High School Guide: Admissions, reviews, and advice

She hasn't even really gotten out there to experience all the different parts of nature yet, so she can't exactly claim to be an expert on gardening or anything like that just yet, right?

True, she definitely has a "mathematical" brain—programming and math just seem to click for her effortlessly.

Peter Rogers said:She hasn't even really gotten out there to experience all the different parts of nature yet, so she can't exactly claim to be an expert on gardening or anything like that just yet, right?

What do you mean she hasn't? What grade is she even in?
Hold on, are we seriously talking about high school curriculum for kids who are only in fifth or sixth grade? 😬

silentmason4 said:What do you mean she hasn't? What grade is she even in?
Hold on, are we seriously talking about high school curriculum for kids who are only in fifth or sixth grade? 😬

Since sixth grade is wrapping up, everyone is starting to talk about high school options and crunching their GPA numbers. 🤷

Back in eighth grade, my entire class was convinced they were all going to become chemical technicians, yet when applications actually opened up, he completely changed his mind and relegated that path to just a fourth choice... I don't think even in sixth grade had the slightest inkling that high schools even offered specialized vocational tracks like that. 😁

Even at my house, a sixth grader isn't even dreaming about high school yet. They’re way more preoccupied with some second grader in their class 😁
Honestly, an eighth grader is just starting to wrap their head around the pros and cons of the different school options out there.

rowdypanther12 said:Since sixth grade is wrapping up, everyone is starting to talk about high school options and crunching their GPA numbers. 🤷

...and then they’ll probably change their minds a hundred times before they finish being an eighth grader.
It’s like every week brings a totally different vision. One day it’s wanting to be a surgeon, the next it's a makeup artist. 😬

But honestly, that shouldn't stop us from swapping notes on all the different schools—if anything, we should be doing more of it. I actually heard the principal over at Lincoln High was just on the news, and apparently, he’s incredibly hands-on with everything, from the heavy-duty admin stuff down to just chatting with the students. On the surface, that sounds absolutely fantastic, but I can't help but feel like there might be a catch somewhere. o.O

Yeah, I mean, she could definitely aim for an auto mechanic program in eighth grade. But since she’s already thinking about this and I don't really have any expert advice to offer, I figured I'd ask about these career paths 😁

My dad ended up selecting a bunch of subjects for him—everything from chemistry and biology to physics, geography, and technical studies...
It was basically designed so there wouldn't be a single moment where he could just sit back, shrug his shoulders, and claim he didn't care because it wouldn't affect his enrollment status.
But, as luck would have it, he actually qualified for every single one of them. He even threw in a prep school as a sixth choice, even though it wasn't technically an option for him, just to see how much weight his application might carry...

Drew Johnson2 said:My dad ended up selecting a bunch of subjects for him—everything from chemistry and biology to physics, geography, and technical studies...
It was basically designed so there wouldn't be a single moment where he could just sit back, shrug his shoulders, and claim he didn't care because it wouldn't affect his enrollment status.
But, as luck would have it, he actually qualified for every single one of them. He even threw in a prep school as a sixth choice, even though it wasn't technically an option for him, just to see how much weight his application might carry...

Do you know what his GPA was?

rowdypanther12 said:I don't agree either, though people have made much worse choices when picking a school (myself included).😂

What I'm actually wondering about is the distinction between a "good" prep school and a "bad" one—don't they all follow the same curriculum?
And is a general college-prep track the best route for kids who excel at both languages and math but haven't figured out what they want to major in yet?

When it comes to heading off to college later on, I honestly think it doesn't matter much; you can pretty much get into any university regardless of which high school you attended.

I went the general track myself, and even though it was quite a while ago, back then the distinction worked roughly like this: the humanities tracks would take a third language, but they had way less math and physics. On the flip side, the STEM-focused students would have a much heavier load of math and physics starting in their junior year compared to us in the general track (which basically meant it was more intense for them). We had an extra history period and some other stuff I can't quite recall. It’s worth noting that in my high school, there were actually two different math tracks—one included a second language, while the other was "hardcore" math and science with a massive amount of coursework.

Nowadays, if you look at a place like Cleveland, for example, the difference is more that the math tracks focus heavily on computer science rather than just cranking up the physics.

But honestly, in my book, the general track is the way to go, mostly because I was too lazy to grind through extra languages and wasn't quite as obsessed with math (even though, say, back in middle school, I used to enter competitions and did really well—but that was mostly because my mom pushed me, and I ditched the extra math classes the second I could 😁 ).

Where we grew up in the rural parts of the country, it was simpler because we only had a handful of high schools; one was geared toward the math types, another toward the social science types (though both offered general and math options), and there was a third one that we all kind of considered inferior to the first two (though I couldn't tell you exactly why 😁 ).

In big cities, you’ve got a huge variety of schools, and they’re usually ranked by how well their students perform in academic competitions. My theory is that if the top-tier students all flock to those specific schools, the teachers tend to be more demanding, which creates a situation where anyone who gets in but struggles to keep up ends up having a really hard time.

Anyway, your little girl still has plenty of time ahead of her; hopefully, she'll figure out what she wants when the time comes.
As for me, I actually picked my high school simply because there was a boy I had a crush on going there 🙂😁

Karen Richardson3 said:When it comes to heading off to college later on, I honestly think it doesn't matter much; you can pretty much get into any university regardless of which high school you attended.

I went the general track myself, and even though it was quite a while ago, back then the distinction worked roughly like this: the humanities tracks would take a third language, but they had way less math and physics. On the flip side, the STEM-focused students would have a much heavier load of math and physics starting in their junior year compared to us in the general track (which basically meant it was more intense for them). We had an extra history period and some other stuff I can't quite recall. It’s worth noting that in my high school, there were actually two different math tracks—one included a second language, while the other was "hardcore" math and science with a massive amount of coursework.

Nowadays, if you look at a place like Cleveland, for example, the difference is more that the math tracks focus heavily on computer science rather than just cranking up the physics.

But honestly, in my book, the general track is the way to go, mostly because I was too lazy to grind through extra languages and wasn't quite as obsessed with math (even though, say, back in middle school, I used to enter competitions and did really well—but that was mostly because my mom pushed me, and I ditched the extra math classes the second I could 😁 ).

Where we grew up in the rural parts of the country, it was simpler because we only had a handful of high schools; one was geared toward the math types, another toward the social science types (though both offered general and math options), and there was a third one that we all kind of considered inferior to the first two (though I couldn't tell you exactly why 😁 ).

In big cities, you’ve got a huge variety of schools, and they’re usually ranked by how well their students perform in academic competitions. My theory is that if the top-tier students all flock to those specific schools, the teachers tend to be more demanding, which creates a situation where anyone who gets in but struggles to keep up ends up having a really hard time.

Anyway, your little girl still has plenty of time ahead of her; hopefully, she'll figure out what she wants when the time comes.
As for me, I actually picked my high school simply because there was a boy I had a crush on going there 🙂😁

Now, being someone who went through the high school system in Cleveland, I’m genuinely curious which ones you're talking about here.
In Cleveland, we've got four main high schools, plus some specialized tracks at the local university and even a program over at the US Army academy, not to mention maybe Adam's if you count the private options... honestly, am I missing any others?

Peter Rogers said:Now, being someone who went through the high school system in Cleveland, I’m genuinely curious which ones you're talking about here.
In Cleveland, we've got four main high schools, plus some specialized tracks at the local university and even a program over at the US Army academy, not to mention maybe Adam's if you count the private options... honestly, am I missing any others?

I completely blanked on the Salesian school; my mind just jumped straight to the local prep academy, the Sušački one, and the Cleveland high school, so I have no clue what those acronyms you mentioned are even supposed to be.😁

The US Army school is basically a music academy that offers a general high school track with extra music classes thrown in, and that other one—I’m pretty sure they cut the name short, I can't quite recall which one—it's some kind of graphic arts and science hybrid that only takes a math-focused group of students once every generation.

silentmason4 said:Do you know what his GPA was?

Well, it really all hinges on which major he actually applied for... because for the one he ultimately enrolled in, his score was 72. His highest single score for any one subject was 75, if you were wondering...

Peter Rogers said:The US Army school is basically a music academy that offers a general high school track with extra music classes thrown in, and that other one—I’m pretty sure they cut the name short, I can't quite recall which one—it's some kind of graphic arts and science hybrid that only takes a math-focused group of students once every generation.

Honestly, I didn't even know that existed... maybe it hasn't been around for the last 20 years? 😁

Anyway, let me correct myself there; I’d say in Cleveland, the GAM school is really the only one that stands out for math students if you look at how they perform in competitions, but the others are probably pretty much on par, though I personally have a soft spot for the one I attended. 😁

On the flip side, regarding enrollment, I heard the biggest rush this year was for the sports program over at the Cleveland school. If I remember right, they also have that specialized program taught in English, but I honestly never know what to make of those trendy new tracks—it's hard to tell if they actually deliver quality education or if it's just a massive PR stunt.
(That private high school is supposedly just a way for kids who wouldn't normally make it through a standard curriculum to buy their way into a diploma, which seems to be a common pattern with private schools here in the States.)

In my case, I had applied for two different majors, and I had to sit through an entrance exam that didn't even award points—it was strictly a pass-or-fail situation... and even then, quite a few people failed, including some who actually had incredibly high scores on their initial applications.

I don't really know anything about them, to be honest.
I have this whole emotional connection to my old school, so I can't say for sure if it actually turned out as great for everyone else as it did for me, but since most of my old classmates seem to have made it big in life, I guess they didn't exactly fail to push them to the next level.
The local community college totally caught me off guard, though; my son told me that at the info session yesterday, they mentioned their entry requirements are actually pretty low, like you could get in with just 75 points, whereas I always assumed the pool of straight-A students was way more competitive than that.
That Salesian school has always been kind of uninspiring to me, mostly because it feels like they aren't really focused on anything spiritual.
The music program has a general direction, I suppose, but personally, I think the natural sciences are way too underrepresented—it almost feels more like a liberal arts academy to me.
As for this last one, I don't think it even lasts that long.

But look, I graduated back in '99, so I'm only just now getting reacquainted with how all these enrollment options work.

Anyway, I ended up enrolling in my school mainly because the other two choices were way too far from home, and my family wasn't exactly supportive of my plans to go somewhere else since my aunt thinks she's such a genius... Oh, right.
Back in '95, I was completely in the dark about the school selection process because my parents refused to buy the local papers, so all I knew was that there were these three high schools available—including the one I wanted in Santa Barbara and that business school I absolutely hated.

Back when I was enrolling, the whole process was incredibly straightforward... we essentially had two tracks: academic prep or vocational training. If you were the type to hit the books, you went into the college preparatory track, and if not, you headed straight into hospitality school. Every year, maybe three or four top students from our graduating class would end up heading off to San Francisco.

Peter Rogers said:I don't really know anything about them, to be honest.
I have this whole emotional connection to my old school, so I can't say for sure if it actually turned out as great for everyone else as it did for me, but since most of my old classmates seem to have made it big in life, I guess they didn't exactly fail to push them to the next level.
The local community college totally caught me off guard, though; my son told me that at the info session yesterday, they mentioned their entry requirements are actually pretty low, like you could get in with just 75 points, whereas I always assumed the pool of straight-A students was way more competitive than that.
That Salesian school has always been kind of uninspiring to me, mostly because it feels like they aren't really focused on anything spiritual.
The music program has a general direction, I suppose, but personally, I think the natural sciences are way too underrepresented—it almost feels more like a liberal arts academy to me.
As for this last one, I don't think it even lasts that long.

But look, I graduated back in '99, so I'm only just now getting reacquainted with how all these enrollment options work.

Anyway, I ended up enrolling in my school mainly because the other two choices were way too far from home, and my family wasn't exactly supportive of my plans to go somewhere else since my aunt thinks she's such a genius... Oh, right.
Back in '95, I was completely in the dark about the school selection process because my parents refused to buy the local papers, so all I knew was that there were these three high schools available—including the one I wanted in Santa Barbara and that business school I absolutely hated.

Regarding that math competition, it was basically the same story back in my day too—if I'm remembering correctly, we were a few years apart and went to the same high school.
There was never really a massive rush for it, and they were usually the only ones consistently producing students who could qualify for the national level in science subjects; apparently, their top performers even used to get direct admission into MIT or some major engineering school like that (though I'm not sure if they still do that nowadays).

Actually, from what I can tell, there's always been a huge demand for general studies in Cleveland, whereas those "hardcore" math tracks usually end up with fewer students enrolled. It’s similar to how people here always flock toward the specialized vocational programs, like pharmacy or dental tech.