25 APs not enough for Top 10
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
Selective colleges are looking to build a community of interesting and ambitious students with a wide variety of interests and backgrounds.
Where is the value added of a student that grinds through 25 AP classes and has nothing else over the kid with 10 APs and some really strong ECs? All of these schools could fill their classes ten times over with students with perfect stats. They are looking to build a community not a factory. |
Anonymous
Colleges didn’t know, he cancelled the scores of 4, so they only saw the 5s. |
Anonymous
| Release the "edgy" essays; that will probably tell you all that you need to know. |
Anonymous
Shame on the many posters who just reflexively dump on something they don't understand. My gifted child, who is not straining herself in any way, will take 14 APs when all is said and done. She has no desire to take any other APs than the 14 she has specifically chosen. In the high-achieving cohort of kids looking at top tier colleges, 14 is not an out-of-the-way number. She has an unusual and selective internship tied to a niche hobby (as well as more conventional activities taken to a high level), so I think she's well set for college admissions purposes. All of it happened organically. I'm not sure she could do 25 APs, to be honest. If this story is true, it probably indicates a kid whose entire focus was taking as many APs as possible, regardless of crafting a narrative or doing anything else, which admissions officers tend to not appreciate. But maybe this kid is on the spectrum and they really enjoyed the idea of doing 25 APs! I'm not going to rain on their parade. And UCLA is a great university! Congratulations are in order, instead of criticisms. Seriously. Some of your guys are messed up. |
Anonymous
Why are people skipping over this? If you don't answer the college's essay question and submit your own "edgy" essay, you didn't do it right. |
Anonymous
| The UCs give credit for 3s, so he will likely be able to finish UCLA in just 2 years, saving his parents a lot of money. So, may not be what he wanted but the outcome is still a good one and who is to say that if he had pursuing some unique ECs or written better essays, he would have broken into a very selective school? There's no guarantee. |
Anonymous
| 8 to 10 would have been enough even at high schools that offer 20+. Highly selective college admissions is not a race to the most APs. Rigor is a threshold. |
Anonymous
Compared to what? Someone who spend all their time watching Tiktok? 25 APs is great. Playing the trumpet is great. Taking care of younger siblings is great. Starting a club is great. Having a job is great. I don't care what my kids do as long as they do stuff. |
Anonymous
They weren’t “edgy”, but “risky”, and “high risk high reward”. My guess is that if someone would have edited and advised him on how to write a good essay, he would have gotten him into a top 10. For most people dumping on the kid, how many of your own take AP calculus in 9th and have the drive to self study for AP Physics C because the school offers only algebra based physics? The kid has grit, while the downers see grind. He will do fine at UCLA, and from what I’ve seen it’s a better fit for him than the other colleges he applied to. |
Anonymous
His accomplishments that you mention are yawn. Not real accomplishments. What has he been able to achieve by taking Calculus slightly earlier, or by extending physics to include Calculus? He squandered it by doing nothing with it. Huge yawn. |
Anonymous
Anytime you hear the term "striver" or "grind" in this context, it's from a mediocre person who is incensed that their generational privilege is threatened by harder-working people than them. In other parts of the world, working hard to achieve is greatly admired. The USA was built by strivers, people. Strivers are the ones who will save this country from the entitled and the lazy who can't see that China and others are surpassing them in several key economic metrics. If you're all upset that your children might not have the same lifestyle as you, then don't also be that person who dismisses 25 APs. |
Anonymous
Agreed but people continue to show that college has nothing to do with education but a status symbol for what useless fake extracurriculars one will set up. No wonder we’re not seeing actual scientists and rigorous humanities thinkers coming out of these top schools but useless consultants and investment bankers. We’d all do a lot better if someone passionate about education actually entered the top schools. |
Anonymous
How do we know he contributes nothing? Will he contribute nothing to UCLA? How does one even prove a student won’t just sit on their ass all four years of college, and if they do, why would we care? |
Anonymous
Sure huge yawn, he should have started a nonprofit with mom’s help or compete in science fair with a topic closely aligned with dads PhD. Taking calculus in 9th is 2-3 years ahead of the vast majority of students, considering the high school is 4 years it doesn’t make it slightly earlier. What should the kid have done with his Calculus Physics knowledge while in high school? |
Anonymous
If you take it before college, what is the difference between taking it in 9th vs 11th? Zero difference. Now if you could list off advanced math classes that he took, far beyond that, it would be a different situation. |