Why are we sacrificing the high school years to save on a semester in college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids take AP classes to up their GPA so they can get into college. On all of the college tours DD and I have attended so far, all of the admissions counselors say they like to see a rigorous course schedule, AP, IB, etc.. it's almost a necessity to get into many schools.

But this isn't really true. Most colleges will calculate your unweighted GPA and use that to determine if students make the cut for admission. My DD tracks her GPA as weighted and unweighted.

Yeah but the most elite colleges want to see the most rigorous courses available and done well.

No one forces kids to take AP, IB etc. but if if they want to go to HYP or equivalent from this area, it is what it is.

But it is a choice. If your kid does not want to work their tail off and don't aim for the ivies, they don't have to do this.

OP here. My point is that it hasn't always been this way. At what point did it change? When did it become NECESSARY to take 5-7 AP classes to have a competitive college application? I am not a Pollyanna but think it is sad that high school has become a pressure cooker instead of the stepping stone into adulthood that it once was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids take AP classes to up their GPA so they can get into college. On all of the college tours DD and I have attended so far, all of the admissions counselors say they like to see a rigorous course schedule, AP, IB, etc.. it's almost a necessity to get into many schools.

But this isn't really true. Most colleges will calculate your unweighted GPA and use that to determine if students make the cut for admission. My DD tracks her GPA as weighted and unweighted.

Yeah but the most elite colleges want to see the most rigorous courses available and done well.

No one forces kids to take AP, IB etc. but if if they want to go to HYP or equivalent from this area, it is what it is.

But it is a choice. If your kid does not want to work their tail off and don't aim for the ivies, they don't have to do this.

OP here. My point is that it hasn't always been this way. At what point did it change? When did it become NECESSARY to take 5-7 AP classes to have a competitive college application? I am not a Pollyanna but think it is sad that high school has become a pressure cooker instead of the stepping stone into adulthood that it once was.

It was like this when I went to hs in the 80ties. I took 6 APs and got into an Ivy. Grew up outside of Cleveland, OH. Elite colleges want to see the most rigorous course choices. My classmates from out parts of the country especially ones from NYC, Chicago, Bethesda/CC had similar experiences.

If you want your child to have a kinder, gentler hs experience move to Alaska, Montana, etc. where hs don't offer so many AP courses.

[Anonymous]

Mid-80s western PA large public high school, 5 AP classes. Didn't apply to Ivy, but did get credit and opted out of 3 entry level classes, which gave me room to double major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids take AP classes to up their GPA so they can get into college. On all of the college tours DD and I have attended so far, all of the admissions counselors say they like to see a rigorous course schedule, AP, IB, etc.. it's almost a necessity to get into many schools.

But this isn't really true. Most colleges will calculate your unweighted GPA and use that to determine if students make the cut for admission. My DD tracks her GPA as weighted and unweighted.

Yeah but the most elite colleges want to see the most rigorous courses available and done well.

No one forces kids to take AP, IB etc. but if if they want to go to HYP or equivalent from this area, it is what it is.

But it is a choice. If your kid does not want to work their tail off and don't aim for the ivies, they don't have to do this.

OP here. My point is that it hasn't always been this way. At what point did it change? When did it become NECESSARY to take 5-7 AP classes to have a competitive college application? I am not a Pollyanna but think it is sad that high school has become a pressure cooker instead of the stepping stone into adulthood that it once was.

It was definitely this way when I went to college in the mid-90s. I was in the G&T track at my public school and completing 7 APs was just part of completing the track. Most of my class went on to either ivys or ivy-equivalent schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids take AP classes to up their GPA so they can get into college. On all of the college tours DD and I have attended so far, all of the admissions counselors say they like to see a rigorous course schedule, AP, IB, etc.. it's almost a necessity to get into many schools.

But this isn't really true. Most colleges will calculate your unweighted GPA and use that to determine if students make the cut for admission. My DD tracks her GPA as weighted and unweighted.

Yeah but the most elite colleges want to see the most rigorous courses available and done well.

No one forces kids to take AP, IB etc. but if if they want to go to HYP or equivalent from this area, it is what it is.

But it is a choice. If your kid does not want to work their tail off and don't aim for the ivies, they don't have to do this.

OP here. My point is that it hasn't always been this way. At what point did it change? When did it become NECESSARY to take 5-7 AP classes to have a competitive college application? I am not a Pollyanna but think it is sad that high school has become a pressure cooker instead of the stepping stone into adulthood that it once was.

Probably when colleges started watering down the gen ed classes- the stuff my kid is doing in AP Chem is the same stuff I did in general chemistry that everyone took 20 years ago. My kid would have been bored silly in the general classes, and unprepared for the rigors of college.

[Anonymous]

OP here. My point is that it hasn't always been this way. At what point did it change? When did it become NECESSARY to take 5-7 AP classes to have a competitive college application? I am not a Pollyanna but think it is sad that high school has become a pressure cooker instead of the stepping stone into adulthood that it once was.


It was like this when I went to hs in the 80ties. I took 6 APs and got into an Ivy. Grew up outside of Cleveland, OH. Elite colleges want to see the most rigorous course choices. My classmates from out parts of the country especially ones from NYC, Chicago, Bethesda/CC had similar experiences.

If you want your child to have a kinder, gentler hs experience move to Alaska, Montana, etc. where hs don't offer so many AP courses.

+1 I went to high schools in the 80s and there were people who did reasonably well on 5 or 6 APs and still didn't get into Ivies. I imagine it's much more competitive now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

OP here. My point is that it hasn't always been this way. At what point did it change? When did it become NECESSARY to take 5-7 AP classes to have a competitive college application? I am not a Pollyanna but think it is sad that high school has become a pressure cooker instead of the stepping stone into adulthood that it once was.


It was like this when I went to hs in the 80ties. I took 6 APs and got into an Ivy. Grew up outside of Cleveland, OH. Elite colleges want to see the most rigorous course choices. My classmates from out parts of the country especially ones from NYC, Chicago, Bethesda/CC had similar experiences.

If you want your child to have a kinder, gentler hs experience move to Alaska, Montana, etc. where hs don't offer so many AP courses.

+1 I went to high schools in the 80s and there were people who did reasonably well on 5 or 6 APs and still didn't get into Ivies. I imagine it's much more competitive now.

I am glad we stopped letting 14-18 year olds slack off like they are children.

[Anonymous]

Me too. It's ridiculous to think they should want to do anything but build their academic profile in their teenage years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Me too. It's ridiculous to think they should want to do anything but build their academic profile in their teenage years.

It is a choice. If your child doesn't have the drive, brains and/or desire to get into a competitive college, let them be and be content that their career ambition is what it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Me too. It's ridiculous to think they should want to do anything but build their academic profile in their teenage years.

It is a choice. If your child doesn't have the drive, brains and/or desire to get into a competitive college, let them be and be content that their career ambition is what it is.

Obviously it is a choice- the parents choice. Unless you are taking a hands off approach to see what your child's ambition and desires are?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Me too. It's ridiculous to think they should want to do anything but build their academic profile in their teenage years.

It is a choice. If your child doesn't have the drive, brains and/or desire to get into a competitive college, let them be and be content that their career ambition is what it is.

Obviously it is a choice- the parents choice. Unless you are taking a hands off approach to see what your child's ambition and desires are?

Up to a point. If the kid is a lazy slacker whose only ambition is to play video games and smoke pot, expecting them to do the work required to get into an Ivy or equivalent is unrealistic no matter the intensive helicoptering. Also, nagging teenagers to be good students and take 6+ APs won't work. They are who they are by that point.

[Anonymous]

1980s MoCo graduate - also took 4-5 APs junior & senior year ... at least I got a year's worth of college credit for them back in the day (at an Ivy... ie. I started with sophomore standing)... now they don't count as many (they didn't count English and maybe a couple others even then). APs aren't really any different than 'honors' classes.

[Anonymous]

The Ivy I attended counted English which made me very happy since I tested out of freshman English. They did not let me test out of Bio or Chem. This was in the 80ties.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's so great about high school? I'd rather take more interesting courses and have time to study abroad in college.

Spoken like someone who didn't have to pay for their own education or whose parents didn't have to sacrifice for college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only time my DC was stressed was when he took 5 APs, taking 3 was easy. And DC still did plenty of extracurrics and varsity sports all 3 seasons. APs don't take away from electives - if you take AP history instead of honors history, or AP Calc instead of regular calc you are just swapping core classes you would be taking anyway.

But if you don't think they are right for your kid then suggest he not take them.

+1. AP is not hard or time consuming for all kids. AP saved my kid from being bored to tears at school in core classes. And DC would rather take an extra AP History as an elective rather than Ceramics or Yoga or Yearbook. In fact, I wish more AP classes were permitted earlier. Kids are different.