If your child went to a private school that does not offer AP classes, how did that affect their college outcomes?

[Anonymous]

We still have a few years to go for college as I have an 8th grader who is applying for high schools. Several of the top private schools in the area have stopped offering AP classes and have opted instead for their own rigorous version of AP classes (which they claim to go even beyond the AP level).

If your child went to one of these schools, how did that affect their college outcomes? I have heard that many students still take the AP exam and get outside tutoring to study for them. That seems excessive honestly and I don't know if I'd want my child to be under the pressure to study for 2 separate curricula for every advanced class.

So to summarize : Is taking the AP exam necessary? If your child did not take the AP exam, was that negatively regarded by colleges?

I'd love to hear your thoughts as that would be an important determining factor as we choose high schools.

Thank you in advance

[Anonymous]

How would anyone truly know? It's not like the admissions officers provide feedback about why an applicant is accepted/rejected. It's not like there's a control group of students who do APs and don't within a private school that you can compare to those who don't do APs.

At best, you'll get private school parents saying that despite the lack of APs, plenty of students got into elite schools XYZ which proves that APs aren't necessary. Which it doesn't--it just proves that the applicants were sufficiently strong even without the APs.

[Anonymous]

Elite boarding prep school which offers no AP courses results were outstanding for almost all students.

[Anonymous]

The college advisors at our DC private have told us colleges know that the school does not have classes labeled AP and don’t expect AP.

[Anonymous]

*don’t expect AP scores

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Elite boarding prep school which offers no AP courses results were outstanding for almost all students.

On the other hand, lower ranked private schools that are more locally known will suffer from colleges not being able to vet the rigor of their curriculum.

[Anonymous]

The college admissions people are fully familiar with the rigor of the curriculum at both of their schools.

[Anonymous]

PP: no impact on admission at least for my DC. In at a T20…so far, waiting on the rest. Did not ED any school. EA and RD to a few…waiting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Elite boarding prep school which offers no AP courses results were outstanding for almost all students.

Correlation is not causation. Students who attend elite boarding schools could fall into other preferential categories: 1) legacy student, 2) child of ultrarich parent (development admit), 3) athletic recruit for obscure rich kid sport (ex: water polo). Plus they're inevitably rich enough to have hired a strong college counselor, test prep, do pay for play summer programs etc.

[Anonymous]

Ask the private schools about their college outcomes - if they offer no APs and kids still get into top schools, then why does the lack of APs matter?

[Anonymous]

Too early in the cycle to tell but has 3 acceptances in hand, including one where I thought it would make a difference based on grade recalculation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Elite boarding prep school which offers no AP courses results were outstanding for almost all students.

Correlation is not causation. Students who attend elite boarding schools could fall into other preferential categories: 1) legacy student, 2) child of ultrarich parent (development admit), 3) athletic recruit for obscure rich kid sport (ex: water polo). Plus they're inevitably rich enough to have hired a strong college counselor, test prep, do pay for play summer programs etc.

Also many DO take AP exams, without the courses.

[Anonymous]

For a selective private school, the lack of APs will not matter at all. In fact, admissions officers know that selective private schools often have much harder curriculums than public schools with AP. From my own personal perspective, my kids just switched from an elite private school to a very well regarded public due to a family move and are taking all AP classes, and the AP classes are infinitely easier than what they were taking in the private school.

[Anonymous]

After an investigation, the Justice Dept concluded in Jan 2021 that likely there was a collusion amongst the DC area private schools to eliminate AP courses from their curriculum. However, DOJ decided not to bring enforcement action after the schools affirmed that they "have not and will not be colluding" regarding the elimination of AP courses.

https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/justice-department-concludes-its-investigation-dc-area-private-high-schools-decision-stop

Understand that private schools stop offering AP courses for differentiation purposes. Why would parents pay tuition up to $70K per year if their kids can get the same AP courses at their high-performing local public school for free?

OP need not be concerned about selective college admission rate without taking AP. It has stayed practically the same. Yes, there are students who take AP exams on their own and do well, because they want to earned advanced credit in college (good idea) and/or skip introductory college classes (bad idea). A few years ago, a science teacher in the #1 private school in DC told me that they are supportive of students who want to take AP exams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How would anyone truly know? It's not like the admissions officers provide feedback about why an applicant is accepted/rejected. It's not like there's a control group of students who do APs and don't within a private school that you can compare to those who don't do APs.

At best, you'll get private school parents saying that despite the lack of APs, plenty of students got into elite schools XYZ which proves that APs aren't necessary. Which it doesn't--it just proves that the applicants were sufficiently strong even without the APs.

This. How is anyone supposd to know this? This is something you would need data to analyze--and no one has that data.