<p>My rising senior daughter is stressing over making some last minute changes to her senior schedule. Hoping the dean can help!</p>
<p>She took Earth Science in 9th grade, Honors Biology in 10th, and Honors Chemistry in 11th. The plan was to take Physics in 12th. Her school does not allow enrollment in an AP science class until the student has completed an academic level class in the same science.</p>
<p>However, it has come to her attention that many of the top students in her school (or at least the most savvy kids) skipped Earth Science and took Biology in 9th grade, Chem in 10th, and Physics in 11th, leaving time for an AP level science class in 12th. It appears that some of the counselors at the school encouraged this; others, like my daughter's counselor, either never mentioned this avenue or actively discouraged it.</p>
<p>My daughter is in the top 3 percent of her class, and has decent SATs (2160).
Her next year's schedule is as follows:</p>
<ol>
<li>AP Gov</li>
<li>AP Lang</li>
<li>AP Statistics (already took Calc BC with grade of A)</li>
<li>Physics</li>
<li>Spanish II (had 3 years of Chinese with nothing offered beyond that level)</li>
<li>Photojournalism III </li>
<li>? should she go for the AP Bio she thinks she needs to be competetive (in addition to taking Physics)?
Or should she take the dual enrollment advanced multivariable calculus class that she is more interested in?
Or should she try to find a dual enrollment Chinese class at the community college??? (Even though it is likely she might only place into Chinese 102 after a year absence, but she would love to get back into Chinese!)</li>
</ol>
<p>From an admissions perspective, what would you recommend?
Thanks for your thoughts and advice.</p>
<p>Honestly any of the classes you mentioned would be workable. In the sciences specifically we look for bio, chem and physics to be on the transcript (which your D has) and to take science all four years (which she plans to do). If she opts not to take AP Bio but say instead takes DE multivariable calculus, she may not have the AP science on her transcript that other students have but she’ll have the DE course which very few of our applicants have (we’re always most impressed when students go beyond AP Calc).</p>
<p>We would recommend either the AP science or DE Calc course. Taking Chinese 102 is actually taking a lower-level course than Chinese 3. Instead, we’d recommend that your D and her counselor explain that she switched from Chinese to Spanish as a result of not having any higher-level Chinese classes to take. </p>
<p>Not sure how many APs your D’s high school offers but if it’s a lot, we might err on the side of the AP science to give her an additional AP course (as 3 APs is standard if not a little less than standard for those who attend high schools with numerous APs). Another thought might be to take the AP science course or another AP course (maybe AP history) in place of photojournalism which we consider an elective (unless of course that class is necessary for one of her ECs).</p>
<p>Hope this is helpful!</p>
<p>Thanks very much.</p>
<p>Would you mind clarifying this one statement?..</p>
<p>“Not sure how many APs your D’s high school offers but if it’s a lot, we might err on the side of the AP science to give her an additional AP course (as 3 APs is standard if not a little less than standard for those who attend high schools with numerous APs).”</p>
<p>Are you saying that 3 APs during high school is a bit low?<br>
Or that 3 APs senior year is a bit low?</p>
<p>Overall, my D will have either 7 or 8 APs. A few kids at her school will have 9 or 10 because they took an AP science as well as an AP language (not available to my daughter in Chinese).</p>
<p>Thanks again!</p>
<p>Generally speaking 3 APs during the senior year (when the school offers a lot of APs) is a tad low (we’d say 4 is more typical) but it also depends on the APs. Some courses are generally more challenging than others so we consider not only the number but what the actual classes are. </p>
<p>On the flip side, 8 or 9 APs in total is incredibly strong and more than average so that’s again why we look not just at the number but the rigor in any given year.</p>
<p>My D was accepted a few years ago off the wait list. Her senior schedule was:</p>
<p>AP Chemistry (fourth yr of science, took physics in 10th grade)
AP Govt
AP Calculus AB (four yrs of Math in HS)
Honors 12th grade English
French 5 (AP French not available at her school)
Journalism (she was editor of school paper)</p>
<p>I do wish she had taken AP Statistics; it would have been so helpful for her W&M classes. In retrospect, I would have sent her to summer school for AP Stats.</p>
<p>The competitive AP numbers really bother me.</p>
<p>We’re out of state geographically but in-state for admissions (military residence rule - call to duty was VA). DD’s high school has a rule that max’s out at 3 AP classes per year (it’s a prep school where all classes are considered college prep - no distinction for honors because really the whole school is honors). Top kids (a few) may have 7 APs (1 as a soph, 3 as juniors, 3 as seniors). Typical is 4-5 (2-3 each year for 11 and 12). School does have a national reputation - would that AP load restriction be considered during the admissions process at W&M? Would she ahve to explain it in her app? DD will have 5 APs in total: AP Bio, AP Lang, AP Lit, AP Calc AB and AP Music Theory (strong interest in music - potential college minor).</p>
<p>94: My D had only 3 APs during her entire HS career, all in senior year, and her HS offered many APs nor did they restrict who got to take them or how many. What D did explain was that her HS did not offer AP French, but she took French 5 Honors instead in her senior year. She had been on a study trip to France and had done some other French-related activities in HS.</p>
<p>94 - the counselors at your school should explain that policy in the material that goes out with transcripts I think.</p>
<p>94, yes, W&M considers each applicant in the context of where they go to high school. We look at how many APs are offered at that school, whether students have to apply to APs, whether the number of APs a student can take is limited, etc. Much of this information is provided on the Common Application’s Secondary School Report form (the counselor completes this) and the rest is included in the high school profile (something high schools send out with transcripts). This is also part of why we read regionally. It is the regional dean’s job to know the high schools in his/her region and to be able to provide school, regional and geographic context to applications. We certainly aren’t familiar with every high school but as regional deans, we do our best to be familiar and to review applications with the appropriate lense. </p>
<p>Given the restrictions you describe, 5APs in your DD’s case would be considered rigorous assuming physics and the fourth level of a foreign language were also part of her transcript.</p>