Often, particularly in your major, you may have no choice but to repeat. However, that depends on the college. Additionally, med schools often will not count AP credits to its prereqs. For subjects outside your major that you do not plan to pursue in college, AP credits can knock out some gen ed requirements.
As always, it’s best to check the AP credit chart for the college in question.
IF my D would choose a ‘soft’ major, she would go for Spanish. Spanish is her first language, she really knows it. If Spanish major puts her in the wrong school and makes it difficult to switch, she would apply “undeclared”. She really doesn’t know what she wants to do. Business (most likely), computers, design. Something along these lines.
<the point="" is="" that="" even="" if="" your="" d="" does="" everything="" right,="" her="" chances="" at="" one="" of="" the="" mega="" selective="" schools="" still="" very="" small.="">
That makes me really mad 
!!!
My D participated in high level math Olympiad and failed miserably. No hard feelings, it was fair. Kids were amazing, almost alien species, enormously brilliant. My D was not even close to them in her intellectual capacity. It was a fair game and I admire the winners.
College admission is a different game. “EVEN IF your D does everything right, her chances at one of the mega selective schools is still very small.” It doesn’t look fair, and that’s the problem
It is very small exactly because there are so many high achieving students. Exactly those same Olympiad kids from all over America.
“Exactly those same Olympiad kids from all over America.”
And from all over the world too !
Top US schools are a magnet fpr International kids.
It is what it is…
Please, don’t fool yourself. IF kids at selective colleges are that great, why do they need remedial classes?
Stanford, freshman admission, ACT scores:
score % adm
30-36 87.83 %
24-29 10.73 %
18-23 1.44 %
Just curious, what the 12% of kids with ACT score below 30 are doing at Stanford? Or yes, I can guess … grrrrrrrrrrrr …
It is not fair. Worst, it really demotivates kids if they know that they are not selected on their achievements.
But even if the kids with ACT scores below 30 were excluded, there would not be room for every kid with higher score who got rejected.
The low stat kids at Stanford are probably playing football. Though not all football players are dumb. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/03/20/394340722/john-urschel-ravens-offensive-lineman-publishes-math-paper Any one selective school might have a class of 1600 or so - it’s silly to think your kid has some right to one of those slots. But there’s a pretty good chance that a kid in the top 5% or so of a class at a decent high school with excellent scores will have excellent choices.
That’s really very school dependent. Calc BC covered the standard first year calculus curriculum at Carnegie Mellon - but they did give you a placement test to make sure you remember what you supposedly learned. You probably don’t need to repeat a basic US History course if you took APUSH. The science courses tend to be more varied - but the various schools will let you know whether it’s a good idea to repeat a course or not. Neither of my kids repeated anything and they didn’t find themselves in over their heads.
@ 1or2Musicians
<but even="" if="" the="" kids="" with="" act="" scores="" below="" 30="" were="" excluded,="" there="" would="" not="" be="" room="" for="" every="" kid="" higher="" score="" who="" got="" rejected.="">
You can’t seriously talk about accepting the brightest kids if 12% of accepted kids have ACT below 30. Like detective like to say, one lie makes it harder to believe that the whole story is true.
Not all people with lower ACT scores are “dumb” either . . .
@californiaaa Regardless of the test breakdown, here’s the reality:
Your daughter is not competing for a football player/oboe player/[insert specialty here] spot. She just isn’t.
To make it as simple as possible (and please note that I am not denigrating anybody’s qualifications), Stanford will field a football team next year. And the year after. And the year after that. So every year, you should expect to take ~22 slots off the table from the beginning.
Using another analogy. Let’s say your son’s HS is doing Wicked as its Spring musical. There are 33 parts available (12 principal/21 chorus). Your son is one of 100 students trying out. Does that mean that he has a 1:3 shot at a part? No, because there is no way he will be cast as Elphaba. Just accept that and move on.
And if you don’t like the fact that some schools value athletics don’t allow your child to apply to any of those schools. waving goodbye to Stanford and the Ivy League
My grrrrrr is about the truthfulness of the college admission process. If Stanford needs to allocate 25 slots for athletes , OK, fine, why not to be honest about it?
In the Soviet Union 10% of slots at the top Universities were officially allocated for ethnic minorities and “special circumstances”. Admission to these slots was separate from the rest of the admission. That’s fair. Just be honest about “holistic approach”.
BTW, ACT 30 is not a high score. It is really not that difficult to get over 30. Especially for the top university in the country (in some ratings Stanford is the top).
I think the OP really needs to get over the fact that she simply does not like how these top school select their students. There is nothing dishonest about it. I understand it. Most of the posters here understand it. If you don’t like how your child’s fellow students will be chosen by a school then apply to a different school. It’s that simple. No point in spending 4 years with people who you aren’t excited about living and learning with…
The OP seems determined not to understand holistic admissions because it isn’t how the OP would like it to be. OP, would you rather they just take the top math olympiad kids? You are the one who said she failed miserably at that. Seems to me she has a better chance with holistic admissions. But since you will look down upon her fellow students I wouldn’t bother with such schools.
They ARE honest about it. They just don’t give you an exact numerical breakdown. In many cases there probably isn’t an exact breakdown. (Actually I know of a case where an athlete was told a number and then the school accepted a different number.) How many football players they need may depend on how many returning students will play football. But we all know they are going to field a football team and that they will accept as many students as they need for that. Why do you need to know if it’s 14 or 20?
@mathyone
Why are you so proud of holistic admission? BTW, my D may benefit from holistic admission. You are right, it works in her favor. It doesn’t’ mean that it is fair.
<if you="" don’t="" like="" how="" your="" child’s="" fellow="" students="" will="" be="" chosen="" by="" a="" school="" then="" apply="" to="" different="" school.=""> Jews in the 30x applied to Harvard even though they didn’t like the admission process. You don’t restrict your opportunities just because you don’t like the system.
<op, would="" you="" rather="" they="" just="" take="" the="" top="" math="" olympiad="" kids?="" are="" one="" who="" said="" she="" failed="" miserably="" at="" that.=""> Yes, I would be happy to see that deserving kids are promoted. Even if my D won’t be selected, I would be able to use this example to motivate her to study, to work, to be smarter, to appreciate knowledge. </op,>
<but since="" you="" will="" look="" down="" upon="" her="" fellow="" students="" i="" wouldn’t="" bother="" with="" such="" schools.=""> I’ll never look down at the kids. It’s not their fault. I look down at adcoms.
I don’t like that admission criteria is kaleidoscopic. In the end it works against everyone. Kids are getting confused by opposing massages: Take rigorous classes, but only if your school offers them. AP classes are important, but AP exams are not that important. Dual enrollment is good, but it is irrelevant. Poor kids, I see why they think “whatever!”.
Again - you are free to take advantage of the numbers only admissions process in whichever country you find does it better.
This post is spot on. They’re just going to move the goalposts anyway, no matter how good a kicker you are.
Typical response. USA! USA! USA!
@saintfan <again -="" you="" are="" free="" to="" take="" advantage="" of="" the="" numbers="" only="" admissions="" process="" in="" whichever="" country="" find="" does="" it="" better.="">
Thanks, we certainly will. My D is planning to apply to UK and Canada as well. I was told that it may be easier to get into US college first, and then transfer to Oxford-Cambridge.
Look, the admissions officers have to deal with the fact that educational opportunity in this country varies widely depending on SES and local educational opportunity. Is it really more fair for them to accept only the brightest kids who also won the lotteries for SES and location and supportive families? Part of what they are trying to do with holistic admissions is to ask, how would this kid have done if they had been born into a comfortable middle class family, if they didnt have to work after school and be a surrogate parent to several younger siblings, if they’d been encouraged to prep for college admission tests instead of not even knowing what they were until the week before, if they’d had the opportunity to attend a school that offered many AP classes or even better an academic magnet, instead of one with a very low percentage of kids who attend college. You really are kidding yourself if you think the college admissions exams are in any way fair or representative of a student’s real ability when we have kids who may be homeless signing up to take them alongside kids who have been tutored for them since 3rd grade.
The schools do not want to slam the door in the face of students who they feel have unfulfilled academic promise or have something interesting to contribute to the campus, whether that is acting talent or being a great harpist, just because they aren’t also the best in the country at answering multiple choice questions quickly and accurately.