Us history covers a lot. Most colleges courses divide it in 2. It’s a lot of content
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Here’s a question I’d love some input on. For context, D23 will mainly be applying to UCs & some CSUs but possibly also some smaller private schools that give merit $. In 10th grade she took only one AP class and exam – AP Chemistry. It was the fully online COVID year. She never stepped foot in a classroom, not even for Labs. All online, and our school did this weird thing where you only took half your classes at a time for 4 weeks, then rotated to the other half of your classes, then rotated back. So Chem was online, only had sporadic instruction, and it was really hard – science is not her strong subject (and for sure won’t be her major!). She eeked out an A in first semester but got a B second semester (her only B thus far in HS), did end up taking the AP but they were wildly unprepared and she earned a 2.
This year school was back in person and she took 3 AP courses – Lang (scored a 5), APUSH (scored a 5), and Bio (scored a 4).
I’m tempted to have her self-report the two 5s and the 4 and just sort of say nothing at all about the AP Chem score. Just leave it off but not even try to explain it away. If and when she gets in (again UCs are the target), she can send in the official report and it won’t matter at that point. But do you think schools would rather see that she took the test, even though it was a 2? I’m leaning towards no but would be interested in the thoughts of others.
I would do what you said and only report the high scores. No reason to report the 2. Lots of kids take the class but not the AP (DS2023 just did that with AP Chinese where only about half the class took the test) - and he had a B+ in the class). And that’s ignoring the fact that this was the Covid shutdown year when many didn’t take the exam.
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@goldrush2 - agreed with the others, don’t report the 2 and there is no reason to explain. The 4/5’s this year will signal she is now prepared for college level work.
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Thank you both @relaxmon and @Novacat9191 – glad to see a couple of people have the same instinct as I do. I would hope that AOs this upcoming year will still be keeping in mind that the 10th grade year for our class of 2023 was pretty locked down and messed up for a lot of kiddos. I’m grateful mine did well on these latest APs so that there’s something to hang her hat on because it was kind of a blow to her spirit sophomore year! What a ride this whole thing has been.
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The UC application has an additional comment section under Academic History. She doesn’t need to mention the 2 but can explain that sophomore year was online.
From the UC Berkeley website:
How to use the Additional Comments boxes
There are two Additional Comments boxes within the UC application: one is within the Academic History, under “Other Academic History - Additional Information” and one within the Personal Insight section. Use these to provide information to supplement or explain what’s already in your application or to include relevant information that doesn’t appear anywhere else or that you feel should be brought to a reader’s attention.
Use the Additional Comments box within Academic History for academic-related information. This is a good place to explain any fluctuations in your academic performance and what you did about it. You also can:
- Explain a course choice
- Highlight or explain grade trends (Example: C’s to A’s, or vice versa, over a period of time)
- Share anything about your academic record not yet covered in the application
In the Personal Insight section, use the Additional Comments box to report any meaningful extracurricular activities or volunteer work you want to elaborate on or that you were not able to include in the Extracurricular section of the application. Show us how you made a difference, showed leadership, or took initiative. For example, explain more about how you showed leadership as a team co-captain, saved money for your employer, or solved a major IT problem when you volunteered at a nonprofit organization.
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Yes, we did want to report it. However, the College Board said they would delay the release of scores while they investigated. Since the test was in June, the scores are already coming out later than normal. We need to know the score to determine if 23 has to take the test again in August.
Secondly, 23 took a Princeton Review course that will let her retake the course or get tutoring if she doesn’t get the desired score — but only if she took the first test available after the PR course ended.
So, we were stuck.
Due to the above, we did not report it.
That’s too bad. I think that would add to inequity, though I don’t know what the solution would be.
i hope schools will be understanding about not reporting scores. My D23 took APUSH freshman year. She timed out taking the AP test and didnt submit it on time - so no score. Which is FINE honestly, as she missed 25% of the content as the school quit all teaching spring 2020. 2023s and maybe 2024s will hopefully be the last classes with the covid disruption in high school; hoping AOs have that insight.
but our D23 will just have two AP scores, not 3 to share.
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So, my spiky STEM kid thinks he’d like to minor in film. His list mostly stays the same, but I’m thinking of adding University of Southern California. Kids from our hs have gotten the Trustee scholarship and I think he could be competitive for it. Any thoughts about USC for engineering +film? Is the campus very urban and/or unsafe?
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USC is very urban and students living in any big city need to be very aware of their surroundings.
USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering looks for students who are more than just engineers. You might look at their Engineering Plus map and Engineering Plus philosophy
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USC is an awesome school, D23 is applying, but right off campus it is super sketchy. On campus is fine, get on the freeway and explore SoCal, but it is not a place to venture out and walk around at all.
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You mentioned the freeway, but how are the mass transit options for USC students?
Good question, but I’m not sure. L.A. has notoriously bad mass transit.
@CADREAMIN has had at least a couple kids attend USC recently and is the USC Forum Champion. Maybe they could quickly pop in here and answer your question.
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USC is on the Expo (E) Metro line which provides an easy connection to both Santa Monica and downtown LA (better connected than UCLA for example). Getting to LAX is always a pain though.
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My kiddo took two AP classes in 2020, when she was full-time online school and did not take the AP exams. Her current school doesn’t really have AP classes in the way that Public schools do. There are a couple with AP in the name, and several that require the exam be taken but absolutely do not follow the AP curriculum, there is no teaching to the test, no prep or practice in class. No guidance about the test at all. She got a 3 in the Physics one. She’ll take two more next year that require the test. AP Stats and Environmental Science. She is at a very well-known and rigorous boarding school. Most of the reach schools she is applying to wouldn’t give credit anyway. I never knew there was the level of obsession with AP tests as I am seeing on this thread. Does it really look bad if you take a class but not the test? She got a 36 ACT. And her only B in 4 years (she is a repeat at her BS and will have 5 years of HS), was in her online AP Calculus. It’s too late now, and it is what it is, but we never really cared about or considered the tests beyond maybe getting some credit waved. But it sounds like they matter in applications?
In the big name high schools AP scores don’t matter and as you say are sometimes discouraged. The colleges know the school and understand the class rigor and the meaning of grades. That isn’t true of most schools where it is possible a high grade in an AP can be helpful. Given the kind of school your child is in, they will be steered well by the counselors and don’t need to worry about the APs.
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Thanks! Sounds like my son, a rising sophomore at a public school will have a different path ahead! He is only registered for one AP next year APUSH, but I will make sure he knows that his AP test score will be important.
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No AP obsession here. Believe me, S23 would rather not take the AP exams. At $96 per exam, my wallet would be happier too! Unfortunately, our hs requires students enrolled in AP classes to take the exam.
If anything, our admin and teachers are the ones obsessed with APs and besting the other high schools in our district. Teachers will say “Oh, you should all be able to get 5s.” Imagine the pressure that puts on kids and the resulting emotional damage if/when they fall short.
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