My daughter is a junior, a humanities kid with 4 AP classes and some time-consuming extra-curriculars. Her original plan has been to take Calc BC this year, with AP Stats and AP Physics next year (taken regular classes for all three sciences freshman through junior year). Having started in BC, she realized it’s going to take a lot more time than she anticipated and she just got cold feet looking at all the nerdy kids in her class who live and breathe math. Long story short, she dropped down to AB and I supported her because I don’t want her to stress out too much. She now plans to take BC and Stats next year, no AP Physics.
Here is my question - how much has this decision decreased her chances of getting a”most rigorous” checkbox on her transcript? She has taken the hardest non-STEM classes available at her school and some dual-enrollment classes over the years, but I don’t know how the “most rigorous” denomination is determined. D asked her GC and was told the school has a policy prohibiting counselors from discussing that checkbox to keep kids from stressing out.
The only reason I ask is that I know that without the checkbox checked, the app probably won’t even get a reading at the top school, so I want to know in advance how much I should prepare/manage D’s expectations/aim lower, etc. Thanks in advance!
Since those very same “nerdy” kids in the BC class probably are not taking all the hardest non-STEM classes, I wouldn’t worry too much. Would you really advise her to stick it out in Calc BC if you knew it would make the difference for that check box? Even at the risk of a lower grade? Have her take BC next year, and consider keeping AP Physics, rather than AP Stats.
Seems like keeping the criteria secret would increase stressing out, since students would feel the need to take every possible harder course because they do not know what is sufficient.
Keeping the criteria secret could also allow for corruption or favoritism unrelated to academic strength, or cause suspicion among students and parents about corruption or favoritism.
She is in 4 APs her junior year. Any counselor who doesn’t check it is full on guilty of contributing to that very same stress.
Also “not even get a reading at top schools” is a big assumption.
Seriously, I never heard of this check box before CC. It was never mentioned on a college visit. Never mentioned by any teacher or GC at our very good school that sends 100+ kids to top UCs, Stanford and the Ivies every year.
@CTScoutmom, I signed off on the switch last week when I saw how much she was worried over it and I knew it might mean losing that “most rigorous” status. I realize it might mean more stressful senior year, but then she will be a year older, and hopefully more mature and better under pressure.
My goal now is to understand what, if anything, should be done now - I.e., consider other colleges, plan more college trips, etc.
Maybe your daughter could try a slightly different approach with her counselor. Maybe if she mentions the selective schools she is considering that are known for highly valuing rigor, and say that she knows that per policy the counselor can’t tell her whether hers is considered most rigorous… but can he tell her if she is right to apply to those particular colleges or whether it’s too big a stretch. It’s sort of an indirect way of asking, but really it’s what she needs to know. It might be worth a try.
@TheTennisNinja, currently her list is super short - one HYPS school, one top 25 private, a few state flagships. She considers only community college a true safety, since she could most likely transfer to our state flagship in a year or two with no problems. She is just not interested in schools outside the state.
@mom2twogirls, unfortunately, this might not work as intended: GC thinks that legacy would give D a huge hook in the HYPS school admissions, so she would encourage D to apply even without most rigorous courseload checked
I agree with @CTScoutmom that you should stop worrying about it. Your child will feel your stress and that’s what you’re trying to avoid. I seriously doubt your GC will change how they’ll mark your D based on just this one class;they do it based on the entirety of her record. And I’d stop planting any ideas in the GC’s head that maybe the highest box shouldn’t be checked. Finally, even if your GC doesn’t check the most rigorous box the school will read her transcript and will see the strength of her schedule.
However, she will be competing for admission against many other applicants with similar or higher rigor on the high school record and their counselor’s “most demanding” schedule indication. Even legacies applying to super-selective schools need to show top-end academic strength in order to compete with other legacies who have that. Remember that initial reading of applications takes on the order of minutes, so that the high school record may be given just a quick scan, with the secretly-determined counselor indication of curricular rigor being a strong hint to the admission reader.
If you are in California, note that the UCs do not use counselor recommendations, so that the secretly-determined counselor indication of curricular rigor is not relevant when applying to them. Rigor is to be determined by admissions readers who consider that in scoring the application, helped by how the HS GPA is recalculated after self-reported courses and grades are put into the application.
I personally think you made the right decision REGARDLESS of the infamous check box. The course selection should be done based on what is right for your daughter’s mental health. Believe me, based on experience, crash and burn can and does happen with the best of students.
She’s fine. She’s in AB as a junior. She’s a humanities gal. AB is impressive. Dont confuse her with stem kids. Now’s the time to make sure her grades stay tops and she has the right ECs. And knows what her targets look for, the holistic “it.”
AB is fine. The most rigorous check is not about extremes. AB will look great.
And when an HYPS adcom sees most demanding not checked, they don’t trash the app. C’mon. They look at the transcript. And every bit of the whole app. Worry about the right things.
Now all the school needs is a policy to keeps the parents from stressing out.
In general, the rating is based on number of APs/honors courses, not specific courses. And despite the misleading thread title, your DD is not not taking BC - she’s taking it as a senior. There are no brownie points issued for taking traditionally senior courses as a junior. It’s fine.
She doesn’t need BC senior year. She’s had Calc AB as a junior, she can take physics and stats senior year and be 100% fine for all top schools. What she needs is ECs and accomplishment in her fields of strength, not an extraneous math class.
My daughter took AB… never took BC. She thought about it and decided her personality did not need the additional stress. She also never took AP US History, etc. She decided at the time to go with her interests, and those classes… at the time… were not her interests.
The guidance counselor checked off “most rigorous.” She got into schools with low acceptance rates ( one was 10%) … and had no hooks. We also live in an over-represented state.
One math class should not matter. It’s not about who has the most AP classes.
This bears repeating: it’s not about who has the most AP classes.
The AP classes should reflect the fact she’s a Humanities kid, as should her EC’s. She hopefully has taken/will take AP Lang and AP Lit, APUSH and AP Euro or AP WH, AP Econ/Gov/Psych, AP Foreign language. For the rest she needs to have the requisite classes (math through precalculus or calculus with AP Stats as a senior possibility; bio, chem, physics plus one AP which can be AP Physics 1 or APES or even AP bio, she can add AP CS Principles if she wishes) with the law of diminishing returns applying after 6-8 AP’s TOTAL. Once the student has shown s/he can do the work academically and is qualified for the academic field they’re reportedly passionate about, adcoms move on to essays, LORs, EC’s.
