<p>AdOfficer, can you comment on how you view kids from highly competitive prep schools? Does top 10% hold at such schools? Are we viewed as wealthy, spoiled brats by some? Is it known how hard we work to get good grades? When you say you have a soft spot for language kids, how is study abroad viewed?</p>
<p>b@r!um, I don't think it's so much of a requirement as there is just so much competition with people who DO take challenging classes outside of their "discipline" that it's almost necessary just to remain competitive.</p>
<p>Many good private schools have no or very few AP classes. They can create better classes if they don't have to play to a test. Colleges are fully aware of this.</p>
<p>I agree with 19382. </p>
<p>You also need to consider that the skills gained in the humanities courses are important life skills. Being able to synthesize information and communicate properly are VERY important. Consider this: even engineers have to communicate! And they can't expect to rise up in the ranks to any kind of management job is they can't communicate. There is a lot more to effective communication than simply knowing mechanics. There is a technique involved in presenting information properly (even technical info). So, while you may dislike those courses, you DO "need" them.</p>
<p>b@r!um
it's great that you've identified areas you are strong in, but being well-rounded is important - not just for college admissions, but for life, period. if you aren't able to communicate effectively or think critically, your analytical skills aren't going to be worth much. i have to say, though, that in my experience kids with strong math and science backgrounds/grades/curriculums catch more of a break for being less well-rounded than kids who are strong in the arts/humanities/social sciences. many students with an interest in science and math (particularly female students with these interests) are looked upon quite favorably, even if they haven't taken ap english or history whereas students with an interest in the arts/languages/humanities often aren't cut a break for not taking ap calc or chem.</p>
<p>SPSstudent - i think it's important to remember that we in admissions know our high schools pretty well. we understand the opportunities that are available to students at different schools. thus, if you are going to a private school with a good reputation, you need to be taking advantage of as much as you can academically and with extracurriculars. there are a lot of elite colleges and universities out there that do enroll a lot of kids from these schools - many of the elite boarding and private schools in the country are feeders to the ivies and other elites. to be honest, i'm not sure it's quite so fair that some schools will enroll 20+ students a year from a single high school, but they do it. that being said, i certainly don't view all the kids who attend such schools as rich, snotty, prepsters...i look at each student as an individual. additionally, many private schools are really trying hard to enroll low-income kids by developing financial aid programs, which is admirable. could they do more? yes...but so too can most colleges. </p>
<p>i stated i have a soft spot for kids who study languages because there are so few who seem to have a real passion for them. study abroad programs are cool, but let's be honest - they aren't as rigorous as they probably could be. going away for a semester or year does show initiative, but your grades in such a program need to be as strong as your domestic grades if your courses are in english (which a lot of them are); if they are in another language (like in the SYA programs) and you are maintaining the same grades as you were back home, that's impressive.</p>
<p>zagat - your comment is accurate, but sometimes students at private schools participate only in "seminar" classes; instead of getting a solid foundation from which to work, they get a narrowly-focused curriculum. there are certainly advantages to studying something with a great deal of depth, but if a student doesn't have a strong foundation to draw upon, the student might have problems later on in college. i do agree that a lot of schools teach to the ap test instead of allowing teachers to experiment with different pedagogies which is too bad - not to mention the fact that many ap curriculums are in desperate need of updating.</p>
<p>buuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmp</p>