So there is a 51% chance I wasted $90 for my son to take the exam.
Students are evaluated in the context of their high school and the classes available to them. If they donât have access to math classes higher than Calc, itâs not going to affect them negatively.
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That is probably because colleges have determined the rigor of the school is more demanding and the strength of the schedule is appropriate for the ranking of the high school. Here lies the problem of taking 1-2 APâs at certain high schools. While taking many APâs may not help with admission taking too few APâs could hurt with admission.
Husband was in Admissions for years. 1) Rigor of school 2) Rigor of your schedule within the school.
No AO is going to question the rigor of Phillips Andover or Boston Latin they will be at the top of the rankings but many MA high schools will also have a high rigor ranking.
Here is how taking fewer APâs at certain high schools could affect college admission. Strength of your schedule for your school, class rank (if APâs carry more weight), multiple apps from the same school.
I will use my D23 as an example if she only took 1-2 APâs per year the rigor of her schedule would be weak for her school profile if she applied to certain schools. Her school ranked based on weighted GPA which included more weight for AP courses. Again her academic record would be compared to other students applying from her school that had more APâs and a higher class rank.
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This is something many private schools are doing right IMO. By eliminating rank and GPA they have done a lot towards eliminating the rigor rat race, and kids have more liberty to choose whatâs right for them or interest them most. Itâs not perfect, but definitely a move in the right direction.
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Our HS did a reasonable job of controlling the number of APs. No APs or honors except Math in 9th, very limited APs in 10th (I think Euro and AP bio for the GT kids that had already taken bio 1 in 8th grade, and not offering all of the courses. The APs were weighted the same as honors. However, honors classes were difficult and lots of work. By senior year most of the honors level classes were APs.
The real change would have to come with the âmost rigorousâ curriculum offered. And for kids and parents to realize that a good education does not stop at the top 20 schools, or even the top 50. Kids can take a challenging, yet reasonable curriculum in HS and get into a great college.
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The thread is about the number of APs that a student is expected to take, It is not about rigor of private schools versus public schools or anything along that topic.
I have deleted posts that are not on topic.
Colleges can recalculate GPA and the recommendation forms ask the recommended to rank the student. Hiding the GPA and rank does not prevent them from being used in college admissions.
Do all admissions offices compute a gpa? I find this hard to believe. It is really painful. They could also make mistakes transcribing grades from pdf to excel.
Even if schools donât report rank and gpa, college outcomes are consistent in terms of ordering â the stronger kids get into the better schools. Colleges donât seem to be confused.
No GPA
No Rank
No ACT/SAT (or, at best, very optional)
Just letters of recommendation and essays.
Maximum reliability! A swell way to deny/admit.
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FWIW, I think itâs fine for kids to take lots of APs. Itâs a standardized curriculum, and at many schools, the AP classes (and AP teachers, and fellow AP students) are the best at the high school.
Of course, thereâs always an element of looking towards college admissions as top kids construct their schedules (and decide what ECs to participate in, etc.) But lots of kids want to challenge themselves, and CAN succeed with lots of APs. Better APs for 11th and 12th (and maybe 10th) than standard (non-Honors) classes, and in many cases, there arenât many non-Honors AP classes at that level.
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As a current computer science major, AP CSP was one of the most useful courses I took in high school. Learning the fundamental premises of computing (the bit/byte concept, internet protocols and data transfer, modular arithmetic and public/private key encryption) gave me a much greater appreciation of the field than a simple programming class (AP CSA). I opted not to take AP CSA the year after and just went straight to university courses in data structures + algorithms because I felt I had enough self-study preparation, gained from mere personal curiosity.
If a student truly has no programming experience, then I can see how AP CSA is useful. However, in this day and age, I have yet to meet a CS major at either my current uni or my state flagship in my hometown that had not acquired programming skills at or beyond AP CSA from pure self-study and side projects. I had to take 1 programming class in college (couldnât talk my way out of it like I did for half of my degree requirements XD) and it was by far the least interesting class Iâve taken in college.
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Colleges get it right, I agree.
Even with 6 APs, our kids are still getting into competitive schools and are succeeding.
I just checked where our graduates this year are heading: Princeton, Columbia, Georgetown, Brown, UCLA, Vanderbilt, Colgate, Barnard, UNC (OOS) are some of the schools mentioned.
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So at least many highly-selective colleges apparently have some semi-formalized method for turning grades/transcripts, and test scores where available, into some sort of numerical academic index. This was evident in the Harvard admissions lawsuit, and has been discussed in some form by other AOs.
Whether that actually includes as part of the process an internal weighted GPA, or something like that, appears to depend on the college. Public universities specifically might basically be obligated to do some form of that, either as a matter of explicit policy or as practically required to sort their applicant pool consistent with their public mandate. Private colleges are generally going to be free to handle that however they like.
Which finally feeds into the issue of this threadâprivate colleges in particular will not necessarily handle AP classes in any particular way when coming up with their version of an academic index for their applicants. They instead can do things like take nominally the same grades in nominally the same courses and arrive at different academic index scores depending on how they assess all that in the context of your specific HS. But again, that may not take the form of a custom GPA calculation specifically.
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Yeah, in our private HS with very limited APs, no weighting of GPAs, and no reporting of class ranks, holding aside the âhookedâ candidates (like recruited athletes), everyone seems pretty comfortable with how admissions work out. Including the college counselors.
I think the really tricky/controversial bit is trying to compare outcomes between radically different types of high schools. At that point, âobjectiveâ merit as a concept starts to break down, as private colleges in particular can start to trade off different dimensions of âmeritâ in different ways.
But within a particular high school, I think usually the âsortingâ of unhooked applicants basically matches expectations, although every once in a while there may be a surprise.
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Thatâs the experience at our school, too. Although AP isnât available until junior year we do have honors courses available in 9th & 10th grade. I do think that schools are familiar with our HS and know students are well prepared so there isnât the same pressure for students to load up on APs starting freshman year.
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Same here. I agree with you and it seems to work!
I donât think kids at our school feel much/any pressure to load up.
If kids are âloading upâ on AP classes, how would really you know why? Itâs not always obvious.
Based on what my kids have told me or not told me about their friends. I agree it is possible people are secretive about their motives to take some course or not take the course. Also a lot of people are happy to go to the local LACs, and you donât need to load up for those.
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