<p>^^I would imagine most high schools are this way. In our system the arts require an extra course period…those kids are effectively shut out of taking a class during that period when other kids can take an AP or a “rigorous” enrichment. Of course arts kids who fill the balance of their schedule with rigorous classes aren’t going to knocked by the GC because they couldn’t take “as many” as another student. Again I would assume that for most high schools it is a holistic/contextual situation based on the kid and what the kid did in high school. It’s not a quantitative decision it is a qualitative distinction.</p>
<p>Edit to add to post #20 that the sequence for the most rigorous or pre-college. For example the sequence for social sciences would be honor global, AP Euro, APUSH, AP American Gov/Econ.
But if a student has to take band and has Global, AP Euro, APUSH, AP American Gov/Econ, that would be ok too.</p>
<p>At S2’s school, full IB diploma students automatically got the designation.
Don’t know what they used for S1’s school, but he certainly met it.</p>
<p>To me, most rigorous would be 4-8 APs across a number of disciplines, but not necessarily all of them, and a significant number of honors classes. This assumes the school offers a decent number and range of AP and honors courses. 2-3 APs, 2-3 honors courses and band/drama/newspaper/chorus/fine arts electives in junior or senior year seems like a good balance for most kids to me.</p>
<p>S2 took Calc AB and Honors Physics (and, oh horror, a study hall second semester senior year) and we never worried about whether schools would consider that “the easy way out.”</p>
<p>I had an email exchange with Ds GC last year. First she said that “the majority” of the classes needed to be AP. I said so out of the 32 classes, they needed 17? No, she said, just most…I never received an answer that made sense.</p>
<p>
Lots of students apply as undecided, and most colleges certainly don’t require you to have a major in mind. That said, every admissions officer I’ve ever heard talk on the subject does say that they don’t expect you to take every AP just because the school offers it. I did make my older son (the math guy) take US History so he wouldn’t have to take it in college and he thanked me. He had no interest in history, but he was perfectly capable of doing well in APUSH. He was just being lazy. My younger son took a mix of history and science because both subjects interested him. (He’s going into International Relations. He’s interested in both ecology/global warming and security issues.) </p>
<p>But in answer to your original question, I never asked how many APs/honors courses would be enough to have the most rigorous box checked. My kids took 7 to 9 and they both took some of the ones that are considered hard (Calc BC, Physics C) so I assume the box got checked. It’s my impression that few kids if any took more than they did, although it certainly was theoretically possible. Our school offers 24 APs. Our profile lists the total number of APs taken by subject, and the number of AP Scholar type awards, but you can’t tell what the range of APs any particular student takes.</p>
<p>I have no idea what my kids’ high school does - I doubt anyone does (alas including the counselors…). S took 9 APs including all the hardest, and the rest were honors (and everything for the full 4 years), so I assume he got it. But its possible not, since some uber-ambitious kids took 12 APs. I’d rather not know. I believe its not something the student or parent usually sees or really is supposed to influence. I don’t believe any great miscarriages of justice could occur, because there’s a lot else the admissions have to go on. I think thinking on this one too much isn’t worth it. When we think about why S may have missed out on a couple of match/reach places, there’s no way it had anything to do with that box!</p>