Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments High school course selection

There seems to be a much wider variety of options for high school paths than there were when I was in school. Dd13 will be a sophomore in the fall and has a pretty heavy load this year. She was hoping to have a slightly lesser load next year to allow time for clubs, NHS, etc.

Her current schedule (9th grade) consists of geometry, pre-AP english, pre-AP bio, earth systems science (usually taken in 10th and seems to be a mix of chem, physics, geology, and other things from what dd says), world history, French 2, and two electives. She switched one of her electives to a study hall this semester for mental health. She has managed straight As thus far.

So, next year she was thinking of taking a botany/zoology/microbiology course for science and holding out for chem until 11th grade after she'll have completed algebra II. For math in 11th, she was going to go with either college algebra or college trig & then probably AP stats in 12th. AP bio was her plan for 12th in science.

Her Earth Systems teacher thought that sounds like a good plan for a kid who is interested in marine biology/oceanography. Her pre-AP bio teacher, however, convinced her to double up on science again next year & she's signed herself up for both the botany/zoology/microbio course and physics next year. I told her to contact a few colleges she might consider to ask if she really needs physics.

The one prof who has gotten back to her thus far didn't say that she needed it as there are a lot of different ways to get to where she wants to be, but suggested that physics would be a good idea as would AP calculus in high school. Math really is dd's weakest area although she's not bad at it per se; it just takes more work for her.

Thoughts?

If she's going to need college calc for her degree I would definitely encourage AP calculus in high school. Math was never my strongest area, and I ended up doing AP calc in HS and then again in college, the HS class definitely helped.

You might get more responses on a forum like College Confidential. The Parents Forum (not the same as Parent Cafe) would be a good place to post this question.

In general, a lot depends on what type of college she wants to attend. But I would say that most science majors at more rigorous colleges (even biology majors) have taken both physics and calculus in high school. One of the hardest parts of a science major in college is getting through those core courses that are generally required for a science major (especially because a lot of pre-med students are majors in some kind of bio, and are gunning for high grades to get into med school). Being exposed to those subjects for the first time would put her at a disadvantage to students who have studied them already in high school. My advice would be to take the core sciences and math in high school, and maybe look for summer programs to supplement her knowledge in things like botany and zoology. Just my two cents, of course.

I would suggest that anyone interested in the sciences should take in high school AP calculus (many kids at our local public high school actually take two years of AP calculus), biology, chemistry, and physics. At our high school, AP classes are weighted, so many kids try to jam in as many as possible.

So, although math isn't her immediate worry (Algebra II is definitely next year's course), would you substitute out the college trig or algebra course and/or stats for calculus?

It sounds like a lot of you would take physics instead of microbio/zoology/botany rather than in addition to. The real hesitancy I have with telling her to go that route is that she's sacrificed a lot of what she enjoys for toeing the line of what is going to get her ahead in college aps/scholarships already.

For instance, she dropped her speech/debate elective this semester (it is a one semester class that would have replaced the other one semester elective she had in the fall) for study hall b/c she was already saddled with hours of homework/night and didn't think that she could take another class with a lot of homework. She was planning to add it back in her sophomore year but, again, is going to have to pass on it in favor of physics if she takes physics. She also doubled up on science this year in order to make enough room in her schedule to take this zoology course next year instead of the std earth systems class that is taken in 10th.

I told her that an alternative might be to take physics at the community college the summer after her 10th grade year rather than in 10th grade. We'll keep looking at options and hopefully come up with something that works and makes her semi-happy.

If the issue is that prior exposure to the topics would help her be more successful in college, and not that she needs the credits on her transcripts to get in where she wants to go, I'd consider leaving her schedule the way she had it planned, and using resources like The Hippocampus independently over the summers to develop familiarity with the additional material, such as physics.

ETA: I would probably swap out AP statistics for AP calculus just because I think it is probably easier to get a grasp of stats doing independent study than it might be to get a good grasp of calculus if math is not your strong suit.

I'd definitely agree with this. However, I am not sure as to whether she actually needs courses like calculus and physics on her hs transcript or if she just needs familiarity with the material. I'm sure that we could expose her to the material enough that she's feel okay going into college, but if she's going to be at a disadvantage when applying to competitive universities or for scholarships b/c they aren't on her official transcript, I guess that she's going to have to figure out a way to get them into her schedule.

The hard part of this is that she's getting very conflicting information regarding that question from different advisors at her school.

I'd rather rely more on the admissions offices at the schools she wants to attend, and on the opinions of the relevant department heads at those schools.

It's a tough call, balancing taking high school classes that you actually enjoy versus "what looks good on your application." It really depends on what college she wants to go to and the likelihood that she will get in.
At our local high school, it's very difficult to just get into our state colleges, so it would force you to take AP biology and not zoology, even though you might have more interest in zoology. Or taking AP calculus when you don't really want to.

Thanks, that's why I had her contact some schools to get input. She's not totally sure where she wants to go at this point. UW was high on her list for some time, but an out of state school that is not private is likely to cost a lot and not have a ton of scholarships available. She's considering Stanford (we did hear back from a prof there who said physics and calc would be good but wasn't sure if she needed them). I had her contact two in-state schools as well in case she qualifies for and gets a scholarship that is given to 40 in state kids each year that covers full tuition/room & board at any in state school.

We're going to give some thought to other possible schools to contact. Duke, Stetson, and University of Oregon come to mind as possibilities.