Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy English Acceleration - Gave It a Try

I have lost tracked who i am agreeing with or disagreeing with - posters and guidance counselor - tried to quote and lost it - sigh

So - short summary - counselor is wrong about anyone caring about the dropping or keeping - so long as she takes the AP and gets a 4 or better. If she didn't take the AP then it wold look like she dropped it to not get penalized for the smidge lower grade. So long as she is taking the AP class and keeping the tutor so she doesn't lose the skills, drop it and take the English. The ivies and the lacs are MUCH more interested in passion and commitment to something - showing that you aren't helicoptered to death and or doing just what it takes to get in -- but truly determining a path for yourself.

I would also recommend taking a summer course in it if she can so that she's in a good place for the AP class.

Guidance counselors need to rationalize all sorts of unrationizable decision making. The ivies and the lacs get way more top grades, great scores than they can take. They take athletes, legacies, artists, all sorts of people to make their class interesting and well rounded. What will get your daughter in is never going to be her French score, or even her English score - its the package, who is she, what does she want to do, what does she add to the class of 20 whatever. Harvard and Princeton take a lot of perfect scores, with perfect tracks, but they are never going to reject someone they want for other reasons because they juggled their courses!

Speaking from my university perch which is not in admissions but has dealt with them!
Her sanity and happiness will matter more in these two years than anything else.

DeHe