Changing to Grade Level History(not AP or Dual Credit)

I am in Texas and to graduate with a recommended or distinguished high school diploma the student is required to have 4 credits of history. When would she make up this credit? In summer school? Is it offered in summer school?

Also, automatic admission to a Texas state school is top 10% of graduating class not top 25% (which is top quarter). Unless her desired school is not a state school in Texas.

I agree have a couple of back up schools in case the top choice does not work out. Good luck!!

In our district, junior year is the toughest in terms of workload.

I hope your daughter is not focused entirely on grades, AP and percentiles. The kid next to us was "owned" by AP pressure, and he had no high school life. Everything was "hard" and there was no time for a social life or activities. My son, by contrast, didn't take AP classes except for one during his senior year. He had several activities (track/XC at school, stuff through the community, some things through the synagogue) and leadership development opportunities. He didn't stress about test prep courses, and he took the SAT and the ACT once each. He got into a better college than the kid who was miserable and had better grades.

My son also had a couple of schools on his list. He had not decided that there was only one school for him, as your daughter seems to have done. I think that's a huge risk, frankly. Also, remember that a highly competitive school like her choice will have an entire freshman class of high performing high school grads, and she will be in classes with competitive kids with high grades. If she cannot handle the workload now, in 11th grade, how will she handle that and much more in college? How, why and when did she choose this one college? Is it possible that her perspective may expand and change throughout this year and into senior year when she has to decide?

From your brief post, it really sounds like she's not talking the long view here. There are plenty of great colleges for every student, and it's not just about grades and test scores.

Yes, she should talk to her guidance counselor and maybe she should visit the school she is hell-bent on and talk to the admissions staff.

I think she really needs to sit down with her guidance counselor and map out her strategy. I agree with the others, she should have several contingency plans in line as well. We don't always get our first choice. So she needs to have backups. Good luck!

Your daughter's guidance counselor is the person to speak with about this. ASAP!

if that's what she wants.

but i'm sad that with this degree of intelligence and work ethic the focus is still on percentiles. i know it's unrealistic for knowledge and a love of learning to be the only goals, but i wish you'd worry more about the amount of pressure she's under and less about her not being high enough in the top quarter.

khairete
S.

Definitely a question which your daughter should ask her guidance counselor as part of a fuller conversation about college selection and application strategies. She needs to have not only a plan B, but a plan C (several backup plans). For now, I think she should consider whether she really will enjoy moving into a lower-level class with potentially far-less-motivated fellow students. She's still going to need to do the reading and the work to get an A, and if the teacher is constantly having to bring the class back on task, it will actually be harder for her to do that learning. I mention this because one of my son's friends who was enrolled in some honors-level classes and some regular-level classes said that the regular-level classes were really frustrating because the other students were uninterested in learning and it ruined the classes for him. I think that obsessing about class rank when the grades are fine might be counter-productive, so she needs to be clear on what she will gain or lose by changing.

Hopefully she has a really good counselor at school. That is who she should talk to. I would also make sure that the schools she is considering will accept the AP classes. My kids took AP classes and it turned out the schools they chose did not accept the credits towards their degrees. One took a dual credit and that was applied but not the AP. My son was told that his would have taken the AP in history if (and only if) he had gotten a 5. He got a 4 on the AP test.
In my experience, all states have the requirements for a certain amount of history, English, science and math to qualify to graduate.

Updated

Hopefully she has a really good counselor at school. That is who she should talk to. I would also make sure that the schools she is considering will accept the AP classes. My kids took AP classes and it turned out the schools they chose did not accept the credits towards their degrees. One took a dual credit and that was applied but not the AP. My son was told that his would have taken the AP in history if (and only if) he had gotten a 5. He got a 4 on the AP test.
In my experience, all states have the requirements for a certain amount of history, English, science and math to qualify to graduate.

Her guidance counselor and teacher(s) are the people you need to talk to.
Be sure about what the difference in work there is between the different classes - there usually isn't a really big difference.
Also consider getting her a tutor.
Where is she spending her time?
If she's involved in a time consuming activity then maybe she needs to drop the activity and focus on her grades and studying.
Same if she's spending a lot of time with friends.
It's not a bad idea for her to have a backup plan just in case she doesn't get into her first choice of college.
She should have a second and a third choice too.

I think you should step back and let your daughter decide herself what to do about her classes. If she's asking you for advice, I'd encourage her to visit her guidance counselor.

Have you talked to the colleges that she plans to apply to, to find out if they will even accept AP credit? Some schools don't, some schools will only accept it in core classes outside your major, etc.

Talk to the college, talk to the guidance counselor, and talk to your child. She needs to be able to enjoy life in addition to doing well in school.

I think she needs to decide what is the best choice for her future, however your questions was is there any reason not to let her switch. One reason that parents and students don't often consider is that the school hired and scheduled based on what the students signed up for. Every year when we have students who want to switch it really throws off class sizes and AP classes end up being small and regular classes end up being over the accepted threshhold. Her decision to switch impacts more than just her. Full disclosure, I am an AP teacher, but...I don't believe in crushing kids with homework and reading.

I was in GATE classes in high school (before there were a lot of AP class options). I had to move down to grade level classes when I didn't maintain an A in GATE classes. You were forced out at that time, even if you earned a B+. I still got into college and eventually had a successful career with a management role at a corporation. GATE and AP are certainly worth pursuing, but they don't define you. I'd make the switch.

Yes, let it go. AP classes are great and all, but from my experience, they really pile it on and because it is AP, they grade harder. My niece said the High School AP classes she took were way harder than the actual college classes. Unless she is planning on being a history major, why put yourself or herself through it?