<p>Some top schools like SPS and Peddie don't offer many AP courses (<15 for both), while other second tier schools offer a whole lot more, such as St Andrew' DE (35) and Westtown (37).</p>
<p>What does that tell you about a school? Can students get enough in schools like SPS or Peddie with few APs?</p>
<p>Sometimes, top schools like SPS and Peddie don’t offer many APs because their regular courses are already at the Advanced Placement level. Also when a student applies to college their school sends a profile of all the courses offered and the colleges become familiar with those particular schools. Colleges want to see the student full advantage of the most advanced courses as they can. If a student @ boarding doesn’t take many APs because not many APs are offered the colleges will take that information into consideration. They know for example that the coursework at SPS is as advanced as AP classes so they won’t penalize the student for not taking APs because in truth the coursework at any particular boarding school is usually at the level or surpasses the AP level. </p>
<p>So in a nutshell, because schools like Peddie and SPS have such an advanced courseload/offerings, they don’t have to offer AP classes becuase their academic program is already considered advanced. When applying to colleges they will know this and not penalize a student for not taking APs especially at an advanced boarding high school. </p>
<p>Hope this helps!</p>
<p>I think many of the regular classes at the top schools are AP level without being designated as AP. College Board does an audit of the curriculum and gives the schools the right to use the “AP” designation. If you look on some schools websites you will see two lists: AP courses and AP preparation.</p>
<p>You don’t have to have taken an “AP” course to take the AP test. For instance, in the Groton catalog there are no designated AP courses English, Art History, or History; but at the end of the description of some courses it states that students are encouraged to take the AP exam for whatever the course was. In other words, the AP level is what is expected of all students…and the students do very well on the AP exams.</p>
<p>“Advanced Placement” is a registered trademark of the College Board and EST. Schools have to conform their class syllabi to be allowed to use it.</p>
<p>^^^^^Exactly right!</p>
<p>abc, we’re posting at the same time!</p>
<p>In regard to how colleges look at it, I would think that having 4’s and 5’s on AP exams without having the AP designated courses on the transcripts would be self explanatory. Either the regular course was rigorous enough, or the student self-studied for the test. I would even speculate that kids who get B’s in regular courses at top schools have a better rate of getting a 5 on the AP exam than kids in public schools with an A in an AP labeled course. I have no proof of this. But it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if it were true.</p>
<p>I visited Westtown last year and it was my understanding that they offer NO ap classes. There philosophy was that they could better design the courses they wanted to teach without the interference of the college board and then the kids could take the test if they felt like it. Schools might see the AP designation as a straight jacket, rather than a quality marker.</p>
<p>For local public schools, I would think that the existence of AP classes would reassure you that the school has upper level courses. In a private school, I think you have to look closely at the course descriptions to decide if the course is at the level/pace you prefer.</p>
<p>My opinion is that # of AP tests don’t matter in judging between schools that are this tier.</p>
<p>My child’s school offers no APs, but kids regularly go to the very top schools. Assuming there is rigor, AP is not necessary. And, yes, you can take AP exams without taking an offically trademarked AP class.</p>
<p>neatoburrito, grejuni and nemom are spot on. I think boarding school is an option for so many bright kids because it will be more of a challenge for us than our local public schools. As for my my local public school offers a lot of AP classes and that will be my backup if I don’t get aceepted. I feel confident in that my backup school has certified challenging classes.</p>
<p>The best part about the no AP rule… They don’t teach to the test. They cover so much that you are predisposed to getting a 5 because they are probably pretty over worked and motivated.</p>
<p>Grejuni,</p>
<p>I got the AP number of Westtown from here:
[Westtown</a> School - Boarding School Profile](<a href=“http://www.boardingschoolreview.com/school_ov/school_id/32]Westtown”>Westtown School (2024-25 Profile) - West Chester, PA)</p>
<p>May be they named their courses differently, so some regular courses got misplaced?</p>
<p>Sounds like APs # are important for evaluate a public schools, but not so for a BS school. It is the AP exam that matters, not the name of the course. Right?</p>
<p>Thank you all for your input.</p>
<p>I think the general idea is that boarding schools don’t have classes that are based around preparing you for a test, which is basically what an AP class is. As I understand it, they don’y offer quote-on-quote “AP courses” because just taking the regular course should prepare you for the material on the test.</p>
<p>Here’s a thread from earlier in the year, about this topic: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/506975-one-student-perspective-ap.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/506975-one-student-perspective-ap.html</a>.</p>
<p>since these elite schools are for advanced people to begin with, i should imagine that the “regular” classes at these schools are just as challenging as the AP classes offered in regular high schools</p>
<p>AP trademark designation is expensive for schools to comply with and full of paperwork. Colleges know the quality of the better boarding school curricula and it is usually at an equal level. </p>
<p>For example, Deerfield dropped AP English a couple of years ago. Now their catalog states: “Regardless of their section, many students take and perform well on the AP English Literature and AP English Language Composition examinations at the end of the junior year.”</p>
<p>Mid-level BS use large AP offerings as a tool to compete with publics for students.</p>