To move away from the advanced math diversion I created :), I can share that my D22 applied to her schools as a Poli Sci or Government major, but took APs across the spectrum of offerings at her school, including AP Calc AB and AP Chemistry. She didn’t really heed the advice shared here and elsewhere to focus only on subjects she was strongest in or would enjoy most. She took everything—AP stats, AP econ (both), AP Gov, AP art history, APush, etc. I do think this helped her in admissions, which, even with an unweighted GPA of 3.94, and 12 APs, was not a slam dunk. But she is happy and thriving atUCLA, and she even helped her stem major roommate with first year Chem, so I guess it came in handy elsewhere
I’m glad her school didn’t restrict her AP class options in junior or senior year. She’s a well-rounded student who found her AP classes to be interesting and fun—and filled with her friends. She wasn’t stressed out, she did well on the tests, and the credit she received at UCLA has left her with plenty of room to explore classes and pursue a double major (now History and Econ… back to math!)
I know AP classes can be a part of the race toward competitive admissions, but sometimes they really are the best classes for a kid who loves school and wants to be with others who love it too.
I think this is particularly true at large public schools where it’s either AP or lowest common denominator.
I feel strongly that the reason should be genuine interest, but at the end of the day it’s a matter of semantics. Private schools, particularly selective ones, like to limit the number of APs but it is just a label. Since the student body strength is more uniform, there is less of a need to segregate classes into these levels and can push the rigor even if it’s not called AP.
There was some spread in our D’s private high school, especially since the school was heavy into athletics, but not nearly as much as the public school because it was a competitive application process to get in.
Where there was a huge difference was that 99% students went on to 4 year universities (the other 1% to the military) as opposed to only 42% from the LPS. Made a huge difference in advising, college advising, course content, etc… There was also zero tolerance for disciplinary problems. Unless it was very, very minor, students were expelled for more violations. Public schools don’t have that luxury.
As I noted somewhere on this thread, D’s school greatly limited APs. Max was 8 total but the honors classes were taught at a very high level and were very similar in scope and work load as the APs. Many APs had an honors pre-reqs, for example honors chem before AP chem. The honors chem teacher was heads and tails better than the AP chem teacher (she was new) and his honors class was much more rigorous. D credits that honors chem teacher for her success in chemical engineering in college, not the AP teacher.
Like everything on this topic, I suspect it varies by school and context. My S23 self-studied for two AP’s but in each case it was a necessary step to get into classes he wanted at the HS, as opposed to just loading up on tests (he will not be able to use the credits at his college, and didn’t expect he would from the start). We were discouraging when he did decided to self-study for the Chemistry test sophomore year but his score on that caused the school to put him in classes that he couldn’t have tracked through had he not done it. Similarly, because of his other necessary electives he had no room for a CS course until senior year but was advanced enough on his own and wanted to take the school’s post-AP Algorithms and Data Structure course, which they let him do due to his CS A score (which he didn’t really “study” for, just basically familiarized himself with the format shortly before the test).
This seems to be less self study for the AP test than using the AP test as a validation of knowledge gained outside of school. The other likely case for this is for heritage speakers of a foreign language using the AP test to show that their knowledge of the language is at least at the AP [whatever score] level.
I would also caution that self-studying for law school typically involves reading, analyzing, and thinking about very dense texts (cases and such). This is also what lawyers do a lot, particularly litigators, and in addition they also have to write a lot. A few classes lend themselves to AP-type exams, but many involve exams or papers that are really quite different.
I note it is generally well-recognized that fields like Philosophy, Literature, History, Classics, and so on are particularly good preparation for law school and legal fields, because of all the reading of dense texts and writing. I know there are literature and history APs, but my feeling is studying for those exams is quite far away from actual advanced work in those sorts of fields.
Long story short, being self-motivated, self-organized, and self-disciplined is very important for law school and beyond. But the specific application of those qualities to preparing for AP-type exams is not, to me, particularly good preparation for law school or legal careers.
That said, things like the bar exam are very AP-like. But that’s really not a very representative part of becoming or being a lawyer.
I want to preface by saying my story is probably not the norm. Going to add the classes I took since that’s a factor.
Chem, Psych, USHistory, Lang, Calc AB.
I wasn’t stressed at all. This was by far my favorite year of high school! I did get some homework, but barely, and it was not overwhelming whatsoever. I finished the year with a perfect GPA (with the exception of chem, but still did well). I also was prepared for regents(nys test, but not hard) and got a 96 and 94 on US and english respectively. I took my AP tests, and I’m confident I got all 5’s or mostly 5’s and one or two 4’s. I would do this year exactly the same if given the option. I’m taking 4 APs and one Dual Enrollment next year.
Now I want to clarify that this isn’t normal. I had friends in one or two APs that STRUGGLED. In my school, students feel pressured to take APs from CCs and each other. I go to a competitive public school in the NYC suburbs, so there is a LOT of competition. Many kids would rather struggle, try hard, and walk out with a B in an AP than walk out with an A in a regular class. In my school, people will call you “dumb” if you’re not in the AP (which is insane). Kids typically take 3 APs a year in my school, some struggle and some don’t. The kids that take more typically do well because they know their limits. While yes, I think there needs to be less pressure to take APs, I don’t think it’s bad for people to take more than 2 APs. I think the people taking APs often aren’t qualified to do so, but are pressured into taking them. It’s not a one size fits all guide, and I think it’s more up to the students to know their limits.
There is also no honors option at my school. It’s regular or AP. Honors is only a prerequisite for certain APs. (English 10 Honors is a prerequisite for AP Lang)
APs were never created for the average student. Now it seems it’s average to take them.
Not all APs are created equal, and the AOs know that. It might be helpful to see which APs earn college credit at the desired schools. Stanford gives credit for AP Physics C (Mech and E&M) or Physics 1&2 (only when taken together), Chemistry, Language, Calculus AB or BC, and Comp Science A. On top of that, they probably care about English Lit and APUSH but do not give credit as they have their own writing and social science-y classes that are mandatory for all.
My S21, currently there, took most of those but made sure to have no more than 2 challenging ones per year. Quality over quantity. He did start in 10-th grade with Spanish Lang and BC calc. I believe piling up on secondary APs is not helpful, neither for the learning nor for the admission unless the student is interested in the subject and there are no other suitable classes to take
ETA: sometimes taking an AP class is useful to see what NOT to study in college. My kid was sure he was interested in psychology but after taking the AP Psych decided it is too empirical for him
