Do all these APs really pay off/matter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aim for an AP in each core subject, plus a few more. You do not need all of them, nor does anyone need 12-18 APs to be admitted. Even at high schools offering lots of APs, if you take 8-10 rigorous ones, that's sufficient for most top schools. The less rigorous ones don't add value for admission.

The exception to this is that less rigorous APs nonetheless add a point for the weighted GPA, which can affect class rank or rank by decile or quartile.

Top college admission is not a race to the most APs. You need some, yes, and they should be rigorous ones. There is a rough - but not exact - minimum and that will vary by student. There is a balance. You do not need "the most possible," that is NOT how it works. Be careful what you read, because the general mentality of being "impressive," winning contests and awards, being the "most," is pervasive in this forum.

Is the African-American Studies AP exam considered one of the more rigorous ones?

It's not commonly offered, so no.

Is being an uncommon offering the definition of rigor? What definition are you applying to define rigor across different disciplines? Or do you just want to complain that there's an African-American studies AP exam in a not so subtly racist way?

I think you may be asking the PP who raised this example, but as it's not commonly offered, it's not generally expected for admissions, and so it is irrelevant for the purpose of this thread.

Not being expected for admissions has nothing to do with how rigorous a course is.

Sure. My apologies for being confusing. The thread is about what is required for a most rigorous designation. That course would not be involved in that designation because it just isn't there.

Rigorous social sciences would include APUSH and AP Euro, somewhat AP World and AP macro/micro. Not AP Human Geo or AP Psych.

If we are talking about what moves the needle for rigorous schedule, AP African American Studies isn't even in the discussion because most high schools do not offer that course. It's not going to hurt, but not relevant for the purpose of this thread.

Citation? This sounds more like your opinion of what constitutes a rigorous AP.

[Anonymous]

To compete for elite college admissions, yes: if the APs are offered, you should be taking as many as possible.

To reduce time to graduation at many colleges (state schools, some privates), yes: they can get you a ton of credit to chop off as much as a year.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Demonstate rigor for admissions, Applicable credits help graduate early, Saves on course tuition fee, etc

+1 If your child does well, that is. My friend complained that her kid did among the most APs in her HS (18 I think), but since she got a 3 on two of them (4s and 5s), she didn't get into as elite universities as another kid who did "only" 12 APs but got 4s/5s in all of them. My friend's kid still got into a great school though, just not the HYPS she was hoping for....

Nonsense. This is not why the kid didn't get into the Ivies. Good grades and advanced courses are only a small portion of what top universities require. They want a "special factor", which is usually demonstrated in stellar ECs and tied together in the essays and letters of rec.

Unless you're the admissions officer for that kid's file, you don't know why the kid was rejected. Getting a 3 on two exams could certainly disqualify an applicant at a HYPS university, where other successful applicants get all 4s/5s.

But you don't need to report a 3.

If your transcript says AP XYZ and you are reporting all of your scores, except for the ones you did poorly in, the AOs are going to figure that out.

Or at least wonder why you took HS class AP XYZ and didn't take the exam or didn't report your score on the exam. There's no answer to that question that reflects positively on the applicant.

+1 It's like applying test optional. Unless you have some compensating benefit like being super rich or being a recruited athlete, they're better off with the applicant who took the AP course and reported the score (which is hopefully a 4 or 5).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2 AP classes in math, English, science, history. 1 AP in language. That is plenty and better than 1 in each core subject then a much of BS ones like psych, geography, economics, etc.

And your source for that is....your own useless opinion? There's nothing BS about psychology, geography or economics as subject areas.

DP. We are not talking about the subject areas as in majors. We are talking about AP courses. In particular, AP Human Geography and AP Psych have a reputation - among admissions officers at highly-selective schools - for being less rigorous APs compared to other ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2 AP classes in math, English, science, history. 1 AP in language. That is plenty and better than 1 in each core subject then a much of BS ones like psych, geography, economics, etc.

And your source for that is....your own useless opinion? There's nothing BS about psychology, geography or economics as subject areas.

DP. We are not talking about the subject areas as in majors. We are talking about AP courses. In particular, AP Human Geography and AP Psych have a reputation - among admissions officers at highly-selective schools - for being less rigorous APs compared to other ones.

And your source for this is what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aim for an AP in each core subject, plus a few more. You do not need all of them, nor does anyone need 12-18 APs to be admitted. Even at high schools offering lots of APs, if you take 8-10 rigorous ones, that's sufficient for most top schools. The less rigorous ones don't add value for admission.

The exception to this is that less rigorous APs nonetheless add a point for the weighted GPA, which can affect class rank or rank by decile or quartile.

Top college admission is not a race to the most APs. You need some, yes, and they should be rigorous ones. There is a rough - but not exact - minimum and that will vary by student. There is a balance. You do not need "the most possible," that is NOT how it works. Be careful what you read, because the general mentality of being "impressive," winning contests and awards, being the "most," is pervasive in this forum.

Is the African-American Studies AP exam considered one of the more rigorous ones?

It's not commonly offered, so no.

Is being an uncommon offering the definition of rigor? What definition are you applying to define rigor across different disciplines? Or do you just want to complain that there's an African-American studies AP exam in a not so subtly racist way?

I think you may be asking the PP who raised this example, but as it's not commonly offered, it's not generally expected for admissions, and so it is irrelevant for the purpose of this thread.

Not being expected for admissions has nothing to do with how rigorous a course is.

Sure. My apologies for being confusing. The thread is about what is required for a most rigorous designation. That course would not be involved in that designation because it just isn't there.

Rigorous social sciences would include APUSH and AP Euro, somewhat AP World and AP macro/micro. Not AP Human Geo or AP Psych.

If we are talking about what moves the needle for rigorous schedule, AP African American Studies isn't even in the discussion because most high schools do not offer that course. It's not going to hurt, but not relevant for the purpose of this thread.

Citation? This sounds more like your opinion of what constitutes a rigorous AP.

Ma'am, this is a Wendy's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To compete for elite college admissions, yes: if the APs are offered, you should be taking as many as possible.

To reduce time to graduation at many colleges (state schools, some privates), yes: they can get you a ton of credit to chop off as much as a year.

My kid got enough credits to chop off 1 and a 1/2 years. He figured out that he did not need to finish undergrad in 2 and 1/2 years. Instead he did a double major. Since the college gave him full tuition, he wanted to utilize it for 4 years.

[Anonymous]

Yes.

1. Public schools, even highly ranked ones, are shockingly bad now. At least with the APs, there is a set amount of content that the student must learn. Some public schools don’t even do cumulative exams which is a huge disadvantage for college bound students.
2. Students learn how to self teach, learn the material despite having a checked out or incompetent teacher in order to score well on the exam.
3. You have to compete with other students at your school AND in your zip code. If these students are all taking APs then you need to take them if you are competing for the same schools.
4. If you are headed to an over enrolled school, an R1 state school facing budget cuts to TAs etc then having AP courses that waive a particular course or requirement can help with scheduling. Having enough extra credits can raise your standing giving you earlier registration times and higher likelihood of getting classes you want.

[Anonymous]

I expect most colleges treat APAAS as equivalent to AP Euro. Both are social studies electives outside the core curriculum, and both cover subjects which some students may be drawn to because of their family background, but which might also be useful or enriching for anyone to study.

You could argue that one course is more rigorous than the other, but it’s hard for me to see why a college would want to draw that conclusion. The actual quality of the courses presumably varies by teacher and by high school, as is typical for APs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2 AP classes in math, English, science, history. 1 AP in language. That is plenty and better than 1 in each core subject then a much of BS ones like psych, geography, economics, etc.

And your source for that is....your own useless opinion? There's nothing BS about psychology, geography or economics as subject areas.

DP. We are not talking about the subject areas as in majors. We are talking about AP courses. In particular, AP Human Geography and AP Psych have a reputation - among admissions officers at highly-selective schools - for being less rigorous APs compared to other ones.

And your source for this is what?

What's your deal?

Colleges don't share very much at all. It's all "holistic" so no you aren't going to get your cite

And AP HUG is one of the easier APs my STEM kid took

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is so much competition about taking max APs. Does it really matter?

It matters if your kid goes to a school where other kids take APs, because the students are read in school groups first. In other words, your kid should find out about how many APs are taken from kids at their school who are looking for the same types of colleges and try to take about the same number of AP classes. If they don't, then it will appear that they have less rigor.

This all being said, APs and testing in general is just one factor and will not be determinative. That mom of a kid who took 18 APs is probably incorrectly assuming that the 3s factored into the determination - it's probably because that kid was taking so many APs they had no time to pursue ECs or develop any interests outside of school.

For an actual example from this cycle, my DC who is taking max rigor - 6 APs as a senior - was deferred from DC's ED school, where a classmate taking 4 APs as a senior was accepted. My DC has a higher gpa and a higher SAT score also. So, it must have been other factors (ECs, major choice, essays, recs, who knows) that made the difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aim for an AP in each core subject, plus a few more. You do not need all of them, nor does anyone need 12-18 APs to be admitted. Even at high schools offering lots of APs, if you take 8-10 rigorous ones, that's sufficient for most top schools. The less rigorous ones don't add value for admission.

The exception to this is that less rigorous APs nonetheless add a point for the weighted GPA, which can affect class rank or rank by decile or quartile.

Top college admission is not a race to the most APs. You need some, yes, and they should be rigorous ones. There is a rough - but not exact - minimum and that will vary by student. There is a balance. You do not need "the most possible," that is NOT how it works. Be careful what you read, because the general mentality of being "impressive," winning contests and awards, being the "most," is pervasive in this forum.

Is the African-American Studies AP exam considered one of the more rigorous ones?

It's not commonly offered, so no.

Is being an uncommon offering the definition of rigor? What definition are you applying to define rigor across different disciplines? Or do you just want to complain that there's an African-American studies AP exam in a not so subtly racist way?

I think you may be asking the PP who raised this example, but as it's not commonly offered, it's not generally expected for admissions, and so it is irrelevant for the purpose of this thread.

Your view here appears extremely racist / supremacist, honestly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aim for an AP in each core subject, plus a few more. You do not need all of them, nor does anyone need 12-18 APs to be admitted. Even at high schools offering lots of APs, if you take 8-10 rigorous ones, that's sufficient for most top schools. The less rigorous ones don't add value for admission.

The exception to this is that less rigorous APs nonetheless add a point for the weighted GPA, which can affect class rank or rank by decile or quartile.

Top college admission is not a race to the most APs. You need some, yes, and they should be rigorous ones. There is a rough - but not exact - minimum and that will vary by student. There is a balance. You do not need "the most possible," that is NOT how it works. Be careful what you read, because the general mentality of being "impressive," winning contests and awards, being the "most," is pervasive in this forum.

Is the African-American Studies AP exam considered one of the more rigorous ones?

It's not commonly offered, so no.

Is being an uncommon offering the definition of rigor? What definition are you applying to define rigor across different disciplines? Or do you just want to complain that there's an African-American studies AP exam in a not so subtly racist way?

I think you may be asking the PP who raised this example, but as it's not commonly offered, it's not generally expected for admissions, and so it is irrelevant for the purpose of this thread.

Your view here appears extremely racist / supremacist, honestly.

Troll

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aim for an AP in each core subject, plus a few more. You do not need all of them, nor does anyone need 12-18 APs to be admitted. Even at high schools offering lots of APs, if you take 8-10 rigorous ones, that's sufficient for most top schools. The less rigorous ones don't add value for admission.

The exception to this is that less rigorous APs nonetheless add a point for the weighted GPA, which can affect class rank or rank by decile or quartile.

Top college admission is not a race to the most APs. You need some, yes, and they should be rigorous ones. There is a rough - but not exact - minimum and that will vary by student. There is a balance. You do not need "the most possible," that is NOT how it works. Be careful what you read, because the general mentality of being "impressive," winning contests and awards, being the "most," is pervasive in this forum.

Is the African-American Studies AP exam considered one of the more rigorous ones?

It's not commonly offered, so no.

Is being an uncommon offering the definition of rigor? What definition are you applying to define rigor across different disciplines? Or do you just want to complain that there's an African-American studies AP exam in a not so subtly racist way?

I think you may be asking the PP who raised this example, but as it's not commonly offered, it's not generally expected for admissions, and so it is irrelevant for the purpose of this thread.

Not being expected for admissions has nothing to do with how rigorous a course is.

Sure. My apologies for being confusing. The thread is about what is required for a most rigorous designation. That course would not be involved in that designation because it just isn't there.

Rigorous social sciences would include APUSH and AP Euro, somewhat AP World and AP macro/micro. Not AP Human Geo or AP Psych.

If we are talking about what moves the needle for rigorous schedule, AP African American Studies isn't even in the discussion because most high schools do not offer that course. It's not going to hurt, but not relevant for the purpose of this thread.

Citation? This sounds more like your opinion of what constitutes a rigorous AP.

Ma'am, this is a Wendy's.

And your opinion is worth less than an order of french fries. You don't need to try to sell it as fact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2 AP classes in math, English, science, history. 1 AP in language. That is plenty and better than 1 in each core subject then a much of BS ones like psych, geography, economics, etc.

And your source for that is....your own useless opinion? There's nothing BS about psychology, geography or economics as subject areas.

DP. We are not talking about the subject areas as in majors. We are talking about AP courses. In particular, AP Human Geography and AP Psych have a reputation - among admissions officers at highly-selective schools - for being less rigorous APs compared to other ones.

And your source for this is what?

What's your deal?

Colleges don't share very much at all. It's all "holistic" so no you aren't going to get your cite

And AP HUG is one of the easier APs my STEM kid took

Your kid's opinion doesn't constitute a fact. Maybe your STEM kid can explain that to you.