Is dd right?

[Anonymous]

She will be fine.

[Anonymous]

APUSH isn’t going to make or break her application to schools in the range you’re considering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't she taking AP World? The usual suite is AP Gov, APUSH, APWorld. If she's missing one, she has to replace it with AP European History, or something similar.

The test score is too low.

People, GPAs are terribly inflated. If the test score is low, and APUSH is missed, etc, it's a sign the GPA isn't an accurate reflection of a student's academic strength. Don't get your hopes up too high at this point.

She did take AP World. Are you saying she has zero chances at any top 100 colleges? Don't be a dick just to be a dick.

Her score is also in line with the colleges she is thinking about, so how is it too low? I am trying to understand where this comment is coming from.

People on this board are score snobs. They think the only measure of success is 1500+. My DS had a 1380 and he’s at UVA with a 3.9+ gpa more than halfway thru school.

I can’t answer on APUSH as my kids took it.

[Anonymous]

APUSH in and of itself is not going to make a difference. It’s important that your daughter takes an AP in every subject area. If she would be taking Gov or Euro or World, that’s fine. She does not need to take euro and world! At our school, students take one of those or or human geography during sophomore year because there is no social study requirement that year. Plenty of kids don’t take APuSsh or don’t take AP Gov because they’re taking a two period AP science class and they have to draw the line somewhere. It does not stop your kid from getting into a good school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:APUSH in and of itself is not going to make a difference. It’s important that your daughter takes an AP in every subject area. If she would be taking Gov or Euro or World, that’s fine. She does not need to take euro and world! At our school, students take one of those or or human geography during sophomore year because there is no social study requirement that year. Plenty of kids don’t take APuSsh or don’t take AP Gov because they’re taking a two period AP science class and they have to draw the line somewhere. It does not stop your kid from getting into a good school.

She did take both Human Geography and World and got 5s.

[Anonymous]

They don’t just count the APs. The top schools have their pick of kids with great numbers. They look at which ones you took and whether you cover all subjects.

[Anonymous]

She does not need to take apush. She just needs to be taking other AP classes that year instead of it.

[Anonymous]

It’s fine. All she needs is all A’s. The AP’s she has planned is sufficient. She can always apply TO, if her score doesn’t improve.

She is right that it’s better to avoid a hard AP class.

[Anonymous]

My unhooked kid got into a T30 taking 7 APs. None of them were science-based, and the AP math course was statistics. They had a 4.0 UW, strong extra-curriculars and great recommendations. I wouldn’t stress over APUSH.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does she want to study? This would look less questionable for a STEM kid than for a humanities kid.

She does not know at this point. She took AP World and got a 5, AP Human Geography and got a 5, AP Psych and got a 5. Is taking AP English Language and is taking AP Spanish next year, as well as AP Pre-Calc this year, and AP Environmental Science this year as well.

[Anonymous]

Her SAT score is top 10% that's not too low. Only too low for insane DCUM banshees who get their kids to take it every year from when they're 13 onwards (yes, I mean you).

[Anonymous]

It is true that taking APUSH will not make or break in college admission.
But clearly there are more challenging but fundamental AP courses colleges want to see in your transcripts.
AP Bio, AP Chem, APush, AP Physics, AP Lit, AP Calc BC and above.

Your kids need to do whatever they like to do but keeping a high GPA with easier APs is not the best strategy.

When colleges want to see rigor, these courses are what they want to see.

[Anonymous]

My DS got into UMD with "the wrong"/"not enough" APs. He took AP Physics 1, Calc AB, US Gov, Psych, Music Theory and the easy CS. He had a 34 ACT and around 4.0 weighted (some B+ grades, a lot of A-). Maybe it helped that he was OOS (FCPS) and an arts major? I don't know. They offered him $50k over 4 years. He wasn't going to take an AP class that didn't interest him and not very many interested him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't she taking AP World? The usual suite is AP Gov, APUSH, APWorld. If she's missing one, she has to replace it with AP European History, or something similar.

The test score is too low.

People, GPAs are terribly inflated. If the test score is low, and APUSH is missed, etc, it's a sign the GPA isn't an accurate reflection of a student's academic strength. Don't get your hopes up too high at this point.

She did take AP World. Are you saying she has zero chances at any top 100 colleges? Don't be a dick just to be a dick.

OP. People come on here and spout nonsense just for the sake of it. Your kid should take what they want to take. T10 schools are a crapshoot for almost everyone. T10-30 are a crapshoot for the vast majority of people but somewhat predictable with certain profiles. Below that it just gets easier and it's not a gradual ramp down but a drastic one. For example, it is orders of magnitude harder to get into a UNC Chapel Hill compared to a Rutgers. Also depends on what she wants to study.

As to what your kid is saying (being looked down upon for taking an AP), that is def. not true. However, any such "looking down upon" are typically done by top tier schools which your DD is not targeting anyways so that is not an issue.

While her SAT score is not low, it could be better. With common sense returning to the admissions process, standardized testing is back in vogue. A strong score relative to the target school will definitely give her an advantage. With her emerging profile (based on the 5s she has in APs and the number of APs planned), if she ups her score to 1450+, she can easily get into several schools in the T50-100 range.

[Anonymous]

SAT score is a little weak considering the overall picture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:APUSH in and of itself is not going to make a difference. It’s important that your daughter takes an AP in every subject area. If she would be taking Gov or Euro or World, that’s fine. She does not need to take euro and world! At our school, students take one of those or or human geography during sophomore year because there is no social study requirement that year. Plenty of kids don’t take APuSsh or don’t take AP Gov because they’re taking a two period AP science class and they have to draw the line somewhere. It does not stop your kid from getting into a good school.

Don't necessarily need APUSH.

Depends on the kid and intended major.

Doubling up on 2 math APs (e.g. Calculus AB and Stats) or 2 science APs instead of APUSH is perfectly fine.