Boarding schools want kids to be successful in every sense of the word. Both for the kids themselves, but also for the school’s reputation. They want their kids to test well, on all tests; and do well with college placements etc etc because it helps the school. So I wouldn’t worry that boarding school kids will be handicapped.
We had conversations recently with a few admissions officers from 3 well known schools (not Ivy). Each AO asked us (right out of the gate) “How many AP’s have you taken” or “How many AP’s are you taking?”
After stating the number and course titles, GolfKiddo explained how this boarding school doesn’t have a large number of AP courses to choose from and a couple were cancelled during last year due to COVID. Their responses were something like “that’s too bad” and “oh - well it’s one of the first things we look at”. When further explanation was made about Honors courses, 600 - 700 level courses, they seemed disinterested.
Can someone PLEASE inform college AO’s about boarding schools. Something is not clicking on either the college advising side or the college AO/reader side. They do not seem to be reading the school profile. It seems to us that some colleges still heavily favor applicants with a heavy AP load on the transcript. Many boarding schools have either taken away AP classes or have fewer AP classes.
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Well, that’s alarming. My impression was that AOs are often assigned to regions/schools- would the ones you were talking to be the AOs responsible for any boarding schools? It could be that those particular AOs haven’t dealt with boarding schools, but others have?
Are they schools who come to Deerfield?
I can see it being more of an obstacle in a TO environment. Esp if the student hasn’t taken AP tests.
It also goes against the mantra that the colleges look at the students in the context of the school they come from. Usually the mantra is applied to lower performing schools - if a kid took the only two APs available, that’s a-ok. That raw number of APs is the first thing they look at - it doesn’t seem useful.
I can believe that they look at the advisor recommendation - is the box for “most rigorous coursework” checked - as a first filter along with gpa. Number of APs is just too variable across schools to be useful.
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No boarding school student, especially from the ones most discussed here, is penalized for not dumbing down their BS experience with APs. As with GPAs, BS readers for each college (not some general AO) know exactly how to evaluate the rigor of each BS curriculum. Nothing has changed in this regard.
Colleges are looking for rigor. If APs are the most rigorous courses taught at your BS (though I certainly hope not), then you must take them. That is not the case with most of the schools discussed here. It certainly wasn’t the case with Choate. As I mentioned upthread, our son sat for three AP exams, but only his calculus class would have been considered an AP equivalent. There was no need to self-study to earn 5s on each. This story is common. Please let this concern go. If you really can’t, please contact your student’s CC to get your concerns addressed directly from the mouth of the horse your student is riding.
(Also, please distinguish AP classes from AP exams. AP classes are NOT required for taking AP tests which students are free to take if any will provide credit/validation at a college the student is applying to.)
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@Golfgr8 's child is looking at some schools that have little to no students from boarding schools. Do not extrapolate from her experience to any T50, or likely, T100 schools.
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She did not give any specifics, just “not Ivy.” Her post is pretty generic. For the general reading BS public, my comments stand.
For anyone who feels their student has special circumstances, the advice is always to communicate directly with the student’s CC for guidance and advice specific to that circumstance.
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Thanks @cinnamon1212 - you are right (as usual). The colleges are not those in the NE, but some are in the top 50. Most students applying to those colleges are not from the top boarding schools. The guys we spoke with lump all prep schools together. So, they really do not know the difference between the rigor of a HADES school versus the academic rigor of St Swampland where almost every GPA is above 95….Yes that 92 GPA from Groton or PEA will seem low to them.
In any event, they do not get a lot of applicants from NE Boarding Schools. One school’s Admissions officer had no idea what our kiddo’s school was and confused it with another school they had looked up online 
- Why are they still hung up on AP’s? They told us that is how they recognize the rigor. Well, then I had to explain that it’s not the way it actually works at our school or many of the BS’s. As someone noted above, you don’t need to take an AP course to take the AP test. This is true. They were interested more in the number of courses rather than the tests.
Moreover, something that was disturbing to kiddo and to me was that none of the AO’s or coaches we have spoken to even talk about or were even interested @ how COVID impacted the last 18 months of their education… what is this, old news already? Kiddo brings it up because the school changed it’s course schedule, most of it’s athletic schedules and (in our case) some of the courses were not offered. Also, we chose to keep our kid on campus and not play games (in every sense of the word). Many students at home did not have the same restrictions on club sport or travel team participation.
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT TO COLLEGES FROM GOLFKIDDO: “You changed everything for us during the end of 10th through all of 11th grade - but you still use the same metrics for reading applications as you did before and are still hung up on AP’s? Maybe because you went test optional you are now even more hung up on AP’s? Our schools changed everything for the ‘22’s but you still expect the same results?”
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It’s kind of funny to us that at DA, the term “AP” or “APs” are what types of demerits are called. If you get a certain number of AP’s over the course of a term, you are in serious risk of seeing the other side of the door. So, if you are touring at DA or speaking with students there, do not ask them “How many AP’s do you have?” Or “How many AP’s did you take?” Or…”How many AP’s are at this school?”
None of them wants to hear about it because every student has some variant of a COVID-19-disrupting-school-and-ECs story that they have heard hundreds of times before. Your student’s story is probably far less unique to an admissions officer or coach than it is to you.
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Gee @ucbalumnus - You’re right! I never thought of it that way….just another challenge. Some of our kids (probably not yours in California) had to complete an entire year of a course in 9 or 10 weeks, have gaping holes on their transcripts because of how the school decided to not post grades, Honors, or current GPAs correctly. Maybe you and your kid skated by this year and didn’t lose anyone to COVID, or struggle with it themselves. Your comment reveals the cynicism that fuels the type of gaslighting and resulting hopelessness so many students are feeling.
@Golfgr8 here’s my unsolicited opinion: your student will be fine. It will all work out, it really will.
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Thanks @cinnamon1212 !
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If a student doesn’t take an AP class but still takes AP exam(s) and gets high scores, would it be considered the same by the colleges? Hotchkiss just abandoned AP classes this year. When we learned about it after March 10, we were happy about it but now, hearing about AP comments made me wonder.
I will say that I think @Golfgr8 's experience is the exception, not the rule, and she has said that these schools are ones that don’t get many BS applicants.
As I have said before in this site, and perhaps even in this thread, there may be valid reasons for taking the AP exam, mainly for college credit. But it really only makes sense where the course aligns with just a bit of prep. Calculus is calculus. There really is not much extra prep involved other than knowing the test format. But a world history course may delve more deeply into regions barely touched on by the AP exam, while putting less emphasis on dead white men. The amount of extra prep required can possibly be detrimental to prep for coursework or building ECs.
So consider risk/reward. Any potential reward for having strong AP scores (and I argue that AO scores play little role, particularly when no course is offered) may be negatively offset by weaknesses elsewhere in the application.
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@Golfgr8 If you haven’t already read it, I highly recommend the book “The Self-Driven Child”. From this and some previous posts, you seem far too stressed about your child’s prep and college journey, and this undoubtedly will add anxiety and stress to your child during their last year of high school.
“We had conversations recently with a few admissions officers from 3 well known schools (not Ivy). Each AO asked us (right out of the gate) “How many AP’s have you taken” or “How many AP’s are you taking?””
“Gee @ucbalumnus - You’re right! I never thought of it that way….just another challenge. Some of our kids (probably not yours in California) had to complete an entire year of a course in 9 or 10 weeks, have gaping holes on their transcripts because of how the school decided to not post grades, Honors, or current GPAs correctly. Maybe you and your kid skated by this year and didn’t lose anyone to COVID, or struggle with it themselves. Your comment reveals the cynicism that fuels the type of gaslighting and resulting hopelessness so many students are feeling.”
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Gee @SportPrep - appreciate your concern given where you are coming from. Believe me, being in 2 sports - one of which is an individual sport that demands a lot of self-motivation - there is no question my student is self driven. Every kid I know at this level - particularly in the individual sport - is not only resilient and self motivated, but they are doing it for themselves - not some Stage Dad or Tiger mom. Speaking as a former collegiate athlete and someone who actually worked for some pretty well known players, I can tell you this truth: The grit just is not there unless you have your own passion.
Don’t take this personally but…. Wondering if by your username you actually have a kid going through the recruiting process like mine is. Perhaps your kid is not a ‘22? If not, there is a difference in our experiences.
I’m being honest enough to post what parents with students from different sports (team & individual) are talking about on the sidelines of camps, tournaments, and showcases. I am not the only one hearing this, but maybe I am the only one risking being attacked or mocked by posting what is being said on the sidelines. If your student is a top 50 athlete in your sport then you are ok. If your kid is scrambling for the relatively few recruited position on a team, its going to be tougher if not well positioned. There was a loss of an important 10th or 11th grade season and travel/club seasons, as well as protracted dark periods for recruiting last year. Many of the 2022 athletes we have spoken with over the course of the past school year found that they had less support and less help from their coaches than previous class years on a variety of arenas related to recruiting.
The focus on APs by some AO’s and in questions by coaches was explained to us as related to wanting more information about school rigor - since some coaches did not know of the different boarding schools or why their is no class ranking, or a GPA (not weighted) .that seems low compared to students from public schools. We know kids who are already holding offers but are hearing from the college coaches that they needed to beef up their course rigor. Yes - one coach was from Haavarrd who asked a recruited student we know about how many APs and the course rigor.
Let’s say your kid is hoping to get accepted into a college with XYS type of team that is not an Ivy, but one that is excellent in other ways. Maybe its a college known for that sport, that team, that training, that coach or that academic experience. Maybe you are applying to a college that does not get a lot of BS students. Our BS does not have many AP classes and, yes, my kid took more AP tests than actual AP courses offered. Honors level does prepare you, IMHO. I have spoken with other parents who believe there are fewer students from public schools submitting test scores than kids from boarding schools. So the coaches and AO’s might be asking for something tangible?
Bottom line: Pursuing a sport in college is important for many students for MANY different reasons. Not one size fits all. Your kiddo’s motivation is unique. Perhaps, there are some student athletes who really need that scholarship money or at least an offer to pursue their sport after high school - maybe they hope to go pro or at least get to the point of having the option of being on a team in college.
The early process was very different before COVID. Our athletes had Spring sports cancelled in 10th grade. That means they played in 9th grade on the team and (if lucky) got a partial season or shorten3ed season in for end of 11th grade. That is interesting timing for recruiting. We saw a difference in many aspects of the recruiting process before versus after COVID. Since this time, there have been significant changes for certain sports and coaches are in a very different place than 18 months ago. For some athletes, their team did not get to play for almost 2 years. Many of (not all) the focus of questions of coaches and AO’s have changed over the past couple of year. The number of spots on the bench have changed. Many boarding school students had a unique set of challenges in the recruiting process - some differences between sports as well as boys/girls teams. If you were a parent of a ‘21 or ‘22 athlete you would actually know this. So, due to a variety of factors, I hear from coaches that the ‘22s are in a different place than the ‘23s or ‘24s will be. Perhaps it deserve it’s own thread.
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Navigating college admissions is always rough. But for 21s and ‘22s, the rules and expectations are different in murky ways, and for ‘21 and ‘22 athletes who planned on recruitment as part of their application process, the plans are derailed. I get the parental angst, especially when affordability is looking less and less likely.
Seems to me, the struggle is real, for parents and students.
Kiddo isn’t a recruitable athlete, but 4 years ago we set in motion a plan for him to have as many opportunities as possible when it came time to choose his path after high school. Families with athletes have to commit to their path much earlier. It is reasonable to be alarmed when the opportunities narrow and the rules change when it is too late to do anything about it.
I don’t hear @Golfgr8 complaining, and I do appreciate her honesty in explaining her child’s reality, and how it is different than what was expected when they started. It is a useful public service announcement from the trenches.
I have faith that golfgr8 is doing a great job navigating this situation, with her DD taking the lead. I get that people want to help and are offering resources not just for her but for other readers out there who may be stressing. But knowing the stress my kid is under right now in these unprecedented times (and it has to be nothing compared to rising senior athletes), I find her venting here therapeutic and insightful. It is ok to be stressed about it all right now, it doesn’t make anyone a helicopter parent or overly obsessed. Better to say it out loud than not 
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You may be right @CateCAParent but its important that other parents reading this understand that @Golfgr8 is venting and is stressed, and that a lot of her worries (APs, Deerfield’s GPA) are not going to actually be a problem for her student.
Yes, athletic recruiting is harder, and trickier, but it can be done, even in COVID times. I am sympathetic, to a point.
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Golfgr8 has been/is an invaluable resource on this forum. The angst is understandable given what we’ve all been through with the ongoing pandemic. That been said, I have read so many comments on this forum about how the top BS are such great institutions. Where future leaders are developed. Attending these schools is a privilege. It is expected that if these schools are truly as good as their history/impact/marketing/network/wealth suggests then kids who attend should do well in the face of adversity. Be that college admission or life in general.
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Thanks….@CateCAParent! This is a post about AP’s, so I will end it with this. Some students have enough social-emotional insight to recognize an interesting disconnect between the reality of being a student during COVID and what the focus is during coaches or AO conversations. Focusing on AP’s just seemed so inconsequential compared to the bigger issues of the past 18 months. No one asked about COVID, BTW. Just because their focus is on stats and course rigor (yes - 4 AP courses and 2 Honors courses this year and all A’s) doesn’t make it right. What is the message? That’s where supportive parenting comes in. If you think that your student will return to his/her/their campus in September like nothing happened, then you are in denial. Ask how many students at your school took “medical leave” last year. If you don’t believe me, ask why so many schools have increased their counseling staff over the past 18 months.
Yes - I am venting and thanks for allowing me that platform. Moreover, thank you for your support! For those of us who have known each other for several years, we also have seen our kids go through huge changes. It was interesting to learn how each school handled COVID in their own unique way - and to also see the sacrifices that many families had to make because of the pandemic. With both myself and GolfKiddo having a long-haul COVID experience, there were many challenges including unexpected detours taken on the recruiting journey. Disappointing for a 16 year old. We are NOT alone in this - almost every 21 & 22 kid we know has had a unique path to recruitment. IF you are a parent who has also dealt with these challenges, you will understand and you will also be supported here.
So many students and their families have had a stressful 18 months, along with the fallout as we need to change expectations. Much has changed - Our kids are resilient and I believe most will be stronger from this journey. 
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