Our spring-break college tour was great fun! Even though many thought our efforts premature (my son is just a freshman), we learned a lot. For example, my son agonized a great deal about whether or not to take AP Chemistry next year. But based on what we learned last week, because he is interested in applying to several very selective colleges, we’ve decided he should pursue the most challenging high-school curriculum he can handle. So, AP Chemistry it is!
When my daughter was in high school, we suggested that her “JOB” was to work hard and get good grades on a college track. Her job paid off upon graduation when she received scholarships to Cornell, Northeastern, Ressaleer PolyTech, and Stevens Institute.
She chose Cornell, spent one year in Engineering and then applied to the College of Hotel Management for the business background. She has now been working all over the Pacific and now is working in Australia.
She went back to her high school to encourage (inspire) the classes behind her to take the calculus classes and the college level classes, EVEN THOUGH THE COUNSELORS WERE TELLING THE GIRLS THAT THEY DIDN’T NEED *THOSE* MATH CLASSES!
If you want to know if it was worth it, Cornell tuition was running $18,000 per year! Something that we could not have afforded without a scholarship. 4 years of high school = 4 years of a great college!
This caught my eye because I read an article last night in Time Magazine about colleges paying more attention to the student’s high school course listings – AP classes – than to the SAT and ACT scores. Encouraging your son to work hard and take challenging classes sounds like the right idea.