Isn’t it sad? It really demotivates kids. In a way, society is telling them that all achievements matter less than some magic “sparkle” that you either have or have not. Kid may get the biggest scientific price, but denied admission to Harvard because he is flat and not interesting? Kid may get prison time, fail HS, fail all tests, but be accepted to Berkeley because he has an interesting life story? What lesson do we teach our kids?
First of all, AP tests are not given on Saturdays. They are given during the school day during the early weeks of May. A student enrolled in an AP class who does not take the exam may, depending on school policy, end up sitting in a study hall for that time. Not going to the beach with friends.
The National AP scholar awards are, in my opinion, completely meaningless. Why? Because they add zero additional information to the application. You are going to list the AP tests taken, and so the award just restates how many tests you took that you did well on. My daughter did get the National AP scholar by junior year but didn’t bother to list it on her college application.
I would not overlook the possible value of the college credits even if you do not expect to use them. Many things–study abroad, transferring schools, changing majors, unexpected illness–could cause your student to come up short a few classes and those credits could be very helpful. I think you should be thinking about the big picture of life and learning, not just narrowly focusing on only doing things in the next 2 years that will optimize admission results.
But this is exactly what I feel sometimes. All her achievements seem to be useless
On the positive side, colleges in UK and Canada are merit-based and cheaper than in US. She will be applying there. We will see. Our local Univ. of California will (almost certainly) accept her as well.
I think you are focusing too much on achievements. I think the colleges are looking for potential. Kids whose lives and “achievements” are primarily the result of having been micromanaged and pressured by adults aren’t necessarily going to show the potential or initiative or independence of thought the schools value.
I come from a country that has a tremendous potential but slacks and comes short in “achievement” category Thus I value achievement far more than potential
Lucky adults if they can micromanage kids! I wish I would be able to do so. My D is quiet stubborn, I’ll never be able to order her to take a class. Healthy, stubborn teenager
Holistic approach is a black box and nobody really knows what happens there. Next year I’ll try to volunteer for the admission office at our local college (it is not very selective).
“But this is exactly what I feel sometimes. All her achievements seem to be useless”
YOU DONT KNOW THAT!! SHE HASNT EVEN APPLIED TO COLLEGE YET!
get a grip and keep your “the world is going to end!!” thoughts to yourself . Do NOT let your DD get even a wiff of your morbid thoughts- they wont help anyone, least of all your DD.
Let me tell you a story about what happened to a neighboring family. The father, who is Indian and is very “prestige driven” and is also a Stanford Grad, was SO angry and disappointed when the son was not accepted at Stanford, Caltech, MIT, that he made life MISERABLE for the whole family. [The son was accepted at UCLA ] They are now getting a divorce.
IF your are SMART and make sure your D cast’s a WIDE, AND I DO MEAN WIDE NET, then when the acceptances come in she will have some choices. Where she goes to college will NOT be the determining factor to what the rest of her life will be like!!
STOP focusing on only the “prestigious” colleges in the US and quit assuming that any college with less than a 25% acceptance rate, including UCB ,UCLA, UCSD is likely to accept her. It’s a crap shoot these days for all students.
There are many colleges in the US where she can great a education - you will just have to swallow your pride and accept the reality of college application these days. She needs to find safeties that she would be happy to go to- That is MUCH harder than jsut applying to top colleges and praying to the “Admissions Gods”
The net result- if she is carefully guided and gets good advise from those who live in the real world of college admissions these days- she WILL go to college!
Let us say I am a senior, applying to colleges in the fall. I tell them I am self-studying for AP.
How do they know it is true? I won’t take the test until May, when I should be accepted.
So then you can only self study AP classes in Junior year? I think Adcoms would rather you take a class with a teacher in a classroom. Also, if you come in with 24 credits, that is less money that you spend at the college :))
Also if you are the kind of student who could self-study multiple AP classes, then you are very smart, very motivated student who would shine anyway.
You may ask why is their AP Merit Scholar?
So you will take more AP tests and pay more money for them.
@bopper, actually my daughter self studied for an AP exam in the spring of senior year. I am not sure if she told colleges she was planning to do this. She didn’t do it for college admissions. She did it because she was interested in the subject, looking for more challenge than her school was able to provide, and thought that mastering the AP material might be helpful to her further studies (it was).
BTW those UK unis will want not only APs, but relevant APS with a score of 5. Top UK schools want rigour, if your DD is competing with kids who hold a handful of top A level results the US competition needs a basketful of AP. The real advantage to UK schools is minimising the EC craziness, but cost is not a clear win (do the math for Imp College as an international for example). You might be better off getting your kid to an IB school if the UK and Canada really are options.
Sorry, excessive use of the caps lock. relevant APs with score of 5. While it might seem that the system is clear, the reality is if your application year is very competitive, entry criteria fulfillment is still only part of the equation. So you are back at the grindstone, ensuring your kid takes every opportunity of rigour in her curriculum, just to compete with A levels because APs are not as rigorous as A levels, hence how US kids could have maybe 9 or 10 + APs vs a top A level student might have 4 or 5 A levels.
“I also think that some not super rigorous private schools limit AP access”
-This is 1/2 true. D. attended the most rigorous HS in our area. She could take only 3 APs / year and starting only in her Junior year. However, her “regular” classes were taught at the higher level than APs. School simply did not believe too much in calling the class “AP”. In college, D. ended up being hand picked by Chem. prof. for the Suplemental Instructor position, the best job on campus, that she had for 3 years. She never had an AP Chem. and ended up teaching kids who did and who praised her a lot for clear instructions and D. continued praising her HS science teacher.
@mathyone I agree with you…nothing wrong with learning, and getting credit for learning. That can be used to gain credit or move into an advanced course in college. It is just not as major of a aspect of admissions as people think it should be.
AP courses are not used to get in big universities, but to save time and money. You can possibly graduate a semester sooner (depending on your major and college) if you get all of your core classes done with AP courses in HS. I regret I didn’t take more in HS. You have to take these courses in college anyway, might as well do them once in HS and get them over with. It is a lot cheaper too, for AP credit all you have to pay for is the test.
I’ve heard that it’s better to repeat a class in college, even if you can get credit from AP. College class (even if called the same) is usually far more rigorous.
Saving money is, probably, not the right objective. Kids can work over summer. Our friend’s daughter got over $10,000 for summer internship in Silicon Valley.
Further, many employer’s cover all (or at least part) of college tuition for kids of their employees. My husband’s employer does it. Thus, money is not a big issue for us (luckily).
For not tippy top schools, if you are doing an engineering major, AP Calc and Chem credits can be quite handy. So are other humanity courses like AP music theory, US gov, Spanish, etc. For example, I go to U of Alabama, and thanks to my AP credits, I covered more than half of HY/SB requirement, and skipped intro Chem and Calc2.(now in Calc 3), and so far have had no problem. I only need 3 more credits for social behavioral class.
