Education

[aggiealum]

Quote:
Originally Posted by mohawkninja http:///t/397250/education#post_3540510
I'm only doing one extracurricular, and it's almost over at this point. Well, got my course recommendations for next year... Honors Precalc, AP US History, Honors Chem, Honors English.
Probably gonna scratch APUSH and take normal history. Taking Spanish next year. I might try to double up science and take AP Bio too.
Curious as to why your parents would have you drop the Chinese, yet allow you to take Spanish. I know when my daughters were in high school, they had to take at least two years of a foreign language. If I'm not mistaken they also had to be the same language for both years, because the second year had to be the continuation of the previous year's learning. Never really looked at the complexities of the Chinese language, but if you had a B- in that class, sounds like you were getting fairly proficient understanding it. Me thinks your parents angle is the potential of that B- dropping, thereby jeopardizing your overall GPA. With you being a Freshman, could make a difference of you being a Salutatorian than a Valedictorian when you graduate from high school.

Don't be under the impression that Spanish will be any easier than Chinese. Spanish always seems to be the "default language" that a student takes when trying to complete their foreign language credits. However, I've seen kids who grew up in Hispanic families speaking Spanish, and they still got a 'B' in Spanish class. Never take any foreign language for granted.

You sound like a very intelligent and driven individual. Just don't get overwhelmed with trying to keep that GPA where you want it to be. AP courses are VERY demanding, and the primary reason you have the amount of homework you do. What you learn in one semester, a student in the standard class is learning the entire year. There's nothing wrong with that, I personally just don't agree with how schools these days base their grading standards on how fast and the amount of information a student accumulates during their tenor in high school. Normally, someone taking an AP course gets an extra 5 points tacked onto their grade for essentially covering the same material as those in a standard class. The days of the "A through F" grading standard are long gone. Now, and "A" in a standard class equates to 100, and an "A' in an AP course equates to a 105. I remember when my last daughter graduated from high school, the Valedictorian had a GPA of 106.125. The Salutatorian had a 105.865. (They announced these at the graduation ceremony.) So first and second came down to essentially some extra credit somewhere in their four years of high school.

 

[theclemsonkid]

When I graduated high school in 1999 and got to college, I was honestly pissed because around 80% of what I learned in high school was stuff I will never use again, college included. I think the American education system wants to groom us to all be a little versed in everything, but not really, really good at anything.

I guess the other thing depends on your college aspirations. If you are looking at a middle of the road state school, I think your SAT/ACT combined with a solid GPA is ultimately more important. If you are aiming high and looking in the top 10% of schools, the competition is fierce, and unfortunately I think you have to continue down the path you're already on.

I was similar to your situation, and by the time I got to my senior year, I was so burnt out that I literally quit all extra circulars. I also only took one AP class. My stress levels went way down, and I had ample time to study and prepare for the ACT and SAT tests. I knocked both of those out of the park, and even with a senior year not that impressive by AP standards, I still had a high GPA and easily made it into Clemson University. At the time, it was like a 60% acceptance rate. I guess depending on where you want to go to college, that will make the biggest difference...

Good luck!

 

[aggiealum]

Quote:
Originally Posted by TheClemsonKid http:///t/397250/education/20#post_3540644
When I graduated high school in 1999 and got to college, I was honestly pissed because around 80% of what I learned in high school was stuff I will never use again, college included. I think the American education system wants to groom us to all be a little versed in everything, but not really, really good at anything.

I guess the other thing depends on your college aspirations. If you are looking at a middle of the road state school, I think your SAT/ACT combined with a solid GPA is ultimately more important. If you are aiming high and looking in the top 10% of schools, the competition is fierce, and unfortunately I think you have to continue down the path you're already on.

I was similar to your situation, and by the time I got to my senior year, I was so burnt out that I literally quit all extra circulars. I also only took one AP class. My stress levels went way down, and I had ample time to study and prepare for the ACT and SAT tests. I knocked both of those out of the park, and even with a senior year not that impressive by AP standards, I still had a high GPA and easily made it into Clemson University. At the time, it was like a 60% acceptance rate. I guess depending on where you want to go to college, that will make the biggest difference...

Good luck!
I think the parents are aiming for that scholarship goal. Considering the average annual costs to attend a major university WITHOUT room and board sits around $10K/year, and that's taking an average of 12 hours per semester. Here in Texas all major state-run universities require you to place in the Top 10% of your class to be automatically admitted to their university (I think UT - Austin just dropped theirs to Top 8%). If you don't fall into those categories, then you either go to a Community College that the university will allow direct transfers into their system, or you attend a lower-tiered 4-year university.

I actually encouraged both my daughters to forgo the major university route, and start their college education at the Community college level. The courses there are a third of what you pay at a major university, the curriculum is easier (major universities tend to gear all their Core classes as "weed out" courses, making it harder for those in attendance), and there's literally no difference in the long run when it comes to your first 60 hours of college course credits. They get an Associates degree they can use to get a better paying part-time job, and an automatic transfer to the same 4-year university they wanted to go to in the first place. When its all said and done, the diploma they receive will have the same University name on it as any student that went there for the full 5 years (4 year degrees are dead and gone, unless you're into masochism.)

 

[geridoc]

Quote:
Originally Posted by AggieAlum http:///t/397250/education/20#post_3540713
I think the parents are aiming for that scholarship goal. Considering the average annual costs to attend a major university WITHOUT room and board sits around $10K/year, and that's taking an average of 12 hours per semester. Here in Texas all major state-run universities require you to place in the Top 10% of your class to be automatically admitted to their university (I think UT - Austin just dropped theirs to Top 8%). If you don't fall into those categories, then you either go to a Community College that the university will allow direct transfers into their system, or you attend a lower-tiered 4-year university.

I actually encouraged both my daughters to forgo the major university route, and start their college education at the Community college level. The courses there are a third of what you pay at a major university, the curriculum is easier (major universities tend to gear all their Core classes as "weed out" courses, making it harder for those in attendance), and there's literally no difference in the long run when it comes to your first 60 hours of college course credits. They get an Associates degree they can use to get a better paying part-time job, and an automatic transfer to the same 4-year university they wanted to go to in the first place. When its all said and done, the diploma they receive will have the same University name on it as any student that went there for the full 5 years (4 year degrees are dead and gone, unless you're into masochism.)
That may all be true for certain goals, mostly modest ones. However, the statistics are clear that a student's chances of getting into medical or law school, for example, are much lower if that student attended a community college before completing their baccalaureate at a senior institution.

 

[aggiealum]

Quote:
Originally Posted by GeriDoc http:///t/397250/education/20#post_3540721
That may all be true for certain goals, mostly modest ones. However, the statistics are clear that a student's chances of getting into medical or law school, for example, are much lower if that student attended a community college before completing their baccalaureate at a senior institution.
Depends on which law school or medical school you plan on attending. My wife didn't attend a top-tied university to obtain her Bachelor's, yet she was able to get into the medical school of her choice. My cousin started at Blinn Junior College outside of Brenham, TX, transferred to UT- Austin to finish up his pre-law degree, nailed his LSAT's, and got into their law school. I agree there are certain specialized programs that state you need to attend a senior institution if you plan on getting into those programs (my daughter wants to get into Architecture and ******** Design, and she insists she has to attend the college where that program is being offered in order to be accepted). Just depends on the field you're pursuing.

 

[Tubesik]

Education is always very necessary first. It is a pity that not everyone understands this, and they try to do not the maximum that I would like to get.

 

[Grubbs63]

thanks for this