What is the benefit ot taking intensified classes if you don't plan on doing IB

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A couple of things.

Your counselor at the end of school will check a box saying whether you took the most rigorous course load (which includes intensified). This really only matters for top schools.

Main benefit of intensified is what a PP said. Better peer group and learning study skills and being a bit more challenged prior to attempting to take APs. Going from gen ed to AP will be a serious jump.

Re: your first paragraph… how does this work? They only check the box if the kid took every single AP class they could? Like, if they took one non-AP or one non-intensified version of a class, they don’t check the box?

It's not one box, it's a scale -- top is "most rigorous", next is "very demanding" and I don't know what's below that. My kids were at W-L, not IB program, took 8-9 AP/IB classes and were rated "very demanding", according to their counselor. She said for W-L most rigorous is the IB diploma or the equivalent in #of AP/IB. FWIW, neither was aiming for super selective schools. One applied to UVA and did not get in. The other applied to W-L (with not as good grades as #1) and was wait listed.

IMO the point of taking intensified classes is to be doing more challenging work so you are prepared for later AP classes but taking all intensified is probably a lot for most kids. In 9th one of mine took regular biology (mainly because he didn't want to do the required science project) and the other took regular Algebra 3.

I’d like to know what is considered “most rigorous” for Yorktown where they only have AP and some DE. And frankly, isn’t that scale and what it takes to be in each category something that should be transparent?

I get my kid is only going to be a freshman next year but if a decision would knock them below “very demanding” I’d like to know that.

I agree it should be transparent. From talking with other parents at W-L our counselor was unusual in being up front about it. We got really lucky, I loved our counselor (both kids have 504s so we interact more than we otherwise would). DD said last year her that her friends starting going to her counselor for help that they weren't getting from their assigned counselor.

If it is something that gets marked on a students transcript, my feeling is they have an obligation to tell students the standard used. I’m shocked APS parents haven’t pressed to find out how their student’’s transcript would be marked in advance.

[Anonymous]

APS really should have a powerpoint for incoming freshman or at high school information night that illustrates the # of AP (and IB) classes to take that would be regarded as most rigorous, very demanding, etc.

It seems like to get most demanding, W-L students may want to start with AP
classes freshman year?

For non-IB diploma students, all counselors should be using the same standard. Is it a minimum of 12 AP/IB classes students need for the most demanding description? Or is it only 10 AP classes minimum?

Many of us on this forum only took 2 or 3 AP classes and got into Cooper Union, Hopkins, UVA, etc, so our experience is not relevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A couple of things.

Your counselor at the end of school will check a box saying whether you took the most rigorous course load (which includes intensified). This really only matters for top schools.

Main benefit of intensified is what a PP said. Better peer group and learning study skills and being a bit more challenged prior to attempting to take APs. Going from gen ed to AP will be a serious jump.

Re: your first paragraph… how does this work? They only check the box if the kid took every single AP class they could? Like, if they took one non-AP or one non-intensified version of a class, they don’t check the box?

It's not one box, it's a scale -- top is "most rigorous", next is "very demanding" and I don't know what's below that. My kids were at W-L, not IB program, took 8-9 AP/IB classes and were rated "very demanding", according to their counselor. She said for W-L most rigorous is the IB diploma or the equivalent in #of AP/IB. FWIW, neither was aiming for super selective schools. One applied to UVA and did not get in. The other applied to W-L (with not as good grades as #1) and was wait listed.

IMO the point of taking intensified classes is to be doing more challenging work so you are prepared for later AP classes but taking all intensified is probably a lot for most kids. In 9th one of mine took regular biology (mainly because he didn't want to do the required science project) and the other took regular Algebra 3.

I’d like to know what is considered “most rigorous” for Yorktown where they only have AP and some DE. And frankly, isn’t that scale and what it takes to be in each category something that should be transparent?

I get my kid is only going to be a freshman next year but if a decision would knock them below “very demanding” I’d like to know that.

I agree it should be transparent. From talking with other parents at W-L our counselor was unusual in being up front about it. We got really lucky, I loved our counselor (both kids have 504s so we interact more than we otherwise would). DD said last year her that her friends starting going to her counselor for help that they weren't getting from their assigned counselor.

If it is something that gets marked on a students transcript, my feeling is they have an obligation to tell students the standard used. I’m shocked APS parents haven’t pressed to find out how their student’’s transcript would be marked in advance.

To clarify, it's not marked on the transcript. It's in a separate report the counselor fills out that goes to the colleges. Parent/student never sees that so you wouldn't know the rating unless the counselor tells you.