25 APs not enough for Top 10

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A mile wide and inch deep is not a viable college application strategy. He has an older brother at Cornell so he was well aware of the system. Don't hate the player, hate the game.

Why wouldn't volunteer hours transfer? Either you volunteered or you didn't. Also, why the need for self-described high risk essays?

Except it was a viable application strategy since he got into UCLA.

Some schools keep track of volunteering hours and don’t accept aggregating hours from other schools.

I guess a 17 year old decided to go with a quirky high risk essay since he didn’t have access to a paid college counselor or knowledgeable parent to ghost write, polish and nicely package his application.

He still did better than 90% of students from so called competitive school so good for him.

What a crock. If he volunteered, he volunteered. The volunteer hours don't stop existing because he changed schools (btw why 3 different schools? another red flag). I if troop down to the homeless shelter and volunteer your high school has zero say in reporting volunteer hours. If you did 200 hours of that your sophomore year, you put that down. A different high school can't erase reality.

In a way, you can see why this applicant didn't get the result he wanted:

His GPA was "significantly hurt" yet he is self reporting on his little youtube video all As or A+'s.
Volunteer hours "did not transfer"
"No school profile from other school" what school offering that many APs doesn't have a school profile? You supply one for them if they didn't. He knows of the school profile because he speaks of it. Was this high school a domestic US high school?
"I don't even need to listen in class to ace every exam" What is the teacher there for? This hubris about not absorbing the teachings of a teacher is something surely Yale will love. "Hey, I'm so good I don't need your teaching!"

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:He says right in the video that he took major risks with his essays and at one point, he says he didn’t even answer Northwestern‘s prompt.

Why are people skipping over this? If you don't answer the college's essay question and submit your own "edgy" essay, you didn't do it right.

They weren’t “edgy”, but “risky”, and “high risk high reward”.

My guess is that if someone would have edited and advised him on how to write a good essay, he would have gotten him into a top 10.

For most people dumping on the kid, how many of your own take AP calculus in 9th and have the drive to self study for AP Physics C because the school offers only algebra based physics? The kid has grit, while the downers see grind.

He will do fine at UCLA, and from what I’ve seen it’s a better fit for him than the other colleges he applied to.

His accomplishments that you mention are yawn. Not real accomplishments. What has he been able to achieve by taking Calculus slightly earlier, or by extending physics to include Calculus? He squandered it by doing nothing with it. Huge yawn.

Sure huge yawn, he should have started a nonprofit with mom’s help or compete in science fair with a topic closely aligned with dads PhD.

Taking calculus in 9th is 2-3 years ahead of the vast majority of students, considering the high school is 4 years it doesn’t make it slightly earlier. What should the kid have done with his Calculus Physics knowledge while in high school?

If you take it before college, what is the difference between taking it in 9th vs 11th? Zero difference.

Now if you could list off advanced math classes that he took, far beyond that, it would be a different situation.

The difference is that it allows taking all of the advanced core classes in high school. How many kids do you know that took all of Calculus BC, Statistics, Physics C, Chemistry, Biology, English (Language and Literature), History (US, European, World), Computer Science A, Foreign Language. These are top rigor courses and he got all As and 5s. I’d even add to this Micro and Macro economics.

That’s a real academic accomplishment. He could have done better with support on the college application process, but UCLA is still very good.

That sounds pretty normal. Again, not an accomplishment. These are just AP classes.

That’s not normal or ordinary. How many of these classes did yours take? The kid checked the box on rigor and grades with all these “just AP” classes. Obviously he had some shortcomings, phoning in the application last minute, weak essays, likely weak LOR since he went to three different high schools, but still has a strong high school record especially in academics.

Still I’d think UCLA is comparable with Cornell Ivy where his brother went and he’ll enter college as a Junior. How’s not graduating UCLA in two years an accomplishment? You really need to get out of your bubble.

I personally took every single one of those APs you mentioned and never considered it an accomplishment. It was normal. My accomplishments were other things that I did

Furthermore, the kid has not graduated college in 2 years. You are making that part up. Graduating college early only makes sense if you have something great lined up afterwards. Otherwise you are just unemployed.

lol. Sure you took every single one of them, honey, it was just normal for you. Online everyone is top rigor with national level awards and recognition. Care you share what major and at what college you ended up?

While he didn’t graduate in 2 years, the kid said he’s entering UCLA as a Junior, putting him solidly on that path.

You sound so silly, you’re likely still in high school, if not middle school. Graduating early will save him about $100k. Dumb kids with useless majors will be unemployed after college, but I guarantee he’s not one of them. You on the other hand, I’m not so sure.

Why is taking a normal AP course load so hard to believe? All of my peers during high school did the same. I ended up double majoring in college since it was pretty easy to do and going directly into grad school.

Do you have any evidence that taking 15 of the hardest APs is normal, besides the claim that “you and your peers took every single one of them”? College Board statistics show that about 0.2% of all students manage that feat, so it’s hardly “normal”.

What undergrad and grad school did you go to? Were they “better” than UCLA? What major and what field?

Was the kid misguided to take 25 APs? Yes, and to some degree a waste of time, but he set himself this goal, however imperfect and managed to accomplish it by working hard over 4 years of high school. That’s better than the vast majority of fabricated passion projects, nepotism internships, and fake impact metrics.

People that have some life experience realize that UCLA won’t hold this kid back in the least. If grad school is his interest, he can get in anywhere from UCLA, including HYPSM or whatever people consider elite. Nobody will deny him a job interview because he went to UCLA instead of Cornell.

If anything, he did a lot in high school and managed to get into one of the top universities in the world. Understandable he is disappointed, but honestly he has no reason to be. At 18 he lacks some perspective and that’s ok, he’ll do fine.

There may have been some slight variation across the specific APs of my cohort but roughly equivalent.

My college and grad schools are well liked on this board. Without getting into specifics, I have two doctorates and am well compensated.

UCLA is a fine college though.

Did you also win the Nobel prize and Fields medal? Just so you make it slightly more believable.

No but I have met a few people who have Nobels. Not everyone on here is a troll. I am a real person.

Is that supposed to be impressive?

You sound like a dumb troll jerk dumping your own frustration in life on an 18 year old.

I have met lots of interesting people, and a few have had Nobels.

You might want to reflect why you react the way you do here. My life is great and we could have had a more productive interaction here.

AP coursework is just very basic and doing 15, 20, or 25 of them doesn’t change that it is all introductory material.

I’m exiting this thread now.

The thing is, if one goes to a good enough college like UCLA, the intro classes are much harder and cover much more than those corresponding AP classes. I personally would retake some of the core required classes even if the school let your AP classes fulfill the requirements.

This.
My daughter just finished her first year at a "good" college and the AP super jocks from public high schools who skipped the intro courses are getting TANKED in the classes they "placed" into.

Not true, APs are on par with introductory classes at even top colleges. If a 5 on AP Calculus BC is good enough for MIT and Stanford, then it’s fine for lower ranked universities as well.

In what sense is a 5 on Calc BC good enough for MIT? I bet most planning to do STEM at MIT have much more math preparation than Calc BC.

A 5 in AP Calculus BC gets credit for MIT’s 18.01 Single variable calculus.

That means a 5 in BC barely passes their elementary calculus!

No, it means that for a score of 5 in AP Calculus BC you get the same credit towards a degree as passing MITs 18.01 Single Variable Calculus.

Not barely, and not elementary calculus, whatever you think that means. If MIT is saying they are equivalent, it really doesn’t matter what your personal opinion is on this matter.

That doesn't make them equivalent. It just lets you skip 18.01 if you want to try the next class in the sequence. These classes are much harder than AP so doing so is challenging and most kids will repeat 18.01 at college rather than try to skip.

Curious about this, are you dumb?

From the MIT website:
“A score of 5 on the Calculus BC exam will grant you credit for 18.01.”

Not that it lets you skip, not that 18.01 is much harder, or that it’s recommended you repeat 18.01. You get the same credit towards an MIT degree as taking 18.01.

From the sample of kids I personally knew, not a single one would repeat 18.01, because they have better use of their time than reviewing material that’s already mastered.

You obviously don't know anyone there. Full stop. You can read a website but don't actually know anything. Please shut up. These kids need to continue math beyond 18.01 and the everybody has already taken BC Calc. Everybody. Skipping 18.01 is not going to be fun.

Listen, I have a PhD from MIT course 8, but don’t let that shake your belief that you’re absolutely right about this. I’m glad we have you to interpret the information MIT puts out about their AP credits policies. AP Calculus BC is enough preparation for 18.02.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:He says right in the video that he took major risks with his essays and at one point, he says he didn’t even answer Northwestern‘s prompt.

Why are people skipping over this? If you don't answer the college's essay question and submit your own "edgy" essay, you didn't do it right.

They weren’t “edgy”, but “risky”, and “high risk high reward”.

My guess is that if someone would have edited and advised him on how to write a good essay, he would have gotten him into a top 10.

For most people dumping on the kid, how many of your own take AP calculus in 9th and have the drive to self study for AP Physics C because the school offers only algebra based physics? The kid has grit, while the downers see grind.

He will do fine at UCLA, and from what I’ve seen it’s a better fit for him than the other colleges he applied to.

His accomplishments that you mention are yawn. Not real accomplishments. What has he been able to achieve by taking Calculus slightly earlier, or by extending physics to include Calculus? He squandered it by doing nothing with it. Huge yawn.

Sure huge yawn, he should have started a nonprofit with mom’s help or compete in science fair with a topic closely aligned with dads PhD.

Taking calculus in 9th is 2-3 years ahead of the vast majority of students, considering the high school is 4 years it doesn’t make it slightly earlier. What should the kid have done with his Calculus Physics knowledge while in high school?

If you take it before college, what is the difference between taking it in 9th vs 11th? Zero difference.

Now if you could list off advanced math classes that he took, far beyond that, it would be a different situation.

The difference is that it allows taking all of the advanced core classes in high school. How many kids do you know that took all of Calculus BC, Statistics, Physics C, Chemistry, Biology, English (Language and Literature), History (US, European, World), Computer Science A, Foreign Language. These are top rigor courses and he got all As and 5s. I’d even add to this Micro and Macro economics.

That’s a real academic accomplishment. He could have done better with support on the college application process, but UCLA is still very good.

That sounds pretty normal. Again, not an accomplishment. These are just AP classes.

That’s not normal or ordinary. How many of these classes did yours take? The kid checked the box on rigor and grades with all these “just AP” classes. Obviously he had some shortcomings, phoning in the application last minute, weak essays, likely weak LOR since he went to three different high schools, but still has a strong high school record especially in academics.

Still I’d think UCLA is comparable with Cornell Ivy where his brother went and he’ll enter college as a Junior. How’s not graduating UCLA in two years an accomplishment? You really need to get out of your bubble.

I personally took every single one of those APs you mentioned and never considered it an accomplishment. It was normal. My accomplishments were other things that I did

Furthermore, the kid has not graduated college in 2 years. You are making that part up. Graduating college early only makes sense if you have something great lined up afterwards. Otherwise you are just unemployed.

lol. Sure you took every single one of them, honey, it was just normal for you. Online everyone is top rigor with national level awards and recognition. Care you share what major and at what college you ended up?

While he didn’t graduate in 2 years, the kid said he’s entering UCLA as a Junior, putting him solidly on that path.

You sound so silly, you’re likely still in high school, if not middle school. Graduating early will save him about $100k. Dumb kids with useless majors will be unemployed after college, but I guarantee he’s not one of them. You on the other hand, I’m not so sure.

Why is taking a normal AP course load so hard to believe? All of my peers during high school did the same. I ended up double majoring in college since it was pretty easy to do and going directly into grad school.

Do you have any evidence that taking 15 of the hardest APs is normal, besides the claim that “you and your peers took every single one of them”? College Board statistics show that about 0.2% of all students manage that feat, so it’s hardly “normal”.

What undergrad and grad school did you go to? Were they “better” than UCLA? What major and what field?

Was the kid misguided to take 25 APs? Yes, and to some degree a waste of time, but he set himself this goal, however imperfect and managed to accomplish it by working hard over 4 years of high school. That’s better than the vast majority of fabricated passion projects, nepotism internships, and fake impact metrics.

People that have some life experience realize that UCLA won’t hold this kid back in the least. If grad school is his interest, he can get in anywhere from UCLA, including HYPSM or whatever people consider elite. Nobody will deny him a job interview because he went to UCLA instead of Cornell.

If anything, he did a lot in high school and managed to get into one of the top universities in the world. Understandable he is disappointed, but honestly he has no reason to be. At 18 he lacks some perspective and that’s ok, he’ll do fine.

There may have been some slight variation across the specific APs of my cohort but roughly equivalent.

My college and grad schools are well liked on this board. Without getting into specifics, I have two doctorates and am well compensated.

UCLA is a fine college though.

Did you also win the Nobel prize and Fields medal? Just so you make it slightly more believable.

No but I have met a few people who have Nobels. Not everyone on here is a troll. I am a real person.

Is that supposed to be impressive?

You sound like a dumb troll jerk dumping your own frustration in life on an 18 year old.

I have met lots of interesting people, and a few have had Nobels.

You might want to reflect why you react the way you do here. My life is great and we could have had a more productive interaction here.

AP coursework is just very basic and doing 15, 20, or 25 of them doesn’t change that it is all introductory material.

I’m exiting this thread now.

The thing is, if one goes to a good enough college like UCLA, the intro classes are much harder and cover much more than those corresponding AP classes. I personally would retake some of the core required classes even if the school let your AP classes fulfill the requirements.

This.
My daughter just finished her first year at a "good" college and the AP super jocks from public high schools who skipped the intro courses are getting TANKED in the classes they "placed" into.

Not true, APs are on par with introductory classes at even top colleges. If a 5 on AP Calculus BC is good enough for MIT and Stanford, then it’s fine for lower ranked universities as well.

In what sense is a 5 on Calc BC good enough for MIT? I bet most planning to do STEM at MIT have much more math preparation than Calc BC.

A 5 in AP Calculus BC gets credit for MIT’s 18.01 Single variable calculus.

That means a 5 in BC barely passes their elementary calculus!

No, it means that for a score of 5 in AP Calculus BC you get the same credit towards a degree as passing MITs 18.01 Single Variable Calculus.

Not barely, and not elementary calculus, whatever you think that means. If MIT is saying they are equivalent, it really doesn’t matter what your personal opinion is on this matter.

That doesn't make them equivalent. It just lets you skip 18.01 if you want to try the next class in the sequence. These classes are much harder than AP so doing so is challenging and most kids will repeat 18.01 at college rather than try to skip.

Curious about this, are you dumb?

From the MIT website:
“A score of 5 on the Calculus BC exam will grant you credit for 18.01.”

Not that it lets you skip, not that 18.01 is much harder, or that it’s recommended you repeat 18.01. You get the same credit towards an MIT degree as taking 18.01.

From the sample of kids I personally knew, not a single one would repeat 18.01, because they have better use of their time than reviewing material that’s already mastered.

You obviously don't know anyone there. Full stop. You can read a website but don't actually know anything. Please shut up. These kids need to continue math beyond 18.01 and the everybody has already taken BC Calc. Everybody. Skipping 18.01 is not going to be fun.

Listen, I have a PhD from MIT course 8, but don’t let that shake your belief that you’re absolutely right about this. I’m glad we have you to interpret the information MIT puts out about their AP credits policies. AP Calculus BC is enough preparation for 18.02.

No you don’t. If you have a PhD then you have squandered it.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He says right in the video that he took major risks with his essays and at one point, he says he didn’t even answer Northwestern‘s prompt.

Why are people skipping over this? If you don't answer the college's essay question and submit your own "edgy" essay, you didn't do it right.

They weren’t “edgy”, but “risky”, and “high risk high reward”.

My guess is that if someone would have edited and advised him on how to write a good essay, he would have gotten him into a top 10.

For most people dumping on the kid, how many of your own take AP calculus in 9th and have the drive to self study for AP Physics C because the school offers only algebra based physics? The kid has grit, while the downers see grind.

He will do fine at UCLA, and from what I’ve seen it’s a better fit for him than the other colleges he applied to.

His accomplishments that you mention are yawn. Not real accomplishments. What has he been able to achieve by taking Calculus slightly earlier, or by extending physics to include Calculus? He squandered it by doing nothing with it. Huge yawn.

Sure huge yawn, he should have started a nonprofit with mom’s help or compete in science fair with a topic closely aligned with dads PhD.

Taking calculus in 9th is 2-3 years ahead of the vast majority of students, considering the high school is 4 years it doesn’t make it slightly earlier. What should the kid have done with his Calculus Physics knowledge while in high school?

If you take it before college, what is the difference between taking it in 9th vs 11th? Zero difference.

Now if you could list off advanced math classes that he took, far beyond that, it would be a different situation.

The difference is that it allows taking all of the advanced core classes in high school. How many kids do you know that took all of Calculus BC, Statistics, Physics C, Chemistry, Biology, English (Language and Literature), History (US, European, World), Computer Science A, Foreign Language. These are top rigor courses and he got all As and 5s. I’d even add to this Micro and Macro economics.

That’s a real academic accomplishment. He could have done better with support on the college application process, but UCLA is still very good.

That sounds pretty normal. Again, not an accomplishment. These are just AP classes.

That’s not normal or ordinary. How many of these classes did yours take? The kid checked the box on rigor and grades with all these “just AP” classes. Obviously he had some shortcomings, phoning in the application last minute, weak essays, likely weak LOR since he went to three different high schools, but still has a strong high school record especially in academics.

Still I’d think UCLA is comparable with Cornell Ivy where his brother went and he’ll enter college as a Junior. How’s not graduating UCLA in two years an accomplishment? You really need to get out of your bubble.

I personally took every single one of those APs you mentioned and never considered it an accomplishment. It was normal. My accomplishments were other things that I did

Furthermore, the kid has not graduated college in 2 years. You are making that part up. Graduating college early only makes sense if you have something great lined up afterwards. Otherwise you are just unemployed.

lol. Sure you took every single one of them, honey, it was just normal for you. Online everyone is top rigor with national level awards and recognition. Care you share what major and at what college you ended up?

While he didn’t graduate in 2 years, the kid said he’s entering UCLA as a Junior, putting him solidly on that path.

You sound so silly, you’re likely still in high school, if not middle school. Graduating early will save him about $100k. Dumb kids with useless majors will be unemployed after college, but I guarantee he’s not one of them. You on the other hand, I’m not so sure.

Why is taking a normal AP course load so hard to believe? All of my peers during high school did the same. I ended up double majoring in college since it was pretty easy to do and going directly into grad school.

Do you have any evidence that taking 15 of the hardest APs is normal, besides the claim that “you and your peers took every single one of them”? College Board statistics show that about 0.2% of all students manage that feat, so it’s hardly “normal”.

What undergrad and grad school did you go to? Were they “better” than UCLA? What major and what field?

Was the kid misguided to take 25 APs? Yes, and to some degree a waste of time, but he set himself this goal, however imperfect and managed to accomplish it by working hard over 4 years of high school. That’s better than the vast majority of fabricated passion projects, nepotism internships, and fake impact metrics.

People that have some life experience realize that UCLA won’t hold this kid back in the least. If grad school is his interest, he can get in anywhere from UCLA, including HYPSM or whatever people consider elite. Nobody will deny him a job interview because he went to UCLA instead of Cornell.

If anything, he did a lot in high school and managed to get into one of the top universities in the world. Understandable he is disappointed, but honestly he has no reason to be. At 18 he lacks some perspective and that’s ok, he’ll do fine.

There may have been some slight variation across the specific APs of my cohort but roughly equivalent.

My college and grad schools are well liked on this board. Without getting into specifics, I have two doctorates and am well compensated.

UCLA is a fine college though.

Did you also win the Nobel prize and Fields medal? Just so you make it slightly more believable.

No but I have met a few people who have Nobels. Not everyone on here is a troll. I am a real person.

Is that supposed to be impressive?

You sound like a dumb troll jerk dumping your own frustration in life on an 18 year old.

I have met lots of interesting people, and a few have had Nobels.

You might want to reflect why you react the way you do here. My life is great and we could have had a more productive interaction here.

AP coursework is just very basic and doing 15, 20, or 25 of them doesn’t change that it is all introductory material.

I’m exiting this thread now.

The thing is, if one goes to a good enough college like UCLA, the intro classes are much harder and cover much more than those corresponding AP classes. I personally would retake some of the core required classes even if the school let your AP classes fulfill the requirements.

This.
My daughter just finished her first year at a "good" college and the AP super jocks from public high schools who skipped the intro courses are getting TANKED in the classes they "placed" into.

Not true, APs are on par with introductory classes at even top colleges. If a 5 on AP Calculus BC is good enough for MIT and Stanford, then it’s fine for lower ranked universities as well.

In what sense is a 5 on Calc BC good enough for MIT? I bet most planning to do STEM at MIT have much more math preparation than Calc BC.

A 5 in AP Calculus BC gets credit for MIT’s 18.01 Single variable calculus.

That means a 5 in BC barely passes their elementary calculus!

No, it means that for a score of 5 in AP Calculus BC you get the same credit towards a degree as passing MITs 18.01 Single Variable Calculus.

Not barely, and not elementary calculus, whatever you think that means. If MIT is saying they are equivalent, it really doesn’t matter what your personal opinion is on this matter.

That doesn't make them equivalent. It just lets you skip 18.01 if you want to try the next class in the sequence. These classes are much harder than AP so doing so is challenging and most kids will repeat 18.01 at college rather than try to skip.

Curious about this, are you dumb?

From the MIT website:
“A score of 5 on the Calculus BC exam will grant you credit for 18.01.”

Not that it lets you skip, not that 18.01 is much harder, or that it’s recommended you repeat 18.01. You get the same credit towards an MIT degree as taking 18.01.

From the sample of kids I personally knew, not a single one would repeat 18.01, because they have better use of their time than reviewing material that’s already mastered.

You obviously don't know anyone there. Full stop. You can read a website but don't actually know anything. Please shut up. These kids need to continue math beyond 18.01 and the everybody has already taken BC Calc. Everybody. Skipping 18.01 is not going to be fun.

NP - If a poster has to resort to name calling, I'm going to assume they are bored teenagers, probably younger than 15. So yeah, they probably have access to the MIT website, but no, they don't have a child who has gone through APs and college. And have little to know idea about what "prepared" really means in post-secondary institutions.
I wish Jeff would shut down these horrible trolls. It's really getting annoying.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He says right in the video that he took major risks with his essays and at one point, he says he didn’t even answer Northwestern‘s prompt.

Why are people skipping over this? If you don't answer the college's essay question and submit your own "edgy" essay, you didn't do it right.

They weren’t “edgy”, but “risky”, and “high risk high reward”.

My guess is that if someone would have edited and advised him on how to write a good essay, he would have gotten him into a top 10.

For most people dumping on the kid, how many of your own take AP calculus in 9th and have the drive to self study for AP Physics C because the school offers only algebra based physics? The kid has grit, while the downers see grind.

He will do fine at UCLA, and from what I’ve seen it’s a better fit for him than the other colleges he applied to.

His accomplishments that you mention are yawn. Not real accomplishments. What has he been able to achieve by taking Calculus slightly earlier, or by extending physics to include Calculus? He squandered it by doing nothing with it. Huge yawn.

Sure huge yawn, he should have started a nonprofit with mom’s help or compete in science fair with a topic closely aligned with dads PhD.

Taking calculus in 9th is 2-3 years ahead of the vast majority of students, considering the high school is 4 years it doesn’t make it slightly earlier. What should the kid have done with his Calculus Physics knowledge while in high school?

If you take it before college, what is the difference between taking it in 9th vs 11th? Zero difference.

Now if you could list off advanced math classes that he took, far beyond that, it would be a different situation.

The difference is that it allows taking all of the advanced core classes in high school. How many kids do you know that took all of Calculus BC, Statistics, Physics C, Chemistry, Biology, English (Language and Literature), History (US, European, World), Computer Science A, Foreign Language. These are top rigor courses and he got all As and 5s. I’d even add to this Micro and Macro economics.

That’s a real academic accomplishment. He could have done better with support on the college application process, but UCLA is still very good.

That sounds pretty normal. Again, not an accomplishment. These are just AP classes.

That’s not normal or ordinary. How many of these classes did yours take? The kid checked the box on rigor and grades with all these “just AP” classes. Obviously he had some shortcomings, phoning in the application last minute, weak essays, likely weak LOR since he went to three different high schools, but still has a strong high school record especially in academics.

Still I’d think UCLA is comparable with Cornell Ivy where his brother went and he’ll enter college as a Junior. How’s not graduating UCLA in two years an accomplishment? You really need to get out of your bubble.

I personally took every single one of those APs you mentioned and never considered it an accomplishment. It was normal. My accomplishments were other things that I did

Furthermore, the kid has not graduated college in 2 years. You are making that part up. Graduating college early only makes sense if you have something great lined up afterwards. Otherwise you are just unemployed.

lol. Sure you took every single one of them, honey, it was just normal for you. Online everyone is top rigor with national level awards and recognition. Care you share what major and at what college you ended up?

While he didn’t graduate in 2 years, the kid said he’s entering UCLA as a Junior, putting him solidly on that path.

You sound so silly, you’re likely still in high school, if not middle school. Graduating early will save him about $100k. Dumb kids with useless majors will be unemployed after college, but I guarantee he’s not one of them. You on the other hand, I’m not so sure.

Why is taking a normal AP course load so hard to believe? All of my peers during high school did the same. I ended up double majoring in college since it was pretty easy to do and going directly into grad school.

Do you have any evidence that taking 15 of the hardest APs is normal, besides the claim that “you and your peers took every single one of them”? College Board statistics show that about 0.2% of all students manage that feat, so it’s hardly “normal”.

What undergrad and grad school did you go to? Were they “better” than UCLA? What major and what field?

Was the kid misguided to take 25 APs? Yes, and to some degree a waste of time, but he set himself this goal, however imperfect and managed to accomplish it by working hard over 4 years of high school. That’s better than the vast majority of fabricated passion projects, nepotism internships, and fake impact metrics.

People that have some life experience realize that UCLA won’t hold this kid back in the least. If grad school is his interest, he can get in anywhere from UCLA, including HYPSM or whatever people consider elite. Nobody will deny him a job interview because he went to UCLA instead of Cornell.

If anything, he did a lot in high school and managed to get into one of the top universities in the world. Understandable he is disappointed, but honestly he has no reason to be. At 18 he lacks some perspective and that’s ok, he’ll do fine.

There may have been some slight variation across the specific APs of my cohort but roughly equivalent.

My college and grad schools are well liked on this board. Without getting into specifics, I have two doctorates and am well compensated.

UCLA is a fine college though.

Did you also win the Nobel prize and Fields medal? Just so you make it slightly more believable.

No but I have met a few people who have Nobels. Not everyone on here is a troll. I am a real person.

Is that supposed to be impressive?

You sound like a dumb troll jerk dumping your own frustration in life on an 18 year old.

I have met lots of interesting people, and a few have had Nobels.

You might want to reflect why you react the way you do here. My life is great and we could have had a more productive interaction here.

AP coursework is just very basic and doing 15, 20, or 25 of them doesn’t change that it is all introductory material.

I’m exiting this thread now.

The thing is, if one goes to a good enough college like UCLA, the intro classes are much harder and cover much more than those corresponding AP classes. I personally would retake some of the core required classes even if the school let your AP classes fulfill the requirements.

This.
My daughter just finished her first year at a "good" college and the AP super jocks from public high schools who skipped the intro courses are getting TANKED in the classes they "placed" into.

Not true, APs are on par with introductory classes at even top colleges. If a 5 on AP Calculus BC is good enough for MIT and Stanford, then it’s fine for lower ranked universities as well.

In what sense is a 5 on Calc BC good enough for MIT? I bet most planning to do STEM at MIT have much more math preparation than Calc BC.

A 5 in AP Calculus BC gets credit for MIT’s 18.01 Single variable calculus.

That means a 5 in BC barely passes their elementary calculus!

No, it means that for a score of 5 in AP Calculus BC you get the same credit towards a degree as passing MITs 18.01 Single Variable Calculus.

Not barely, and not elementary calculus, whatever you think that means. If MIT is saying they are equivalent, it really doesn’t matter what your personal opinion is on this matter.

That doesn't make them equivalent. It just lets you skip 18.01 if you want to try the next class in the sequence. These classes are much harder than AP so doing so is challenging and most kids will repeat 18.01 at college rather than try to skip.

Curious about this, are you dumb?

From the MIT website:
“A score of 5 on the Calculus BC exam will grant you credit for 18.01.”

Not that it lets you skip, not that 18.01 is much harder, or that it’s recommended you repeat 18.01. You get the same credit towards an MIT degree as taking 18.01.

From the sample of kids I personally knew, not a single one would repeat 18.01, because they have better use of their time than reviewing material that’s already mastered.

You obviously don't know anyone there. Full stop. You can read a website but don't actually know anything. Please shut up. These kids need to continue math beyond 18.01 and the everybody has already taken BC Calc. Everybody. Skipping 18.01 is not going to be fun.

Listen, I have a PhD from MIT course 8, but don’t let that shake your belief that you’re absolutely right about this. I’m glad we have you to interpret the information MIT puts out about their AP credits policies. AP Calculus BC is enough preparation for 18.02.

Enough with the jokes. You don’t have that.

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Anonymous wrote:He says right in the video that he took major risks with his essays and at one point, he says he didn’t even answer Northwestern‘s prompt.

Why are people skipping over this? If you don't answer the college's essay question and submit your own "edgy" essay, you didn't do it right.

They weren’t “edgy”, but “risky”, and “high risk high reward”.

My guess is that if someone would have edited and advised him on how to write a good essay, he would have gotten him into a top 10.

For most people dumping on the kid, how many of your own take AP calculus in 9th and have the drive to self study for AP Physics C because the school offers only algebra based physics? The kid has grit, while the downers see grind.

He will do fine at UCLA, and from what I’ve seen it’s a better fit for him than the other colleges he applied to.

His accomplishments that you mention are yawn. Not real accomplishments. What has he been able to achieve by taking Calculus slightly earlier, or by extending physics to include Calculus? He squandered it by doing nothing with it. Huge yawn.

Sure huge yawn, he should have started a nonprofit with mom’s help or compete in science fair with a topic closely aligned with dads PhD.

Taking calculus in 9th is 2-3 years ahead of the vast majority of students, considering the high school is 4 years it doesn’t make it slightly earlier. What should the kid have done with his Calculus Physics knowledge while in high school?

If you take it before college, what is the difference between taking it in 9th vs 11th? Zero difference.

Now if you could list off advanced math classes that he took, far beyond that, it would be a different situation.

The difference is that it allows taking all of the advanced core classes in high school. How many kids do you know that took all of Calculus BC, Statistics, Physics C, Chemistry, Biology, English (Language and Literature), History (US, European, World), Computer Science A, Foreign Language. These are top rigor courses and he got all As and 5s. I’d even add to this Micro and Macro economics.

That’s a real academic accomplishment. He could have done better with support on the college application process, but UCLA is still very good.

That sounds pretty normal. Again, not an accomplishment. These are just AP classes.

That’s not normal or ordinary. How many of these classes did yours take? The kid checked the box on rigor and grades with all these “just AP” classes. Obviously he had some shortcomings, phoning in the application last minute, weak essays, likely weak LOR since he went to three different high schools, but still has a strong high school record especially in academics.

Still I’d think UCLA is comparable with Cornell Ivy where his brother went and he’ll enter college as a Junior. How’s not graduating UCLA in two years an accomplishment? You really need to get out of your bubble.

I personally took every single one of those APs you mentioned and never considered it an accomplishment. It was normal. My accomplishments were other things that I did

Furthermore, the kid has not graduated college in 2 years. You are making that part up. Graduating college early only makes sense if you have something great lined up afterwards. Otherwise you are just unemployed.

lol. Sure you took every single one of them, honey, it was just normal for you. Online everyone is top rigor with national level awards and recognition. Care you share what major and at what college you ended up?

While he didn’t graduate in 2 years, the kid said he’s entering UCLA as a Junior, putting him solidly on that path.

You sound so silly, you’re likely still in high school, if not middle school. Graduating early will save him about $100k. Dumb kids with useless majors will be unemployed after college, but I guarantee he’s not one of them. You on the other hand, I’m not so sure.

Why is taking a normal AP course load so hard to believe? All of my peers during high school did the same. I ended up double majoring in college since it was pretty easy to do and going directly into grad school.

Do you have any evidence that taking 15 of the hardest APs is normal, besides the claim that “you and your peers took every single one of them”? College Board statistics show that about 0.2% of all students manage that feat, so it’s hardly “normal”.

What undergrad and grad school did you go to? Were they “better” than UCLA? What major and what field?

Was the kid misguided to take 25 APs? Yes, and to some degree a waste of time, but he set himself this goal, however imperfect and managed to accomplish it by working hard over 4 years of high school. That’s better than the vast majority of fabricated passion projects, nepotism internships, and fake impact metrics.

People that have some life experience realize that UCLA won’t hold this kid back in the least. If grad school is his interest, he can get in anywhere from UCLA, including HYPSM or whatever people consider elite. Nobody will deny him a job interview because he went to UCLA instead of Cornell.

If anything, he did a lot in high school and managed to get into one of the top universities in the world. Understandable he is disappointed, but honestly he has no reason to be. At 18 he lacks some perspective and that’s ok, he’ll do fine.

There may have been some slight variation across the specific APs of my cohort but roughly equivalent.

My college and grad schools are well liked on this board. Without getting into specifics, I have two doctorates and am well compensated.

UCLA is a fine college though.

Did you also win the Nobel prize and Fields medal? Just so you make it slightly more believable.

No but I have met a few people who have Nobels. Not everyone on here is a troll. I am a real person.

Is that supposed to be impressive?

You sound like a dumb troll jerk dumping your own frustration in life on an 18 year old.

I have met lots of interesting people, and a few have had Nobels.

You might want to reflect why you react the way you do here. My life is great and we could have had a more productive interaction here.

AP coursework is just very basic and doing 15, 20, or 25 of them doesn’t change that it is all introductory material.

I’m exiting this thread now.

The thing is, if one goes to a good enough college like UCLA, the intro classes are much harder and cover much more than those corresponding AP classes. I personally would retake some of the core required classes even if the school let your AP classes fulfill the requirements.

This.
My daughter just finished her first year at a "good" college and the AP super jocks from public high schools who skipped the intro courses are getting TANKED in the classes they "placed" into.

Not true, APs are on par with introductory classes at even top colleges. If a 5 on AP Calculus BC is good enough for MIT and Stanford, then it’s fine for lower ranked universities as well.

In what sense is a 5 on Calc BC good enough for MIT? I bet most planning to do STEM at MIT have much more math preparation than Calc BC.

A 5 in AP Calculus BC gets credit for MIT’s 18.01 Single variable calculus.

That means a 5 in BC barely passes their elementary calculus!

No, it means that for a score of 5 in AP Calculus BC you get the same credit towards a degree as passing MITs 18.01 Single Variable Calculus.

Not barely, and not elementary calculus, whatever you think that means. If MIT is saying they are equivalent, it really doesn’t matter what your personal opinion is on this matter.

That doesn't make them equivalent. It just lets you skip 18.01 if you want to try the next class in the sequence. These classes are much harder than AP so doing so is challenging and most kids will repeat 18.01 at college rather than try to skip.

Curious about this, are you dumb?

From the MIT website:
“A score of 5 on the Calculus BC exam will grant you credit for 18.01.”

Not that it lets you skip, not that 18.01 is much harder, or that it’s recommended you repeat 18.01. You get the same credit towards an MIT degree as taking 18.01.

From the sample of kids I personally knew, not a single one would repeat 18.01, because they have better use of their time than reviewing material that’s already mastered.

You obviously don't know anyone there. Full stop. You can read a website but don't actually know anything. Please shut up. These kids need to continue math beyond 18.01 and the everybody has already taken BC Calc. Everybody. Skipping 18.01 is not going to be fun.

Listen, I have a PhD from MIT course 8, but don’t let that shake your belief that you’re absolutely right about this. I’m glad we have you to interpret the information MIT puts out about their AP credits policies. AP Calculus BC is enough preparation for 18.02.

Enough with the jokes. You don’t have that.

Must be true if you say so. MIT gives credit to Calc BC and Physics C in stem but they are very generous with APs in humanities, any score of 5 gives unrestricted credit, up to 6 classes. Why wouldn’t you use it, if you can finish the undergrad degree in three years and do a +1 for a Masters degree? You don’t need to endlessly repeat intro classes when there are far more interesting one to choose from.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A mile wide and inch deep is not a viable college application strategy. He has an older brother at Cornell so he was well aware of the system. Don't hate the player, hate the game.

Why wouldn't volunteer hours transfer? Either you volunteered or you didn't. Also, why the need for self-described high risk essays?

Except it was a viable application strategy since he got into UCLA.

Some schools keep track of volunteering hours and don’t accept aggregating hours from other schools.

I guess a 17 year old decided to go with a quirky high risk essay since he didn’t have access to a paid college counselor or knowledgeable parent to ghost write, polish and nicely package his application.

He still did better than 90% of students from so called competitive school so good for him.

What a crock. If he volunteered, he volunteered. The volunteer hours don't stop existing because he changed schools (btw why 3 different schools? another red flag). I if troop down to the homeless shelter and volunteer your high school has zero say in reporting volunteer hours. If you did 200 hours of that your sophomore year, you put that down. A different high school can't erase reality.

In a way, you can see why this applicant didn't get the result he wanted:

His GPA was "significantly hurt" yet he is self reporting on his little youtube video all As or A+'s.
Volunteer hours "did not transfer"
"No school profile from other school" what school offering that many APs doesn't have a school profile? You supply one for them if they didn't. He knows of the school profile because he speaks of it. Was this high school a domestic US high school?
"I don't even need to listen in class to ace every exam" What is the teacher there for? This hubris about not absorbing the teachings of a teacher is something surely Yale will love. "Hey, I'm so good I don't need your teaching!"

With all that arrogance and hubris he got into UCLA, while your kid has zero chance to get in. I sort of get why it pisses you off that much, but at some point you have to let it go.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:He says right in the video that he took major risks with his essays and at one point, he says he didn’t even answer Northwestern‘s prompt.

Why are people skipping over this? If you don't answer the college's essay question and submit your own "edgy" essay, you didn't do it right.

They weren’t “edgy”, but “risky”, and “high risk high reward”.

My guess is that if someone would have edited and advised him on how to write a good essay, he would have gotten him into a top 10.

For most people dumping on the kid, how many of your own take AP calculus in 9th and have the drive to self study for AP Physics C because the school offers only algebra based physics? The kid has grit, while the downers see grind.

He will do fine at UCLA, and from what I’ve seen it’s a better fit for him than the other colleges he applied to.

His accomplishments that you mention are yawn. Not real accomplishments. What has he been able to achieve by taking Calculus slightly earlier, or by extending physics to include Calculus? He squandered it by doing nothing with it. Huge yawn.

Sure huge yawn, he should have started a nonprofit with mom’s help or compete in science fair with a topic closely aligned with dads PhD.

Taking calculus in 9th is 2-3 years ahead of the vast majority of students, considering the high school is 4 years it doesn’t make it slightly earlier. What should the kid have done with his Calculus Physics knowledge while in high school?

If you take it before college, what is the difference between taking it in 9th vs 11th? Zero difference.

Now if you could list off advanced math classes that he took, far beyond that, it would be a different situation.

The difference is that it allows taking all of the advanced core classes in high school. How many kids do you know that took all of Calculus BC, Statistics, Physics C, Chemistry, Biology, English (Language and Literature), History (US, European, World), Computer Science A, Foreign Language. These are top rigor courses and he got all As and 5s. I’d even add to this Micro and Macro economics.

That’s a real academic accomplishment. He could have done better with support on the college application process, but UCLA is still very good.

That sounds pretty normal. Again, not an accomplishment. These are just AP classes.

That’s not normal or ordinary. How many of these classes did yours take? The kid checked the box on rigor and grades with all these “just AP” classes. Obviously he had some shortcomings, phoning in the application last minute, weak essays, likely weak LOR since he went to three different high schools, but still has a strong high school record especially in academics.

Still I’d think UCLA is comparable with Cornell Ivy where his brother went and he’ll enter college as a Junior. How’s not graduating UCLA in two years an accomplishment? You really need to get out of your bubble.

I personally took every single one of those APs you mentioned and never considered it an accomplishment. It was normal. My accomplishments were other things that I did

Furthermore, the kid has not graduated college in 2 years. You are making that part up. Graduating college early only makes sense if you have something great lined up afterwards. Otherwise you are just unemployed.

lol. Sure you took every single one of them, honey, it was just normal for you. Online everyone is top rigor with national level awards and recognition. Care you share what major and at what college you ended up?

While he didn’t graduate in 2 years, the kid said he’s entering UCLA as a Junior, putting him solidly on that path.

You sound so silly, you’re likely still in high school, if not middle school. Graduating early will save him about $100k. Dumb kids with useless majors will be unemployed after college, but I guarantee he’s not one of them. You on the other hand, I’m not so sure.

Why is taking a normal AP course load so hard to believe? All of my peers during high school did the same. I ended up double majoring in college since it was pretty easy to do and going directly into grad school.

Do you have any evidence that taking 15 of the hardest APs is normal, besides the claim that “you and your peers took every single one of them”? College Board statistics show that about 0.2% of all students manage that feat, so it’s hardly “normal”.

What undergrad and grad school did you go to? Were they “better” than UCLA? What major and what field?

Was the kid misguided to take 25 APs? Yes, and to some degree a waste of time, but he set himself this goal, however imperfect and managed to accomplish it by working hard over 4 years of high school. That’s better than the vast majority of fabricated passion projects, nepotism internships, and fake impact metrics.

People that have some life experience realize that UCLA won’t hold this kid back in the least. If grad school is his interest, he can get in anywhere from UCLA, including HYPSM or whatever people consider elite. Nobody will deny him a job interview because he went to UCLA instead of Cornell.

If anything, he did a lot in high school and managed to get into one of the top universities in the world. Understandable he is disappointed, but honestly he has no reason to be. At 18 he lacks some perspective and that’s ok, he’ll do fine.

There may have been some slight variation across the specific APs of my cohort but roughly equivalent.

My college and grad schools are well liked on this board. Without getting into specifics, I have two doctorates and am well compensated.

UCLA is a fine college though.

Did you also win the Nobel prize and Fields medal? Just so you make it slightly more believable.

No but I have met a few people who have Nobels. Not everyone on here is a troll. I am a real person.

Is that supposed to be impressive?

You sound like a dumb troll jerk dumping your own frustration in life on an 18 year old.

I have met lots of interesting people, and a few have had Nobels.

You might want to reflect why you react the way you do here. My life is great and we could have had a more productive interaction here.

AP coursework is just very basic and doing 15, 20, or 25 of them doesn’t change that it is all introductory material.

I’m exiting this thread now.

The thing is, if one goes to a good enough college like UCLA, the intro classes are much harder and cover much more than those corresponding AP classes. I personally would retake some of the core required classes even if the school let your AP classes fulfill the requirements.

This.
My daughter just finished her first year at a "good" college and the AP super jocks from public high schools who skipped the intro courses are getting TANKED in the classes they "placed" into.

Not true, APs are on par with introductory classes at even top colleges. If a 5 on AP Calculus BC is good enough for MIT and Stanford, then it’s fine for lower ranked universities as well.

In what sense is a 5 on Calc BC good enough for MIT? I bet most planning to do STEM at MIT have much more math preparation than Calc BC.

A 5 in AP Calculus BC gets credit for MIT’s 18.01 Single variable calculus.

That means a 5 in BC barely passes their elementary calculus!

No, it means that for a score of 5 in AP Calculus BC you get the same credit towards a degree as passing MITs 18.01 Single Variable Calculus.

Not barely, and not elementary calculus, whatever you think that means. If MIT is saying they are equivalent, it really doesn’t matter what your personal opinion is on this matter.

That doesn't make them equivalent. It just lets you skip 18.01 if you want to try the next class in the sequence. These classes are much harder than AP so doing so is challenging and most kids will repeat 18.01 at college rather than try to skip.

Curious about this, are you dumb?

From the MIT website:
“A score of 5 on the Calculus BC exam will grant you credit for 18.01.”

Not that it lets you skip, not that 18.01 is much harder, or that it’s recommended you repeat 18.01. You get the same credit towards an MIT degree as taking 18.01.

From the sample of kids I personally knew, not a single one would repeat 18.01, because they have better use of their time than reviewing material that’s already mastered.

You obviously don't know anyone there. Full stop. You can read a website but don't actually know anything. Please shut up. These kids need to continue math beyond 18.01 and the everybody has already taken BC Calc. Everybody. Skipping 18.01 is not going to be fun.

Listen, I have a PhD from MIT course 8, but don’t let that shake your belief that you’re absolutely right about this. I’m glad we have you to interpret the information MIT puts out about their AP credits policies. AP Calculus BC is enough preparation for 18.02.

Enough with the jokes. You don’t have that.

Must be true if you say so. MIT gives credit to Calc BC and Physics C in stem but they are very generous with APs in humanities, any score of 5 gives unrestricted credit, up to 6 classes. Why wouldn’t you use it, if you can finish the undergrad degree in three years and do a +1 for a Masters degree? You don’t need to endlessly repeat intro classes when there are far more interesting one to choose from.

Right. MIT degree in 3 years. Have any more jokes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A mile wide and inch deep is not a viable college application strategy. He has an older brother at Cornell so he was well aware of the system. Don't hate the player, hate the game.

Why wouldn't volunteer hours transfer? Either you volunteered or you didn't. Also, why the need for self-described high risk essays?

Except it was a viable application strategy since he got into UCLA.

Some schools keep track of volunteering hours and don’t accept aggregating hours from other schools.

I guess a 17 year old decided to go with a quirky high risk essay since he didn’t have access to a paid college counselor or knowledgeable parent to ghost write, polish and nicely package his application.

He still did better than 90% of students from so called competitive school so good for him.

What a crock. If he volunteered, he volunteered. The volunteer hours don't stop existing because he changed schools (btw why 3 different schools? another red flag). I if troop down to the homeless shelter and volunteer your high school has zero say in reporting volunteer hours. If you did 200 hours of that your sophomore year, you put that down. A different high school can't erase reality.

In a way, you can see why this applicant didn't get the result he wanted:

His GPA was "significantly hurt" yet he is self reporting on his little youtube video all As or A+'s.
Volunteer hours "did not transfer"
"No school profile from other school" what school offering that many APs doesn't have a school profile? You supply one for them if they didn't. He knows of the school profile because he speaks of it. Was this high school a domestic US high school?
"I don't even need to listen in class to ace every exam" What is the teacher there for? This hubris about not absorbing the teachings of a teacher is something surely Yale will love. "Hey, I'm so good I don't need your teaching!"

With all that arrogance and hubris he got into UCLA, while your kid has zero chance to get in. I sort of get why it pisses you off that much, but at some point you have to let it go.

Sorry your panties got in a twist. But the youtuber struck out, hence the 5 minute cathartic anime spiel at the end of the video. Seeing as he wants to try to transfer out before even setting foot in Westwood kind of makes the point that the masses taking potshots at the ORM striver is well-deserved. One shot, one opportunity, sucks to suck.

[Anonymous]

If a school gives foreign language credit for the AP exam it won’t disqualify students from that credit just because they didn’t take 3-4 years of that foreign language in high school.

I never said it would. I agree it would give credit. I specifically said that in my second post.

I ALSO said that if a college has a list of high school courses it requires for admission--and many do--it often will not waive the requirement that APPLICANTS from US high schools take 3 or 4 years of foreign language in high school for an applicant for whom English is not their first language and who can do well on an AP test in their native language.

New York requires taking a foreign language to get a high school diploma. There are a heck of a lot of immigrants here, and they have to take foreign language in high school, just like everyone else. If the high school they attend offers their native language they can take that, but most choose not to do so. If they do take it, they can graduate. BUT they can't refuse to take any foreign language at all and still get a diploma.

The video maker lists no foreign language courses on his high school transcript.If he didn't take any foreign language, I suspect that hurt him. (He lives in California, which my googling indicates is not one of the 11 states which requires a foreign language to get a high school diploma.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

If a school gives foreign language credit for the AP exam it won’t disqualify students from that credit just because they didn’t take 3-4 years of that foreign language in high school.

I never said it would. I agree it would give credit. I specifically said that in my second post.

I ALSO said that if a college has a list of high school courses it requires for admission--and many do--it often will not waive the requirement that APPLICANTS from US high schools take 3 or 4 years of foreign language in high school for an applicant for whom English is not their first language and who can do well on an AP test in their native language.

New York requires taking a foreign language to get a high school diploma. There are a heck of a lot of immigrants here, and they have to take foreign language in high school, just like everyone else. If the high school they attend offers their native language they can take that, but most choose not to do so. If they do take it, they can graduate. BUT they can't refuse to take any foreign language at all and still get a diploma.

The video maker lists no foreign language courses on his high school transcript.If he didn't take any foreign language, I suspect that hurt him. (He lives in California, which my googling indicates is not one of the 11 states which requires a foreign language to get a high school diploma.)

I don’t know his particular situation. Many kids with Chinese parents can speak pretty good Chinese but couldn’t read and write. That’s why testing out of the foreign language requirement with AP makes sense (they have to learn the read/write part). The whole point of requiring 3-4 years of foreign language in high school is to make sure you have limited proficiency in a different language than English. If one is already bilingual, why is getting a decent AP score not enough as a proof?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

If a school gives foreign language credit for the AP exam it won’t disqualify students from that credit just because they didn’t take 3-4 years of that foreign language in high school.

I never said it would. I agree it would give credit. I specifically said that in my second post.

I ALSO said that if a college has a list of high school courses it requires for admission--and many do--it often will not waive the requirement that APPLICANTS from US high schools take 3 or 4 years of foreign language in high school for an applicant for whom English is not their first language and who can do well on an AP test in their native language.

New York requires taking a foreign language to get a high school diploma. There are a heck of a lot of immigrants here, and they have to take foreign language in high school, just like everyone else. If the high school they attend offers their native language they can take that, but most choose not to do so. If they do take it, they can graduate. BUT they can't refuse to take any foreign language at all and still get a diploma.

The video maker lists no foreign language courses on his high school transcript.If he didn't take any foreign language, I suspect that hurt him. (He lives in California, which my googling indicates is not one of the 11 states which requires a foreign language to get a high school diploma.)

That’s simply not true: many top colleges accept a good AP score to fulfill high school foreign language requirement.

Also, is English not this guy’s first language though? If he was born here or came here as a small kid, English is still his first language (even if his parents speak Chinese at home).

I’m not sure why this hang up about his foreign language. His ECs and letters and essays may not be that great, so I’m not sure why he’s not happy with his great college outcomes!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

If a school gives foreign language credit for the AP exam it won’t disqualify students from that credit just because they didn’t take 3-4 years of that foreign language in high school.

I never said it would. I agree it would give credit. I specifically said that in my second post.

I ALSO said that if a college has a list of high school courses it requires for admission--and many do--it often will not waive the requirement that APPLICANTS from US high schools take 3 or 4 years of foreign language in high school for an applicant for whom English is not their first language and who can do well on an AP test in their native language.

New York requires taking a foreign language to get a high school diploma. There are a heck of a lot of immigrants here, and they have to take foreign language in high school, just like everyone else. If the high school they attend offers their native language they can take that, but most choose not to do so. If they do take it, they can graduate. BUT they can't refuse to take any foreign language at all and still get a diploma.

The video maker lists no foreign language courses on his high school transcript.If he didn't take any foreign language, I suspect that hurt him. (He lives in California, which my googling indicates is not one of the 11 states which requires a foreign language to get a high school diploma.)

You’re wrong about this, do a simple google search to find the answer instead of making these sweeping false claims.

While California does not require a foreign language for graduation, UCs and Cal States require two years of foreign language minimum to be considered for admission, and they are very clear that a passing score on a AP foreign language exam satisfies it without having to take the two years.

There might be slight variations at other colleges, but the general point is that an AP scores checks the foreign language requirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If a school gives foreign language credit for the AP exam it won’t disqualify students from that credit just because they didn’t take 3-4 years of that foreign language in high school.

I never said it would. I agree it would give credit. I specifically said that in my second post.

I ALSO said that if a college has a list of high school courses it requires for admission--and many do--it often will not waive the requirement that APPLICANTS from US high schools take 3 or 4 years of foreign language in high school for an applicant for whom English is not their first language and who can do well on an AP test in their native language.

New York requires taking a foreign language to get a high school diploma. There are a heck of a lot of immigrants here, and they have to take foreign language in high school, just like everyone else. If the high school they attend offers their native language they can take that, but most choose not to do so. If they do take it, they can graduate. BUT they can't refuse to take any foreign language at all and still get a diploma.

The video maker lists no foreign language courses on his high school transcript.If he didn't take any foreign language, I suspect that hurt him. (He lives in California, which my googling indicates is not one of the 11 states which requires a foreign language to get a high school diploma.)

That’s simply not true: many top colleges accept a good AP score to fulfill high school foreign language requirement.

Also, is English not this guy’s first language though? If he was born here or came here as a small kid, English is still his first language (even if his parents speak Chinese at home).

I’m not sure why this hang up about his foreign language. His ECs and letters and essays may not be that great, so I’m not sure why he’s not happy with his great college outcomes!

This. UCLA in state is quite good, maybe even preferable to full pay ivies if considering grad school afterwards. He was hoping for financial aid from some colleges but didn’t get any so he likely would have been full pay.

Neuroscience is a field where grad school will be needed for a successful career, so save the money by going to one of the best in state schools with 14k a year tuition, versus an Ivy for 80k. Over four years the difference is 250k, even more if he can use some credits to graduate early.

I’d say a good effort in high school with the 25 APs ended up with a good outcome for admissions.

[Anonymous]

Look, let's just be honest here. This kid was not ivy+ material. He also didn't get into his flagship university, UC Berkeley. Where he landed makes a lot of sense.