<p>My D is a good student -she works hard for every good grade she receives. Unlike her sibling who can whip out an essay or ace a test w/little effort. D is taking honors classes (she's a HS frshman) and in one, is just points under an A. She has spent so much time studying for this class at the expense of other classes. My question is, eventually, these classes will lead her to AP classes that are more demanding - How important are these classes on a college app as opposed to the CP classes? A friend's D took AP classes and the college she attended didn't even give her credit for them. I want her to have a positive well rounded HS experience. She's got a good attitude but I'm afraid that if she keeps up this pace, she'll burn out.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/573874-ap-test-scores-admission-faq.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/573874-ap-test-scores-admission-faq.html</a></p>
<p>Getting college credit isn’t the only reason to take AP classes, you also get credit for having taken the most advanced curriculum available to you. To some extent it depends on what colleges you are aiming at, but even Harvard and MIT say that you don’t need to take AP classes in every subject. A rule of thumb is that you shouldn’t take an honors or AP class unless you can get at least a B, and of course if you are aiming at the uberselective schools you’ll be better off with A’s in those AP courses. Our school does a pretty good job advising students whether or not they think they are ready to take an AP level class. There is a happy medium, you’ll have to figure out how much your daughter can handle - there are no hard and fast rules here. My son’s school gave him credit for all the APs he took.</p>
<p>I look at AP classes as something that can give a student a leg in admission and in scholarship/merit aid .
In the school my S is about to attend all IB kids are put in honors sciences to begin with. I have heard about a curious thing though: honors physics teacher transfers his smartest kids to AP Physics class a few weeks into a school year. Has anyone been in this position?</p>
<p>Kelowna:</p>
<p>No, I haven’t heard of the situation you’ve described. I’ve heard of the opposite, AP students dropping back to honors level classes.</p>
<p>Budget situation in CA means our HS will not put on an AP class w/o at least 20 students enrolled, which is difficult for classes like AP Physics so, if anything, the push would be on to get those students in the AP class in the first place, not the reverse.</p>
<p>If it’s a good physics teacher, then he/she should be able to make the assessment and bump the students up, if they are agreeable. I’m not sure how that could work in our HS, since honors and AP students get assigned different summer work, I believe.</p>
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<p>There are two issues here, of course. There is AP as a concept and AP as it applies to your daughter. Doing well in one AP class while her grades suffer in other classes is not a good plan. </p>
<p>With my son, he will have taken nearly all of the AP classes his school offers but only has two ecs and no sport. He needs a lot of downtime to do his best in what he does do. One afterschool activity per day is plenty for him. When we tried to add in swim team in the morning (which he really liked), it was a disaster. </p>
<p>Is not being the “well rounded student” going to limit his choices with colleges? Sure, absolutely. But I have to think that doing well at what he does do is better than struggling with it all. Even if it’s not better for college per se, he’s a junior in high school who is still excited about his classes. He even got permission to take an extra class both semesters for his senior year because he just couldn’t narrow his list of classes he wants to take.</p>
<p>Maybe no APs will work best her, perhaps she’ll be able to go AP in her best subject or maybe she can handle many APs. You’ll know as you go along. Just keep her well being front and center and she’ll wind up where she is supposed to be. This is my longwinded way of saying that there are thousands of colleges out there and there is one that is a great match for your daughter just as she is.</p>
<p>It depends where she is eventually planning to apply. Some selective programs will not give her any chance unless she has tons of AP’s with mostly “5”'s on exams.</p>
<p>With the description you’ve given of your child, I think a mixture of AP’s and CP classes would be the best for your daughter. It’s better to find a college that fits your daughter then try to make your daughter fit into a certain college.</p>
<p>Your daughter needs to decide what is important to her, and you can help her make the decision. If she has a dream of going to Harvard, that is the sacrifice she must make to achieve that dream. To achieve that dream, she needs to do well in ALL her classes. Also, if she gets into a highly selective college, she will have to work even harder at that college.</p>
<p>After watching 2 kids go through the process, I have come to the conclusion that AP’s are primarily for challenging the kid, and not to get College Credit. Even if they get college credit, other than for electives, they tend not to help towards graduation. Challenging the kid is important to demonstrate to the highly selective schools that the kid has the right stuff. Equally important though is the other stuff the kid does. Highly selective schools also want well rounded kids.</p>
<p>If your Daughter’s goal is to go to “good” college, then let her take her foot off the accelerator and enjoy the trip. If she wants to go to a Top College, then make sure she is aware of the sacrifices she will be making now, and while she in College. I would hate to throw cold water on a kid’s dream and take it away from them. But, helping them to see the problems with their dream is part of helping them grow up. If they still want to pursue it, then it will be a good lesson whether they succeed (the train that could) or not (you gave it your best shot, and be proud of that). If she enjoys the AP classes, but not the others, then maybe let her enjoy what interests her. Being a little un-round (not well rounded?) is not as much of an issue for “good” colleges. Passion is helpful for those colleges.</p>
<p>Our school has AP physics and just plain physics. The difference between the two is the AP class is a lot more math based and the regular class is a lot more project based.</p>
<p>Someone told me that AP Physics B is less math based than AP Physics C.</p>
<p>What I DO know math wise for AP Physics C is that it costs more. You get to pay for TWO AP tests, one in mechanics and the other in E & M.</p>
<p>IMO, the benefit of AP classes is to train the student how to write well and efficiently, read carefully and critically, and to develop a strong work ethic which includes persistence in the face material that is tough to master. These are skills which will pave the way to success in college. In S’s case, AP English was extremely valuable preparation for him as a liberal arts major (govt. and econ.) because of the regular writing assignments. And yes, it definitely was THE most time-consuming of any of his AP classes. It did take time away from classes, which resulted in a downward GPA effect. But when D, who sounds kind of like the OP’s D, considered not taking it for time reasons, her brother told her that would be a huge mistake. APUSH was great for teaching critical reading, and AP Physics BC was the course which gave S the confidence that he could handle any course he needed to in college. </p>
<p>However, I’m not convinced that S did any better in admissions having taken 6 AP’s per year his last two years than his friends who took taking 3/yr.</p>
<p>"It’s better to find a college that fits your daughter then try to make your daughter fit into a certain college. "</p>
<p>kathiep, I agree with you there. But here at our high school, information isn’t always circulated to the students and parents and I am finding out that I have to do a lot asking around (and going on cc) for answers. Of course, what’s right for one student isn’t for another. I think I’m the one who’s stressing. She’s as happy as a clam in her classes and really feels she’s doing well (straight A’s or not.) I’m proud of her for that. But at what point in HS does she start being concerned about what colleges are looking for? Or is it even an issue? She’s involved in EC’s - student govt, on a sports team, and on the county drug/alcohol advisory board by choice and I’m sure there will be others in the future. </p>
<p>I like the advice to consider mixing it up a little (maybe some AP and CP.) I will definitely keep that in mind when guiding her. Thanks for the replies!</p>
<p>My D worked very hard for her A’s and B’s, and took some AP classes mixed in with honors. She was never destined to take AP Calc, so she did honors math classes, and after precalc took a dual enrollment College Algebra with great success. In sciences her strength was BIO so that was AP, the others were honors. She took AP English and History and Psych… She picked according to her strengths.</p>
<p>sunnyflorida, thanks for the info! Has your D graduated? Where will/did she apply for college?</p>
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<p>My youngest daughter (3rd kid) wants to be an engineer. She is in the 8th grade. Now that I have 2 other kids through High School, I know the in’s and out’s of how to get the classes she needs to graduate.</p>
<p>I told my daughter, if your goal is to go to MIT (or any other highly competitive engineering school), I can show you what you need to do in High School to have the best chance of getting in (help her select classes so she gets them all in by Senior Year, help her chose EC’s, etc.).</p>
<p>If you wait until Junior Year to plan for a highly competitive college, it is too late to make significant changes.</p>
<p>operadad - I agree. If a child wants to attend a very selective college, he/she needs to plan early and be willing to make some tough sacrifices and choices. D decided on a “dream school” (very selective and a lot of other kid’s “dream school”, too) as a freshman and proceeded with that goal in mind (she got in). If she had made this decision say as a junior, I don’t know if she would have been able to make it happen.
As for the AP question, I was aware from the beginning that you cannot count on a college granting credit even if the child passes the AP exam (even if he/she gets a 5 on the exam). I considered it useful as a challenge to D. We also were aware that the more selective schools want to see it, especially for a student in a school with many AP class offerings.</p>
<p>lilmom, where is your D interested in applying? My D only had her sights set on FSU. She appolied early, was accepted, and that was that. Would her plan work for an uber competitive school? Yes, it could if one were not going to be a math or science major. I think if your kid is an Enghlish Lit major, or a humanities buff, one does not have to graduate high school with Calculus BC, or AP Physics.</p>
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<p>But, what if you wanted to be a Humanities Major at Harvard?</p>
<p>You can probably get away with AP Physics B and AP Calculus AB. Honestly from our high school the kids who get into Harvard are strong students all around. The math and science guys (or gals) like my son took AP US History and AP Econ, and AP Latin (or French or Spanish) the hum/soc sci guys still took at least one if not two AP sciences and AP Calc.</p>