well rounded students, but "will take you if you're well-lopsided, too." Passion matters. Long-term commitment matters. And the rigor of courses does matter. Challenging HS courses are better for the application if the student can do well in them, and Honors/AP/IB courses are a much better prep for college work.
Consider the teachers/methods of the AP vs Regular classes. Sometimes honors/AP classes are easier due to a grading curve or something like that. Also some schools weight GPAs differently with AP classes, consider that as well.
Take some APs but don't overdo it. Play to his strengths.
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