Honors Classes

[Done_Wrong]

The GPA and class standing list

A high-school resume means something regarding college choice. I suspect most parents care for the same reason you encouraged your kids to honors courses; they learn more.

My question still stands for anyone familiar with college admissions. Which looks better on university applications and resumes, the overall GPA or the fact someone took honors courses?

I just seen a high school seniors class standing list with GPA scores. It seems unfair to me that students taking AP classes are ranked with the students taking just A level classes. The message is; if you want it easy - don't challenge yourself take the low level class get straight A's and you will be in the top of your class standings upon graduating high school. I believe a guidance counselor advised a student this path, sadly.
I noticed this in the newspaper listings for honor roll and principals honors - the students with the easy classes are placed equally with the honor/AP students.
I believe the college application process knows which is the better student. But the middle/high school process does not appear statistically correct to me. I believe they want to allow lower level students to feel good by placing with the students who are working hard and challenging themselves.
The GPA did provide for a weighted scale to increase the score based on taking AP classes. I'm not clear why weighted GPA's are not used for graduating class standings and I hope that the college will view the GPA and the level of the classes concurrently.

 

[Radiant1]

What is a Weighted GPA? Learn What a Weighted GPA is in the College Admissions Process

But it all depends on the schools scale

Thank you!

Colleges, however, usually aren't going to use these artificially inflated grades. Yes, they want to see that a student has taken challenging courses, but they need to compare all applicants using the same 4-point grade scale. Most high schools that use weighted GPAs will also include unweighted grades on a student's transcript, and colleges will usually use the unweighted number.

Basically it looks as if universities don't bother with whether one took honors courses or not but rather the basic non-weighted GPA.

So unless a kid and parents are really gung ho on learning more for the sake of learning more, there is absolutely no incentive for a kid to take honors courses. Imo, that is an injustice.

 

[itsbob]

A high-school resume means something regarding college choice. I suspect most parents care for the same reason you encouraged your kids to honors courses; they learn more.

My question still stands for anyone familiar with college admissions. Which looks better on university applications and resumes, the overall GPA or the fact someone took honors courses?

My point is.. WHY should anyone care about "college choice"?

The only connection to school of choice I see is cost.. apparently everyone feels the more you pay, the better the education? That's pure ...

And of course there's the argument "IF I go to an IV league school, I'll get a better starting salary!!"? Of course you can't major in basket weaving in an IV league school too, so maybe it has more to do with what major they choose moreso than the school they choose?

It makes no sense to me to pay 50,000 a year to go to a "first choice school" unless you can guarantee me I'm going to be making 250k a year to start.

Other than that, you'd be MUCH better off going to a state school, being MAYBE 20 - 30k in student debt, and starting at a reasonalbe and acceptable 50k a year job.

But when a high school student comes to you with a list of "preferred colleges" where the tuition is $25,000 a year of more, and they want to major in English, Humanites or History, I would say the guidance counselors at the school, and the parents at home have failed.

 

[somdfunguy]

My point is.. WHY should anyone care about "college choice"?

The only connection to school of choice I see is cost.. apparently everyone feels the more you pay, the better the education? That's pure ...

And of course there's the argument "IF I go to an IV league school, I'll get a better starting salary!!"? Of course you can't major in basket weaving in an IV league school too, so maybe it has more to do with what major they choose moreso than the school they choose?

It makes no sense to me to pay 50,000 a year to go to a "first choice school" unless you can guarantee me I'm going to be making 250k a year to start.

Other than that, you'd be MUCH better off going to a state school, being MAYBE 20 - 30k in student debt, and starting at a reasonalbe and acceptable 50k a year job.

But when a high school student comes to you with a list of "preferred colleges" where the tuition is $25,000 a year of more, and they want to major in English, Humanites or History, I would say the guidance counselors at the school, and the parents at home have failed.

agreed! i have a bachelors and mba and no debt. working on another masters now and still no debt. there is a lot to be said about leaving school without debt.

 

[Radiant1]

My point is.. WHY should anyone care about "college choice"?

The only connection to school of choice I see is cost.. apparently everyone feels the more you pay, the better the education? That's pure ...

And of course there's the argument "IF I go to an IV league school, I'll get a better starting salary!!"? Of course you can't major in basket weaving in an IV league school too, so maybe it has more to do with what major they choose moreso than the school they choose?

It makes no sense to me to pay 50,000 a year to go to a "first choice school" unless you can guarantee me I'm going to be making 250k a year to start.

Other than that, you'd be MUCH better off going to a state school, being MAYBE 20 - 30k in student debt, and starting at a reasonalbe and acceptable 50k a year job.

But when a high school student comes to you with a list of "preferred colleges" where the tuition is $25,000 a year of more, and they want to major in English, Humanites or History, I would say the guidance counselors at the school, and the parents at home have failed.

My oldest son is going to SMC for his masters degree in English education without the use of student loans and no debt. I KNEW I should have told my kid to enroll in that cheaper non-accredited online school instead! I have obviously failed him as a parent.

 

[itsbob]

My oldest son is going to SMC for his masters degree in English education without the use of student loans and no debt. I KNEW I should have told my kid to enroll in that cheaper non-accredited online school instead! I have obviously failed him as a parent.

Stretch what I said much?

NOWHERE did I suggest unaccredited schools, nor did I even suggest online ed..

SMC is Saint Mary's College.. Not sure what their tuition is, but I'm assuming not cheap..

 

[Radiant1]

Stretch what I said much?

NOWHERE did I suggest unaccredited schools, nor did I even suggest online ed..

SMC is Saint Mary's College.. Not sure what their tuition is, but I'm assuming not cheap..

Not cheap but could be worse. :shrug: Maybe I just should have packed him off to U of MD, Towson, or Frostburg instead; after all, he won't even be making 50K a year as a teacher.

 

[RareBreed]

Oldest will be taking all Honors classes again next year (7th grade)!!

 

[kwillia]

Oldest will be taking all Honors classes again next year (7th grade)!!

Proof once again that the schooling is there... it is all about whether or not the child choses to take advantage of the opportunities to educate and better themselves...

 

[struggler44]

Oldest will be taking all Honors classes again next year (7th grade)!!

Proof once again that the schooling is there... it is all about whether or not the child choses to take advantage of the opportunities to educate and better themselves...

Another plus is as they get older the credits earned in HS can count towards college credits as well. Both my daughters are in HS and they both will start college with credits earned in math and maybe English... not positive on the English credit but the local schools have a dual enrollment program with CSM and many other colleges will accept the credits as well.

 

[Radiant1]

My daughter will be starting high school next year with three graduation credits already under her belt due to honors classes in middle school (2 math, 1 foreign language). She can and plans to graduate in her Junior year.

 

[RareBreed]

My daughter will be starting high school next year with three graduation credits already under her belt due to honors classes in middle school (2 math, 1 foreign language). She can and plans to graduate in her Junior year.

WOW!! Good for her!!

 

[Chasey_Lane]

My daughter will be starting high school next year with three graduation credits already under her belt due to honors classes in middle school (2 math, 1 foreign language). She can and plans to graduate in her Junior year.

Awesome!! That's my daughter's plan as well, which will be next year for her. I told her that she'll miss her friends but she insists that's what she wants.

 

[nomoney]

Oldest is starting highschool next year, he's already in STEM but has become interested as well with the Global and International Studies program they offer. Anyone have any kiddos in that program? Thoughts?

 

[czygvtwkr]

My oldest son is going to SMC for his masters degree in English education without the use of student loans and no debt. I KNEW I should have told my kid to enroll in that cheaper non-accredited online school instead! I have obviously failed him as a parent.

SMC isn't cheap but it's not like your paying for Yale or Princeton, and it IS a state school.

 

[SG_Player1974]

My oldest son is going to SMC for his masters degree in English education without the use of student loans and no debt.

Knowing that SMC is a particularly expensive institution to attend, I suppose there are A LOT of parents here that would be interested in exactly HOW this happened?

Full-ride scholarship?
Parents paying?
Lottery?

Do share...

 

[Radiant1]

Knowing that SMC is a particularly expensive institution to attend, I suppose there are A LOT of parents here that would be interested in exactly HOW this happened?

Full-ride scholarship?
Parents paying?
Lottery?

Do share...

Cash. It was cheaper to send him to St. Mary's as a commuter than it was to ship him off and pay tuition as well as room/board at UofM, Towson, etc.

 

[molly_21]

Awesome!! That's my daughter's plan as well, which will be next year for her. I told her that she'll miss her friends but she insists that's what she wants.

Back 21 years ago when CSM (well then it was still CCCC) just was starting to let seniors do their freshman year/ Senior year at CCCC. One of my classmates took advantage of that opp (since the only class she would have taken her senior year was AP English and she had her other credits). Some of the students who did not know her thought she was crazy for doing it and said stuff like, "Your going to miss the prom (homecoming, etc)." She was not into that stuff 9th-11th grade, why would it make a difference for 12th grade?!-)

In reality (this of course was waaaay before Facebook, etc) it really did not make a difference with her social life. She made new friends and still kept track of her old friends (since she was still living at home while going to CCCC), worked, and time for study.

 

[SG_Player1974]

Cash. It was cheaper to send him to St. Mary's as a commuter than it was to ship him off and pay tuition as well as room/board at UofM, Towson, etc.

I applaud you!

Still... no loans... no debt at all? I know I don't have the spare cash laying around to pay FULL tuition to SMC!

 

[RareBreed]

First off, let me say that I have already emailed the Guidance Counselor and will follow up with a phone call in the next day or two if I get no response from the email but I'd like your thoughts on this...

My son's Course Request list came in the mail yesterday and I noticed that he isn't taking an English course. Is that normal for 7th grade in Calvert County? And last year, he was taking 8 classes and this coming year, only 6 unless Advisory and Core Honors are considered classes which I doubt they are. I will assume everything is on the up and up because his Guidance Counselor had to sign off on his request.

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