Do top colleges only consider students in the most rigorous courses in the same school?

[Anonymous]

At DD’s private (in DMV area), it seems standard for kids to drop down in rigor if they don’t get As. That’s how a few have managed their GPAs to be in the top ten percent of the class (e.g., go from Calc BC to Calc AB).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Grades matter more than rigor at our top private. If you don't think you can get all As in the top classes, it is much wiser to take a level down and do well.

I.e. take non honors math, calculus AB, etc.

This is probably advice that varies by school. The best thing to do is to look at the results or your own high school.

What your school think matters is irrelevant to schools like UVA which want to see maximum rigor.

Not true at all. UVA knows our school and admits kids with lower rigor all the time. In fact they admitted my own kid
with a 3.8 and a max of calculus AB despite multi variable being offered.

The standards for public school kids do not apply at privates.

[Anonymous]

At our private, the school encourages kids to take more rigorous classes. If a kid is signing up for Calculus AB, the school will invite them to take Calculus BC, but most kids decline to maintain their gpa.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just saw the post about dropping in rigor. In our school, a lot of kids are tutored to stay in the rigorous course. Couple years ago, a kid was asked to drop down a level but the family threatened to sue the school to keep him in the class (the parents told us!).

Is the motive for parents to keep their DCs challenged? Or are they concerned about falling out of running for the most selective colleges?

Is it better for get A in the less rigorous class or B in the more rigorous track when it comes to college admissions?

If you're struggling as a student in the top rigor classes, what makes you think a rigorous t20 college would be a good fit? In spite of what you read on here about the hardest part about a top college is getting admitted, that is not the case. It is a very rigorous academic environment.

This! If your kid is not top school material why not target schools that are more appropriate.

My kid is super smart, probably top of class in STEM, but she knows MIT would chew her up and spit her out so she is applying to schools that are better fits.

How does she know that? Has she taken MIT OCW calc 1 or physics 1 and found it incomprehensible?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are an IB school-I assume the counselor won’t check most rigorous box unless you are going for the full IB diploma? I have wondered about that. My son is, but my daughter didn’t-but she still took 8 IB classes over the 4 years…

How do IB schools work? Most rigorous is like the full IB diploma, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just saw the post about dropping in rigor. In our school, a lot of kids are tutored to stay in the rigorous course. Couple years ago, a kid was asked to drop down a level but the family threatened to sue the school to keep him in the class (the parents told us!).

Is the motive for parents to keep their DCs challenged? Or are they concerned about falling out of running for the most selective colleges?

Is it better for get A in the less rigorous class or B in the more rigorous track when it comes to college admissions?

If you're struggling as a student in the top rigor classes, what makes you think a rigorous t20 college would be a good fit? In spite of what you read on here about the hardest part about a top college is getting admitted, that is not the case. It is a very rigorous academic environment.

This! If your kid is not top school material why not target schools that are more appropriate.

My kid is super smart, probably top of class in STEM, but she knows MIT would chew her up and spit her out so she is applying to schools that are better fits.

How does she know that? Has she taken MIT OCW calc 1 or physics 1 and found it incomprehensible?

And even then, MIT students get various tutoring resources and opportunities to connect with faculty and tas to improve. This idea that people going to these colleges just inherently are better and don’t have access to some of the best academic resources around is pretty stunning and an uneducated take. If you’re around average stats, you’re qualified to attend and can learn from there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private schools kid definitely didn’t need top rigor but needed some rigor (kids getting into schools with honors calc as opposed to multivariable if Econ major, for example).

It also depends on what kid will study.

Top rigor and okay grades didn’t seem to do as well. Little rigor was also limiting.

You live in a little bubble if you think that taking multivariable is normal. I live in NYC. The vast majority of kids I know who get into Ivies coming out of top SHSAT schools (Stuy, Bronx Science, HSMSE) and privates are taking calc senior year. Most privates don't even have APs.

This phenomenon, which seems to be particularly prevalent in the DC area, of tutoring your kid to get ahead or just pushing them ahead, is odd. And don't tell me "my kid is a genius and was bored." Nope. Just doing it because Mary down the street was doing it with her kid so you feel obligated to. Schools should put the kibosh on this except for the one in a million kids. And those kids you know when you see them.

In the long run, being a semester or two ahead really makes no difference.

Vent over.

Don't hate me, but -- my kid was genuinely bored.

I don't think she's one in a million. But... she does really genuinely love math. And she works her butt off.

No tutors, and she's the one who did the pushing -- not the other way around.

Anyway, not speaking for the norm or the majority, since i have zero insight into any kid other than my own, but just wanted to share that it happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just saw the post about dropping in rigor. In our school, a lot of kids are tutored to stay in the rigorous course. Couple years ago, a kid was asked to drop down a level but the family threatened to sue the school to keep him in the class (the parents told us!).

Is the motive for parents to keep their DCs challenged? Or are they concerned about falling out of running for the most selective colleges?

Is it better for get A in the less rigorous class or B in the more rigorous track when it comes to college admissions?

I feel like the college admissions person always says it’s getting the A in the more rigorous class. So in test parlance it’s C, none of the two options you gave. Now neither of my kids had T15 type credentials but both were strong students who ended up at T25 schools from Catholic schools.

In some ways, the fact that their private Catholic schools had limits on number of AP classes and pre-requisites to take APs, meant that there was less pressure to keep up with classmates taking APs so I acknowledge public school might have been different. So in general, my kids challenged themselves in different ways. They both took four years of foreign language and took Calculus as a senior. My kid who enjoyed history and math/science took APs in those areas while staying at honors for other subjects like English/foreign language. The one who enjoyed more the arts and didn’t love science and didn’t enjoy math still took honors in those subjects with A’s and took their APs in foreign language, arts, and math. It’s possible this worked against them when up against someone that was APs and A’s in everything but at the end of the day, as much as you want to make sure your kid is competitive for as many schools as possible you also have to find the school that fits them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just saw the post about dropping in rigor. In our school, a lot of kids are tutored to stay in the rigorous course. Couple years ago, a kid was asked to drop down a level but the family threatened to sue the school to keep him in the class (the parents told us!).

Is the motive for parents to keep their DCs challenged? Or are they concerned about falling out of running for the most selective colleges?

Is it better for get A in the less rigorous class or B in the more rigorous track when it comes to college admissions?

Depends. Brown ones are held to a different standard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:neither is great for T20 - assume that’s what u r asking

+1 You need an A in the most rigorous class, unless you're extremely wealthy (potential donor), extremely famous, extremely athletic or a legacy preference kid of a prominent alum....

Yeah no. Have 2 kids at Ivy/T20 who weren't any of these. And had Bs (one of them several Bs - the horror).
Private HS.

Were the Bs only in 9th grade and was the DC with Bs now at a T20 but not an Ivy. From our private HS, kids with multiple Bs go to Chicago (a T20)

[Anonymous]

How about kids who had some Bs in 9th then all As in sophomore and junior years in the most rigorous courses? Are they as competitive as classmates who had 4.0 all 3 years but took easier courses?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just saw the post about dropping in rigor. In our school, a lot of kids are tutored to stay in the rigorous course. Couple years ago, a kid was asked to drop down a level but the family threatened to sue the school to keep him in the class (the parents told us!).

Is the motive for parents to keep their DCs challenged? Or are they concerned about falling out of running for the most selective colleges?

Is it better for get A in the less rigorous class or B in the more rigorous track when it comes to college admissions?

If you're struggling as a student in the top rigor classes, what makes you think a rigorous t20 college would be a good fit? In spite of what you read on here about the hardest part about a top college is getting admitted, that is not the case. It is a very rigorous academic environment.

This! If your kid is not top school material why not target schools that are more appropriate.

My kid is super smart, probably top of class in STEM, but she knows MIT would chew her up and spit her out so she is applying to schools that are better fits.

How does she know that? Has she taken MIT OCW calc 1 or physics 1 and found it incomprehensible?

And even then, MIT students get various tutoring resources and opportunities to connect with faculty and tas to improve. This idea that people going to these colleges just inherently are better and don’t have access to some of the best academic resources around is pretty stunning and an uneducated take. If you’re around average stats, you’re qualified to attend and can learn from there.

The poster didn't say she couldn't learn. The poster said it was not a good fit. MIT is not a good fit for some students. If you're not doing your own Moon launch for funsies on Sunday morning it might not be the best fit. I found MIT to be the most intimidating college tour around and I have been on a lot of college tours.

[Anonymous]

What does rigor mean for things like whether you took AP Physics 1, 2 or C? Does it make a difference if you're not applying as a Physics or Engineering major?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private schools kid definitely didn’t need top rigor but needed some rigor (kids getting into schools with honors calc as opposed to multivariable if Econ major, for example).

It also depends on what kid will study.

Top rigor and okay grades didn’t seem to do as well. Little rigor was also limiting.

Private schools steer kids by both gpa and rigor. But gpa counts heavily in the steering process. As many have mentioned on dcum, the ivy admits must have a high gpa, a high rigor is not necessary. At our school, the ivy admits tend to game the system by taking lower rigor courses.

Same at ours. Undecided or niche humanities major always works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about kids who had some Bs in 9th then all As in sophomore and junior years in the most rigorous courses? Are they as competitive as classmates who had 4.0 all 3 years but took easier courses?

Find a niche.
Don’t be CS or STEM or business.
National award in something….