How many AP classes is considered rigorous?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC took 10 at Langley and was not considered “most rigorous”.

Similar for my son at Chantilly HS. He took 11 APs:
- AP Comp Sci A (plus a post-AP computer class)
- AP Calculus BC (plus multi variable calc)
- AP Lang
- AP Lit
- AP Psychology
- AP Physics C
- AP Physics E&M
- AP Chemistry
- AP Spanish
- AP Government
- AP Statistics

But since he did not take AP World History nor APUSH during his sophomore and junior years, he does not get the "most rigorous" box checked off. Which is pretty ridiculous in my opinion.

Look, it is unfair, but I assume your DC had to take Honors or Grade Level equivalents of AP World History and APUSH...in which case, what is listed above is not the most rigorous. AP Psych is an elective that I am not sure any college really cares about. AP Stat is also considered an elective AP vs. a core class AP. I realize your DC may have maxed out their Math with AP Calc BC and Multviarble and AP Stat was the only thing remaining...in which case it probably would have made more sense to take AP World and APUSH instead.

Chantilly PP here. Very true... he chose to take Honors instead of AP for the two history classes. He took Psych and Stats because he thought they would be useful in his future CS plans (and he said that his Pysch class was his favorite course during his junior year). I'm not worried. If he doesn't get into UVA or VT, then he will do just fine going to Penn State or NC State.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC took 10 at Langley and was not considered “most rigorous”.

Similar for my son at Chantilly HS. He took 11 APs:
- AP Comp Sci A (plus a post-AP computer class)
- AP Calculus BC (plus multi variable calc)
- AP Lang
- AP Lit
- AP Psychology
- AP Physics C
- AP Physics E&M
- AP Chemistry
- AP Spanish
- AP Government
- AP Statistics

But since he did not take AP World History nor APUSH during his sophomore and junior years, he does not get the "most rigorous" box checked off. Which is pretty ridiculous in my opinion.

Look, it is unfair, but I assume your DC had to take Honors or Grade Level equivalents of AP World History and APUSH...in which case, what is listed above is not the most rigorous. AP Psych is an elective that I am not sure any college really cares about. AP Stat is also considered an elective AP vs. a core class AP. I realize your DC may have maxed out their Math with AP Calc BC and Multviarble and AP Stat was the only thing remaining...in which case it probably would have made more sense to take AP World and APUSH instead.

Chantilly PP here. Very true... he chose to take Honors instead of AP for the two history classes. He took Psych and Stats because he thought they would be useful in his future CS plans (and he said that his Pysch class was his favorite course during his junior year). I'm not worried. If he doesn't get into UVA or VT, then he will do just fine going to Penn State or NC State.[/quote]

Agree 100%. If studying engineering/CS, appears that VT doesn't even want high stats kids from NOVA anymore. Think TJ sent less than 10 last year! Really weird.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS took AP NSL, APUSH, AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Physics, AP Calc AB, AP Stats, AP Env Sci, AP Macro, AP Micro, AP Spanish, AP World. 4 years of foreign language. I would call that most rigorous at our HS.

DD took AP NSL, APUSH, AP Psych, AP Lit, AP Lang, AP World plus DE Abnormal Psych. I would call that rigorous.


Very few students are going to get into the Ivys, Stanford etc. Merely “Rigorous” is going to be enough to get into many fine universities. You have to have balance.

How could you consider your DS to be "most rigorous"? It looks like he chose to not take AP Lit and AP Lang and instead (I presume) take Honors English 11 and Honors English 12. That is a clear cut case of not the most rigorous, right?

Engineering student. They look for different things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS took AP NSL, APUSH, AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Physics, AP Calc AB, AP Stats, AP Env Sci, AP Macro, AP Micro, AP Spanish, AP World. 4 years of foreign language. I would call that most rigorous at our HS.

DD took AP NSL, APUSH, AP Psych, AP Lit, AP Lang, AP World plus DE Abnormal Psych. I would call that rigorous.


Very few students are going to get into the Ivys, Stanford etc. Merely “Rigorous” is going to be enough to get into many fine universities. You have to have balance.

How could you consider your DS to be "most rigorous"? It looks like he chose to not take AP Lit and AP Lang and instead (I presume) take Honors English 11 and Honors English 12. That is a clear cut case of not the most rigorous, right?

Engineering student. They look for different things.

Yes, but the counselor (in FCPS at least) would not check the most rigorous box because your son clearly took a step down in difficulty for English. He certainly took hard, appropriate classes for someone interested in pursuing Engineering, but he did not take AP classes in a core subject.

[Anonymous]

Mine took 16 and scored 5/5 on all. Ended up an elite college where they don't care about your APs, IB, dual credit etc. could've graduated state uni in one year but no regrets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine took 16 and scored 5/5 on all. Ended up an elite college where they don't care about your APs, IB, dual credit etc. could've graduated state uni in one year but no regrets.

Can you list the AP classes?

[Anonymous]

Different poster but mine also took 16. They took:

AP USH - grade 9
AP US Gov - 10
AP Comp Sci Princ - 10
AP Physics 1 - 10
AP World History - 11
AP Comparative Politics - 11
AP Psych - 11
AP Calc BC - 11
AP English Lang - 11
AP Spanish Lang - 11
AP Physics C - 12
AP English Lit - 12
AP Stat - 12
AP Econ - 12
AP Human Geo - 12
AP Spanish Lit - 12

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Different poster but mine also took 16. They took:

AP USH - grade 9
AP US Gov - 10
AP Comp Sci Princ - 10
AP Physics 1 - 10
AP World History - 11
AP Comparative Politics - 11
AP Psych - 11
AP Calc BC - 11
AP English Lang - 11
AP Spanish Lang - 11
AP Physics C - 12
AP English Lit - 12
AP Stat - 12
AP Econ - 12
AP Human Geo - 12
AP Spanish Lit - 12

Mine took 16 too but I am more impressed that you can remember - not only the courses but when your kiddo took them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS took AP NSL, APUSH, AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Physics, AP Calc AB, AP Stats, AP Env Sci, AP Macro, AP Micro, AP Spanish, AP World. 4 years of foreign language. I would call that most rigorous at our HS.

DD took AP NSL, APUSH, AP Psych, AP Lit, AP Lang, AP World plus DE Abnormal Psych. I would call that rigorous.


Very few students are going to get into the Ivys, Stanford etc. Merely “Rigorous” is going to be enough to get into many fine universities. You have to have balance.

How could you consider your DS to be "most rigorous"? It looks like he chose to not take AP Lit and AP Lang and instead (I presume) take Honors English 11 and Honors English 12. That is a clear cut case of not the most rigorous, right?

Engineering student. They look for different things.

Yes, but the counselor (in FCPS at least) would not check the most rigorous box because your son clearly took a step down in difficulty for English. He certainly took hard, appropriate classes for someone interested in pursuing Engineering, but he did not take AP classes in a core subject.

MCPS here. Not sure we have a “most rigorous box”? Actually, this is the first I’ve heard of such a box. Seems like a terrible idea for many reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Different poster but mine also took 16. They took:

AP USH - grade 9
AP US Gov - 10
AP Comp Sci Princ - 10
AP Physics 1 - 10
AP World History - 11
AP Comparative Politics - 11
AP Psych - 11
AP Calc BC - 11
AP English Lang - 11
AP Spanish Lang - 11
AP Physics C - 12
AP English Lit - 12
AP Stat - 12
AP Econ - 12
AP Human Geo - 12
AP Spanish Lit - 12

I am curious where this was. Our high school does not offer any AP for ninth graders, and most only take one during sophomore year (euro, world, history, or human geo)..

[Anonymous]

Our district offers a plethora of APs but you can take exams with self prep, taking a course isn't required.

[Anonymous]

No college is going to hold lack of AP scores against you if your school doesn't offer any or many AP courses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS took AP NSL, APUSH, AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Physics, AP Calc AB, AP Stats, AP Env Sci, AP Macro, AP Micro, AP Spanish, AP World. 4 years of foreign language. I would call that most rigorous at our HS.

DD took AP NSL, APUSH, AP Psych, AP Lit, AP Lang, AP World plus DE Abnormal Psych. I would call that rigorous.


Very few students are going to get into the Ivys, Stanford etc. Merely “Rigorous” is going to be enough to get into many fine universities. You have to have balance.

How could you consider your DS to be "most rigorous"? It looks like he chose to not take AP Lit and AP Lang and instead (I presume) take Honors English 11 and Honors English 12. That is a clear cut case of not the most rigorous, right?

Engineering student. They look for different things.

My DC is an engineering student and also took non math and science APs: AP Lit, AP Comp, AP World, APUSH, AP US Gov., AP Econ macro and micro, and electives in the arts, plus two languages.

A high school education should be well-rounded and complete. Many would argue that a college education should be too -- even for engineers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC took 10 at Langley and was not considered “most rigorous”.

Similar for my son at Chantilly HS. He took 11 APs:
- AP Comp Sci A (plus a post-AP computer class)
- AP Calculus BC (plus multi variable calc)
- AP Lang
- AP Lit
- AP Psychology
- AP Physics C
- AP Physics E&M
- AP Chemistry
- AP Spanish
- AP Government
- AP Statistics

But since he did not take AP World History nor APUSH during his sophomore and junior years, he does not get the "most rigorous" box checked off. Which is pretty ridiculous in my opinion.

Look, it is unfair, but I assume your DC had to take Honors or Grade Level equivalents of AP World History and APUSH...in which case, what is listed above is not the most rigorous. AP Psych is an elective that I am not sure any college really cares about. AP Stat is also considered an elective AP vs. a core class AP. I realize your DC may have maxed out their Math with AP Calc BC and Multviarble and AP Stat was the only thing remaining...in which case it probably would have made more sense to take AP World and APUSH instead.

Chantilly PP here. Very true... he chose to take Honors instead of AP for the two history classes. He took Psych and Stats because he thought they would be useful in his future CS plans (and he said that his Pysch class was his favorite course during his junior year). I'm not worried. If he doesn't get into UVA or VT, then he will do just fine going to Penn State or NC State.[/quote]

Agree 100%. If studying engineering/CS, appears that VT doesn't even want high stats kids from NOVA anymore. Think TJ sent less than 10 last year! Really weird.

Virginia Tech wants URM and First Generation students

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS took AP NSL, APUSH, AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Physics, AP Calc AB, AP Stats, AP Env Sci, AP Macro, AP Micro, AP Spanish, AP World. 4 years of foreign language. I would call that most rigorous at our HS.

DD took AP NSL, APUSH, AP Psych, AP Lit, AP Lang, AP World plus DE Abnormal Psych. I would call that rigorous.


Very few students are going to get into the Ivys, Stanford etc. Merely “Rigorous” is going to be enough to get into many fine universities. You have to have balance.

How could you consider your DS to be "most rigorous"? It looks like he chose to not take AP Lit and AP Lang and instead (I presume) take Honors English 11 and Honors English 12. That is a clear cut case of not the most rigorous, right?

Engineering student. They look for different things.

My DC is an engineering student and also took non math and science APs: AP Lit, AP Comp, AP World, APUSH, AP US Gov., AP Econ macro and micro, and electives in the arts, plus two languages.

A high school education should be well-rounded and complete. Many would argue that a college education should be too -- even for engineers.

THIS^. Education is to evolve not just employ. College isn't a trade school.