Hello - I’m posting this in the BS forum because of unique insight from all of you.
Son is attending a well known BS in the northeast. His school does not offer AP classes. However some students choose to self study for the AP and take at the end of the year.
The teachers curriculum may or may not align with a particular AP coursework. Hence students sometimes have to study a lot just in order to do decently on the AP exam.
Is it worth for him to take AP exams even if his school doesn’t offer it? The college counseling office at this BS is silent on this topic and leave it to the students to decide.
Will he be at a disadvantage applying to colleges without any AP scores? What do students at other boarding schools do? Interested to hear especially the parent point of view.
If your son’s BS is well known to colleges and he has availed himself of the rigor there, that is all he needs to do. He will be at no disadvantage as I don’t believe colleges are looking for APs from BS applicants. If he is applying to colleges that give credit for or allow him to bypass some freshman classes so he can progress more quickly to classes that are of interest to him, then I think there can be value to taking AP exams.
FormerCK sat for a few AP exams that he self-studied for and did well. He ended up at a college that does not accept them, though.
As have I. And I agree with @ChoatieMom 's statement above. My general guidance on these forums is that, for admissions purposes, no college will have an expectation that students should take AP exams if the school does not offer the courses. This is especially true, IMO, for boarding schools.
Having said that, I took a lot of AP exams, mostly for crap and giggles. It will vary by school and by subject how much extra preparation is needed for these exams. How much credit one gets is totally dependent upon the college, but most top private colleges tend to limit AP credit, if they give it at all. Aside from credit though, in some cases, a top score on an AP test may waive an intro course as a prereq for a more advanced course. For instance, next semester, I’m taking an upper level psych class as a gen ed requirement, which has intro psych as a prereq.
I might offer a compromise position. There are some classes where – almost by definition – the class’s curriculum and the AP exam material are likely to have a very high overlap. That would be true for sure on math, and also languages and at least some sciences as well. So it may not take a ton of additional studying to do well on those AP exams if a kid has taken a challenging course in that discipline but not one billed as an “AP” class. By contrast, there can be a huge amount of variance between what a teacher chooses to cover in literature and history as compared to the AP exams, and there I’m hesitant to think that additional study is really worth the effort. Of course even there you could compare the curriculum for your kid’s class to what’s covered in an AP test review book and see if they might happen to match up well.
Check out the school profile for college AOs. It should have the info about how many students from recent classes have taken AP exams and how they have performed. For college admissions purpose only, no one has come out and said AP exams are considered, I think. I guess it depends on what type of colleges you are shooting for, whether many peers do take AP exams, and what your overall academic profile looks like. If you are applying to highly selective colleges, most of your peers applying to the same colleges do have a lot of AP exams, and/or your transcript could use a little further “validation”, then Acing a good number of AP exams might help.
Hello @ChoatieMom I agree with your position. I guess I’m worried that my son will be competing with kids like @skieurope who takes APs for fun, even though he wasn’t expected to.
Son has no interest in college credit or trying to take 200 level classes in freshman year of college.
The rigor of my son’s school is tough and already well known to most colleges. However I’m sure many of the top gunners at his BS will take APs just for the sake of it.
In all seriousness, IMO, a BS student will not be disadvantaged by not taking AP’s or taking fewer AP’s. AP scores carry little to no weight in the admissions process, being used primarily for course credit and/or placement.
At my school, and I think @ChoatieMom can vouch for Choate, if the college counselors felt AP’s were important for admissions, they would be pushing them. At least in my case, I cannot recall even having a conversation about AP’s with him.
What grade is your son in? His interests and desires as a freshman/sophomore, as well as what courses would even be appropriate to take AP exams for, will vary dramatically compared to when he is a junior/senior.
My kid is a junior. Last year she took one AP class which really interested her, this year she is taking electives that are in that same subject area ,but no APs. Her roommate and many of her friends are taking several APs this year. She was beginning to second-guess her choice, but I do agree that for kids already taking a rigorous course load at BS, APs aren’t necessary or necessarily helpful to the college app process (and really hope I’m right about that!)
In all seriousness, IMO, a BS student will not be disadvantaged by not taking AP’s or taking fewer AP’s. AP scores carry little to no weight in the admissions process, being used primarily for course credit and/or placement.