I've seen on this site, people listing GPAs above 4.0. Is it a different scale in some places in the country or are these weighted GPAs?
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At our high school, AP credits carry more weight than regular classes, and can contribute to a 4.0+ GPA.
In most situations it's weighted. Some schools do have a five point scale. When my daughter went through the softball process she was always asked for her unweighted gpa, then asked what level courses she was taking.
quote:Originally posted by powertoallfields:
I've seen on this site, people listing GPAs above 4.0. Is it a different scale in some places in the country or are these weighted GPAs?
I'll I can say is that for parents, these are the type of problems that are nice to have i.e., figuring out whether or not your kid has a 4.0 or above GPA
Yes, some schools use a 5 point scale to determine class ranking. You can look online to see if those numbers are approved by the NCAA at the following link. Click on the "List of Approved Core Courses (formerly 48H)" link on the left side
I know our HS uses a 5 point scale for ranking but it is not approved by the NCAA so your true GPA is based on a 4 point scale.
I know our HS uses a 5 point scale for ranking but it is not approved by the NCAA so your true GPA is based on a 4 point scale.
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Some colleges do as well...use A+ and give it more points.
44
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Some colleges do as well...use A+ and give it more points.
44.
I think what you are seeing is that by taking AP (advanced placement) courses, which are supposed to be about equal to college courses, students can obtain greater than a 4.0 GPA on a 4-point scale. An "A" in an AP class represents a 5, a "B" represents a 4, and a "C" represents a 3. So, by taking 3 AP classes (in a 6 class schedule), a student can get 3 "A"'s and 3"B"'s, and still have a 4.0 GPA. Straight "A"'s could result in a 4.5 GPA. These are weighted GPA's.
Unweighted GPA's do not count the AP classes differently than the other classes and the highest you can obtain is a 4.0.
If you look at UCLA, the average incoming freshman had a 4.26 weighted GPA in high school. That is based on a 4.0 GPA scale. Schools that don't look at Weighted GPA's (Stanford), still would like to see that you are taking AP courses and are challenging yourself with college style classes. They also have the high schools rated for course load, and will give more credence to grades obtained at the tougher high school.
Of coarse, they are a little more relaxed on the athletes in admissions, but if you went to UCLA for instance, you would be competing in the classroom with some of the best students in the nation, while also trying to get in your baseball workouts in. This can lead to academic failure real quick. I would not put my son in a situation where he was far below the other incoming freshmen in terms of GPA and SAT scores. All part of finding the right fit.
Unweighted GPA's do not count the AP classes differently than the other classes and the highest you can obtain is a 4.0.
If you look at UCLA, the average incoming freshman had a 4.26 weighted GPA in high school. That is based on a 4.0 GPA scale. Schools that don't look at Weighted GPA's (Stanford), still would like to see that you are taking AP courses and are challenging yourself with college style classes. They also have the high schools rated for course load, and will give more credence to grades obtained at the tougher high school.
Of coarse, they are a little more relaxed on the athletes in admissions, but if you went to UCLA for instance, you would be competing in the classroom with some of the best students in the nation, while also trying to get in your baseball workouts in. This can lead to academic failure real quick. I would not put my son in a situation where he was far below the other incoming freshmen in terms of GPA and SAT scores. All part of finding the right fit.
My son's college uses a 4.0 scale and they also give A+. Here we always used % and don't use the GPA. We found it very strange and still do.
GPA above 4.0 means that the HS has a system for weighting certain advanced/AP/honors classes (not all schools weight grades even though they may still offer a large variety of AP/Honors classes). The systems are all different and vary greatly. Some give .2 per weighted course, then divide by the semesters and add to the unweighted grade. Some give 1 extra credit per grade received in the course, etc. Some have more and some have fewer weighted courses. So, there is really no way to equate grades between schools who weight. The student could have a 4.3 and have better grades than a student at another school who has a 4.6. However, all colleges know the level of course offerings, and the academic elite will expect the student to challenge himself/herself by taking the heaviest load possible at his/her HS.
The UC system is again different from others. I believe that UCs give 2 semester course credits to AP and certain Honors classes, so if you take 3 or more a semester, you only get UC admissions credit (that is the GPA they will determine for your application) for 2 per, and then also only in grades 10 and 11 - 9 and 12 don't count.
The UC system is again different from others. I believe that UCs give 2 semester course credits to AP and certain Honors classes, so if you take 3 or more a semester, you only get UC admissions credit (that is the GPA they will determine for your application) for 2 per, and then also only in grades 10 and 11 - 9 and 12 don't count.
At my school an A becomes...
Regular- 4.0
Honors- 4.5
AP- 5.0
Dual Enrollment- 6.0
Regular- 4.0
Honors- 4.5
AP- 5.0
Dual Enrollment- 6.0
Thanks everyone for the information. I thought it was probably from a weighted system. My son takes all AP classes, but his High School doesn't weight the grades.
My school doesn't weight grades either. Every single year there is usually a substantial murmur around graduation time because the valedictorian is known as not very smart and did not take very challenging classes.
Weighting of grades is meant to remedy that exact situation.
In the end, if you're college bound, it all shakes out, because admissions professionals know what they're looking at when they see your transcript.
And if you're not college bound, your grades are probably not going to have a great deal of bearing on your future, either.
At our HS, extra points are handed out like candy. My three kids' weighted GPA's and class rank percentiles were:
4.45 -- 90th percentile
4.00 -- 80th percentile
3.70 -- 64th percentile
Think of it -- 10% of the class had GPA's over 4.45! 20% were above 4.0. I was thinking we should rename ourselves Lake Wobegone HS, because "everyone is above average"!
In the end, if you're college bound, it all shakes out, because admissions professionals know what they're looking at when they see your transcript.
And if you're not college bound, your grades are probably not going to have a great deal of bearing on your future, either.
At our HS, extra points are handed out like candy. My three kids' weighted GPA's and class rank percentiles were:
4.45 -- 90th percentile
4.00 -- 80th percentile
3.70 -- 64th percentile
Think of it -- 10% of the class had GPA's over 4.45! 20% were above 4.0. I was thinking we should rename ourselves Lake Wobegone HS, because "everyone is above average"!
Midlo: In addition to differing on dealing with APs, Honors and the like, HSs can also differ on valedictorian status. For example, at our HS it means all As (no matter what classes were taken). So, each year we have several valedictorians (like 18-22), all with all As, some with APs, some with now APs. In fact, many kids have much higher GPAs but may have one or two Bs, which prevent them from being valedictorian.
Fan: Nope - there is no "same curriculum" not even in the same district. Funny, but oh well.
Again- the colleges know where the high academic HSs are - as fanofgame indicates, it the college get this from the rigour of the overall program, the NMSQT results of each class, also from the HS's standardized testing results, and so on.
Fan: Nope - there is no "same curriculum" not even in the same district. Funny, but oh well.
Again- the colleges know where the high academic HSs are - as fanofgame indicates, it the college get this from the rigour of the overall program, the NMSQT results of each class, also from the HS's standardized testing results, and so on.
BTW, if anyone is interested, they can do their own comparison. Every college application goes out with a HS profile (it goes in the official transcript). Normally, those profiles tell the colleges the HS statistics. Each school publishes one.
I also think it's important to know that most colleges will recalculate the grades anyway. For instance, I get a player that says he has a 3.0...but in actuallity, take out all the fluff and focus on the the core classes English, Math, Social Studies, Science and examine those grades. Secondly, not all AP classes at each HS are equal, so many colleges do not recognize the AP courses. Then after all that, our college looks at the strenth of the HS. Private schools will be deemed more difficult than most City Schools for instance. Class Rank is EXTREMELY important in many situations we are looking for top 25%...The problem in all of this is educational systems are different, we have some that do 5 pt, 4 pt, percentage grade you name it...SAT's and ACT's give another part of the story...Hope that helps with some...
quote:In the end, if you're college bound, it all shakes out, because admissions professionals know what they're looking at when they see your transcript.
Midlo,
You answered my big question right there. My Daughter had good grades in High School in AP classes and had a 28 on her ACT. She was a 3.5 I think, but got only one small academic scholarship. One of the Cheerleaders was in Honors classes and had a 4.0 (they have about half of the work load) and she got a full academic scholarship. If we had it to do over again, I think we would have gone the Honors route so she would have a higher GPA. Would have been easier on the pocketbook, but I'm not sure how prepared for college work she would have been.
At least now I know that the admissions people are looking at the types of classes the kids are taking.
My son is at a 2.9 in AP classes and I'm afraid it will hurt his chances to get into college at all. I'm hoping you're right about the admissions folks.
Here's an example of someone's point not all schools use the same weight on grades. At our high school honors gets a .2 bump. Gifted (frosh and soph) and AP courses get a .7 bump. Marlin's school gives .3 more bump for each level.quote:Originally posted by MarlinsMS_35:
At my school an A becomes...
Regular- 4.0
Honors- 4.5
AP- 5.0
Dual Enrollment- 6.0
I'm not so sure there is one fair way to do it. My son was Valedictorian and took nothing but AP classes. The school he did this at was not considered a strong academic high school or a prestigious private school. Does this make his accomplishments any less important in the college eye. Son did well enough on the SAT and ACT to get extra money in college, but didn't do as well as you would think from the top rated student. A friend of his who was an A-B student taking no AP classes and ended up going to a NAIA school did better on his SAT,ACT. So what does this say? I think for the most part that regardless of the school, the only thing you can control is the difficulty of the classes you take and how well you do in those classes. If a student is going to challenge himself and take the hardest classes offered (and does well), the colleges take notice, regardless of the high schools reputation. Secondly, more and more schools are considering using less emphasis on the SAT and ACT as they know that might not be as big of an indicator as once thought. Bottom line is, go to class, do your work, do it well and you will get the opportunity at the next level. I do believe if you were a good student in high school, you will be a good student in college. So far my sons making a believer out of me as he currently carries a 3.93 GPA.
Good luck to all!
Good luck to all!
quote:If we had it to do over again, I think we would have gone the Honors route so she would have a higher GPA. Would have been easier on the pocketbook, but I'm not sure how prepared for college work she would have been.
powertoallfields,
I think you hit the nail on the head, we needed money to help our son go to school and any scholarship money would be very beneficial. But at what cost? We wanted our son to take the hardest classes that he could handle so he would be ready for the next level. We would not change a thing even if it meant no money. The prep he got from taking the load he did was priceless and it benefited him tremendously.
I’ve found that it varies district-to-district and school-to-school. Some districts offer AP/accelerated/honors classes, some don’t. To put things on an even playing field most of the selective schools will ask for a student’s un-weighted GPA. The question regarding which was better, getting straight “A’s” in regular classes or “B’s” in honors/AP classes was asked at one of the schools my son visited. The flippant response from the admissions counselor was that it was best to get “A’s” in AP classes.
Most schools will list their admittance criteria on their web site. At the school that my son finally decided on attending they looked at (1) rigor of the secondary school curriculum, (2) standardized test scores, (3) un-weighted GPA of core academic classes for sophomore and junior years, (4) class rank, and (5) all of the other stuff on the application like your essays, extracurricular activities, etc.
Personally I have a hard time understanding why schools routinely award 4.0+ GPA’s, although I believe that AP and honor classes should be noted on the transcripts. I’m showing my age here, but back in the day I attended a parochial school that had a skewed grading scale that put the passing grade at 72%.
Most schools will list their admittance criteria on their web site. At the school that my son finally decided on attending they looked at (1) rigor of the secondary school curriculum, (2) standardized test scores, (3) un-weighted GPA of core academic classes for sophomore and junior years, (4) class rank, and (5) all of the other stuff on the application like your essays, extracurricular activities, etc.
Personally I have a hard time understanding why schools routinely award 4.0+ GPA’s, although I believe that AP and honor classes should be noted on the transcripts. I’m showing my age here, but back in the day I attended a parochial school that had a skewed grading scale that put the passing grade at 72%.
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It's not enough to make 'em smarter...
...you have to make them LOOK smarter too.
Know a public high school that started throwing out the lower performing kids to make the schools overall test scores rise...didn't make the remaining kids any smarter but the schools new higher test scores sure made them LOOK smarter...
44
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quote:Originally posted by JeNeSaisQuoi:
Personally I have a hard time understanding why schools routinely award 4.0+ GPA’s...
It's not enough to make 'em smarter...
...you have to make them LOOK smarter too.
Know a public high school that started throwing out the lower performing kids to make the schools overall test scores rise...didn't make the remaining kids any smarter but the schools new higher test scores sure made them LOOK smarter...
44.
quote:Personally I have a hard time understanding why schools routinely award 4.0+ GPA’s, although I believe that AP and honor classes should be noted on the transcripts.
Hmm.....so if student A takes high school junior math and student B takes college sophomore math there should be no extra credit given other than a notation on their transcript. Not sure I agree with that, but I don't make the rules, I only play by them!
......so is going to a Major D1, riding the bench for four years and saying I played with A-Rod. 
Some people should give themselves a shake.
My son was a very good student and I wanted him to be a part of the crossection of students. He took normal academic classes and mixed with bright and not so bright students. I would rather have my son go to school with the people that he would have to deal with every day in real life. Do you really believe that taking advanced classes really matters in the end. When they graduate and go out in the real world they have to deal with every day people and their experiences in going through HS and college are far more beneficial than any advanced classes they will ever take. When I appled to law school the 1st thing I learned was that the best Lawyers were not the guys with high marks.
Parents have to understand that the happiness of their kids isn't about marks. Some of the smartest guys I went to school with ended up selling drugs to the less smart guys. I think sometimes academic arrogance is worse that athletic arrogance.
My son was a very good student and I wanted him to be a part of the crossection of students. He took normal academic classes and mixed with bright and not so bright students. I would rather have my son go to school with the people that he would have to deal with every day in real life. Do you really believe that taking advanced classes really matters in the end. When they graduate and go out in the real world they have to deal with every day people and their experiences in going through HS and college are far more beneficial than any advanced classes they will ever take. When I appled to law school the 1st thing I learned was that the best Lawyers were not the guys with high marks.
Parents have to understand that the happiness of their kids isn't about marks. Some of the smartest guys I went to school with ended up selling drugs to the less smart guys. I think sometimes academic arrogance is worse that athletic arrogance.
Where did you play with A-Rod?quote:Originally posted by Danny Boydston:
......so is going to a Major D1, riding the bench for four years and saying I played with A-Rod.
I don't think it's "academic arrogance" to take AP and honors level classes in high school if this is what the student wants to do and is capable of doing well in higher level classes.
All school districts are different. In our county we have a charter school that has been recognized as being in the top 5 in the US for several years. All students are required to take atleast 7 AP classes during high school. This school caters to very motivated, smart students that are admitted to great colleges ( but they don't have much in the way of athletics).
My son's focus (honestly) was baseball and he was fortunate to attend a public high school with incredible coaches that opened many doors for the bb players. He did take several AP and honors level classes because he wouldn't have been challenged enough without them. There was no way he would have attended the nearby charter school because they didn't have a bb team.
And Bobblehead, a large number of the athletes were in the same advanced classes with him. A bunch of great kids that were not only good athletes but smart as well. Can't get any more well adjusted than that.
We live in CA and if he had not taken AP classes there would have been very little chance for him to be admitted to the top UC's, based on academics alone. He chose not to attend a UC but he did get about 15 units of college credits for his AP classes. This should help lighten his load in college and keep him on track to graduate in 4 years.
All school districts are different. In our county we have a charter school that has been recognized as being in the top 5 in the US for several years. All students are required to take atleast 7 AP classes during high school. This school caters to very motivated, smart students that are admitted to great colleges ( but they don't have much in the way of athletics).
My son's focus (honestly) was baseball and he was fortunate to attend a public high school with incredible coaches that opened many doors for the bb players. He did take several AP and honors level classes because he wouldn't have been challenged enough without them. There was no way he would have attended the nearby charter school because they didn't have a bb team.
And Bobblehead, a large number of the athletes were in the same advanced classes with him. A bunch of great kids that were not only good athletes but smart as well. Can't get any more well adjusted than that.
We live in CA and if he had not taken AP classes there would have been very little chance for him to be admitted to the top UC's, based on academics alone. He chose not to attend a UC but he did get about 15 units of college credits for his AP classes. This should help lighten his load in college and keep him on track to graduate in 4 years.
It’s called America. You can choose what and who you want to be (no matter what that is) and either get there or fail trying. It is a personal preference. In the end, everyone has to live in the real world. The choice of mixing it up with all types of people is often constrained by the levels society has established. However, I would say you have a greater chance of gaining access to a larger swath of the socio-economic band-width the more you achieve in educational offerings.
Unfortunately most times our choices are restrained by financial capability. Some may react one way or the other to what other people make of their lives, but different choices made give us this place we call home that has plumbers, store clerks, scientists, doctors, fireman, and yes even lawyers.
Unfortunately most times our choices are restrained by financial capability. Some may react one way or the other to what other people make of their lives, but different choices made give us this place we call home that has plumbers, store clerks, scientists, doctors, fireman, and yes even lawyers.
RJM- Didn't play with A-Rod, that was just a response to kabat2012's remark that taking AP classes will give you the ability to say you know some rich and famous, and that was something to brag about. I just threw a name out there.
As far as AP classes, my job as a parent was to get my son prepared for college. We put him in the toughest classes we felt he could handle and ones we felt would best prepare him for the next level.
Bobblehead you make it sound like AP classes are useless and anyone who does take them are exhibiting "Academic Arrogance". In our case it was what we felt was the best. Never thought he was better or smarter than the next kid, just something that was challenging and beneficial.
fanofgame, I agree, all kids are cut from a different mold as are the parents. What I want for my child and what he wants could be completely different from what you and yours wants. You talk of some parents who think their kids are "academically superior", as I mentioned above, I have never felt that way and if you were ever to met my son you would not get that from him at all. What I will say is as parents we presented our son with a challenge, he met that challenge and for that we are proud.
I take exception to those who feel AP classes are useless and serve no purpose. I also take exception to those who feel a child takes AP or advanced classes for the "academic superiority" or shows "academic arrogance". It's wrong and it's so unfair to the child. I know a young man who put many, many hours of hard work into his education because he wanted to be and do the best he could. PERIOD!!
As far as AP classes, my job as a parent was to get my son prepared for college. We put him in the toughest classes we felt he could handle and ones we felt would best prepare him for the next level.
Bobblehead you make it sound like AP classes are useless and anyone who does take them are exhibiting "Academic Arrogance". In our case it was what we felt was the best. Never thought he was better or smarter than the next kid, just something that was challenging and beneficial.
fanofgame, I agree, all kids are cut from a different mold as are the parents. What I want for my child and what he wants could be completely different from what you and yours wants. You talk of some parents who think their kids are "academically superior", as I mentioned above, I have never felt that way and if you were ever to met my son you would not get that from him at all. What I will say is as parents we presented our son with a challenge, he met that challenge and for that we are proud.
I take exception to those who feel AP classes are useless and serve no purpose. I also take exception to those who feel a child takes AP or advanced classes for the "academic superiority" or shows "academic arrogance". It's wrong and it's so unfair to the child. I know a young man who put many, many hours of hard work into his education because he wanted to be and do the best he could. PERIOD!!
fanogame,
I guess where we differ is that I don't feel I'm qualified to tell someone else or suggest that their pushing their child to hard in "academics". In baseball (or sports) I agree, I see it all the time, especially when the child doesn't have the talent or desire the parent see's or hopes. In my opinion, pushing a child to do his best academically will only benefit him in the long run. He can only be pushed to the level he is capable of achieving, whether it be all AP or honor classes, one AP or honor classes or zero AP classes. I as a parent, would not be doing my job if I knew my son was capable of doing so much more but let him slide through school so he could "have fun".
You know as well as I do that there are those parents who allow their kids to take the minimum so they can stay eligible for sports. Is that right or fair to the child? Worse yet, you have those parents who really don't care about their kids academics, our society is littered with those unfortunate kids.
Like I stated earlier fanogame, bottom line in my opinion is the child is in school to get the best education he is capable of achieving, everything else is secondary. If they are doing the best to their abilities in academics, just like athletics, the rest will follow.
fanogame, this is not a shot at you or anyone else.
This is just my opinion and how I feel about academics. I'm sure there are many who disagree and some who agree. As a parent it is our responsibility to raise our children to be as successful in life as possible, we just all go about it different ways.
Have a Merry Christmas!
I guess where we differ is that I don't feel I'm qualified to tell someone else or suggest that their pushing their child to hard in "academics". In baseball (or sports) I agree, I see it all the time, especially when the child doesn't have the talent or desire the parent see's or hopes. In my opinion, pushing a child to do his best academically will only benefit him in the long run. He can only be pushed to the level he is capable of achieving, whether it be all AP or honor classes, one AP or honor classes or zero AP classes. I as a parent, would not be doing my job if I knew my son was capable of doing so much more but let him slide through school so he could "have fun".
You know as well as I do that there are those parents who allow their kids to take the minimum so they can stay eligible for sports. Is that right or fair to the child? Worse yet, you have those parents who really don't care about their kids academics, our society is littered with those unfortunate kids.
Like I stated earlier fanogame, bottom line in my opinion is the child is in school to get the best education he is capable of achieving, everything else is secondary. If they are doing the best to their abilities in academics, just like athletics, the rest will follow.
fanogame, this is not a shot at you or anyone else.
This is just my opinion and how I feel about academics. I'm sure there are many who disagree and some who agree. As a parent it is our responsibility to raise our children to be as successful in life as possible, we just all go about it different ways.
Have a Merry Christmas!
I appreciate everyones comments and you make some great points.
The problem we had with our kids was that in our county you have three choices in Public schools. You can go to Traditional schools, magnet schools or resides schools (the school in your neighborhood). The school in our neighborhood is a school that is probably 80% thugs. That was not an option. Since our kids didn't start out in Traditional elementary schools, they couldn't go the Traditional route. The only option for us was to have them take Advanced classes and go to a Magnet School. To get in the Honors program they would have had to apply for a hardship transfer which may or may not have been granted and we couldn't take that chance. My Daughter did well in High School and got accepted into a very good Engineering school. The problem was that there was very little scholarship money and money is a problem for us, but we are making it work. My Son, however, will be a different story. What he gets in scholarship money is the only funds he will have and the rest will have to be loans. I have preached to my kids their whole lives, to work hard in school and make good grades so you have OPTIONS when you get out. I have never told them they have to go to college or what they should do with their lives.
The choices I have always said you have in life are to have a job that pays well, but that you hate; a job you love, but pays little; a job you hate and pays little; and the best job of all, a job you love and pays well. It's a choice everyone has to make, but without a good college education many doors will be closed to you.
I wish I had made the right choices when I was younger so my kids would not have to worry about paying for their education now.
The problem we had with our kids was that in our county you have three choices in Public schools. You can go to Traditional schools, magnet schools or resides schools (the school in your neighborhood). The school in our neighborhood is a school that is probably 80% thugs. That was not an option. Since our kids didn't start out in Traditional elementary schools, they couldn't go the Traditional route. The only option for us was to have them take Advanced classes and go to a Magnet School. To get in the Honors program they would have had to apply for a hardship transfer which may or may not have been granted and we couldn't take that chance. My Daughter did well in High School and got accepted into a very good Engineering school. The problem was that there was very little scholarship money and money is a problem for us, but we are making it work. My Son, however, will be a different story. What he gets in scholarship money is the only funds he will have and the rest will have to be loans. I have preached to my kids their whole lives, to work hard in school and make good grades so you have OPTIONS when you get out. I have never told them they have to go to college or what they should do with their lives.
The choices I have always said you have in life are to have a job that pays well, but that you hate; a job you love, but pays little; a job you hate and pays little; and the best job of all, a job you love and pays well. It's a choice everyone has to make, but without a good college education many doors will be closed to you.
I wish I had made the right choices when I was younger so my kids would not have to worry about paying for their education now.
You can speak for me anytime. You are understanding exactly what I meant. The only thing left out was those BB lists everyone frets about.
Here we don't have AP classes. They are all hard classes. Okay that is great that your kid in HS takes AP classes but what about the other kids ? When talking about lower level like HS all kids should be challenged and have resourses available to help them prepare for college or entering the job market. I never put pressure on my kids and didn't even stress college. In fact I warned them about the pit falls of thinking academic education on its own was the answer. 3 of 4 have college degrees by May 09. The one that doesn't is in Insurance. I actually steered her away from occupations she would be very unhappy doing. She is now married with her new born little girl and a very happy woman. Her last year she was the top seller in the province of BC selling policies to existing clients and was voted employee of the year for her whole district. My other 2 daughters have honors degrees and one has a masters in child and youth. The one with a masters works for the govt in Whitehorse and the other works as a waitress. The waitress also has a photgraphy business that she started with her tech boy friend. He is a very intelligent guy who makes an executive salary in his field. They are all happy as can be. I also tell my girls that I want them to be able to stand on their own 2 feet. Today you never know what life will bring. In college it is much more important to take specialized courses as you advance to employment or grad school. College is where you start thinking for yourself and are not hand held.
My son was really upset he had the lowest GPA in his apt. He had a 3.9 gpa and thought for sure he beat at least one of the his 2 roommates. His roommates are very smart and they are like brothers to my son. They call him every other day.
I know so many kids who are very bright and trod forward not thinking about what they are doing only to arrive at their destination and realize that they really don't like what they are doing.[/QUOTE]
Here we don't have AP classes. They are all hard classes. Okay that is great that your kid in HS takes AP classes but what about the other kids ? When talking about lower level like HS all kids should be challenged and have resourses available to help them prepare for college or entering the job market. I never put pressure on my kids and didn't even stress college. In fact I warned them about the pit falls of thinking academic education on its own was the answer. 3 of 4 have college degrees by May 09. The one that doesn't is in Insurance. I actually steered her away from occupations she would be very unhappy doing. She is now married with her new born little girl and a very happy woman. Her last year she was the top seller in the province of BC selling policies to existing clients and was voted employee of the year for her whole district. My other 2 daughters have honors degrees and one has a masters in child and youth. The one with a masters works for the govt in Whitehorse and the other works as a waitress. The waitress also has a photgraphy business that she started with her tech boy friend. He is a very intelligent guy who makes an executive salary in his field. They are all happy as can be. I also tell my girls that I want them to be able to stand on their own 2 feet. Today you never know what life will bring. In college it is much more important to take specialized courses as you advance to employment or grad school. College is where you start thinking for yourself and are not hand held.
My son was really upset he had the lowest GPA in his apt. He had a 3.9 gpa and thought for sure he beat at least one of the his 2 roommates. His roommates are very smart and they are like brothers to my son. They call him every other day.
I know so many kids who are very bright and trod forward not thinking about what they are doing only to arrive at their destination and realize that they really don't like what they are doing.[/QUOTE]
Danny, I'm with ya. It surprises me that some are poo-pooing AP and Honors courses. There's nothing wrong with either route, but if you can handle the honors/AP classes, then go for it! There can be advantages for some schools. We were told by a recruiter from a high academic D3 that they really look at that stuff when trying to work out financial aid. When asked, we always put the unweighted GPA, and indicate it is unweighted. For those that ask for the transcript, they can see the honors classes.
It's not always about pressure, or trying to get an edge, pr being a nerd, or anything like that. Some students goof off and cause class disruptions if they're not challenged. Mine is one. He's had to be separated from his buds since kindergarten. On teacher told us that he would be talking and cutting up in class while she was making a point about subject matter, and she would ask him what she had just said. He could repeat it to her verbatim. It's simple. Regular classes = boring. Honors classes = challenging. A case in point. Current grades for 2B: Honors Chemistry, A; Honors Algebra II, A; Honors English, A; Spanish II, B, Weightlifting (of all things), B.
To each his or her own.
It's not always about pressure, or trying to get an edge, pr being a nerd, or anything like that. Some students goof off and cause class disruptions if they're not challenged. Mine is one. He's had to be separated from his buds since kindergarten. On teacher told us that he would be talking and cutting up in class while she was making a point about subject matter, and she would ask him what she had just said. He could repeat it to her verbatim. It's simple. Regular classes = boring. Honors classes = challenging. A case in point. Current grades for 2B: Honors Chemistry, A; Honors Algebra II, A; Honors English, A; Spanish II, B, Weightlifting (of all things), B.
To each his or her own.
Power one of the advantages of not having a lot of money is that you don't spoil your kids. My daughters all paid for their education and my son pays all but a few thousand for his. When he said he wanted to play D1 BB I said "Ya sure and where does the money come from ?) My daughter Lauren worked as a witress and made excellent money all through college. The last 2 years she borrowed student loans and invested the money and bought a cheap condo. When she moved to Toronto she sold the condo and poketed $20,000 . She then bought a condo witch was about $240,000 and hasn't been built yet. They were selling for $345,000 until the market crashed. It has been 2.5 years and they just broke ground. She isn't worried because it is right downtown in TO and is still a great deal. She is prepared to hold on until the market returns and then sell it.
Bobble,
Yeah, spoiling the kids is not an option either, lol. My Daughter is taking 16 hours a semester and working 30 hours a week as a Hostess at a restaurant. When she was co-oping, she was working 40 hours at the co-op and 30 hours at the restaurant. She is making it in school, but I wish she would be able to focus on school alone, but who knows which way is better.
Yeah, spoiling the kids is not an option either, lol. My Daughter is taking 16 hours a semester and working 30 hours a week as a Hostess at a restaurant. When she was co-oping, she was working 40 hours at the co-op and 30 hours at the restaurant. She is making it in school, but I wish she would be able to focus on school alone, but who knows which way is better.
I actually poo poo the systems that segragate students at the HS level. My son's one roommate is applying to Harvard for Law school. The other is talking about getting an MBA.
Our system is wonderful and very challenging. Honors is based on marks and achievement. We are not talking about bad students but we had some of those as did everyone. They had a choice to go to a technical school if they wished. The bad students who were disruptive were sent to a different school as well.
When my son applied for certification they were very aware of our HS. We have stuents all over the world from that school and it was ranked very high. My son got along with everyone and didn't look down on guys who didn't do well but he also didn't hang around with them either. We controlled that aspect very tightly.
Schools from all divisions of colleges gave my son max accademic money in every offer. To me it is not a good system that segragates which infact puts down those that don't do well. Just like BB I have seen kids become great students as they progress and mature. It is also developmental just like BB.
Our system is wonderful and very challenging. Honors is based on marks and achievement. We are not talking about bad students but we had some of those as did everyone. They had a choice to go to a technical school if they wished. The bad students who were disruptive were sent to a different school as well.
When my son applied for certification they were very aware of our HS. We have stuents all over the world from that school and it was ranked very high. My son got along with everyone and didn't look down on guys who didn't do well but he also didn't hang around with them either. We controlled that aspect very tightly.
Schools from all divisions of colleges gave my son max accademic money in every offer. To me it is not a good system that segragates which infact puts down those that don't do well. Just like BB I have seen kids become great students as they progress and mature. It is also developmental just like BB.
Power that is great. You should be very proud of her. Work experience and the knowledge she can survive on her own is great .
quote:Originally posted by BobbleheadDoll:
Power that is great. You should be very proud of her. Work experience and the knowledge she can survive on her own is great .
Thanks! I am very proud! She's a great person too! If I've done or don't do anything else worth while in my life, at least I have two great kids to be proud of and that I played some part in getting them to be the type of people they are.
quote:I really shouldnt even be on this thread because my son is only a 3.5.So maybe hes not challenging himself enough or hes having to much fun.
An AP class or two may help!
Here's to a Wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your loved ones fan!
powertoallfields,
Sorry for the slight thread hijack. Hopefully through this maze of questions, answers, and debates, you were able to get the answer you were looking for. Good luck to your son and have a great Holiday season.
Sorry for the slight thread hijack. Hopefully through this maze of questions, answers, and debates, you were able to get the answer you were looking for. Good luck to your son and have a great Holiday season.