How many APs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:High school administrator: don’t. Take time to enjoy being a kid.

Of course it all depends on your kid, his/her interests, how much work they can handle, but I agree with this. My HS senior is taking 5 APs this year and I now regret going along with it.

Junior year he took just two APs and did fine in college acceptances. No, we weren't going for ivy league or Top Anything, middle of the road schools, so it depends on your kid's goals. But don't overload if you can avoid it and let them have some time to be a kid.

[Anonymous]

Don’t over do the APs. The golden rule is to take the most rigorous classes that you could do well in. No point of getting all Bs in 6 APs. Some schools will take the AP weight off and only see the Bs. Be choosy and focus on APs in his major interest and leave the rest. DS ended up a 5 APs total but honor/advanced classes in others where AP isn’t offered. He is ending his high school career w strong GPAs, AP scores, internships, a sport, music and only a handful of late nights (past midnight) and a sane mind. His admission road this year has been very successful. His biggest stressor now, aside from prepping for AP physic C exams, is deciding which college to enroll in.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

What will his unweighted gpa be for this year? I'd say for every 2, difficult to earn B grades ... a B with great frustration, he should scale back 1 class subject of his choice to a lower level.

If his unweighted was at least a 3.8, scale up.

[Anonymous]

There are APs and APs.

Add up how many hours of homework a night this comes to and think about how many hours your kid can do.

AP Calc BC is a very different object than AP Environmental Science.

Be realistic.

[Anonymous]

I don't think there are differences between Honors and AP personally unless you are taking the AP exam (which my DC did not because it would not help with the college of choice):

DC took 4 honors (zero AP classes) for 9th grade -- 4 total
Then 3 Honors (plus 2 AP) for 10th grade -- 5 total
Then 5 AP for (zero honors) 11th grade -- 5 total
Then 4 AP for 12th grade -- 4 total

Why Honors/AP? Mostly because DC had to take those classes anyway (English, Science, History, Math). Then, the electives were because DC wanted them (Psych, Comp Sci, Stat) and there wasn't a non-AP option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think there are differences between Honors and AP personally unless you are taking the AP exam (which my DC did not because it would not help with the college of choice):

DC took 4 honors (zero AP classes) for 9th grade -- 4 total
Then 3 Honors (plus 2 AP) for 10th grade -- 5 total
Then 5 AP for (zero honors) 11th grade -- 5 total
Then 4 AP for 12th grade -- 4 total

Why Honors/AP? Mostly because DC had to take those classes anyway (English, Science, History, Math). Then, the electives were because DC wanted them (Psych, Comp Sci, Stat) and there wasn't a non-AP option.

I asked my kid if there is a difference between the rigor of honors and AP.
He said yes.

('m a parent so I don't know this)

[Anonymous]

My kid didn't take any AP courses. Zero. He took a few honors over 4 years. He graduated from college a year ago and got a job starting at $110K. Stop stressing over this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid didn't take any AP courses. Zero. He took a few honors over 4 years. He graduated from college a year ago and got a job starting at $110K. Stop stressing over this.

THIS!!

For the parents who are in the thick of high school course selection, just remember once they start college, none of this matters. All your kid gain would be lots of sleepless nights and mega stress for 4 years. The top notch schools are like lottery anyway. If you have a hard working kid, he will do well anywhere and be successful.

Stop stressing over AP CS Principle or AP environmental science or AP human geography. Spend that time during 9th and 10th developing an interest outside of school. AO loves seeing these type of initiatives, not just useless APs that everyone takes to boost GPa.

[Anonymous]

You have to wonder how poor a high school curriculum is when students are taking APs starting in 9th and 10th grades. Maybe districts should just focus on making their own curriculum challenging enough for the students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter took 1 freshman year 1 sophomore 2 junior year and a ton senior year and did well with college admissions this year.

What AP can you take in freshmen year

AP CS Principles or an AP History are common.

AP Environmental Science seems pretty popular, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t over do the APs. The golden rule is to take the most rigorous classes that you could do well in. No point of getting all Bs in 6 APs. Some schools will take the AP weight off and only see the Bs. Be choosy and focus on APs in his major interest and leave the rest. DS ended up a 5 APs total but honor/advanced classes in others where AP isn’t offered. He is ending his high school career w strong GPAs, AP scores, internships, a sport, music and only a handful of late nights (past midnight) and a sane mind. His admission road this year has been very successful. His biggest stressor now, aside from prepping for AP physic C exams, is deciding which college to enroll in.

Good luck.

Absolutely not. Better to have B's in AP classes than a B in honors or regular classes. No college takes the AP weight because of the grade. If anything most colleges recalculate students GPA and put more weight on AP classes. Colleges are not just looking for straight A students and its this kind of pressure that's making a lot of kids to be on meds

signed college admissions personnel

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid didn't take any AP courses. Zero. He took a few honors over 4 years. He graduated from college a year ago and got a job starting at $110K. Stop stressing over this.

That was 4 years ago!

[Anonymous]

I doubt PP is a college admissions person. From
looking at Naviance colleges first and foremost want
As and then rigor. I noticed for example the kids who got into Harvard from my kids school had higher UW GPA’s but lower weighted than my daughter. She didn’t apply to Harvard- it was just an interesting observation. I also agree that the number of APs depends on what you take. My daughter is taking 7 and it’s doable but hers are generally the easier ones. Econ Cal AB Environmental Science Human Geography etc.

[Anonymous]

PP again. If she were taking AP Physics, Biology and BC Cal I’m sure she’ll be taking fewer APs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I doubt PP is a college admissions person. From
looking at Naviance colleges first and foremost want
As and then rigor. I noticed for example the kids who got into Harvard from my kids school had higher UW GPA’s but lower weighted than my daughter. She didn’t apply to Harvard- it was just an interesting observation. I also agree that the number of APs depends on what you take. My daughter is taking 7 and it’s doable but hers are generally the easier ones. Econ Cal AB Environmental Science Human Geography etc.

Harvard goes by unweighted GPA not weighted. Most of the non elite ones recalculate and weight the GPA based on rigor.