Hi,
My daughter was accepted at Lawrence Academy for 9th grade. I noticed the highest level of courses is Honors and they no longer offer AP classes. Any input as to how or if this affects College acceptance? We are not shooting for IVY, but possibly NESCAC (New England Small College Athletic Conference) schools. Thanks for any input
It won’t. The question has been asked a million times before.
Many boarding schools have reduced the AP offerings or eliminated them completely because they don’t want to teach to the test. But they still offers courses that are at or beyond AP level.
Depending on the course, some students still take the AP exam
Most boarding schools have stopped AP classes. This does not mean the classes are any less rigorous. And all colleges know this. It is a total nonissue.
Thank you. I’m new to the Independent School Curriculum and a friend told me that As in AP Courses from a public school are worth more to colleges than an A or B in a Prep School Honors class. She doesn’t have kids in Independent/BS, I think she was trying to talk me out of an Independent School Curriculum.
Your friend doesn’t know what she’s talking about
My thoughts exactly, lol but figured I would ask the experts! There are many reasons we are opting for an Independent school vs local public (which we have an excellent LPS) but the Independent School offers even more than a great public school in our opinion! I have also noticed some people say LA isn’t a very rigorous school vs the Groton/Middlesex options where we live, so was just trying to get the pulse of the academic feel. Thank you!
If your child attends a school which doesn’t have APs, then they will not be punished for not taking any.
The vast majority of kids in the US do not have a choice on where to attend high school. They simply attend the school zoned for their residence. So academic officers at college will not punish kids for not taking APs if their high school doesn’t offer them.
AOs from highly selective schools (like NESCACs) will judge rigor of a transcript based on what’s offered at their high school. So if your child attends a school which DOES offer APs but then doesn’t take them, then that is deemed less rigorous.
The lack of APs will not matter for getting college admissions. It will matter for placing out of courses at colleges – more of an effort to test out than to place out.
Availability of AP classes will not matter but it will matter that Lawrence Academy is not known for it’s academic rigor. Your daughter will need to be top of her class for strong academic NESCAC admission.
Deleted
Edit: I mistook Lawrence Academy for Lawrenceville …
Overall academically it is one of the weakest ISL schools. That doesn’t mean that it isn’t the right choice for many kids. And if your daughter can be top of her class that might be a great fit for her. I am not talking about the programming they offer. They simply do not attract the kids most interested in academic achievement and they have a far more fluid admission standard.
FWIW our public school stopped offering AP classes over a decade ago. Instead, they offer school created college level courses. The impact on college admissions has been ZERO.
Many high schools have been pulling away from the designated and specified syllabi created by College Board which must be followed in order to classify a course as AP.
What the kids like is for a course to teach more than the AP, call it an AP, and be done with it. AP C E&M is an example. The course is far more rigorous than the regular AP in terms of rigor at our school. The advantage of this method is that the AP still counts for placing out of courses at your college. Likewise in CS courses, we have a couple of courses past AP CS A (some kids are done with the AP in 9th grade). In Bio, the honors courses are tougher and different than AP Bio, and kids take both etc. 10th grade history has only a few topics missing from AP World. Kids self-study those few pieces and go take AP World. The hybrid approach has it’s benefits.
Of course every HS offers different options. Top tier colleges will look for applicants to take the most rigorous coursework available at their particular HS.
But please let’s get back to the OPs question of if the lack of APs at Lawrence Academy will be a problem for college admissions.
Seems that the list of courses offered is not very extensive or advanced in many subject areas:
https://www.lawrenceacademy.org/academics/upper-school/us-english/
(It does offer both AP English courses, which appear to be the most advanced English options.)
Thanks for the input. I just checked the 2022 College Acceptances for LA and it looks like 7 of the 11 schools in the NESCAC were represented, so that’s promising for such a weak academic rigor reputation! Looks like there is hope!
You need to filter for hooks
Yes and no. Yes in the sense that just because a school sends kids to top schools doesn’t mean you’ll get into a top school. No in the sense that top schools see the preparation from this school as more than adequate to accept its graduates.
One thing that nobody seems to look at is how much schools actually “improve” its students while they are there. If a school gets fantastic applicants and accepts only 10% of them, they SHOULD be getting into top schools. Arguably, they would be excellent applicants even with a top BS education.
Otoh, if a school accepts less impressive students, excites them about learning and teaches them well – to the point that they are punching above their 8th grade weight, that’s a darn good school! It’s hard to do this kind of analysis, but it’s worthwhile to try to get a read on this. Some of the less prestige schools may in fact be doing a “better” job of teaching, which for many students may be just what they need!
Anecdotally, we observed that kids that joined our school in the young grades, when indeed assessing them is harder, have the greatest dispersion in strength/outcomes vs kids that joined the school in 9th grade. The first several ranks in the school are often from the kids that joined early. But I agree that it is hard to do this kind of analysis in the general case.
This is the prep school forum and we are talking about boarding schools. Kids are joining in 9th, for the most part. Schools that have lower schools are the exception.