sbgrace Posted October 29, 2020 Share Posted October 29, 2020 Would it be unwise to list courses on a high school transcript, as electives, that aren't typical and aren't on the state website as accepted high school courses for public schools? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted October 29, 2020 Share Posted October 29, 2020 No. My kids have had credits for theology, philosophy, meteorology, geology, astronomy, black holes and dark matter, communism in the 20th century, French history in French, Russian literature, etc. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BakersDozen Posted October 29, 2020 Share Posted October 29, 2020 One of my girls nailed an impressive scholarship because the board members so enjoyed seeing the variety of interesting classes on her transcript. So yes, if your dc has taken the class, put it on there! 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2scouts Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 I think classes outside the normal public school classes are going to get the attention of college admissions in a good way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theelfqueen Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 Hell no. Let your kid do what is good for them and it can shine. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 The one class my older boy took that was commented on over and over again by different admissions departments was Organic Chemistry. Apparently, that one really stood out. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 On 10/28/2020 at 5:15 PM, sbgrace said: Would it be unwise to list courses on a high school transcript, as electives, that aren't typical and aren't on the state website as accepted high school courses for public schools? I listed all kinds of weird courses on my sons' transcripts. They both got into their top choices (selective, but not tippy top selective). My feeling was that having out-of-the-box courses would make their applications stand out a bit. I also wanted the transcript to give a good sense of what they had done--in other words, I didn't want all of the specialness of their programs to be buried in the course descriptions. Note that they also had all of the standard courses listed as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dicentra Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 12 hours ago, lewelma said: The one class my older boy took that was commented on over and over again by different admissions departments was Organic Chemistry. Apparently, that one really stood out. That's interesting to hear, lewelma! When I created my Org Chem/Biochem intro course for my dd and then decided to offer it to homeschoolers, I wasn't sure if it was something that would appeal to lots of high school students or if it was something that people would see the value of. It's nice to hear that admissions departments see early (high school) exposure to those subjects as valuable. 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 19 minutes ago, Dicentra said: That's interesting to hear, lewelma! When I created my Org Chem/Biochem intro course for my dd and then decided to offer it to homeschoolers, I wasn't sure if it was something that would appeal to lots of high school students or if it was something that people would see the value of. It's nice to hear that admissions departments see early (high school) exposure to those subjects as valuable. 🙂 He took the equivalent of AP chemistry, and then did an additional 1/2 course in Organic chemistry. Pretty intensive, I might add. Here are the final exams for the last three years. They can't get all the content onto one exam, so I figured looking at three would be good to see all the content we covered. https://www.nzqa.govt.nz/nqfdocs/ncea-resource/exams/2019/91391-exm-2019.pdf https://www.nzqa.govt.nz/nqfdocs/ncea-resource/exams/2018/91391-exm-2018.pdf https://www.nzqa.govt.nz/nqfdocs/ncea-resource/exams/2017/91391-exm-2017.pdf He also did compound identification through spectroscopy. They used IR spectra, C NMR spectroscopy, and Mass spectrometry to identify compounds like methyl propanoate or 3-chlorobut-1-ene. He worked for a solid 20 weeks to get through all this content, so it was not a lightweight course. Both Carnegie Mellon and MIT commented on it in his interviews. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 (edited) My older boy also did a 10 week long paper on the chemistry behind fracking. Now that was a mind teaser when we ended up in chemical engineering textbooks. Unfortunately, I had no room on his transcript to pull that one out. My younger is doing his paper on the chemistry of microplastics. So more orgo! Edited November 1, 2020 by lewelma 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dicentra Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 5 minutes ago, lewelma said: He took the equivalent of AP chemistry, and then did an additional 1/2 course in Organic chemistry. Pretty intensive, I might add. Here are the final exams for the last three years. They can't get all the content onto one exam, so I figured looking at three would be good to see all the content we covered. https://www.nzqa.govt.nz/nqfdocs/ncea-resource/exams/2019/91391-exm-2019.pdf https://www.nzqa.govt.nz/nqfdocs/ncea-resource/exams/2018/91391-exm-2018.pdf https://www.nzqa.govt.nz/nqfdocs/ncea-resource/exams/2017/91391-exm-2017.pdf He also did compound identification through spectroscopy. They used IR spectra, C NMR spectroscopy, and Mass spectrometry to identify compounds like methyl propanoate or 3-chlorobut-1-ene. He worked for a solid 20 weeks to get through all this content, so it was not a lightweight course. Both Carnegie Mellon and MIT commented on it in his interviews. Thanks for the links to the exams, lewelma! My course doesn't go into spectroscopy (it's more just introducing naming/structure/properties/reactions and a bit of mechanisms and synthesis) but I've often thought about offering another course that delves deeper into mechanisms and synthesis and spectroscopy. I remember running GC-mass spec and IR and NMR in uni and analyzing the print-outs. It was actual print-outs in those days. 😉 2 minutes ago, lewelma said: My older boy also did a 10 week long paper on the chemistry behind fracking. Now that was a mind teaser when we ended up in chemical engineering textbooks. Unfortunately, I had no room on his transcript to pull that one out. My younger is doing his paper on the chemistry of microplastics. So more orgo! That's another idea I had for an advanced high school org chem half-course - polymers. We could look at the structures, types, kinetics - so much fun stuff to cover! 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 12 minutes ago, Dicentra said: Thanks for the links to the exams, lewelma! My course doesn't go into spectroscopy (it's more just introducing naming/structure/properties/reactions and a bit of mechanisms and synthesis) but I've often thought about offering another course that delves deeper into mechanisms and synthesis and spectroscopy. I remember running GC-mass spec and IR and NMR in uni and analyzing the print-outs. It was actual print-outs in those days. 😉 That's another idea I had for an advanced high school org chem half-course - polymers. We could look at the structures, types, kinetics - so much fun stuff to cover! 🙂 One third of the Orgo exam is on polymers. Condensation and Hydrolysis of Polyesters and Polyamides under both acidic and basic conditions. Super fun! For ds's paper on microplastics, he is studying the difference between thermosets and thermoplastics and the impact of their chemical structure on both their recyclability and breakdown in the environment. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dicentra Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 2 minutes ago, lewelma said: One third of the Orgo exam is on polymers. Condensation and Hydrolysis of Polyesters and Polyamides under both acidic and basic conditions. Super fun! For ds's paper on microplastics, he is studying the difference between thermosets and thermoplastics and the impact of their chemical structure on both their recyclability and breakdown in the environment. Love, love, love!! 😄 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted November 2, 2020 Share Posted November 2, 2020 You don't even need to stick with standard courses for all of your core classes, so go wild with electives. Foreign language is the one thing I find most colleges are looking for that some people still put in the 'electives' category, but it's really not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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