I didn’t know what to title my discussion because I am really just curious if anyone has any thoughts about the issue my daughter is facing. She was accepting into one of her top 3 schools (the other is a no and the third we’re still waiting), but she has gotten a LOT more rejections than I was expecting given her stats. She has a 4.75 GPA and has a 1380 SAT (not the best, but not awful either). She is an accomplished musician who has played violin and viola for 12 years and has won state and national awards. Her essays were okay, but it is hard to know how those stacked up because I don’t know what other people wrote. However, what I am afraid is leading to all these unexpected rejections is the format of her charter school. It is a classical academy and the classes are as difficult as AP class and all count as “honors” (hence the 5 point GPA scale) but none of the classes are labeled AP or honors. The school sends a letter explaining that they have a “rigorous classical education that stacks up to any honors classes offered in high school” but I am wondering if admissions officers look at her transcript and think she looks like a much more “ordinary” student than she is? Does anyone have any insight as to whether my concerns are justified? Part of the reason I’m asking is because I have friends with kids at the same school who are younger and I think I’m going to advise them to have their kids take the AP tests their junior year so they at least have that credential. Also, lest you think I’m just a biased parent (which I probably am) the reason I think my daughter should have gotten into some of the schools she did not (like Boston University) is because I work at a high school and students with less impressive grades and tests scores are getting into equally difficult school.
Depending on where she applied, a rejection is far more likely than an acceptance. She will never know why she was rejected nor should she dwell on it. I would respectfully say that too many people focus on stats when we are told time and time again admissions is an holistic process. We are all guilty of it to a lesser or greater degree.
Do you know if those kids with lower stats are URM, first generation, tuba players, athletes? You can go insane trying to figure this game out.
I’m sure college admissions understand the grading at your daughter’s school and see the rigour of the curriculum in the school profile.
She has been offered a place at one of her top three schools. Congratulations. Celebrate. Forget the other colleges and embrace the one that loves her back.
Congratulations on your D being accepted to one of her top choices! You have something to celebrate! Without knowing where your D applied, it is hard to say why she has received some no’s. I will say that BU, who last year had an 18.1% acceptance rate and average SAT of 1468, is a reach for any student. To answer your question about the lack of the AP designation, all schools send a school profile to colleges explaining their curriculum and providing a snapshot of the class so that schools can evaluate the applicant in the context of their HS. Our HS does not offer AP classes. It is an independent day school with a rigorous curriculum. Admissions folks seem to know this and our students do well in college placements. I hope that is the type of info you are looking for and good luck as you wait for the final schools to roll in!!
Most colleges have a profile of each high school so they can compare apples to apples, You can not fault a kid who has no AP classes if the school does not offer them for example. Without knowing your daughters choice of schools it is hard to comment but did she ED anywhere, is she needing aid to attend? Perhaps the best way to explain rejections is how I heard UPenn admissions person put it" some days your a flute player in a tuba year" Focus on the schools she has gotten into and do not waste angry on the others.
Unless you have a hook, most of the top-20 schools are a crap shoot. I made sure my son child knew that, so there was no disappointment.
I totally understand. When your child works so hard and does so well in school that it’s difficult to see them disappointed. I agree with all of posts above. I, like @vhsdad tried hard to remind DD20 that the chances are really slim for some schools. Even though you try to keep them grounded it still does not feel good to be denied. My daughter does very well academically and has many EC’s etc however I have seen over and over here on CC where students with perfect 1600, 36 ACT, 1 billion hours of community Service and found the cure to the Corina virus get rejected from many colleges and it really scared me for DD who does not have perfect cores. I believe I over reached and over applied to ensure that she has options. Good Luck to your daughter.
I’m going to address something a little different. And that’s that I think it can be helpful to take the AP exams anyway for reasons other than how it looks to admissions committees. Specifically, and I’m sure you know, depending on the college a kid goes to a strong AP score can: (1) give them college credit which could enable them to graduate early, or take a reduced course load during an otherwise very heavy semester, or can give them flexibility to double/triple major, or (2) if no credit is given then some colleges still allow kids to skip intro classes if they scored high enough on an AP, which enables them to move on to more advanced or more interesting to them classes.
@Sarrip - I think today any HS kid who has the cure for Corina would get a full ride from anywhere, think how mush they would save the college 
But your point is solid, as I mentioned in another thread I heard a UPenn person say it this way, some years your a flute player in a tuba world, you do not know what that college is looking for that year, also year or next year you would be in but this year your not.
@NJdad07090 - Predictive spelling is a monster. Didn’t even realize that I created a whole new virus (LOL). Corina vs Corona (LOL). I do remember reading this in your other thread. It makes perfect sense. DD20 was admitted to a school with a 11% admit rate which she never expected to get into but waitlisted at a school with a 15% admit rate. You just never know.
If this is your daughter’s worry then advise her this is a time in her life than she can decide if she is a glass-half-full or glass-half-empty kind of girl.
I think nothing is tougher than seeing your hardworking great student get rejected. These kids, God bless them. I don’t know about the rest of you but I had nothing like the ‘resumes’ these students possess. The US love of lists has created a situation where our growing number of kids compete for a fixed number of seats at “top” schools. Meanwhile there are about 4000 colleges out there, many of them great. Please tell your girl she is not rejected. No applicant can truly be known in this data process. It’s a lottery, really. I hope she dances with one of the schools that really wants her. Good for her acceptances!
Depending on what schools your student applied to, and what their respective admissions rate is, your daughter could have an overall winning percentage. If she’s applying to highly selective (very low admission rate schools), then being accepted to one is a feat. Congratulations on her acceptance to one of her top schools! 
I would not focus on “stats” as a way to determine who is worthy of admissions to a school. The most popular “stats” that get bandied about (gpa and test scores) are but a few data points in many that schools consider. And, like someone already mentioned, it greatly depends on what qualities and characteristics that admissions may prioritize in any given year. In other words, it can be a moving target. Someone else’s kid(s) having higher or lower “stats” is not painting a picture of their full applicant profile. It’ll never tell you how compelling, or not, other aspects of their application were. It’ll never tell you what that college or university looked for in applicants in a given admission cycle. It certainly won’t tell you how your student hit or missed those targets.
One of my favorite pieces of advice is that it doesn’t matter how many rejections you get. You only need one yes. She can only attend one university. I assume that she applied to the one(s) that she was accepted to because she’d be happy to go there. So, that’s a win! You will never know why the rejections, so don’t waste energy on them. Rejections aren’t an indictment against your student’s success. It can be like interviewing for a job. You can be a wonderful candidate, but if there’s only one spot in a sea of wonderful candidates, not everyone is going to get the job.
While I agree with everyone here, I will address your other question. Yes, I think it can be helpful for kids to take those ap exams. Getting a 5 in a class in which you got a B can show that you mastered the material well can help put the grade in context.
Sometimes it can be harder if a college doesn’t have a history with your school.
But I think it’s also hard as a parent, living in one community, to appreciate how many hard-working bright kids are applying to college every year. Your D ended up with a great option. Both that, and the fact that her generation has a lot that the world is going to need in the coming decades, is something to be thankful for.
It could be that your school is relatively new and has no established relationship with colleges. It could be that your child doesn’t fill any institutional needs (hooked, URM, huge donor, special talent/achievement, athlete). A school like Boston U is need aware, and maybe you needed too much money. And for most top schools, that test score is on the low side, so schools that consider a test score as Very Important or Important might have counted that against her. Her musical skills are impressive, but many applicants to top schools have impressive musical skill. Maybe some colleges considered interest, and she didn’t visit, or sign up for emails, or interview. Or maybe she didn’t demonstrate fit.
Your daughter is exceptional, especially to you. But if she applied to top colleges, please understand that the kids she is competing with might have resumés that are truly incredible. If your daughter lives in an over represented state and is from an over represented demographic, that can work against her.
You will never know what was in another kid’s app that made the difference between acceptance and rejection. As long as your daughter has an affordable school she likes, she’s had a successful application experience.
Thanks all for your advice, but I think perhaps my question got lost in the length of my post. This wasn’t so much about the rejections, it was, should students who go to charter schools that don’t offer AP classes take the AP exams to show they are of the same caliber? I was looking for advice for friends that are still at this same school. Thanks gardenstategal for addressing that! It’s advice her counselors never gave her and I wish I had known more about the process years ago. It’s a whole different world than when I went to college!
@arehorst I don’t think it can hurt to take the AP exams, unless of course you do poorly. A 4-5 can get credit at most schools, some state universities will even take the 3. My D18 was in the IB program a our small town public high school. They took APWorld His and APUS Hist 9th and 10th but those were all the AP classes that were offered if you were on the IB track. However, most in her class took the AP English test 11th grade year just to see how they would do and to try to get the credit; by then they had 2 years of heavy honors and 1 year of IB English. They cannot take any AP tests Senior year because they typically conflict with the IB papers in May (although most would do well on the chemistry, biology, English, Spanish and maybe even the calculus).
Definitely do not dwell on rejections. My daughter had to go into the process knowing that she would go to the school that was the least expensive - regardless of prestige or ranking. Her 2 BFFs were NMF and she was only NMCommended yet she was accepted to schools they were waitlisted at and vice versa… it truly is a holistic approach! So if your daughter is in at a top choice and you can afford it then celebrate that and just enjoy trying to salvage good memories in the rest of this crazy senior year that she’ll have!