For top 20 college, what did your AP/rigor look like from typical suburban high school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can your kid take just BC? Most kids don’t do AB then BC.

DP.
Every school , public and private, in our area mandates AB then BC and has for over 20 years. The top dozen or so students at a subset of these schools takes multivariable in the high school taught by phD: stem public, 2 of 4 privates, and the engineering magnet.
Math course tracking is evaluated in the context of the high school. AB then BC is not a negative because the curriculum is separate, not repeating.

That is very strange to us here in Fairfax County. It is definitely viewed as repetitive and "less than" for a student to take both Calc AB and BC. (Yes, yes, I know that someone out there has a kid in FCPS that took AB and BC and then got into MIT, but it is definitely not the norm.)

What about for an English major or PoliSci kid? I imagine they’re given more latitude. Most students who go into humanities don’t even go as far as BC. So the idea of them taking both AB and BC is above and beyond what their peers are doing.

What about the student who takes Calc AB or BC as a freshman, that doesn't leave for many high schools any higher level math opportunities left (i.e., has to go outside the school at the local college, etc.)

I would think in that case taking Calc AB as a freshman, then Calc BC as a sophomore makes sense. Then as a junior when you can drive, take higher level maths at the local college, like multivariable/linear equations/diff equations.

Many, many (if not the vast majority) of high schools don't offer math higher than Calc BC.

Yes, I am only speaking about the area high schools in FCPS.

[Anonymous]

AP Art, CS, Seminar, Research, Physics, Human Geography, APUSH, Spanish, Lang, Calculus, Physics C, and Gov with 5s, 4s, and a couple 3s. Good enough for unhooked DD to get into Penn, Dartmouth, WashU, Swat, Pomona, and Bowdoin. Salutatorian and 35 ACT with good but not spectacular ECs by the standards of this forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AP Art, CS, Seminar, Research, Physics, Human Geography, APUSH, Spanish, Lang, Calculus, Physics C, and Gov with 5s, 4s, and a couple 3s. Good enough for unhooked DD to get into Penn, Dartmouth, WashU, Swat, Pomona, and Bowdoin. Salutatorian and 35 ACT with good but not spectacular ECs by the standards of this forum.

Congrats to your child! How would you categorize your high school? Large/small, competitive, "average"?

Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AP Art, CS, Seminar, Research, Physics, Human Geography, APUSH, Spanish, Lang, Calculus, Physics C, and Gov with 5s, 4s, and a couple 3s. Good enough for unhooked DD to get into Penn, Dartmouth, WashU, Swat, Pomona, and Bowdoin. Salutatorian and 35 ACT with good but not spectacular ECs by the standards of this forum.

Congrats to your child! How would you categorize your high school? Large/small, competitive, "average"?

Thank you.

Good not great public school of about 500.

[Anonymous]

With those AP's and 1550 SAT, 4.0 UW, look for flagships like Penn State, Georgia, Alabama, UMass, UConn, Rutgers.

Great shot at those. T20's are pretty much out of reach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is extremely rigorous. They must be able to get As in these classes, plus 4 or 5 on AP exam. Don’t overdo it. I can’t stress that enough.

DS did 11 APs with all As and one B in AP Bio. Wouldn’t let him take Calc BC (save some calc for college). Took AP Span. The B hurt his gpa a lot (relative to the top 10% of class - still an amazing gpa).

You need time for extracurricular, friends and family time too and test prep for SAT.

YOU NEED TO BE AWARE THAT YOUR DC STILL MAY NOT GET INTO TOP 20. Lots of kids just like this at UMD and other flagships.

And yet dozens of students at each of many different schools do 11+ APs and make all A’s. 11 or 12 is the “standard strong “ option. Top rigor is usually 14+. One B puts a kid well out of the top 15% and makes t20 very unlikely.

All high schools are different. Admission teams know the differences.

[Anonymous]

It's kind of sad that colleges force high school students to take what in essence is two years of college classes before...enrolling in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's kind of sad that colleges force high school students to take what in essence is two years of college classes before...enrolling in college.

Indeed but my kid took these classes because they were interested and not with an eye on admissions.

No T20 despite impeccable academic record. Excelling at state flagship and finding more opportunities than most T20 they were looking at.

[Anonymous]

Same post again and again, DCUM. Please watch “The Race to Nowhere”. Is this what you want for your kid? All your kids talk about are grades, colleges, and what course-load is most rigorous. Oh - and try to get my kid to join the weird “super low commitment” club they founded as a resume boost. Please stop!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Same post again and again, DCUM. Please watch “The Race to Nowhere”. Is this what you want for your kid? All your kids talk about are grades, colleges, and what course-load is most rigorous. Oh - and try to get my kid to join the weird “super low commitment” club they founded as a resume boost. Please stop!!

Should we just pay the $100k a year for a private college counselor then? Or just donate $100 million to the school? Or enroll the child in an independent private school for $90k a year?

[Anonymous]

Mine has taken APUSH, AP Calc AB, AP Lang, AP French. Will take AP Calc BC. Humanities kid. Top rigor at private school. Great ECs and awards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's kind of sad that colleges force high school students to take what in essence is two years of college classes before...enrolling in college.

Colleges don’t. Top universities do. What’s the point of paying $90k/yr to get a community college education instead of a university education?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is extremely rigorous. They must be able to get As in these classes, plus 4 or 5 on AP exam. Don’t overdo it. I can’t stress that enough.

DS did 11 APs with all As and one B in AP Bio. Wouldn’t let him take Calc BC (save some calc for college). Took AP Span. The B hurt his gpa a lot (relative to the top 10% of class - still an amazing gpa).

You need time for extracurricular, friends and family time too and test prep for SAT.

YOU NEED TO BE AWARE THAT YOUR DC STILL MAY NOT GET INTO TOP 20. Lots of kids just like this at UMD and other flagships.

And yet dozens of students at each of many different schools do 11+ APs and make all A’s. 11 or 12 is the “standard strong “ option. Top rigor is usually 14+. One B puts a kid well out of the top 15% and makes t20 very unlikely.

All high schools are different. Admission teams know the differences.

This is of course a huge lie.

[Anonymous]

Pump the brakes, people.

https://reports.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/Number-of-Exams-Per-Student_9.pdf

By 2018,
35,453 students had taken 9 AP Exams
54,063 had 10 exams,
14,802 had 11 exams,
8,895 had 12 exams,
5,409 had 13 exams,
3,100 had 14 exams,
1,793 had 15 exams,
969 had 16 exams,
473 had 17 exams,
269 had 18 exams,
137 had 19 exams,
75 had 20 exams,
32 had 21 exams,
14 had 22 exams,
11 had 23 exams,
6 had 24 exams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pump the brakes, people.

https://reports.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/Number-of-Exams-Per-Student_9.pdf

By 2018,
35,453 students had taken 9 AP Exams
54,063 had 10 exams,
14,802 had 11 exams,
8,895 had 12 exams,
5,409 had 13 exams,
3,100 had 14 exams,
1,793 had 15 exams,
969 had 16 exams,
473 had 17 exams,
269 had 18 exams,
137 had 19 exams,
75 had 20 exams,
32 had 21 exams,
14 had 22 exams,
11 had 23 exams,
6 had 24 exams.

Anyway to get to: 25 exams? Looks like a goal.