<p>Maybe we’ll find out together. D1 is a rising senior. Our public school offers just 8 AP classes (studio art, psych, US History, Government, English, Stat, Bio, and Chem). AP courses cannot be offered if the school offers the same course for dual credit. That’s why you don’t see Calc, Physics II, Comp, etc. on the list. They’re offered for dual credit. Some, but not all, dual credits are weighted. My feeling and the advice I gave to d1? Take the sure thing. She will graduate next year without a single AP but with 29 hours of credit, including calculus and physics. </p>
<p>Ordinarydaughter1 is not looking at highly selective schools. The credits will transfer (although not all credits will be useful at every institution she’ll apply to), but she’ll still be considered a first time freshman for fin aid. It’s exactly the same advice that the Talent Search advisors give the students in their program. Of course, there are some situations that require different advice. Somebody who wants to major in nursing, for example, should take AP Stat, since that’s what a BSN typically requires, instead of Calc for transfer credits, since those would just be “extra” math credits and the student would end up taking Stat anyway. </p>
<p>Ordinarydaughter2 (rising freshman) is probably going to look at some reach schools when the time comes, some of which will no doubt decline to give credit for dual credit classes. Will I still give her the same advice? Probably (although she’ll run out of available math courses and have to take AP Stat senior year). It seems like a reasonable risk. I guess I’m just not sure that cookie cutter AP courses (after all, every student in one is studying for the same exam at the end) are best courses.</p>
<p>I’m not a fan of AP courses, but at least up here in the northeast, private colleges are much more likely to give you credit for AP courses than for dual credit ones.</p>
<p>One good thing (which some would argue is a bad thing) about AP, however, is that the tests and curriculum are standardized. How they are taught and how much work is required varies greatly. With some standardization, it levels the field for these highly populated states where all the kids would look the same.</p>
<p>The problem with making judgements via AP courseload is that the rigor of AP classes varies widely from school to school. </p>
<p>You can’t assume the courses are rigorous simply based on AP scores. For example, my daughter got a 4 on the US History AP exam after taking pre-IB US History in 10th grade and doing minimal self-study. She claims much of her success was based on lessons learned from her passionate history teacher in middle school.</p>
<p>Our sch. offers 24 AP’s. My very average student S2 took 2 AP’s his jr. yr. and 2 dual enrollment classes at the CC his sr. year. His other classes were mostly honors with a some reg. classes thrown in. He did not have the stats for our state flagship schools. He was accepted two directional state u’s (invited to Honors at one). They were the only schools he applied to. He is a happy rising junior at the one he liked best.</p>
<p>This seems to be an anti-AP thread. </p>
<p>But I just want to say how great AP courses have been for both of our kids. Our son just received his scores. Took 7 AP’s this year. It gave him a great sense of direction for selecting a major in college, as well as a sense of pride for scoring well after working so hard. He managed to keep up a busy social life and EC’s as well.</p>
<p>I know it’s not for everyone, but I just wanted to say it’s worked well for us.</p>
<p>AP courses (and IB courses) can be wonderful. Students often start out taking them with the goal of college credit, but in then end they are glad they took on the extra challenge even if their college does not accept the credits. </p>
<p>But there is great variety of AP rigor and philosophy from school to school, including APs for sopohomores or even freshman without a hs level course first. The inconsistency would make it hard for colleges to make judgements solely based on AP count. So I think a student should just try to make the best choices based on their own interests and the mix of courses available on their high school.</p>