by NYC Private Schools on February 10, 2010
Access and admittance into Advanced Placement classes in a NYC Private School is one of the many factors that prepare students for college admissions and the rigors of academic excellence from early on.
Not every NYC Private School offers Advanced Placement classes, though most do because it is a practice that is simply in keeping with the advanced academic focus of many schools. In many schools, it is not the availability of AP classes, but in gaining admission into them. Just like there are many Private Schools, but getting in can be difficult, gaining entry into a school’s AP curriculum can be a challenge.
The right school will be one that offers a wide variety of advanced placement courses in addition to having a high number of students who qualify for and utilize the program. In the NYC school environment many students actively apply to those schools offering the right number of advanced placement courses in the areas that interest them the most.
An Advanced Placement Program is a three year sequence of course work, offered by the College Board and concentrating on a number of subject areas. AP courses are optional, but highly desirable because they offer students the opportunity to work at a first year college level and take a passing exam in May of the senior year. A successful score in an AP course generally eliminates the need to take the equivalent first year college course.
If your child expects to take advantage of their school’s Advanced Placement classes, talk to the school about their admissions guidelines for AP programs.
by NYC Private Schools on January 12, 2010
There will always be a place for people who have the same interests and talents to gather, exchange stories and information and become even better experienced in their chosen specialties. In the High School years, these groups, or societites, are created and kept to honor those who have achieved a high level of proficiency in a particular specialty.
The National Honor Society, for instance, accepts student who maintain at least a 3.0, though in many schools acceptance to this society requires an even higher total G.P.A.
As Honor Societies have become a badge of, well, honor for students upon graduation and on college resumes, more and more of these societies have been created. Some believe that the ready availability of so many Honor Societies has diluted the idea of them in the first place, as bastions of the high achiever.
The New York Times ran a recent article discussing the proliferation of Honor Societies as badges of achievement in High School. As students gather to themselves more cords of advanced achievement, are they really earning to that mark with dedication to each society?
With so many societies, some students are unable to attend all of the meetings and shirk their duties with the groups, showing up only to collect the “honor cord” — a decorative tassel — to wear at graduation.
Commack is one of many places where educators and parents are re-examining the role of honor societies, which started out as an academic distinction reserved for the top 5 or 10 percent of a class but have become a routine item on college résumés.
“The problem comes when you’re trying to run an honor society where kids don’t want to be and they’re skipping meetings and they’re not doing anything,” said Amanda Seres, president of the 168-member English society.
Amanda said she joined only two other societies (national and English) so as not to overextend, but acknowledged that “it will be kind of hard in May when I’ll have three honor cords and everyone else will have nine.”
Many addmissions deans of colleges have begun to notice the applications coming through the doors that are almost littered with honor society placements and have begun to question whether or not a student can truly give their all when they are spread out so thin.
Loading ...