2026 Masterman Course Selection Review

Every January, Masterman students are faced with one of the most important academic decisions: Course Selection. While Masterman has a notably smaller student body than many other Philadelphia high schools, the administration has continued to offer new courses for students of every grade level. With recent additions including Creative Writing and AP Psychology, course selection has become an increasingly complex decision for many students. It is important to note that the course selection experience varies among students, particularly across the different grade levels. An anonymous freshman stated, “Choosing between classes wasn't something that I had to spend that much time thinking about. The process was pretty straightforward, and really the only decision I had to think about was between prioritizing math or art.” In comparison, the other grades were asked to choose between more courses and pathways. “My grade is definitely upset over the courses they got into,” said Annabelle Dinh (‘27).”Some people didn’t get accepted into the courses they wanted. . . There’s also waitlists for some courses, and they don’t tell us where we are, so we don’t know when we’ll get accepted or if we even have a shot of joining that class.”

Mr. Gilken, the high school dean, provided some unique insights into the course selection process. When asked about how new courses are determined, Mr. Gilken responded, “New additions are determined by our teacher allocations, that’s the first thing we need to consider … A few years ago, as our student population grew, I believe we got another English/Social Studies position that Mr. Rauscher filled, and when that happened, we were able to add AP Psychology.” Notably, this indicates a direct link between student count and course variety, explaining the often frustrating lack of course variety at Masterman compared to other, much larger, high schools. Mr. Gilken continued: “Our student numbers are pretty static, so we won’t be able to add anything on top of what we had because we’re gonna have the same number of teachers allocated to the same subject area.” Essentially, this means Masterman won’t be getting any additional courses until the student body is expanded further.

As Masterman continues to grow and develop, growth in both the content and quality of the course load is inevitable, allowing students to shape their transcripts around whichever college pathway they like. However, it is important to remember that regardless of the courses you end up with, you will always be on a college-viable path. As Mr. Gilken explained, “no matter what path you choose, no matter what your course load is, if you work hard and you do well from this school, from Masterman, and your grades reflect you doing well, you’re not gonna limit yourself in terms of colleges that you’re gonna get into.”