OP- you may find that taking a break from CC is in your best interests. If a few posts (mostly from adults trying to help a HS kid) are making you ache- time to log off.
I think you’ve gotten good advice. Whether you and your family decide to take it is of course- entirely up to you.
I will add though that online learning is not for everyone (and there are tens of thousands of kids whose Covid-educations prove that). It has nothing to do with how smart you are- some people can make it work, others cannot. So I would NOT assume that taking online AP’s would be a walk in the park in any way shape or form. You could get an instructor whose teaching style clashes with your learning style. You could get an instructor who assumes you’ve learned stuff you haven’t (I remember a literature class in college where the professor assumed that everyone had read “War and Peace” AND “The Brothers Karamazov”- trust me- these are not books you can skim over a weekend, and not books you can sit down to read unless you have a free month. And I took a foreign language class in college- level 1- where I was the only kid in the class who had NEVER taken that language before. Everyone else had taken it in HS and gotten a C- but still- I was behind the 8-ball from the first day and never caught up!)
To me, your best application strategy is to figure out how to present yourself in the best, most interesting light. At this point the cake is mostly baked (your classes, your EC’s) but how you describe who you are and what you love is still unformed.
And agree that having a list separate from a sibling is a really good idea. Even if you both adore each other, want only the best for each other, etc. Just too many variables during admissions season.
My two cents. And I hope you don’t think I’m being aggressive- I’m saying all of this in a kind and loving tone of voice…
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yes financial aid is also part of the picture but we can’t afford our EFC.
nevertheless, the goal is to get to EFC through a combo of merit and need aid, and it looks like some schools like those I mentioned get around 5k over our EFC. Hoping some little oompf in the application will get us all the way there. Then, we’ll borrow a bit to get to what we can afford.
That’s the plan at least.
Have you reached out to the colleges yet? I would reach out directly but you can also create an account on CollegeVine or Niche and put in your stats and select the colleges and let them contact you. BTW, I was just chatting with D22 and she seems a little more up on Hollins right now. She is interested in going for a senior visit (they do them virtually also). They sent her an invitation to apply as a Select Scholar and her stats are not as good as yours. Get your info out there!
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it wasn’t just a few posts like here, but many more than that.
you don’t have to tell me your tone of voice ha ha. I can read it in how you write. I mean I can read how nicely you are writing @blossom
I can also read it in how others write. Maybe they can’t read it in themselves.
I did take a long break after the many hours I mentioned and just back now after one successful thread, where I only had to fend off one aggressive person at the beginning and they agreed, I guess, to back off and let the thread go.
I am doing all the other application strategies. Thinking about this question doesn’t stop me from doing other things.
It’s funny because when I last tried to push back against the idea that I had a chance for merits without APs and a 4.9 gpa I was also told to just listen to what I’m told.
I am listening. But I also like to think, and I have been told very forcibly the opposite.
Doesn’t anyone think its a problem, as I’ve been told, that I won’t compare favorably to someone who has a 4.9 weighted gpa and 10 AP classes, or at least, has taken the 3 or 4 years of FL recommended, or who has a rigorous senior schedule? Is that not remotely possible? Why were so many adamant about it in my previous thread?
Is there no possibility that taking AP classes could help my application? Is that totally impossible?
Might be right I need another break though.
yeah I’m waiting to practice interviewing on some less desirable schools before I take the next steps on Hollins. I do go to most of their virtual events.
I’m on the mailing lists of most of the colleges I’m interested in and going to virtual events and trying to show interest, also emailing some AOs directly and also in one case interacting with a student rep.
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Those all sound like great strategies. I’m sure you will be successful wherever you end up and hopefully you won’t have to pay too much for it either!
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I think the best advice you’ve gotten on this thread is to call the admissions office at some of the schools on your list and ask them directly about the impact on merit aid.
My D’s college roommate came from a super small rural schools that offered 0 APs. She didn’t take any courses outside of school and still got into honors college with scholarship $. That said, it was 4 years ago and online courses are more widely available now so I don’t know if the same holds true now.
You have nothing to lose by calling and asking. If anything it’s another way to demonstrate interest.
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This just in from the GC, minutes ago:
“Thanks for the email. I think taking AP Classes online will increase the rigor of your transcript, and you can still say you took all the classes available and aced them, also. Everybody knows there are ways to increase the rigor of your transcript, if your school doesn’t offer much - admissions counselors like to see that students stepped outside of their high school bubble and found ways to push themselves academically and through their extracurriculars. I don’t think it will hurt your application for merit aid at all - instead it might actually help.”
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Based on those comments, it sounds like taking some online classes will boost the quality of your LOR from the guidance counselor.
Please circle back in the spring and let us know where you will be attending. I’m sure you will have lots of acceptances.
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Did you mention me and then delete? I am confused.
I would say there i s a difference between something with a neutral effect, that doesn’t hurt (not doing online classes) and something that adds something.
Maybe ask the GC if his recommendation would change. His evaluation of rigor should be based on what the school offers. Is his eval. or LOR going to be the same without the online courses as with?
That is a lot of money to spend. I believe VHS was $400 per class several years ago. Can you take just one?
Another option- and you could advocate for this- is for your school to join VHS.org. Our small school ultimately did that and 25 students per semester could take a class for free. Our school suffered both from lack of offerings and schedule conflicts that limited choices.
If you are in CA are you considering CSU’s?
no i mentioned you in a response to someone else who was pointing out your open ended post, and mentioned you so that you would see I was sorry for implying that everyone is aggressive when I was talking just generally about my experiences here in the past.
just wanted you to see that I was sorry for that!
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I went back and edited to add some things. Just so you don’t miss it.
I take what the GC said to mean that I can do both, stand in the truth that I took what was offered, but she also said that “everyone knows” that you can do more and they will look to see that you did.
I didn’t know I could take online AP classes though!
I’m not sure if she answered my question about whether suddenly taking APs calls up the question of why didn’t I choose to do that earlier.
Coming back to theme of being strategic: I can certainly try to get my school to join VHS.org and have that be a way to show what an activist and advocate I am!
There is also UC Scout, which would be an easier sell here in CA. However, and pardon my french, UC Scout sucks! I’ve taken their classes on my own to test the waters. PA Homeschoolers, by contrast, is great as long as you get the good teachers, and they have them.
My GC disagrees with you that it can’t help me to take APs online now, so what my father did to “browbeat the school” into was possibly my best interest. The GC seems reasonable and believable about it, without using all caps.
There is literally thousands of dollars at stake, and I’m not ‘fine’ for merits until the offers come in, regardless of whether some online person says I’m fine.
In economics (and I don’t remember the terms for this) there is the absence of a negative versus a positive. I think that is what you are dealing with: a situation where both answers may be right.
Can you ask your DC if his rigor eval. and LOR would be the same without the online classes?
Besides VHS we used Aventa Learning. But we liked VHS the best. One of my kids is in the performing arts and took online classes to be able to rehearse etc.
Is it something to do with “externalities,” in economics?
I’m hesitant to rock the boat but probably I should ask. I’m pretty sure the GC would consider it a bad outcome for the school if their best student (superficially) can’t go places. I guess they are really in my corner or better than that.
I like the way you think 
You could tell GC it is going to cost a lot for your family but if it makes a big difference in merit aid, you will do the classes.
I am still in the camp that might say don’t spend the money so I am hoping the GC says it makes little difference. Honestly, I don’t know the answer.
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Externalities refers to effects on others who do not intend to be parties to your activity or transaction. An example would be going into a crowded indoor place to engage in some transaction (e.g. buying or selling something) while contagious for an airborne virus. The (negative) externality in this case is that others around you can be infected with the virus.
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thanks!! I just knew externalities are talked about in terms of positives and negatives, so it was a stab in the dark.
I think she was pretty clear it would be helpful to take the APs and that they are looking for kids in my situation to go the extra mile.
But I don’t think she was considering costs or the fact that 80% of the kids at the school would not be able to do this due to lack of funds.
I think for us this one time cost is not really part of the figuring about cost side of the cost/benefit, since merit packages-- times four years-- and at a far greater expense rates-- kind of dwarf this one time layout. There is also the benefit side of learning something, rather than be imprisoned with idle periods in school, but I already said this is purely about strategy so I shouldn’t bring that in.
I have to say now I feel like if I dont take the classes now that puts some doubt in her mind, but I think that’s just teenager think and I should stick with the original thought that they would be embarrassed about their school if I can’t get anywhere, so they are on my side (not to mention the human factor).