Rigor (or lack thereof) at St Stephen’s St Agnes

[Anonymous]

So I have lost track. Do the big 3 or 5 or 7 offer AP or not? Who doesn’t offer AP there’s days… which schools? And does anyone still debate that it helps with college? If you are ok with not having AP classes, ok. But I think the evidence that they help with college admissions is pretty irrefutable.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:What do you consider rival schools?

There are plenty of rivals depending on activity but the main schools without APs that I recall are Potomac and a couple in DC and Maryland. For our family AP was a requirement so for us the non-AP oriented schools weren’t considered. Schools with APs that are typically considered rivals of SSSAS are Episcopal, BI and Flint Hill.

Private schools that still offer APs are simply channeling that they are not a top- tier school, including SSAS. All of the elite privates have done away with APs because they recognize AP classes
encourage rote memorization and teaching to the test which distracts from teaching higher level skills like critical thinking. None of the “ Big 3” or “Big 5” in the DMV offer AP. That changed several years ago and it hadn’t affected college admissions in the slightest. Top schools offer advanced studies - very different. Top colleges no longer look at AP courses as anything other than ordinary. Top boarding schools have moved away from AP as well. Your myopic thinking highlights very outdated thinking imo.

Huh. Interesting take to not consider NCS and STA among the elite or Big3/5 schools.

You can sit for the test but you are incorrect. St Albans and NCS no longer offer AP courses.

Sorry, wrong. Both NCS and STA have walked that back.

STA, right on the splash page, 13 AP classes (source: https://www.stalbansschool.org/academics/upper-school)

NCS doesn’t make it as easy to find, you have to check each department separately, but they have 14 AP classes ranging across languages, math, science, and social science (source: https://www.ncs.org/upper-school-curriculum-detail?fromId=218958&LevelNum=122&DepartmentId=692)

But, please, go on with what you were saying?

I call BS on you actually being a STA or NCS school. Show me where they walked back this agreement other than a link to their website. And if you were a parent you wouldn’t be excited to blab that your kid can take an AP class or test for 70K a year. Lol.

No, I’m not an NCS or STA parent, I’m an alum. And I’m not sure how to give you a more credible source that they now offer APs again beyond literal links to their curriculum pages. I suggest you call the schools and ask if you don’t believe their own websites.

Yes, they were part of the 8 or so elite schools that got together and made a big stink about dropping APs, several years ago. No, they didn’t stick to their guns. Sorry to disillusion you.

[Anonymous]

There’s always GDS if you really hate APs. They don’t even host the tests anymore.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:APs are a good way to get into state schools, and a terrible way to get into a good private university. Which is why SSSAS sends a lot of kids to state schools.

I wish I’d understood before we started our kids at the lower school that the role of APs has changed since I was in high school (in the 90s). The AP board tightly regulates everything and it truly is focused on memorization and not on deep thinking. It’s great for state schools who need a standardized way to evaluate applicants, but private universities understand the limits of AP classes.

Appreciate the honesty and insight

What honesty and insight? The PP has no idea what they’re talking about. You can still get AP credit and higher placement at the vast majority of top private universities. You can count the universities that have opted out of accepting APs on one hand, maybe two.

As the previous poster just said this is a different question. On the issue of whether top colleges and universities consider AP courses something of value in admissions the answer is obvious. Just accept that you’re wrong and move on.

Lol. Zero ability to counter the point made. So weak.

[Anonymous]

Taking a few AP tests and getting 5s? Definitely helpful in admissions. Taking all AP classes at your giant public, because you want and need to take the most rigorous load? Helpful in showing you utilize every resource available to you.

But if you take two kids who both went to 50K+ a year schools, and one took a bunch of AP classes and the other took more rigorous in-depth seminars, and took a few AP tests on the side and got 5s, the second kid is going to be more impressive (and more prepared for an elite university education).

NCS and STA only started offering the APs in math and science to help better prepare their students for those tests, which are especially challenging. But a top private school shouldn't be giving their brightest kids AP US History, or AP English. They should be teaching their top students more than what an online course or a workbook from the library can offer.

When we looked at schools I was surprised any expensive, well-resourced private school like SSSAS still offered as many APs as they do. I don't know how they justify charging 55K for that.