HB Woodlawn provides unfair advantage to students for college since no intensified classes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s not forget HB that there are no intensified classes offered. You keep talking about AP classes but fail to mention that your students are taking all basic classes with those. The students at Yorktown, Wakefield, and W&L are having to take these AP classes along with intensified classes to be competitive.

In the end it didn't matter whether my kid got into H-B or went to their home school because in tenth grade they were diagnosed with schizophrenia and our expectation that they would go to a top college or university (which started diminishing in middle school) completely evaporated. Those of you who have kids with the capacity to handle multiple intensive or AP classes at any school and all of the other capabilities needed to get into and succeed in college should count your blessings and stop complaining about what you don't have. We had to learn how to convert a 529 into an ABLE account and now we worry about things like homelessness, not roommate issues. Take the W.

Oof. Good perspective, PP. Good luck with your kiddo, I hope things level out and work out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s not forget HB that there are no intensified classes offered. You keep talking about AP classes but fail to mention that your students are taking all basic classes with those. The students at Yorktown, Wakefield, and W&L are having to take these AP classes along with intensified classes to be competitive.

You are very fixated on a small number of students at one school and how, you perceive, they have a leg up on your student. And really, given that not all students at HBW are aiming to compete for top schools, it’s really even a small cohort you are obsessing about.

My guess is that you wanted your high achieving student to attend HBW but did not get a spot. If that is the case, I am very sorry about that. Personally, I wish that HBW would get rid of the middle school and expand the high school seats so that more students can see if HBW is the right school for them.

I mean who doesn’t want a free private school experience??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s not forget HB that there are no intensified classes offered. You keep talking about AP classes but fail to mention that your students are taking all basic classes with those. The students at Yorktown, Wakefield, and W&L are having to take these AP classes along with intensified classes to be competitive.

You are very fixated on a small number of students at one school and how, you perceive, they have a leg up on your student. And really, given that not all students at HBW are aiming to compete for top schools, it’s really even a small cohort you are obsessing about.

My guess is that you wanted your high achieving student to attend HBW but did not get a spot. If that is the case, I am very sorry about that. Personally, I wish that HBW would get rid of the middle school and expand the high school seats so that more students can see if HBW is the right school for them.

I mean who doesn’t want a free private school experience??

Except for class size, it is not a private school experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s not forget HB that there are no intensified classes offered. You keep talking about AP classes but fail to mention that your students are taking all basic classes with those. The students at Yorktown, Wakefield, and W&L are having to take these AP classes along with intensified classes to be competitive.

You are very fixated on a small number of students at one school and how, you perceive, they have a leg up on your student. And really, given that not all students at HBW are aiming to compete for top schools, it’s really even a small cohort you are obsessing about.

My guess is that you wanted your high achieving student to attend HBW but did not get a spot. If that is the case, I am very sorry about that. Personally, I wish that HBW would get rid of the middle school and expand the high school seats so that more students can see if HBW is the right school for them.

I mean who doesn’t want a free private school experience??

What private school doesn’t have a pool, multiple extracurricular clubs and sports, fields, state of the art facilities for arts and sciences, a counseling department whose only job is to place kids in elite colleges? HBW has none of that. The only comparison you can make to a private school is that every grade is small, which has its pros and cons.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:No pressure to take intensified classes since there aren’t any at HB and therefore kids will always be in the most rigorous classes for purposes of colleges until they take AP their junior or senior year. This does not seem fair.

What is the unfair advantage? Being less challenged before going on to college?

I don't know who the H-B hater is on this board but you need to find a productive hobby. This one is pretty sad.

Don’t be coy. The counselors will mark their transcript “most rigorous” and they are ranked the same as a IB diploma WL grad. Admissions aren’t looking at individual courses for every applicant. On top of the small school size it’s a great advantage.

They are challenged fine, because the on level courses can be taught with more rigor because they don’t have kids who can barely read with checkout parents in their general population (thanks opt in only lottery).

College admissions is not some purely quantitative formula where every input matters down to the fourth decimal point. For one thing, rigor of the high school program is only looked at to evaluate the GPA, which is given less weight than test scores assuming you sent them in. And at most of the top 50-100 schools and at all of the public colleges and universities in Virginia, there are dozens if not hundreds of kids with the exact same stats and profiles. An H-B graduate versus an IB diploma from WL doesn't matter that much in a pool of 56,000 applications to UVA. The advantage at H-B is for the kids themselves--preparing them for college by giving them more independence and responsibility, and giving more individual-level support with the application process. But it's not an advantage in admissions decisions.

"Who Gets In and Why" clearly showed they don't look at individual transcripts that closely, they mostly look at GPA combined with the flag as "most rigorous" course selection from the counselor. Which is way way easier to get with fewer tough courses at HB.

I guess you can say it doesn't matter because "numbers" but in the end its still an edge.

lol, you read one book and think you know it all about college admissions. Get back to us after your kid actually goes through it.

That’s pretty myopic. Thinking your experience applying to what a dozen schools is more valuable than a deeply researched and referenced book by a respected author?

News flash, I read the book too. It's not the only authority on the subject. Maybe go listen to some of the podcasts from admission deans. Or work with a college counselor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s not forget HB that there are no intensified classes offered. You keep talking about AP classes but fail to mention that your students are taking all basic classes with those. The students at Yorktown, Wakefield, and W&L are having to take these AP classes along with intensified classes to be competitive.

You are very fixated on a small number of students at one school and how, you perceive, they have a leg up on your student. And really, given that not all students at HBW are aiming to compete for top schools, it’s really even a small cohort you are obsessing about.

My guess is that you wanted your high achieving student to attend HBW but did not get a spot. If that is the case, I am very sorry about that. Personally, I wish that HBW would get rid of the middle school and expand the high school seats so that more students can see if HBW is the right school for them.

I mean who doesn’t want a free private school experience??

I thought private school kids had to dress up and call their teachers sir, not go barefoot, wander the halls, and call everyone by their first name....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think its a good idea for kids to take this many APs, anyhow. If they are really college-level classes, albeit spread over 2 semesters, that's a lot of work. I--like most people--took 4 college level classes per semester in college, and was not juggling 2 or 3 OTHER classes that had homework, papers, tests, etc. I never took higher level math, a lab science, reading and paper-heavy English and social science, and a language in the same semester.

This is LITERALLY OP’s point.

The arms race for most AP and IB courses is exhausting, but if you don’t compete with your peers, you are no longer “most rigorous path”.

Meanwhile over at HB, kids don’t have to kill themselves because their peers simply can’t load up and escalate the AP course load.

No I'm saying I never took higher level math + a lab science + reading and paper-heavy English + a social science + a language in the same semester in college and I think it's kind of crazy that kids would do AP-level classes for all of those plus 2 or 3 other classes. For what? Read the college boards on Reddit, many of the kids doing this are miserable and the chances of getting in a top college are basically a crapshoot anyhow. Let them do a couple AP classes a year if they need/want the challenge but this loading up just to get their GPA up another tenth of a point or to go from "more rigorous" to "most rigorous" is crazy.

--mom of an H-b 11th grader and a current college student

Look, if you expect a kid who takes 2-3 APs to be compared equally to a kid that has taken 10-12, you are delusional. The kid taking the 10-12 APs either has higher aptitude or stronger work ethic (likely both) than the other kid. If you want to get into a t-20 school, you're going to have to suck it up and play the game. If t-20 isn't your goal, then you can relax a bit and not take such a demanding course load. It is all about choices. Don't be mad at the ambitious kids. FYI - the ambitious kids at ANY of the APS high schools do just fine. I don't really believe that any APS individual school gives a measurable advantage as far as I've seen.

The point is the ambitious kids at HB don’t have take the boatload of AP because they don’t have peers trying to. So not an advantage for admission per se, but they get same opportunities with less effort.

Who are you talking to at HB? I have a senior there now and there is plenty of pressure for kids to take a boatload of AP classes. Most of my child's friends and academic peers will have taken 11-14 AP classes by the time they graduate. Is that not a big enough boatload for you to consider them peers to kids at other schools?

This person isn't talking to anyone. They just have a beef about HB.

OP has a point though. The pressure to be a “top” student at WL is a lot higher than at HB, simply by the fact there are far fewer AP (and no IB) classes which means there is no advanced class arms race. Look at the PP, there are HB kids taking 6 APs, out of 14; you don’t think there are WL kids doing 6 AP/IB for much longer since they have like 40 advanced classes to mix and match.

What you are really saying is that kids at WL have an unfair disadvantage. This has nothing to do with HB.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think its a good idea for kids to take this many APs, anyhow. If they are really college-level classes, albeit spread over 2 semesters, that's a lot of work. I--like most people--took 4 college level classes per semester in college, and was not juggling 2 or 3 OTHER classes that had homework, papers, tests, etc. I never took higher level math, a lab science, reading and paper-heavy English and social science, and a language in the same semester.

This is LITERALLY OP’s point.

The arms race for most AP and IB courses is exhausting, but if you don’t compete with your peers, you are no longer “most rigorous path”.

Meanwhile over at HB, kids don’t have to kill themselves because their peers simply can’t load up and escalate the AP course load.

No I'm saying I never took hhigher level math + a lab science + reading and paper-heavy English + a social science + a language in the same semester in college and I think it's kind of crazy that kids would do AP-level classes for all of those plus 2 or 3 other classes. For what? Read the college boards on Reddit, many of the kids doing this are miserable and the chances of getting in a top college are basically a crapshoot anyhow. Let them do a couple AP classes a year if they need/want the challenge but this loading up just to get their GPA up another tenth of a point or to go from "more rigorous" to "most rigorous" is crazy.

--mom of an H-b 11th grader and a current college student

That was my freshman year engineering major workload. I think it’s pretty typical.

Oh no language so that’s true.

Yes, we all took calc and chem and English comp and econ our freshman year college, whether or not we were engineering majors. We didn't take FIVE classes.

Yes engineers at my school take 5 classes per semester, and one of them is a lab class (I think I actually had two labs because my high school didn’t have AP).

Just looked it up. Freshman year:

Physics (lab)
advanced chem (lab)
Multivar calc
European lit
Constitutional interpretation intro

OK well I still don't think a high school junior shouldn't be under pressure to do that kind of work to be get into college, and if a kid is taking more than 14 APs in high school (which is the assertion made that started this discussion) then something somewhere is broken

I don't know what to tell you, PP. The world has changed. The state flagships that kids used to be able to get into with 3.5s, 1100 SATs and an AP class or two are now only accepting kids with 4.0s, 1500 SATs and 10+ APs. The 3.5 GPA, 1100 SAT kids can still go to college, but it will be a 2nd or 3rd tier state school or less selective private. And that's fine. THOSE KIDS WILL BE FINE.

OP somehow thinks that HB kids are slacking and still getting into t-20s, and this is not the case.

I know there is a difference between 3.5s, 1100 SATs and an AP class or two and 4.0s, 1500 SATs and 10+ APs. I'm saying there isn't a difference between 4.0s, 1500 SATs and 10+ APs and 4.0s, 1500 SATs and 4 APs, especially if you are an upper middle class kid with college educated parents coming from Arlington Virginia, and the parents and kids that stress themselves out taking that heavy a courseload junior and senior year are doing themselves a disservice, at the end of the day T20 admission is pretty much a lottery.

Its a lot of pressure during the school year, its a lot of pressure at exam time, and its a lot of pressure at application time--kids feel like they a) failed or b) wasted their high school years if/when they don't get into the top schools, which most won't just due to numbers. Why set up your kid for that, when they could have a more balanced experience, more realistic expectations (genuinely treat T-20 schools as a reach and not something they are entitled to because of their grades/scores), and better mental health?

If you are OP, that's an entirely different subject than you posted originally. The original premise was that kids at HB have an unfair advantage and don't have to take as many AP classes as others for their schedules to be considered of highest rigor. That statement is false. (If you're not OP, then my comment doesn't pertain to you. I happen to agree that the arms race is ridiculous and too much pressure. I just don't want anyone to think that kids at HB aren't experiencing the very same things that kids at other high schools are. They just have fewer options. That's the only difference.)

+1 from another HB parent. Same pressure. If anyone thinks HB kids are a bunch of low-key slackers, think again. My HB senior took 9 AP classes, and many kids took even more. I know of one student who took SIX AP classes at one time.

My non-HB kid is will have taken 8 AP classes by graduation, 5 of them as a senior - despite the 20-whatever AP classes offered. I think OP is off their rocker and ignorant of what the majority of students are taking. Yes, there is what is probably a relatively small % of students taking egads of AP level courses. But I don't see how any student can even fit 20 AP classes into their 4 years. If HB only offered 2 or 3 AP classes, I could start to see a disadvantage relative to other Arlington high schools. But they don't. They offer more than most students at any high school end up taking.

This is exactly it. My HB senior did not take ALL of the AP classes available.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think its a good idea for kids to take this many APs, anyhow. If they are really college-level classes, albeit spread over 2 semesters, that's a lot of work. I--like most people--took 4 college level classes per semester in college, and was not juggling 2 or 3 OTHER classes that had homework, papers, tests, etc. I never took higher level math, a lab science, reading and paper-heavy English and social science, and a language in the same semester.

This is LITERALLY OP’s point.

The arms race for most AP and IB courses is exhausting, but if you don’t compete with your peers, you are no longer “most rigorous path”.

Meanwhile over at HB, kids don’t have to kill themselves because their peers simply can’t load up and escalate the AP course load.

No I'm saying I never took higher level math + a lab science + reading and paper-heavy English + a social science + a language in the same semester in college and I think it's kind of crazy that kids would do AP-level classes for all of those plus 2 or 3 other classes. For what? Read the college boards on Reddit, many of the kids doing this are miserable and the chances of getting in a top college are basically a crapshoot anyhow. Let them do a couple AP classes a year if they need/want the challenge but this loading up just to get their GPA up another tenth of a point or to go from "more rigorous" to "most rigorous" is crazy.

--mom of an H-b 11th grader and a current college student

Look, if you expect a kid who takes 2-3 APs to be compared equally to a kid that has taken 10-12, you are delusional. The kid taking the 10-12 APs either has higher aptitude or stronger work ethic (likely both) than the other kid. If you want to get into a t-20 school, you're going to have to suck it up and play the game. If t-20 isn't your goal, then you can relax a bit and not take such a demanding course load. It is all about choices. Don't be mad at the ambitious kids. FYI - the ambitious kids at ANY of the APS high schools do just fine. I don't really believe that any APS individual school gives a measurable advantage as far as I've seen.

The point is the ambitious kids at HB don’t have take the boatload of AP because they don’t have peers trying to. So not an advantage for admission per se, but they get same opportunities with less effort.

Who are you talking to at HB? I have a senior there now and there is plenty of pressure for kids to take a boatload of AP classes. Most of my child's friends and academic peers will have taken 11-14 AP classes by the time they graduate. Is that not a big enough boatload for you to consider them peers to kids at other schools?

This person isn't talking to anyone. They just have a beef about HB.

OP has a point though. The pressure to be a “top” student at WL is a lot higher than at HB, simply by the fact there are far fewer AP (and no IB) classes which means there is no advanced class arms race. Look at the PP, there are HB kids taking 6 APs, out of 14; you don’t think there are WL kids doing 6 AP/IB for much longer since they have like 40 advanced classes to mix and match.

I've been to WL. This is not why it's a greater pressure cooker. It's just in the air there. You feel it when you walk in the door. Those kids are stressed and it's not all coming from the school. The kids do it to themselves, their parents contribute. The presence of IB there does add to it when you compare to the other schools; but it's a MUCH MUCH larger school - which makes it harder to be at the top right off the bat - with a community constantly touting how incredibly great and top-notch and successful the school is yadda yadda.

Part of the lure of HBW program is precisely the "freedom" students have - the atmosphere is much more casual and relaxed. That doesn't mean students aren't taking a substantial courseload, or a workload less than high achieving students at YHS or WHS. The only difference is WL because of IB, making it the school with the most rigorous offerings. However, I would argue AT is a very demanding program and gets shafted in this whole debate.

Nevertheless, I'd say the problem is WL. It's the one with higher expectations and greater pressure on its students. Eliminate the ability of any WL student to access individual IB classes and see what impact that has. Make IB a truly separate program. OP is wrong. Non-full IB WL students are the ones with the advantages, if anyone.

I don't think this would really make much difference. WL already offers AP versions of most of the IB classes. There are just a few that are only IB and if it became IB-only-for-diploma students, there would be pressure for those teachers to just do another section as AP. Both my kids only took 1 IB class + the rest AP. Those were IBs that didn't have an AP alternative offered -- Economics, and Environmental Science. But AP alternatives do exist and WL could choose to offer those if there was enough demand.

I do think the pressure mostly comes from more high-achieving kids transferring in for the IB program, which ratchets things up for everyone. Even if the IB students took all their classes together in 11-12th, not with other WL students, they are all mixed together in 9-10th. I insisted my kids limit to 3 APs in junior year (they have ADHD) and they thought that was seen as a really light schedule, which is ridiculous. We also did not focus on talking about college, pushing for prestigious schools, etc. but DD still absorbed that from her peers. I realized in 10th grade we need to start being a lot more explicit about how there are many colleges where she could get a great education for her interests while still taking a healthy-for-her schedule.

Then it doesn't seem IB is worth continuing. Not many graduate with an IB diploma, and you're saying there aren't many IB-only classes anyway. Save the money and eliminate the program.

I don't think it's fair or right to blame the relative handful of IB transfer students for the pressure. That's ludicrous. If you don't let the outsiders in, things would be fine? I don't buy that for a minute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s not forget HB that there are no intensified classes offered. You keep talking about AP classes but fail to mention that your students are taking all basic classes with those. The students at Yorktown, Wakefield, and W&L are having to take these AP classes along with intensified classes to be competitive.

You are very fixated on a small number of students at one school and how, you perceive, they have a leg up on your student. And really, given that not all students at HBW are aiming to compete for top schools, it’s really even a small cohort you are obsessing about.

My guess is that you wanted your high achieving student to attend HBW but did not get a spot. If that is the case, I am very sorry about that. Personally, I wish that HBW would get rid of the middle school and expand the high school seats so that more students can see if HBW is the right school for them.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s not forget HB that there are no intensified classes offered. You keep talking about AP classes but fail to mention that your students are taking all basic classes with those. The students at Yorktown, Wakefield, and W&L are having to take these AP classes along with intensified classes to be competitive.

You are very fixated on a small number of students at one school and how, you perceive, they have a leg up on your student. And really, given that not all students at HBW are aiming to compete for top schools, it’s really even a small cohort you are obsessing about.

My guess is that you wanted your high achieving student to attend HBW but did not get a spot. If that is the case, I am very sorry about that. Personally, I wish that HBW would get rid of the middle school and expand the high school seats so that more students can see if HBW is the right school for them.

I mean who doesn’t want a free private school experience??

I thought private school kids had to dress up and call their teachers sir, not go barefoot, wander the halls, and call everyone by their first name....

Have you not ever looked at Burke?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think its a good idea for kids to take this many APs, anyhow. If they are really college-level classes, albeit spread over 2 semesters, that's a lot of work. I--like most people--took 4 college level classes per semester in college, and was not juggling 2 or 3 OTHER classes that had homework, papers, tests, etc. I never took higher level math, a lab science, reading and paper-heavy English and social science, and a language in the same semester.

This is LITERALLY OP’s point.

The arms race for most AP and IB courses is exhausting, but if you don’t compete with your peers, you are no longer “most rigorous path”.

Meanwhile over at HB, kids don’t have to kill themselves because their peers simply can’t load up and escalate the AP course load.

No I'm saying I never took higher level math + a lab science + reading and paper-heavy English + a social science + a language in the same semester in college and I think it's kind of crazy that kids would do AP-level classes for all of those plus 2 or 3 other classes. For what? Read the college boards on Reddit, many of the kids doing this are miserable and the chances of getting in a top college are basically a crapshoot anyhow. Let them do a couple AP classes a year if they need/want the challenge but this loading up just to get their GPA up another tenth of a point or to go from "more rigorous" to "most rigorous" is crazy.

--mom of an H-b 11th grader and a current college student

Look, if you expect a kid who takes 2-3 APs to be compared equally to a kid that has taken 10-12, you are delusional. The kid taking the 10-12 APs either has higher aptitude or stronger work ethic (likely both) than the other kid. If you want to get into a t-20 school, you're going to have to suck it up and play the game. If t-20 isn't your goal, then you can relax a bit and not take such a demanding course load. It is all about choices. Don't be mad at the ambitious kids. FYI - the ambitious kids at ANY of the APS high schools do just fine. I don't really believe that any APS individual school gives a measurable advantage as far as I've seen.

The point is the ambitious kids at HB don’t have take the boatload of AP because they don’t have peers trying to. So not an advantage for admission per se, but they get same opportunities with less effort.

Who are you talking to at HB? I have a senior there now and there is plenty of pressure for kids to take a boatload of AP classes. Most of my child's friends and academic peers will have taken 11-14 AP classes by the time they graduate. Is that not a big enough boatload for you to consider them peers to kids at other schools?

This person isn't talking to anyone. They just have a beef about HB.

OP has a point though. The pressure to be a “top” student at WL is a lot higher than at HB, simply by the fact there are far fewer AP (and no IB) classes which means there is no advanced class arms race. Look at the PP, there are HB kids taking 6 APs, out of 14; you don’t think there are WL kids doing 6 AP/IB for much longer since they have like 40 advanced classes to mix and match.

What you are really saying is that kids at WL have an unfair disadvantage. This has nothing to do with HB.

Exactly. The APS mainstream high schools have a disadvantage that HB does not. HB does not have an advantage at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think its a good idea for kids to take this many APs, anyhow. If they are really college-level classes, albeit spread over 2 semesters, that's a lot of work. I--like most people--took 4 college level classes per semester in college, and was not juggling 2 or 3 OTHER classes that had homework, papers, tests, etc. I never took higher level math, a lab science, reading and paper-heavy English and social science, and a language in the same semester.

This is LITERALLY OP’s point.

The arms race for most AP and IB courses is exhausting, but if you don’t compete with your peers, you are no longer “most rigorous path”.

Meanwhile over at HB, kids don’t have to kill themselves because their peers simply can’t load up and escalate the AP course load.

No I'm saying I never took higher level math + a lab science + reading and paper-heavy English + a social science + a language in the same semester in college and I think it's kind of crazy that kids would do AP-level classes for all of those plus 2 or 3 other classes. For what? Read the college boards on Reddit, many of the kids doing this are miserable and the chances of getting in a top college are basically a crapshoot anyhow. Let them do a couple AP classes a year if they need/want the challenge but this loading up just to get their GPA up another tenth of a point or to go from "more rigorous" to "most rigorous" is crazy.

--mom of an H-b 11th grader and a current college student

Look, if you expect a kid who takes 2-3 APs to be compared equally to a kid that has taken 10-12, you are delusional. The kid taking the 10-12 APs either has higher aptitude or stronger work ethic (likely both) than the other kid. If you want to get into a t-20 school, you're going to have to suck it up and play the game. If t-20 isn't your goal, then you can relax a bit and not take such a demanding course load. It is all about choices. Don't be mad at the ambitious kids. FYI - the ambitious kids at ANY of the APS high schools do just fine. I don't really believe that any APS individual school gives a measurable advantage as far as I've seen.

The point is the ambitious kids at HB don’t have take the boatload of AP because they don’t have peers trying to. So not an advantage for admission per se, but they get same opportunities with less effort.

Who are you talking to at HB? I have a senior there now and there is plenty of pressure for kids to take a boatload of AP classes. Most of my child's friends and academic peers will have taken 11-14 AP classes by the time they graduate. Is that not a big enough boatload for you to consider them peers to kids at other schools?

This person isn't talking to anyone. They just have a beef about HB.

OP has a point though. The pressure to be a “top” student at WL is a lot higher than at HB, simply by the fact there are far fewer AP (and no IB) classes which means there is no advanced class arms race. Look at the PP, there are HB kids taking 6 APs, out of 14; you don’t think there are WL kids doing 6 AP/IB for much longer since they have like 40 advanced classes to mix and match.

What you are really saying is that kids at WL have an unfair disadvantage. This has nothing to do with HB.

Exactly. The APS mainstream high schools have a disadvantage that HB does not. HB does not have an advantage at all.

No. The person's point is that there is too much pressure at WL because of the IB program. But again that's just WL, not YHS or WHS. So the right comparison is WL vs. all the others. Again this has nothing to do with HB.

[Anonymous]

Are you a student or a parent? This seems like faulty logic a kid would latch on to.

[Anonymous]

Getting back to the OP, it's insane to me that someone thinks their kid is at a disadvantage because their kid is at a school with opportunities for intensified classes vs a school that does not have them.

If your kid doesn't want to take intensified classes, then they are not cut out for a selective college. They are just not. The kids who do will in college admissions are those who really want the opportunity to be challenged and thrive in challenging classes. It doesn't sound like this is your kid, OP. Deal with that.