<p>Girls and STEM. This topic has come up many times in our house recently. D14 is a real natural at chemistry (who knew?) and her teacher asked her to stay after class a few days ago to plead a case for her to consider a career in chemistry. He pointed out that chemistry needs girls like D and there are so many avenues to go into, not just pharmacy. D loves food, cosmetics, etc. and her teacher explained how she could work on developing new make-up, new foods, etc. Still no interest from D, but maybe sheâll change her mind in college??? Her parents have asked her to keep an open mindâŠ</p>
<p>Question off topic from the STEM discussion: DD just did her schedule with her GC today and has decided on taking 4 AP classes senior year (AP Calc, AP Gov, AP English, AP European History). She is also taking two AP classes this year (Engl/US History). So hereâs my question â colleges want to see you taking a tough course load. But what if she takes these courses and doesnât pass the AP tests, or passes with only a 3? Will that work again her? Will they still give her credit, so to speak, for taking the harder courses? Since some schools donât accept AP exams or only accept them for a 4 or a 5, will this hurt her?</p>
<p>Remember that colleges are only going to see this yearâs AP exam grades when making admissions decisions. If she is taking the tough classes and has good interim grades at the quarter, she should get the full benefit of taking those classes from an admissions standpoint. Whether she gets credit or advanced placement for the course is a different question that wonât even be considered until after she enrolls. Usually kids only self-report their AP scores during the application process, and only send an official report to the college where they enroll, if they want credit/placement consideration.</p>
<p>The AP tests are self reported on the Common App. You donât formally send scores until you are seeking credit at a school you matriculate to after hs graduation. The two she is taking this year are the only ones she is concerned with as the scores come out in early July. If they are both passing, 3-5, personally I think they are worth reporting. Otherwise you risk them seeing AP courses on your transcript and are left wondering if you took the exam, or if you are burying a poor score. If you donât score well on one or both (1,2) itâs a judgement call. I think itâs either better to report both or none.</p>
<p>I was noticing at the Science Bowl competition a couple of weeks ago that my DSâs team had 4 girls/6 guys. And all the girls were attractive, smart girls. 
Much different than his junior high science bowl team that was 13 guys and no girls!!</p>
<p>Wouldnât you love to go back to school now, knowing what you do? I was never strong in science (biology/chemistry) but loved math. I started out in programming (back in the old days of Basic and COBOL), but changed to accounting. If I were to do it over, I would look into civil engineering or GIS.</p>
<p>Thanks Mathmom and BlueIguana. Just wasnât sure if the senior year classes could have an negative impact (maybe an offer/merit scholarship rescinded) if she doesnât do well with the course and/or the AP exam. Iâm sure sheâll be fine and Iâm just being me. :)</p>
<p>You list the Sr year APs, just w/o scores as she obviously has none yet, on the CA. Our county pays for them and they are not optional. I would assume for some students who have to pay for AP tests once they decide where they matriculate this may dictate what tests they take. For example, S2âs eâschool didnât accept any AP Lit/Comp credits no matter the score. They have their own series of English classes for engineers that you can not test out of. If we were paying, he may not have bothered taking AP Lit even if he felt he could do well in it.</p>
<p>In any event, your DD absolutely will get âcreditâ for course rigor/taking those AP courses as they will be on her transcript. The only negative impact they could have would be her grades, but that would be with any course.</p>
<p>I am fortunate in that DDâs school mandates that they must agree to take the test if they sign up for an AP course, and the school pays for the test. If DD signs up for the course and does not take the AP exam, she is given a zero as a test grade, which is factored into her average, and the parents are required to reimburse the school district for the fee. 6 AP exam fees will save us a lot of money and every bit counts at this stage of the game.</p>
<p>You all seem to be a huge source of AP knowledge so am hoping someone has experienced this before and can offer advice. My sonâs school offers AP Government & Politics as a one semester course. The AP exam is administered in May but the course is offered either semester. Those who take it first semester will have to refresh on their own in May and those who take it second semester will not be through all of the material by the test date. </p>
<p>Has anyone experienced this before?</p>
<p>Take it first term. I find reviewing material you know well to be much easier than cramming in lots of ideas just to finish.</p>
<ul>
<li>The school probably does review sessions.</li>
</ul>
<p>Tonight was a first. All of our kids have gotten those mailings and emails from colleges as a result of the PSAT. But tonight DS actually got a phone call. Wasnât expecting that!</p>
<p>^ That scares me! Not sure how DS would react to a phone call!!! :)</p>
<p>Got a cute mailing today from MacAlester. âblah, blah, blah, high PSAT, blah blah blahâ</p>
<p>Whoa NovaMom â a phone call â thatâs kind of cool! Did you listen in? What did they say?</p>
<p>I donât think AP scores matter much. I didnât even know we were supposed to submit scores from AP exams and it didnât seem to matter for my current college freshman. He took AP Calc AP, BC, Chemistry & Physics and applied and was admitted to several engineering programs.</p>
<p>AP scores arenât helping him any at his college. He is a math major and chose to take the calc honors sequence. The way their curriculum is designed itâs used more for placement. He doesnât need to take science. They have required writing, no getting out of that. I canât think of an AP that would have helped him. </p>
<p>In the end if I could tell you why he was admitted to his more holistically geared college - it wasnât all stats driven, he fit the culture, the interviewer recognized it and he showed a lot of interest in attending.</p>
<p>CT1417: Iâd suggest first semester as well. Itâs a pain to review all of the material, but since Iâm guessing your kids go to school in the northeast they will probably have a month of school left at the time of the AP test. Itâs hard to get through that much material in just a few months. Plus, thereâs that lack of motivation factor spring of senior year! Also, AP Gov is one of the easier AP classes.</p>
<p>Thank you ecouter & pacnwâglad to have your input. Yes, we are here in the Northeast where school routinely lets out around June 20th. The final day is always scheduled for earlier but we have had power outages for the past three years that have added days to the end of the school year.</p>
<p>I am going to let him come to the first semester conclusion himself, as it was he who pointed out the two scenarios to me. The students must be talking among themselves in school and I know that some teachers are using part of the class period to discuss the senior year options. </p>
<p>AP Govâs relative ease is the reason my son is considering it. He has not taken honors classes since freshman year (cannot maintain the pace) but he must be getting swept up in the AP mania b/c he is talking about AP Calc (but only AB) and AP Physics, but that would be a mistake as the vast majority of students taking AP Physics came from honors physics. When I suggested that AP Physics could be a leap, he countered with AP Econ. Am intrigued by all of this new interest. </p>
<p>Thanks again for the responses.</p>
<p>I was just wondering if anyone knows how colleges view Project Lead The Law courses. In Charlotte mecklenburg, they are weighted as AP courses; how do they look on applications?</p>
<p>It is time for our DD to sign up for the AP exams and for each exam we have to pay $90. We are trying to find out which ones she should sign up for. DDÂs English, US History and world language classes, according to their syllabus are AP level though they do not say AP in the transcript. In the past, many students from these classes take the AP exams. </p>
<p>Do you know what college courses they get credit for or get exempted from when they get 4 / 5 in these AP exams? I understand that these vary and depend on specific colleges. I am trying to get a general sense. I assume that AP language may exempt them from the language requirement if there is one. What about AP English language, AP English Literature and AP U.S History? Thanks!</p>
<p>AP language may exempt them depending on their score. Some schools have their own placement test you must pass. Some simply state if youâve passed level 4. So, itâs really up to you if you want to spend $90 as insurance that it may exempt your student from the FL requirement. I would be inclined to do it if their last year of FL is their Jr year. If the school utilizes either an AP OR a placement test your student is going to be taking the placement test after being out of the FL for a year and may not score high enough to test out of the requirement. Just a thought.</p>
<p>For AP Lit/Comp, in my experience often schools will take credit for one or the other but not both, usually taking care of the âfirst writing requirementâ. For APUSH it will depend on the school. Some will give credit for an equivalent course at 4/5. Some will let you skip the course with a 4 but give no credit (i.e. go on to a higher level course), only giving credit for a 5.</p>
<p>Itâs a really helpful exercise to look at AP credit given at a couple of universities your student is considering. Perhaps your state flagship and a couple of other schools of interest. </p>
<p>Just for comparison here are two schools in our state:</p>
<p>For Virginia Tech: <a href=âhttp://www.registrar.vt.edu/documents/ap_equivalency_1213.pdf[/url]â>http://www.registrar.vt.edu/documents/ap_equivalency_1213.pdf</a></p>
<p>For UVa: [Advanced</a> Placement (AP) Exam Credit | The Undergraduate College of Arts & Sciences, U.Va.](<a href=âhttp://college.artsandsciences.virginia.edu/ap-credit]Advancedâ>http://college.artsandsciences.virginia.edu/ap-credit)</p>
<p>Thank you blueiguana. I will look at couple of schools DD is considering.</p>