@Mom2024a welcome to the class of 2024 thread. In regards to number of AP’s and Rigor is something I have though a lot about a few weeks back. My son also goes to a similar school as your s24 but on the west coast. I did not know that the counsellor marks the Rigor of the student based on the other students in their particular school when we started this year. So we also ended up with only 1 AP and 1 Honors course this year while many students are taking more. So my S24 is 1 or 2 classes less rigor compared to the top his school. Like your S24 my son could have handled an additional AP this year easily but we realized it too late.
I think if your son takes 3 or 4 AP’s next year and does well he should be ok but you can talk to your GC. Overall if your son takes 8 AP in Hs and some one takes 9 I don’t think there will be much of a difference for rigor.
If you are still worried you could also try to take an additional AP course over summer or the spring semester. As you know some AP’s are only one semester and you AP Micro/Macro eco for example and get an AP that way.
You could also do a cool EC to see if he can compensate. The other option is he can finish any test prep he can ahead of Junior year so he can take more rigor during the Junior year.
My S24 will most likely end up with 3AP’s and 2 honors next year and that may be hard so we are still discussing.
we are discussing the class load for next year here too, our school does 0 APs in sophmore year but many kids including my S take all honors, next year will be 3-4 AP with other honors, I have not seen any difference in rigor and results from my older S class for 1 more or less AP. The kicker always seems to be a hook of some sort, high level sports, music, or research. The summer seems better served doing something fun or special rather than adding another AP but that is just an N of 1.
First, welcome to the club! I’ve been active in other years and it was so helpful.
Second, to answer your question, nope. If it becomes a trend, then sure colleges will notice that one applicant has half as many APs as other kids from that school. T20 schools probably have a lot of data on past applications from your kid’s HS too, so they will know more than you think.
Also, remember that quality matters more than quantity. A lot of AP subjects are really hard, but there are also ones that aren’t so tough. Admissions officers know how to spot quality vs someone who took as many random APs to have the mostest APs.
we have very few Honors classes. They have only 4 honors possible (one Pre-cal honors, chem honors, physics honors and French 4 honors) we have no other others possible. And the UC’s in CA treat our honors as AP’s. So that limits the number of honors we could take.
I agree with you 1 AP or 2 Ap’s on whole should not make a difference and doing a great EC in summer is better.
In our case S24’s EC’s are avg. He has been doing debate and playing tennis for 5+ years but other than that not much. Just started Volunteering recently but not many hours yet. This is one area he can do much more.
It is such a hard balance! My S does a single intense EC (high level music) and with school that is all there is time for. It sounds like your S does plenty as long as he is enjoying them.
I loved the curve and the ginormous classes at the UW. That’s when the massive population help those work study hard and go to office hours . Then I loved the curve once I got into my dept because of it weren’t for the curve, I probably wouldn’t have passed. I mean 17/50 for a midterm and the class average was 20. Phew.
I listen to this podcast called “The College Bound Kids” (I think maybe @NateandAllisMom told me about it?) and I wanna say episode 199 or 200 talked about How Many AP is Good or something like that. I thought it was interesting.
—Do I take reg and get A in that class or the AP version and get a B? The Admissions Officials will always respond with, “It’s better to get an A in the AP class.” So much for that.
—The host said most AOs look at core APs like science, math, language. Let’s say one kid takes 5 APs in those core class and the other one has 8 and the incremental ones are psych, art history, seminar, the incremental ones aren’t really valued as much.
Counselors will send the school report to admissions when your child applies. Ask your counselor for a copy of this year’s report. Ours says how many APs offered and average number of AP kids take, etc. That could give some some guidance for planning. If there’s a +/- 1 to 2 AP classes, you’re still fine
He loves playing Tennis and he actually wants to get a job teaching to younger kids soon. He loves most sports.
Debate he actually was pretty active in middle school and won 3 and 4th in California state level tournaments for middle schoolers. The interest though seems to have reduced. I tell him it will be good if he can win few state level in high school but so far has not participated in any tournaments. I think Covid has dimmed his interest here.
Will find the podcast and listen to the episode. Thanks for sharing. I do have the school profile that our school for last few years. They do not list average AP’s taken per kid but we can kind of guess based on the AP exams Stats they publish and how many kids have AP with honors/distinction gives us an idea of how many kids take but its not exact number. Also College board seems to have removed the awards in 2021 so need to see how the data will look next year.
Thank you for all of the responses! The admissions process is such a crapshoot with so many variables so I am glad I found this site to help navigate. The AP he is taking outside of school is a STEM AP (normally a 6 credit course in the school, but it wont count in the GPA). Will this help offset the lack of AP?
@RadM, is your son on the school team for tennis or debate? My son does not like competitions (other than games for the school sports team) and refused to participate in any Math or Science bowl/fair. I tried telling him but backed off when I realized he was refusing because he felt that it would take away his love for Math and other subjects. The school is intense enough.
@Mom2024a Yes son is in the school team for both Tennis and Debate. For tennis he also sometimes competes at club level outside of school. The high school debate team is a large and is run by students mostly so not as organized as the middle school debate team we had where it was parent/coach run.
It is tough to get the kids do stuff they are not into (this is true for my S24). He used to do lot of robotics at home so I tried to convince him to join school team but could not convince him to so I let it go.
On the Math/science competitions I agree if they are not into it may not be wise to push. One thing you can consider is the AMC 10/12 and AIME. these are just tests he can take though many people do study a lot for these before taking the test.
Since S24 is my second one thingI have learned is there is no point trying to get them to do something they have no interest in. It is not helpful for anyone and just listing an activity on the common app doesn’t really help them. I love that your son wants to teach tennis to younger kids and if he can turn that into an EC that is meaningful to him that will be clear on his application and the only one that he actually needs.
You are right on getting them to do what they are not into. I am learning to let him take the lead on this but not always easy. He is an only child and we have not done this before so we are adjusting and learning as we go.
@Mom2024a, if the place where he is taking AP class is accredited, then you should be able to get the official transcript from it. In the college application, you will list the school, classes, and grades as second high school. It won’t help GPA from primary high school but it will help. In fact, you won’t have a lack of AP.
In UC, they calculate their own GPA based on all transcripts including online high school. so taking AP from another accredited school or community college directly improves GPA UC calculates.
My S24 is doing the opposite. Last summer, he took AP Psych through online high school because he shows interest in the topic. Since he has to wait for almost a year to take the AP exam, we decided he wouldn’t take the exam.
Colleges like to see grades for the AP classes more than just test scores. If the HS offers the AP classes, then he should try to fit these courses into his schedule. If not, taking an on-line course with grades is preferable. Self study is more of a con than a pro.
From what I understand the universities like to see the students take a class rather than just self study and take the exam in general (this is what I have seen on CC and a few other articles I have read). Again this probably depends on the AP he is taking and the type of university he is applying to.
. Then I loved the curve once I got into my dept because of it weren’t for the curve, I probably wouldn’t have passed. I mean 17/50 for a midterm and the class average was 20. Phew.