Thank you @GoldenRock and @Docparent ! I heard earlier that it’s not a good idea to visit colleges during Summer as there won’t be any students etc. So we never thought about it further. What’s your opinion in visiting in Summer? @Docparent , I will ask her check the contact you provided.
Also I have another question about unweighted GPA. My daughter took 3 APs during sophomore year of High school for the first time and didn’t realize that AP Chem and APUSH were that challenging taking in the same year. So she ended up with B’s in both during the first semester and pulled it to A’s in the 2nd semester. This kind of put her GPA down to 3.94 but her weighted GPA is still 4.62 at the end of sophomore year. She’s doing good in junior year till now. How bad is 3.94? Do all these BS/MD kids have 4 unweighted GPA?
@mygrad2021 Agree, summer may not be the best time. If you are on east coast and if time permits go during the semester.
My point was primarily for folks on the west coast. My D did not visit any colleges until she went for BS/MD interview.
GPA does not have to be 4.0. Your D is fine. But APs are not the criteria for BS/MD. They may help when doing UG in some colleges to register any courses ahead of line.
APs do count as part of holistic evaluations by programs like NU HPME and BU SMED. They use them to gauge the rigor of curriculum in a standardized way.
For example someone getting a B in a tough school/teacher in AP Biology but with a 5 in the AP exam (with some 6-7% getting it nationally in Bio) is more likely to be looked at favorably than some one with an A in the course but a 3 in the AP.
It is in one’s best interest to cover as many as possible of APs in BCPM subjects by the end of junior year, to show case one’s strengths and interest in science. (My personal recommendation 3 if possible).
@abbaby
Usually VCU and Drexel (together with URochester, UConn)invites come in last week of Jan or first week of Feb.
Last year BU, PMM, AMC/(RPI-Union) invites came before Dec 31st.
@rk2017 My post related to AP is not well articulated.
Agree, rigor of the course is important. So if the school offers AP subject or Honors subject or just the subject, doing AP or Honors and getting A is critical.
Taking AP exams with college board is completely different from doing AP course in a HS. It is not mandated that doing AP course in HS must take AP exam, though it is in the interest of the student to get that covered.
The trend among many is doing 10-17 AP exams, is not going in the right track or perceiving BS/MD admission gives so much importance for the number of AP exams taken is misleading and also will dilute the student’s time and too much stress and ROI is less.
At the end there is no magic number, totally it depends on the student and the school to nicely balance what courses and how many AP exams and activities to be involved.
Taking AP exams helps more in UG for registration or trying to wrap college earlier than really in admission for UG or BS/MD. Not saying don’t do any AP exams, but it is in sane to do 10-18+ AP Exams if time compressed and getting stressed out in HS.
Got 1 st interview call for Drew. I live 7 hours away, can I register for Skype interview, if going personally is better, can do that as well. Please advice.
Yes, seen cases where students doing APs just for the count and may be any associated honors given by college board like for example National AP Scholar to put on their application. Somehow students and parents seem to think doing a ton load of APs and boosting their WGPA can get them into colleges or BS/MD and other programs they want to get into.
There have been few posts on this forum where students asking for opinions on their chances listing some 10 APs. Hardly any of them were core BCPM related. And where they were, either they didn’t score well on the tests or they were in tangential subjects like Statistics or Environmental science or easy ones CS1.
How do they expect the admissions committees of these various programs to just not look at what subjects they actually did APs in to justify their interest in this path, how they did on the corresponding standardized tests and just not the overall count of their APs and WGPAs?
Your can request a college tour when you visit for interviews.
But remember - NOT all programs will have college tour as part of the interview.
Example at NU and Stonybrook - you just drop the child at the gate at the time of interview.
Jefferson, on the other hand, had sessions for parents, including a session on costs & financial aid. Plus students and program directors were available post interview to meet with parents in a casual setting.
If you are applying to BS/MD programs, skip the college visit till the interview stage or after. If admitted, you can participate in admitted student days.
Thank you both @GoldenRock and @rk2017 ! I understand both perspectives. She is only doing the required APs and mostly everything offered in STEM and few humanities.
Yes, the post 1118 gives the range I was referring to earlier and no, the figures given by college board (with an asterisk) is ridiculously low. For example 34 = 1500.
I concur with what @NoviceDad mentioned about colleges ignoring what college board put out there. I can understand the rationale behind putting 4 SAT scores corresponding to each ACT score because of the spread (i.e, 33.5, 33.75, 34 and 34.25 all map to a single composite of 34). But the mapping they put is unjustified.
NJIT interviews started on Nov 22 , and my s was notified on Nov 15. There are at least 6 full days interview up till last week, now waiting to hear from NJMS.