Can someone be honest? How many APs did your kid take privately?

[Anonymous]

I know that APs are not offered at any private schools but I hear all the time that students take them privately. My child wants to take 2-3 in total but a friend’s son took 7 AP exams privately (over 4 years of HS) and got into one of the HPY. Same HS as our DC. If one is looking to get into competitive Ivy Leagues with all other factors in place (High GPA, SAT scores, robust activities etc.,). What is a good and reasonable number of APs to take?

Or are their parents here that can share that their DC took NO AP exams privately and their DC still got into a top school in the last 3 years? (Not a sport recruit)

Just trying to figure out whether we encourage our DC to take more AP, a few, or none.

Thank you for sharing.

[Anonymous]

How would they do this?

Put your kid back in public if your school does not have AP's and you want a top college.

No one is going from a private that does shadow AP's to an IVY LOL

[Anonymous]

Don’t the schools still offer the exams? Are you saying take the exams privately?

[Anonymous]

"Not offered at any private school"?

The private school were my kids go (not in DC, and not a "Big Whatever" school) offers APs.

[Anonymous]

Our private school assist students to sign up for AP exams and they take place on campus. They just don’t teach to it.

[Anonymous]

We've been trying to figure this out also. We talked to a college counselor about it and have landed on 6 APs. The theory is because this is work completed outside of school, we shouldn't need as many as high-stats public school kids (10-14) but want to cover core courses - math, english, science, etc.

AP classes/scores will *maybe* help with US college apps, but are necessary for UK uni apps.

[Anonymous]

I’m a bit of an outside observer to this. It seems to me that some private schools deliberately keep the curriculum level because their “customers” are both average and above-average students. One thing you are buying when you pay for private is college access, through counseling, reputation, relationships, etc. So it makes sense that the privates would shy away from a two-tier system where some kids get an advantage based on coursework. However the ambitious smart kids are also “customers,” so I expect that if your kid is an academic standout, the school knows how to boost them into the top tier colleges. It will show in recommendations and coursework, not APs and weighted GPAs. And I expect the school counselors know how to advocate for their academically strong kids.

All of this is to say … when you buy private school, one of the things you are buying is the ability to ignore APs and weighted GPAs and the like.

[Anonymous]

Taking AP exams is not a "hook" to get into a T20.

[Anonymous]

My kids are in MCPS public where the pressure to take as many APs as possible is immense (my senior took 11 total), but I wish to add an interesting factoid to this conversation: their friends in MCPS magnets, where magnet courses are more rigorous than APs, are also under pressure to take APs, and some take them privately, in order to distinguish themselves from the magnet pack!

So it's the same arms race everywhere, OP. People gunning for the most selective college (and my senior did not apply to Ivies, his highest reach has a 9% acceptance rate) will always try to outdo their cohort.

It's crazy wherever you are, however I believe that if you apply thoughtfully, you do get into a school that's a good fit. My senior is not Ivy material. He applied to colleges that have a well-developed version of the major he is interested in, and in the end he will go where he is supposed to go.

[Anonymous]

No one is taking APs "privately" because they are only administered at school. What you mean is whether kids self-study for APs and yes, of course.

[Anonymous]

My kid at a local private that does not offer AP classes took zero AP tests -- many of his friends did take some and I agree - it's a really annoying and "secret" policy where the schools tout their desire to avoid the testing and classes and then kids are doing it anyway.

My kid is a current senior and has 4 admits and 2 deferrals and is happy with his choices. But of course, they are not "top" schools, so you can do whatever you want with that information.

[Anonymous]

Look, the top privates in the DMV collectively decided to do away with APs so they could appear different and better than the top DMV publics and justify charging their exorbitant tuitions. It was such an obvious move tbat the Justice Department actually looked into whether they violated antitrust laws.

Having said that, colleges make clear that (1) they judge your kids record by reference to the specific school that they attend, so if it doesn’t offer APs the college doesn’t expect to see APs or AP tests and (2) colleges don’t take AP exam scores into account in college admissions anyway. It’s taking the courses if they’re offered that they care about - not the scores in the exams afterwards. Remember, most students will take half or more of the AP exams that they’re ever going to take at the end of senior year, after they’ve already been admitted to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know that APs are not offered at any private schools but I hear all the time that students take them privately. My child wants to take 2-3 in total but a friend’s son took 7 AP exams privately (over 4 years of HS) and got into one of the HPY. Same HS as our DC. If one is looking to get into competitive Ivy Leagues with all other factors in place (High GPA, SAT scores, robust activities etc.,). What is a good and reasonable number of APs to take?

Or are their parents here that can share that their DC took NO AP exams privately and their DC still got into a top school in the last 3 years? (Not a sport recruit)

Just trying to figure out whether we encourage our DC to take more AP, a few, or none.

Thank you for sharing.

How are kids taking AP classes privately?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Not offered at any private school"?

The private school were my kids go (not in DC, and not a "Big Whatever" school) offers APs.

+1 Many private schools in DC offer APs, and while they don't teach them in a solely exam-focused way, students don't need too much independent study beyond class (if any) to do well on the exams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Taking AP exams is not a "hook" to get into a T20.

07:47 again. Not entirely correct. It depends on your school. Admissions officers want to see that the student has pushed themselves to the max, and academically that means taking the most challenging coursework their school offers. This is why some private school kids take a couple of APs on the side, just to say "hey, I did something extra!". And it does get them noticed. They don't need to take a dozen, since their school doesn't offer any at all. But in excellent publics offering 30+ AP courses, ambitious students plan to take as many as they can cram into their schedule, which is CRAZY. My senior often goes to bed at 3am because of that.

Oxford and Cambridge REQUIRE a certain number of AP classes, and 5s on the exams, related to the desired major. And beware - this year they just moved up the application deadline to Sept 30, way before some admission counselors have their act together to send transcripts.

This means you have to check uni requirements before picking your 9th grade classes, essentially, if you're really a planner