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;