How many APs did you top 20 admit have?

[Anonymous]

My kid had no APs. They are at GDS that no longer supports them. I was worried about it but it apparently makes no difference. They are at a US News Top 5 university.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid had no APs. They are at GDS that no longer supports them. I was worried about it but it apparently makes no difference. They are at a US News Top 5 university.

Incoming. Now everyone is going to yell at you for being a privileged snob.

Signed, fellow private school parent who is far from wealthy but blessed to have the resources I have and appreciates the value of APs for many but is super glad my kid will not be dealing with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid had no APs. They are at GDS that no longer supports them. I was worried about it but it apparently makes no difference. They are at a US News Top 5 university.

Incoming. Now everyone is going to yell at you for being a privileged snob.

I don't think most people are criticizing schools who drop the AP label on classes but maintain or exceed the rigor.

The criticism is when kids in private schools take a lighter load (either by choice or because the private school have caps) and still get into top schools

Signed, fellow private school parent who is far from wealthy but blessed to have the resources I have and appreciates the value of APs for many but is super glad my kid will not be dealing with it.

dealing with what exactly? The AP scale is notorious for being generous and allowing teachers to skip parts of the curriculum and students can still get a 5 without extra self study. So if the course is just as rigorous why does it matter if it has the AP label or not?

[Anonymous]

^ to elaborate, the AP exam is not the SAT or MCAT or LSAT, that has tricky logic questions. It is a content based course final exam and students who would actually earn an A on an equivalent college course should have no problem getting a 5 even if the teacher only covers 80% of the material.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Zero AP courses for my private school kid. Imo, the biggest perk and privlege of private school is the absence of the toxic expectation to take max AP courses. Many AP course curriculums are restrictive, fast paced and dont allow deeper dive into complex topics. Kids often have multiple test retakes which inflates grades. I don't think AP is a reasonable benchmark. We know so many public kids with 4.0 gpa and all AP. Lots of grade inflation so kids kill themselves to get top grades, but when so many have perfect grades, their value is diluted. All AP does not guarantee t20 college. The only AP curriculum winner is College Board that makes lots of $$$ selling the program and tests. Without AP mania, my kid took many advanced classes but not in every discipline. They were very focused and excelled in their academic area of interest both in school coursework and with their EC. My kid did very well with college acceptances, but top grades and rigor are only 1 part of the 'holistic' admission process these days

Same for mine. NYC privates don't do AP. Child was accepted to a top NYC SHSAT school and we opted for private. We are very privileged to have the means to pay for it. But I am so glad we did not deal with this.

The fact that kids are taking multiple APs as freshmen and getting straight fives says to me that they have been greatly diluted from the 90s when I took them. Are colleges really impressed by this? At some point I feel like it is gluttony.

Yet, you both expect them to be impressed by your fancy private school. Most of these posters don't have that privilege, OK? They have a different set of rules to follow.

Not the PP, but I don't think they were saying schools should be impressed by their private, but rather that they spared their child the AP rat race. My kid attends private as well and while there are APs, they are only offered in jr. and sr. year. It takes a lot of pressure off and a kid can take half the number of APs than a public school kid and be equally or more competitive.

APs are a standardized way to compare kids from diverse settings studying core subjects with grading that is independent of any school. Whenever I hear private school parents say their schools are too good for APs, I interpret this as their kid couldn't hack it at a public magnet or other school with rigorous coursework. But again, with the full-pay, and legacy benefits that many private school kids have, it all gets jumbled up anyway when you try to look at the "success" of their admissions.

I don't think they are saying they are too good lol. Maybe some couldn't hack it. I know mine wouldn't have had as rich a high school experience if she were craming for 12 APs. I am grateful we could afford a school without that level of pressure (honors instead of APs) and has stellar college matriculations with anywhere from 15-25 percent going to top 20 schools. My oldest took 6 APs and ended up at a top 20.

i think the lesson here is that the colleges are using private schools as a proxy as who can afford sticker price

It's one thing to claim the schools courses are as demanding or more as AP, it's another to brag that your kid took a lighter work load and still got into T20

Nah. The public schools with all the APs actually have severe grade inflation. The colleges know this.

Maybe at your school but not ours.

+1

Definately not at ours. My high stats kid had a 3.95 UW, took 8 APs and earned 5s on all but one AP (The CS Principles---didn't care to put much effort into the Project and knew it didn't matter, as already had a 5 on CS A).
AP Chem
AP Bio
AP CS A
AP Calc AB
AP Calc BC
AP Physics Mechanics
AP Psychology
AP CS Principles

[Anonymous]

Only 6. He took some DE courses, though.

[Anonymous]

12

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Mine took 9 APs (though we don’t call them that anymore and they don’t teach to the test) and only 3 AP tests… got 2 5’s and 1 4. Got into a HPY unhooked.

How? Perfect test scores? Rich private school kid with "unusual" sport?

Two sport varsity captain but not good enough to play college. Private school full-pay but no notable donations, unique major with years of ECs behind it (it’s a niche interest that shows intellectual curiosity and compassion), his LOR apparently stated that he’s a once in a career-type kid. 1550 SAT. I think his package just read well. He’s a good kid, a quiet leader.

boom. College knows they got someone who can pay sticker

I sure am glad you keep saying this and do hope you are right as the parent of a kid who will be full pay for sure. They'll be able to tell by our private school as well as our zip code.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid had no APs. They are at GDS that no longer supports them. I was worried about it but it apparently makes no difference. They are at a US News Top 5 university.

Incoming. Now everyone is going to yell at you for being a privileged snob.

Signed, fellow private school parent who is far from wealthy but blessed to have the resources I have and appreciates the value of APs for many but is super glad my kid will not be dealing with it.

Well if you are not at an elite private, APs are the "highest rigor courses". In 9/10th, our HS has Honors Eng and history. Never have honors for Math, as you are simply on grade level or 1/2/3 years ahead.

But when AP courses come into play, Then it's AP ENG or regular English. So many kids simply take the APs when they ideally belong/want an Honors course. My kid did the Regular English (no AP, highly qualified to do it, just didn't want to add all the extra work for a LA/Humanities course) and it's an introduction "to the general population" at the HS. For history it was even worse, as "Civics" is a state mandated course and the teachers teach so that the "lowest of the class" can pass, so it's an easy 100% without ever having more than 10-20 mins of HW /week

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid had no APs. They are at GDS that no longer supports them. I was worried about it but it apparently makes no difference. They are at a US News Top 5 university.

Incoming. Now everyone is going to yell at you for being a privileged snob.

Signed, fellow private school parent who is far from wealthy but blessed to have the resources I have and appreciates the value of APs for many but is super glad my kid will not be dealing with it.

Well if you are not at an elite private, APs are the "highest rigor courses". In 9/10th, our HS has Honors Eng and history. Never have honors for Math, as you are simply on grade level or 1/2/3 years ahead.

But when AP courses come into play, Then it's AP ENG or regular English. So many kids simply take the APs when they ideally belong/want an Honors course. My kid did the Regular English (no AP, highly qualified to do it, just didn't want to add all the extra work for a LA/Humanities course) and it's an introduction "to the general population" at the HS. For history it was even worse, as "Civics" is a state mandated course and the teachers teach so that the "lowest of the class" can pass, so it's an easy 100% without ever having more than 10-20 mins of HW /week

thats pretty nuts, not having honors math classes when everyone has to take four years of math. So your freshman might be in Algebra 2 with juniors who don't care and just want to pass

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are schools so worried about letting bright 9th graders take AP tests? My 9th grader is taking AP Calc BC, AP Econ, AP Physics 1, and AP US Government. Based on mock tests, he will easily get 5s on all of them.

what school system is this? I have seen kids take 2 APs in 9th grade, but never 4, and definitely not AP physics which is one of the hardest ones.

Don’t all 9th graders have to take biology? And also don’t you have to take the honors/standard version of bio, chem, and physics as a prerequisite for taking the AP ones?

[Anonymous]

I think the trend is going away from students who take 10-15 AP exams. Colleges want students who followed their passion. So the student who took 3 AP's but loved learning about butterflies and shows interest in that, will beat out the student who took 15 AP exams with all 5's who is just a study robot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the trend is going away from students who take 10-15 AP exams. Colleges want students who followed their passion. So the student who took 3 AP's but loved learning about butterflies and shows interest in that, will beat out the student who took 15 AP exams with all 5's who is just a study robot.

and we wonder why Harvard has remedial math

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are schools so worried about letting bright 9th graders take AP tests? My 9th grader is taking AP Calc BC, AP Econ, AP Physics 1, and AP US Government. Based on mock tests, he will easily get 5s on all of them.

what school system is this? I have seen kids take 2 APs in 9th grade, but never 4, and definitely not AP physics which is one of the hardest ones.

Don’t all 9th graders have to take biology? And also don’t you have to take the honors/standard version of bio, chem, and physics as a prerequisite for taking the AP ones?

Basis is a bit weird. Kids take a 3 day/week class in each of physics, biology, and chemistry in 6th-8th. By 9th, they've already covered a lot of basic physics, chemistry reactions, etc. They have the equivalent of a regular level high school class in each of physics, bio, and chem before even starting high school.

In 9th, they take one Honors Science of their choice. In 10th, they take the AP for the one they took in 9th, plus a different honors science. In 11th, they take the AP for the one they took honors in 10th, plus the 3rd science. In 12th, they take a post-AP science class. AP Physics I basically acts as an honors science, since it's similar in scope.

So, my DS will take: 9th-AP Physics 1. 10th - Honors Chem and AP Physics C. 11th - AP Chem and honors Bio. 12th-either Organic Chem or Quantum mechanics.

[Anonymous]

Say your school has only honors no AP, would you be admitted to a t20 if you took max honors with 4.0?