What is the big deal about AAP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

This has definitely been our experience with two high schoolers. Taking AAP classes through 8th grade has no bearing on future success in high school. It's a shame parents of younger kids who read DCUM get the impression that AAP is the only thing that matters. It's just a slightly more accelerated program which follows the exact same curriculum as GE, though many AAP parents try to spin it as some sort of magical track without which your child is a lost cause. By 9th grade, no one cares who was or wasn't in AAP.

Except for the ones who were in AAP and assumed they were smarter than everyone else. Those have a tough time adjusting when they find out that lots of Gened kids are just as smart.

I have high schoolers and this is absolutely true. Kind of a shocker for the AAP kids when they realize just how ordinary they actually are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:so, do the admissions officers at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc., consider a candidate's elementary school grades? Do they care if the candidate was in AAP? There is absolutely no correlation between admission to elementary AAP and admission to top colleges. AAPparents (assholes advocating for their pussies) need to grasp reality.

Have you read any of the research on underachievement?

My guess is that admissions officers at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc., consider it important for a student to have matriculated high school vs. dropped out altogether.

Wow. Are you seriously suggesting that non-AAP kids are at risk of dropping out of school?? What alternate universe do you live in? This has to be one of the most ignorant posts I've ever read here at DCUM,
And you cannot read correctly. Mustn't be AAP-worthy.

Perhaps if you were able to articulate more clearly, others would be able to understand your point... that is, if you have one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:so, do the admissions officers at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc., consider a candidate's elementary school grades? Do they care if the candidate was in AAP? There is absolutely no correlation between admission to elementary AAP and admission to top colleges. AAPparents (assholes advocating for their pussies) need to grasp reality.

actually, I am aware that some of the better boarding schools in the northeast and mid-atlantic that accept some public school kids know FCPS in general and the AAP program in particular and if you have Geometry ! from AAP it is seen as indicative the student can handle the work. And these schools do in fact feed the Ivies, Stanford, MIT.

How many students from FCPS matriculate to those schools every year? How many are AAP in one grade? You don't have to be in AAP to take the higher level math classes.

but open enrollment "honors" isn't exactly AAP now is it? I think the admissions people at the better privates know this.

Yes, I'm sure the admissions committes at Andover and Lawrenceville are scouring FCPS for their AAP "talent". You sure have a rich fantasy life.

never said scouring, you just made that up. Will say they are aware of AAP's reputation. Gen ed. is just the hoi polloi. Some will do fine of course, but it the academic experience for them is not as rigorous. Most of the better schools are aware of this.

[Anonymous]

Gen ed. kids are just as smart. Yeah, maybe, but not as academically advanced.

[Anonymous]

AAP. Many are called, but few are chosen (well, about 18%). The rest didn't make the cut.
What you have here, above, are many parents saying "well, those grapes are probably sour anyway."
Human nature I suppose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:so, do the admissions officers at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc., consider a candidate's elementary school grades? Do they care if the candidate was in AAP? There is absolutely no correlation between admission to elementary AAP and admission to top colleges. AAPparents (assholes advocating for their pussies) need to grasp reality.

actually, I am aware that some of the better boarding schools in the northeast and mid-atlantic that accept some public school kids know FCPS in general and the AAP program in particular and if you have Geometry ! from AAP it is seen as indicative the student can handle the work. And these schools do in fact feed the Ivies, Stanford, MIT.

How many students from FCPS matriculate to those schools every year? How many are AAP in one grade? You don't have to be in AAP to take the higher level math classes.

but open enrollment "honors" isn't exactly AAP now is it? I think the admissions people at the better privates know this.

Yes, I'm sure the admissions committes at Andover and Lawrenceville are scouring FCPS for their AAP "talent". You sure have a rich fantasy life.

never said scouring, you just made that up. Will say they are aware of AAP's reputation. Gen ed. is just the hoi polloi. Some will do fine of course, but it the academic experience for them is not as rigorous. Most of the better schools are aware of this.

And the winner of the snobbiest post of the day goes to PP.....wouldn't underestimate the hoi polloi -- chances are that's where a lot of your kids future bosses will come from.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:so, do the admissions officers at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc., consider a candidate's elementary school grades? Do they care if the candidate was in AAP? There is absolutely no correlation between admission to elementary AAP and admission to top colleges. AAPparents (assholes advocating for their pussies) need to grasp reality.

actually, I am aware that some of the better boarding schools in the northeast and mid-atlantic that accept some public school kids know FCPS in general and the AAP program in particular and if you have Geometry ! from AAP it is seen as indicative the student can handle the work. And these schools do in fact feed the Ivies, Stanford, MIT.

How many students from FCPS matriculate to those schools every year? How many are AAP in one grade? You don't have to be in AAP to take the higher level math classes.

but open enrollment "honors" isn't exactly AAP now is it? I think the admissions people at the better privates know this.

Yes, I'm sure the admissions committes at Andover and Lawrenceville are scouring FCPS for their AAP "talent". You sure have a rich fantasy life.

never said scouring, you just made that up. Will say they are aware of AAP's reputation. Gen ed. is just the hoi polloi. Some will do fine of course, but it the academic experience for them is not as rigorous. Most of the better schools are aware of this.

And the winner of the snobbiest post of the day goes to PP.....wouldn't underestimate the hoi polloi -- chances are that's where a lot of your kids future bosses will come from.

+1000 What a snot, but then that's really no surprise. The PP who is insisting that "the better privates" are aware of AAP's reputation (snort) should really take her AAP kid and try her hardest to get said kid in. You know, based on the reputation of AAP and all. Meanwhile, my hoi polloi high schooler was just accepted to UVA (Honors), W&M, Brown, and WUSTL. I'll take the hoi polloi any day!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AAP. Many are called, but few are chosen (well, about 18%). The rest didn't make the cut.
What you have here, above, are many parents saying "well, those grapes are probably sour anyway."
Human nature I suppose.

Thank you for so beautifully exemplifying the AAP parent stereotype! Really nice job.

[Anonymous]

AAP is highly correlated to TJ and for TJ grads UVA is like a safety school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AAP is highly correlated to TJ and for TJ grads UVA is like a safety school.

+1

UVA is also known as TJ South.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:so, do the admissions officers at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc., consider a candidate's elementary school grades? Do they care if the candidate was in AAP? There is absolutely no correlation between admission to elementary AAP and admission to top colleges. AAPparents (assholes advocating for their pussies) need to grasp reality.

actually, I am aware that some of the better boarding schools in the northeast and mid-atlantic that accept some public school kids know FCPS in general and the AAP program in particular and if you have Geometry ! from AAP it is seen as indicative the student can handle the work. And these schools do in fact feed the Ivies, Stanford, MIT.

How many students from FCPS matriculate to those schools every year? How many are AAP in one grade? You don't have to be in AAP to take the higher level math classes.

but open enrollment "honors" isn't exactly AAP now is it? I think the admissions people at the better privates know this.

Yes, I'm sure the admissions committes at Andover and Lawrenceville are scouring FCPS for their AAP "talent". You sure have a rich fantasy life.

never said scouring, you just made that up. Will say they are aware of AAP's reputation. Gen ed. is just the hoi polloi. Some will do fine of course, but it the academic experience for them is not as rigorous. Most of the better schools are aware of this.

And the winner of the snobbiest post of the day goes to PP.....wouldn't underestimate the hoi polloi -- chances are that's where a lot of your kids future bosses will come from.

+1000 What a snot, but then that's really no surprise. The PP who is insisting that "the better privates" are aware of AAP's reputation (snort) should really take her AAP kid and try her hardest to get said kid in. You know, based on the reputation of AAP and all. Meanwhile, my hoi polloi high schooler was just accepted to UVA (Honors), W&M, Brown, and WUSTL. I'll take the hoi polloi any day!

yeah, but a lot more of 'em go to Northern Virginia Community College, Mary Washington and places like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AAP is highly correlated to TJ and for TJ grads UVA is like a safety school.

There is a big difference between correlation and causation. A bright student will have a higher chance of getting into TJ regardless of AAP or Gen Ed. A bright student will have a higher chance of getting into UVA regardless of TJ.

IME and IMO, when comparing Gen Ed to AAP or TJ verses another HS in FCPS, it is the student, not the program or the school that has the most impact on his/her success. After the student, it is the parents and home situation and has the most impact. THen the individual teachers a student has.

I think the AAP program and the Gen ED program have the merits and both need to be tweaked- but AAP is not the Holy Grail and Gen Ed is not Holy Hell. I've said this before, IME as a parent at Chesterbrook and Longfellow with AAP and Gen Ed, it is the individual teachers that have more impact on a student's success than which program that they are placed. There are some really great teachers in both AAP and Gen Ed, most are perfectly fine in both and there are some duds in both too. I would also say that a really great teacher for one student may be a complete dud for another. The vast majority of teachers I have seen do well with most of the population of students. There are a few extremely lauded teachers that have a 'niche' population of students, but do poorly outside of their niche and sometimes I wish that the teachers that do well with the wider swaths of the population would get more credit. When I say "niche", I do not mean AAP, I mean a much smaller population within Gen Ed or AAP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:so, do the admissions officers at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc., consider a candidate's elementary school grades? Do they care if the candidate was in AAP? There is absolutely no correlation between admission to elementary AAP and admission to top colleges. AAPparents (assholes advocating for their pussies) need to grasp reality.

actually, I am aware that some of the better boarding schools in the northeast and mid-atlantic that accept some public school kids know FCPS in general and the AAP program in particular and if you have Geometry ! from AAP it is seen as indicative the student can handle the work. And these schools do in fact feed the Ivies, Stanford, MIT.

How many students from FCPS matriculate to those schools every year? How many are AAP in one grade? You don't have to be in AAP to take the higher level math classes.

but open enrollment "honors" isn't exactly AAP now is it? I think the admissions people at the better privates know this.

Yes, I'm sure the admissions committes at Andover and Lawrenceville are scouring FCPS for their AAP "talent". You sure have a rich fantasy life.

never said scouring, you just made that up. Will say they are aware of AAP's reputation. Gen ed. is just the hoi polloi. Some will do fine of course, but it the academic experience for them is not as rigorous. Most of the better schools are aware of this.

And the winner of the snobbiest post of the day goes to PP.....wouldn't underestimate the hoi polloi -- chances are that's where a lot of your kids future bosses will come from.

+1000 What a snot, but then that's really no surprise. The PP who is insisting that "the better privates" are aware of AAP's reputation (snort) should really take her AAP kid and try her hardest to get said kid in. You know, based on the reputation of AAP and all. Meanwhile, my hoi polloi high schooler was just accepted to UVA (Honors), W&M, Brown, and WUSTL. I'll take the hoi polloi any day!

yeah, but a lot more of 'em go to Northern Virginia Community College, Mary Washington and places like that.

Wrong. I have a senior and have seen where these kids have been accepted. Pretty incredible. You clearly don't know what you're talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AAP is highly correlated to TJ and for TJ grads UVA is like a safety school.

That must be why so many of them go to UVA!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AAP is highly correlated to TJ and for TJ grads UVA is like a safety school.

There is a big difference between correlation and causation. A bright student will have a higher chance of getting into TJ regardless of AAP or Gen Ed. A bright student will have a higher chance of getting into UVA regardless of TJ.

IME and IMO, when comparing Gen Ed to AAP or TJ verses another HS in FCPS, it is the student, not the program or the school that has the most impact on his/her success. After the student, it is the parents and home situation and has the most impact. THen the individual teachers a student has.

I think the AAP program and the Gen ED program have the merits and both need to be tweaked- but AAP is not the Holy Grail and Gen Ed is not Holy Hell. I've said this before, IME as a parent at Chesterbrook and Longfellow with AAP and Gen Ed, it is the individual teachers that have more impact on a student's success than which program that they are placed. There are some really great teachers in both AAP and Gen Ed, most are perfectly fine in both and there are some duds in both too. I would also say that a really great teacher for one student may be a complete dud for another. The vast majority of teachers I have seen do well with most of the population of students. There are a few extremely lauded teachers that have a 'niche' population of students, but do poorly outside of their niche and sometimes I wish that the teachers that do well with the wider swaths of the population would get more credit. When I say "niche", I do not mean AAP, I mean a much smaller population within Gen Ed or AAP.

Beautifully stated.