> 4.0 GPA, what AP classes did your DC take?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have an 8th grader and am looking at this thread in awe. Your kids are talented and driven! Are most of them getting 5s on the AP exams?

Probably more so the parents than the kids. Have to get into the best school, don't you know, no matter how miserable you'll be.

OP again. We're not looking at top schools. If you haven't gone through this process yet, you're in for a big surprise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have an 8th grader and am looking at this thread in awe. Your kids are talented and driven! Are most of them getting 5s on the AP exams?

Mine didn't. She got 5s on the ones that interested her most and the ones that were naturally easy to her.

BTW, you don't submit AP scores when you apply to colleges. You do submit the 5s (and sometimes the 4s) for possible credit once you've accepted an offer somewhere. There are kids who work their tails off to get 5s on every AP test and kids who get 5s on everything without exerting any effort at all, but mine wasn't in either category. She did get mostly As in the classes, however.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You people are insane.

Parent of an elementary school student? My kid goes to a high school where the choices are on-level classes (which are remedial) or AP. Early on he decided not to take on-level classes in anything that actually interested him, because there is so little content covered that he wouldn't learn anything. Only two AP classes stressed him out, both not in his areas of expertise. He got the best education he could at our local school, and he's going to a great college (but not one that gives DCUM folks heart palpitations) and will be as well-prepared as he can be.

What school district are you in? I’ve seen this statement on DCUM before. I am a HS teacher in one of the further out NOVA suburbs, and at my school the on grade level classes are definitely not remedial.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You people are insane.

Parent of an elementary school student? My kid goes to a high school where the choices are on-level classes (which are remedial) or AP. Early on he decided not to take on-level classes in anything that actually interested him, because there is so little content covered that he wouldn't learn anything. Only two AP classes stressed him out, both not in his areas of expertise. He got the best education he could at our local school, and he's going to a great college (but not one that gives DCUM folks heart palpitations) and will be as well-prepared as he can be.

What school district are you in? I’ve seen this statement on DCUM before. I am a HS teacher in one of the further out NOVA suburbs, and at my school the on grade level classes are definitely not remedial.

NP. Washington DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You people are insane.

Parent of an elementary school student? My kid goes to a high school where the choices are on-level classes (which are remedial) or AP. Early on he decided not to take on-level classes in anything that actually interested him, because there is so little content covered that he wouldn't learn anything. Only two AP classes stressed him out, both not in his areas of expertise. He got the best education he could at our local school, and he's going to a great college (but not one that gives DCUM folks heart palpitations) and will be as well-prepared as he can be.

What school district are you in? I’ve seen this statement on DCUM before. I am a HS teacher in one of the further out NOVA suburbs, and at my school the on grade level classes are definitely not remedial.

NP. Washington DC.

Correct, DCPS.

[Anonymous]

OP, what's even more shocking is that even if one's child has the stats required/recommended for the college -- that does not mean they will get in.

So many colleges are overloaded with qualified applications, that many qualified students are rejected.

Hence the term -- lottery schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AP US history, AP Chem, AP Physics EM, AP World History, AP comp sci, AP stat and prob, AP psychology AP Calc

He also did dual enrollment at local cc, so those classes were waited - Eng 101 and 102, Bio 101, 103 and 104 (anatomy), Ethics, and Phil 101.

He graduated with a 4.6 weighted GPA

Thank you! To future posters, this is the kind of info I'd like to see. Not something generic like "every subject."

It helps you how?

Filling gap for senior year. This year is pretty much done. Depending on admissions deadlines, there is some potential to have first quarter grades senior year factored into GPA, right? I had discouraged DC from overloading on APs but now see the impact with a lower GPA.

No. Schools on a quarter system compute GPA only after a semester.

They will, however, provide the most recent report cards.

If your kid is applying to a school that does 'holistic' admissions (eg NOT a giant school like Ohio State), they will consider more than just the GPA, but actually look at the courses he took and the grades received. At this point there is little your kid can do to change his GPA, but assuming that his grades have been on an overall upward trajectory, I wouldn't obsess over it.

What your kid can do now: Target schools that make sense. Work hard on the essay. Choose teachers to write recommendation letters early and wisely. Apply to a couple of reaches, and focus most of your effort on identifying safeties and matches (this last bit applies to every kid in high school now).

Thank you! Do you have recommendations on looking for these holistic type of schools? I've been negligent in staying up to date on this sort of stuff. I had just assumed that DC would be a good candidate for our state school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, what's even more shocking is that even if one's child has the stats required/recommended for the college -- that does not mean they will get in.

So many colleges are overloaded with qualified applications, that many qualified students are rejected.

Hence the term -- lottery schools.

Correct. It's the "fear of missing out" on a top school (as if that's really important) that drives a lot of this insanity and pressure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AP US history, AP Chem, AP Physics EM, AP World History, AP comp sci, AP stat and prob, AP psychology AP Calc

He also did dual enrollment at local cc, so those classes were waited - Eng 101 and 102, Bio 101, 103 and 104 (anatomy), Ethics, and Phil 101.

He graduated with a 4.6 weighted GPA

Thank you! To future posters, this is the kind of info I'd like to see. Not something generic like "every subject."

It helps you how?

Filling gap for senior year. This year is pretty much done. Depending on admissions deadlines, there is some potential to have first quarter grades senior year factored into GPA, right? I had discouraged DC from overloading on APs but now see the impact with a lower GPA.

No. Schools on a quarter system compute GPA only after a semester.

They will, however, provide the most recent report cards.

If your kid is applying to a school that does 'holistic' admissions (eg NOT a giant school like Ohio State), they will consider more than just the GPA, but actually look at the courses he took and the grades received. At this point there is little your kid can do to change his GPA, but assuming that his grades have been on an overall upward trajectory, I wouldn't obsess over it.

What your kid can do now: Target schools that make sense. Work hard on the essay. Choose teachers to write recommendation letters early and wisely. Apply to a couple of reaches, and focus most of your effort on identifying safeties and matches (this last bit applies to every kid in high school now).

This is NOT true. STOP speaking in generalizations. My kids' school is on the quarter system and a new GPA is calculated each quarter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You people are insane.

Parent of an elementary school student? My kid goes to a high school where the choices are on-level classes (which are remedial) or AP. Early on he decided not to take on-level classes in anything that actually interested him, because there is so little content covered that he wouldn't learn anything. Only two AP classes stressed him out, both not in his areas of expertise. He got the best education he could at our local school, and he's going to a great college (but not one that gives DCUM folks heart palpitations) and will be as well-prepared as he can be.

When debating if DS should add AP English to his 11th grade schedule I looked at the class size report to see how many kids take that vs regular English 11. 2/3 of the current 11th grade is in AP so that tells me it's the standard. We did encourage him to not take an AP science that year and to slow down on math (Calc AB instead of BC)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have an 8th grader and am looking at this thread in awe. Your kids are talented and driven! Are most of them getting 5s on the AP exams?

Me as well. The line that gets me is “He will really need to get his SAT above 1500” When I graduated 30 years ago, I knew of no one who had gotten a 1500.

Only those whose moms are reporting those details.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

APUSH, APGOV, AP PHYS 2, AP PHYS C, CALC AB, CALC BC, IB COMPSCI, INT CHEM, INT BIO, ALL INTENSIFIED 9th and 10th, NO AP ENG.

Grades were better than your child's, SATs were good, but not 1500.

Engineering freshman at an engineering school ranked in the 20s, doing just fine.

Do you mind sharing which school? I've gone up and down the USNWR best engineering schools and not sure DC can get into any of the top 30 with her/his stats.

[Anonymous]

DS took: AP Gov, APUSH, AP Bio, AP Calc AB, AP Chem, AP Macro, AP Micro, APES, AP Physics, AP Spanish, AP Stats

Clark School of Engineering at UMD. Very happy there, very well-prepared for coursework. But he wishes he took AP Calc BC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You people are insane.

Parent of an elementary school student? My kid goes to a high school where the choices are on-level classes (which are remedial) or AP. Early on he decided not to take on-level classes in anything that actually interested him, because there is so little content covered that he wouldn't learn anything. Only two AP classes stressed him out, both not in his areas of expertise. He got the best education he could at our local school, and he's going to a great college (but not one that gives DCUM folks heart palpitations) and will be as well-prepared as he can be.

No high school kid has “areas of expertise”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You people are insane.

Parent of an elementary school student? My kid goes to a high school where the choices are on-level classes (which are remedial) or AP. Early on he decided not to take on-level classes in anything that actually interested him, because there is so little content covered that he wouldn't learn anything. Only two AP classes stressed him out, both not in his areas of expertise. He got the best education he could at our local school, and he's going to a great college (but not one that gives DCUM folks heart palpitations) and will be as well-prepared as he can be.

No high school kid has “areas of expertise”

NP here.

Areas of interest where students are very knowledgeable because they’ve read deeply and have participated in outside activities that reinforce their knowledge.

So “areas of expertise” is shorter and correct