UVA info session today said “most rigorous in ALL 5 core subjects.”

[Anonymous]

But they do! There are exceptions and they don’t do a great job explaining that. Engineering school does not equal A&S.

[Anonymous]

Kid is currently at UVA arts and sciences. She took four years of Spanish starting with Spanish 1 in middle school. Did not take AP Spanish senior year. Instead, she replaced that slot with a second AP social science class. UVA looks at the application holistically

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is taking AP French this year just because UVA wants four years of language in high school. She hates French and had other classes she wanted to take but didn’t want to give up the post of UVA. Very frustrating.

I’m the OP. What’s crazy is how variable it is. At our public HS, AP French is essentially French 6. My daughter is currently in French 5H and it is not AP. That would be next year if she decides to do it. She’d prefer to do a science honors research project. She knows students from her school currently at UVA who did not take AP foreign language. DD also doesn’t care for French so may roll the dice and talk about her (truthful) love of science as the reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is taking AP French this year just because UVA wants four years of language in high school. She hates French and had other classes she wanted to take but didn’t want to give up the post of UVA. Very frustrating.

We gave it up too. Kid didn't like Spanish, got a B+ in it, and stopped taking it. He's taking AP Chem instead junior year. AP Chem is much more aligned with his interests, and it's 2 periods due to the lab, so it was either that or another year of Spanish. He chose AP Chem and we support that choice If that along with a slew of other "most rigorous" AP classes isn't good enough for UVA, then that's not the school for him. IDK why they have this weird fixation on language.

Signed,
A UVA alum

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, duh. How is this surprising?

+2 This is their mantra. How are you surprised, OP? Reach the AP level in all 5 core subjects. The real question is whether they care if you take AB Calc vs. BC Calc or APES vs. AP Biology. Do they “rank” the APs by rigor?

I've heard that if you are STEM, that you should be in at least one of AP Chem, AP Bio or AP Physics.
If you are not STEM, I don't know...but I would think you should be in one of them too.

Georgia Tech admissions said you should be in BC if that's the most rigorous.

My kid is taking AP Bio and AP Physics (took AP Chem last year), and took 4 years of Spanish, but could not do 5th. We'll see if the extra science plus 4 years of Spanish helps.

At our HS the ones who get in unhooked to engineering at stanford/ivies have AP chem, APphysics C and Multivariable cal. Most also have AP BIO but it is not essential as the other 3. At the school across town, they can get in with BC calc and AP physC or Chem, plus AP bio, both is not needed. But both is also almost impossible there.

How on earth would you know what "the school across town" requires? Or what classes anyone (other than your own kid) takes? These posts are utterly absurd.
DP

DP. There are high school college counselors on here. Ours has mentioned dcum and said they post occasionally

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA has long said foreign language is a core class and that they want core all 4 years of HS. Of course there are exceptions, but this is the #1 reason my DC is taking AP foreign lang and AP sci this year

Well if they nix my kid because he has AP Bio and AP Physics in the spot that would have AP Spanish 5, then que sera sera.

I also don't even know what mutli-variable calculus means. Is that past BC Calc?

Yes. Vector or multivariable
Calc is post BC. Many high schools
Offer it, many do not. One is only judged based on what is offered at the high school. It is not “expected “ by T10 unless the high school has a many more than a couple who do it and it is a regular course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We clarified that this means they expect AP or DE in every subject including world language and they said yes.

But I basically when I asked the definition of “rigorous” since most schools have more AP options than a student could humanly take, they said it’s whatever box the counselor checks. And your counselor says you took “most rigorous” that’s the most important thing ?

They would not give any direct answers and it was pretty unhelpful. Just keep repeating “holistic blah blah blah.”

Why wouldn’t a top school like UVA want top rigor in all cores? This is done by at least 1/5th of my kid’s private school. It is a well-trodden path. The high school advises it to the kids who get in to these highest level courses. If you can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen. There is no shortage of applications who have highest rigor in all 5 cores. Read Jeff Selingo: he described how emory or davidson or both evaluate rigor similarly, looking for highest level in all cores. This is not new people. And true top kids have been doing this for years. Intellectually curious kids chomp at the bit to take the hard courses—they love it. Those are the kids these schools want and those are who they get(for unhooked at least).

[Anonymous]

My daughter is at UVA and she went through French IV. I don’t know if that counts as “most rigorous”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, duh. How is this surprising?

+2 This is their mantra. How are you surprised, OP? Reach the AP level in all 5 core subjects. The real question is whether they care if you take AB Calc vs. BC Calc or APES vs. AP Biology. Do they “rank” the APs by rigor?

Not OP, but I wouldn’t consider Foreign Language to be a core subject. I should mention that my daughter is currently at UVA after taking four years of a FL and my nephew who only took three years of Spanish was accepted to UVA (10 years ago)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is foreign language required but advanced music or art is not?

More likely to continue music and art after high school than school foreign language.

Ummm no. No one does art or music. Everyone needs another language.

Ok, I’ve posted twice now about how my daughter who is at UVA stopped French after four years.
She also took drama each year of HS. That being said took APs in all her other classes, went past BC Calc, and scored above a 1500 on her SAT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is taking AP French this year just because UVA wants four years of language in high school. She hates French and had other classes she wanted to take but didn’t want to give up the post of UVA. Very frustrating.

It is frustrating. My daughter stuck with French even though there were other classses she would have much rather taken. It’s dumb that they require kids to waste their time with something so useless, when there are now a million other (rigorous) courses they could choose that would benefit and interest them more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh, and you have to get all A’s in these classes.

And a 34+/1500+

And awesome EC’s.

Good luck. No pressure.

+10000
So ridiculous. No pressure indeed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is taking AP French this year just because UVA wants four years of language in high school. She hates French and had other classes she wanted to take but didn’t want to give up the post of UVA. Very frustrating.

It is frustrating. My daughter stuck with French even though there were other classses she would have much rather taken. It’s dumb that they require kids to waste their time with something so useless, when there are now a million other (rigorous) courses they could choose that would benefit and interest them more.

You’re missing the point which is UVA decides what matters most for their community, not you. If you think their requirements and the subjects they value are useless you should seek a different college that is a better fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is taking AP French this year just because UVA wants four years of language in high school. She hates French and had other classes she wanted to take but didn’t want to give up the post of UVA. Very frustrating.

It is frustrating. My daughter stuck with French even though there were other classses she would have much rather taken. It’s dumb that they require kids to waste their time with something so useless, when there are now a million other (rigorous) courses they could choose that would benefit and interest them more.

You’re missing the point which is UVA decides what matters most for their community, not you. If you think their requirements and the subjects they value are useless you should seek a different college that is a better fit.

Yeah, but requiring four years of a FL seems to be universal among all top colleges, not just UVA. And yes, it’s outdated and dumb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is taking AP French this year just because UVA wants four years of language in high school. She hates French and had other classes she wanted to take but didn’t want to give up the post of UVA. Very frustrating.

It is frustrating. My daughter stuck with French even though there were other classses she would have much rather taken. It’s dumb that they require kids to waste their time with something so useless, when there are now a million other (rigorous) courses they could choose that would benefit and interest them more.

You’re missing the point which is UVA decides what matters most for their community, not you. If you think their requirements and the subjects they value are useless you should seek a different college that is a better fit.

Yeah, but requiring four years of a FL seems to be universal among all top colleges, not just UVA. And yes, it’s outdated and dumb.

Four years is fine. At many HS’s AP foreign language isn’t until year 5 or 6.