I am working on a pretty complicated query let me try to explain it to you. Here is the tables that I have in my MySQL database:

students Table

--- `students` ---
student_id    first_name    last_name    current_status    status_change_date
------------  ------------  -----------  ----------------  --------------------
1             John          Doe          Active            NULL
2             Jane          Doe          Retread           2012-02-01

students_have_courses Table

--- `students_have_courses` ---
students_student_id    courses_course_id    s_date      e_date      int_date
---------------------  -------------------  ----------  ----------  -----------
1                      1                    2012-01-01  2012-01-04  2012-01-05
1                      2                    2012-01-05  NULL        NULL
2                      1                    2012-01-10  2012-01-11  NULL

students_have_optional_courses Table

--- `students_have_optional_courses` ---
students_student_id    optional_courses_opcourse_id    s_date      e_date
---------------------  ------------------------------  ----------  ----------
1                      1                               2012-01-02  2012-01-03
1                      1                               2012-01-06  NULL
1                      5                               2012-01-07  NULL

Here is my query so far

SELECT 
  `students_and_courses`.student_id,
  `students_and_courses`.first_name,
  `students_and_courses`.last_name,
  `students_and_courses`.courses_course_id,
  `students_and_courses`.s_date,
  `students_and_courses`.e_date,
  `students_and_courses`.int_date,
  `students_have_optional_courses`.optional_courses_opcourse_id,
  `students_have_optional_courses`.s_date,
  `students_have_optional_courses`.e_date
FROM (
  SELECT
    `c_s_a_s`.student_id,
    `c_s_a_s`.first_name,
    `c_s_a_s`.last_name,
    `c_s_a_s`.courses_course_id,
    `c_s_a_s`.s_date,
    `c_s_a_s`.e_date,
    `c_s_a_s`.int_date
 FROM (
   SELECT
      `students`.student_id,
      `students`.first_name,
      `students`.last_name,
      `students_have_courses`.courses_course_id,
      `students_have_courses`.s_date,
      `students_have_courses`.e_date,
      `students_have_courses`.int_date
    FROM
      `students`
      LEFT OUTER JOIN `students_have_courses`
        ON (
          `students_have_courses`.`students_student_id` = `students`.`student_id` AND     (( 
          `students_have_courses`.`s_date` >= `students`.`status_change_date` AND
          `students`.current_status = 'Retread' ) OR
          `students`.current_status = 'Active')
        )
      WHERE
        `students`.current_status = 'Active' OR
        `students`.current_status = 'Retread'
  ) `c_s_a_s`
  ORDER BY
    `c_s_a_s`.`courses_course_id` DESC
) `students_and_courses`
LEFT OUTER JOIN `students_have_optional_courses`
  ON (
    `students_have_optional_courses`.students_student_id =     `students_and_courses`.student_id AND
    `students_have_optional_courses`.s_date >= `students_and_courses`.s_date AND 
    `students_have_optional_courses`.e_date IS NULL
  )
GROUP BY
 `students_and_courses`.student_id;

What I want to be returned is the student_id, first_name, and last_name for all Active or Retread students and then LEFT JOIN the highest course_id, s_date, e_date, and int_date for the those students where the s_date is since the status_change_date if status is 'Retread'. Then LEFT JOIN the highest optional_courses_opcourse_id, s_date, and e_date from the students_have_optional_courses TABLE where the students_have_optional_courses.s_date is greater or equal to the students_have_courses.s_date and the students_have_optional_courses.e_date IS NULL

Here is what is being returned:

student_id    first_name    last_name    courses_course_id    s_date      e_date      int_date      optional_courses_opcourse_id    s_date_1    e_date_1
------------  ------------  -----------  -------------------  ----------  ----------  ------------  ------------------------------  ----------  ----------
1             John          Doe          2                    2012-01-05  NULL        NULL          1                               2012-01-06  NULL
2             Jane          Doe          NULL                 NULL        NULL        NULL          NULL                            NULL        NULL

Here is what I want being returned:

student_id    first_name    last_name    courses_course_id    s_date      e_date      int_date      optional_courses_opcourse_id    s_date_1    e_date_1
------------  ------------  -----------  -------------------  ----------  ----------  ------------  ------------------------------  ----------  ----------
1             John          Doe          2                    2012-01-05  NULL        NULL          5                               2012-01-07  NULL
2             Jane          Doe          NULL                 NULL        NULL        NULL          NULL                            NULL        NULL

Everything is working except one thing, I cannot seem to get the highest students_have_optional_courses.optional_courses_opcourse_id no matter how I form the query

Sorry, I just solved this myself after writing this all out I think it helped me think of the solution.

Here is the solution query:

    SELECT 
      `students_and_courses`.student_id,
      `students_and_courses`.first_name,
      `students_and_courses`.last_name,
      `students_and_courses`.courses_course_id,
      `students_and_courses`.s_date,
      `students_and_courses`.e_date,
      `students_and_courses`.int_date,
      `students_optional_courses`.optional_courses_opcourse_id,
      `students_optional_courses`.s_date,
      `students_optional_courses`.e_date
    FROM (
      SELECT
        `c_s_a_s`.student_id,
        `c_s_a_s`.first_name,
        `c_s_a_s`.last_name,
        `c_s_a_s`.courses_course_id,
        `c_s_a_s`.s_date,
        `c_s_a_s`.e_date,
        `c_s_a_s`.int_date
      FROM (
        SELECT
          `students`.student_id,
          `students`.first_name,
          `students`.last_name,
          `students_have_courses`.courses_course_id,
          `students_have_courses`.s_date,
          `students_have_courses`.e_date,
          `students_have_courses`.int_date
        FROM
          `students`
          LEFT OUTER JOIN `students_have_courses`
            ON (
              `students_have_courses`.`students_student_id` = `students`.`student_id` AND (( 
              `students_have_courses`.`s_date` >= `students`.`status_change_date` AND
              `students`.current_status = 'Retread' ) OR
              `students`.current_status = 'Active')
            )
          WHERE
            `students`.current_status = 'Active' OR
            `students`.current_status = 'Retread'
      ) `c_s_a_s`
      ORDER BY
        `c_s_a_s`.`courses_course_id` DESC
    ) `students_and_courses`
    LEFT OUTER JOIN (
      SELECT
        *
      FROM
        `students_have_optional_courses`
      ORDER BY
        `students_have_optional_courses`.optional_courses_opcourse_id DESC
    ) `students_optional_courses`
      ON (
        `students_optional_courses`.students_student_id = `students_and_courses`.student_id AND
        `students_optional_courses`.s_date >= `students_and_courses`.s_date AND 
        `students_optional_courses`.e_date IS NULL
      )
    GROUP BY
     `students_and_courses`.student_id;