High school classes

[houseelf]

We are going to a forum to choose DS1's HS classes for next year. He plans on trying out for both the soccer team and the lacrosse team and has a v. good chance of making both teams. I'm leaning towards letting him take a study hall, DH is unsure how this will look for college. To those of you who have gone through this before (recently), do you have any advice on class choice and/or study hall?

Thanks in advance.

[Sheherezade]

My son always took a study hall. He used it. I don't know how colleges will look at this yet, but it has been our experience that it impacts the GPA. He has done very well and isn't a stressed out kid. He was accepted to OSU Honors and Purdue Engineering so far with scholarships to both. He has an interview with Columbia, but that might be the whole double legacy thing. Time will tell! Fingers crossed!


Angie

[peggyfromwastate]

Do you have a certain number of classes required per day? My dd has a wacky schedule but basically she can sign up for 5-7 classes-- as long as she takes 5 that's ok especially if she has some AP classes. So I think a "study hall" doesn't look bad-- here they don't call it study hall-- just free period.

[Ladybug]

All of our upper school kids have at least one study hall, if not more. Work load is heavy these days. Does your school have a college counselor you can talk to? Some kids are more responsible with their time than others. The study halls here have a teacher that takes role, keeps them quiet, etc., but it's easy to spend your time goofing around online too. Like I am right now. I need a mommy kick in the pants ASAP.

[houseelf]

Like I am right now. I need a mommy kick in the pants ASAP.

Yeah, I think the whole world does right now. I was laughing about the slow internet thread. It's like eleventy degrees below zero, of course we're all battling for more bandwidth!

[Pollyanna]

Good grades and a study hall will be far more helpful then average grades and no study hall in terms of getting into college. What does your ds want to do? This is the time you lay out the options and let him decide for himself. He's going to do great!!!

[mommax3]

Do the study hall!

[Vanquisher]

Ryan wouldn't take it. It would bring down his weighted GPA. The horror!! He is expecting to graduate with 18-19 AP classes under his belt, likely valedictorian (unless something goes horribly wrong), along with clubs and teams and volunteer work. He'd hate study hall.

I think it would absolutely depend on the structure, who is teaching it, and your kid. Alexia, I think, would get a lot out of a dedicated study hall. She's just so damned slow, and could use the extra time that is built in. Ryan never studies, finishes his work before leaving class in most cases, and would find study hall to be a complete waste of time. He'd hate being either forced to study something he considers easy or goofing off while he has to be in school anyway.

So, I think it is totally up to you. If I were an admissions counselor, I'd look at it one of two ways:

1. Good for him for setting priorities and managing time by taking study hall.

Or

2. Maybe he should have taken a more rigorous course in its place.

It depends entirely on his goals. Where does he want to go?

[SoonerTexan]

I took senior out both semesters of my senior year I don't even think they offer it anymore