What does "most rigorous" mean?
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Anonymous
AP in every core subject (history, English lit, math, science, language) plus one or two electives. My DC took AP psych in addition to the core subject areas. AP art history was offered as well. |
Anonymous
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I read that "most rigorous" thread and shake my head. I think it is too much pressure and stress for most normal kids. Are there some kids who can handle it and even thrive? Yes but I think they are statistically a small number. More common are kids who will try and fail to keep up and therefore feel bad about themselves and their abilities.
Is anyone planning to opt out of this madness? What do you think will happen as far as college admissions go? |
Anonymous
In our experience at a FCPS high school with many APs, most rigorous course load available meant taking AP versions of classes in the core areas and honors courses before. Most rigorous is a fairly wide berth with some diverse paths not the maximum load. Unless you're going for STEM/engineering any AP Calc will do and you don't have to do post-calc options. |
Anonymous
But that’s the point of the question. Not all students can or should be in the most rigorous category. And not all kids are going to or should attend the elite colleges. Majority of universities and colleges will happily admit the ‘just below most rigorous’ and average students. What’s nuts is the idea that everyone can or should or must be in the most selective schools. |
Anonymous
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As others have noted, it really means some different for different colleges. Top 20 have idiosyncratic rules--investigate particularly.
Otherwise, talk to your HS guidance counselor on what criteria he/she uses to make the statement in their letter that your child is taking the most rigorous course available. For UVA in FCPS where there are more AP courses than can be reasonably taken, it does NOT mean what the above posters describe. I asked this directly of our HS counselor at one the higher performing--but not the top HS--and got this response: It means taking at least one AP course in each of the core areas: history, math, English (language arts/literature), science; serious study of a foreign language (equivalent of 3-4 years of HS depending on whether another elective was pursued intensively), and some other APs/Honors to round out--but can be just a few. Math should go up to Calc --but AB is fine if you're not going into STEM. It's fine to take a science at a standard level (e.g. physics) as long as you have AP in one. DC took highest level in history, english, foreign language, had some AP electives, took AP Calc AB, took honors where available. DC was considered having the most rigorous courseload and was accepted at UVA and W&M. The elective and "lesser" APs boost the GPA; the core ones are required to get the "most rigorous" ranking. Ask your own HS counselor what will get them to make that statement/check that box. If you're aiming for top 20 schools then you have to do more research. |
Anonymous
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At some schools, typically the better privates, this is defined on the school profile. There may be different ways to satisfy that definition (e.g., making a choice between AP language vs some other AP humanities), but they have a rubric that lets the college counselors define whether they check the "most rigorous" box.
Nonetheless, when there are lots of options and the student appears to be challenging himself or herself, I don't think colleges quibble over whether the student could have squeeze one more honors/AP course in, so not getting the box checked doesn't really matter that much depending on what classes were actually taken. |
Anonymous
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Our DD (in LCPS) was not allowed to take Aps freshman year and only one (AP World History) sophomore year. This is typical of LCPS. For her junior year, when she signed up for three APs (Calc AB, US History and Language/Comp.) along with DE Physics, her guidance counselor wanted to make sure she knew what she was getting into. She understood and, while it’s been a lot of work this year, she’s handling it well. Based on her counselor’s reaction, I think this kind of schedule was unusual.
However, I’ve heard of students (not in LCPS) finishing with 12-15 APs, and that’s not possible unless you start with one or two each during freshman/sophomore year. Some school districts encourage this because it makes them look good. Our DD plans to take 4 or 5 APs senior year in subjects that interest her, but these will also be her only classes. Her senior year will look more like a college schedule, which was the plan. |
Anonymous
| OP don't think of it as needing to take the most rigorous. For your DD, think of it as taking a rigorous, as in challenging/stimulating/education, course load for *her* (and with the caveat that it won't cause undue stress). |
Anonymous
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Don't believe the parents on this forum who act like they have the "secret formula" that will unlock the key to elite admissions.
There is NO exact number or mix of AP's. Each applicant and school are different. YES, rigorous schools want to be confident that your child can handle challenging level material. It is about that, NOT keeping up--class by class--with other kids in your school. What I twisted mindset has creeped into this are. No wonder kids are cheating, using drugs and committing suicide. |
Anonymous
Most "normal" kids aren't competing for the single digit admission rate colleges. Most colleges don't care whether a student took the most rigorous course load. A happy well-adjusted student with average grades in a standard curriculum will undoubtedly get into a wonderful college where he will meet great friends, learn a lot, and eventually start a career. It's just not going to be at one of the most competitive colleges. Unfortunately, we live in a world where the top 25% are considered losers because they can't get in to the top 10% and those in the top 10% get lapped by the top 1%. Works with incomes, wealth, and colleges. |
Anonymous
This sounds fine. Maybe LCPS has more rigorous honors courses. At my DD's school (I won't name the district), most of the honors courses have very little homework. AP is the only way to get any rigor at all. |
Anonymous
I guess the issue on here is that many (most) of us attended top 25 colleges and now make 1% incomes. Good but not enough to just buy your way through the front door. With average kids, we can’t get them into those same schools. So what are we supposed to do? |
Anonymous
Have them go to top 100 but below 25 schools. They are surprisingly good. 
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Anonymous
This is not true for my Tysons area FCPS, which offers 25+ different AP classes. Our GC says students only need to take 7 (but must include at least 1 in each core subject) + 3 years of the same Foreign Language Also that Honors didn't matter because that was a prereq for AP anyway. My kid didn't want to take more than 3 AP classes per year, and the school only allows 1 in 10th grade; so this is what my kid took in addition to FL through Spanish 4. 10 - World Hist AP 11 - AP Chem, AP US Hist, AP Lang 12 - AP Calc AB, AP Computer Science, AP Gov The box will be checked on my kid's transcript. That is how the colleges compare each student to his classmates... just that designation. So as far as colleges are concerned, my kid took a rigorous load; even though I personally know some of my kid's peers took 10-12 APs.. it's good to know that the GC is not encouraging it. |
Anonymous
I totally agree! We opted out and even went to a non AP private first 2 years. Returning to public school where every kids is saturated with a crazy schedule is puzzling to me and also a bit worrisome in terms of how my DD will stack up. But we are not after tippy top colleges. |