Reply to For Langley/McLean, how many AP classes should a student shoot for to be taking a most rigorous courseload

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My kid went to McLean and is at sn ivy for college. 9 APs and mulitvariable calc. APs were all “hard” except comp sci a.

In the end I don’t think it’s the number of APs you take. I think it’s the entire package. Are you taking APs that makes sense for your intended major. And do you have extracurriculars where you made an impact on your community. 
[/quote]

I think this is correct. It's not an absolute number, but rather how does it fit in the overall narrative of the applicant. At schools like Langley and McLean - and the Ws across the river - you cannot get into an arms race over the number of APs taken. You will be dead of exhaustion if you play that game.

But obviously if you are shooting for UVA and Top 30s, rigor is going to be important. English and math. If you can max what's available at the high school, that's good. But then it's about being strategic. There is only so much time in the day. For someone with STEM aspirations, they should shoot for Calculus BC and ideally MV. But they should probably take a pass on a notorious time suck class like AP World.

Someone with law school aspirations might make different calculations and take AP World, but Calculus AB instead of BC and then MV.

Try to spread it out a bit. I think you can take AP Gov or something similar freshman year. Try two more sophomore year, but if it's too much, don't hesitate dropping down a level. Try to mitigate the inevitable insanity of junior year and first semester senior year. Besides English and math, the AP classes should follow the student's natural interests. Don't worry too much about the actual number. Think of it as one part of a larger story - the ECs, the essays, the test scores, the recommendation letters and so on.

But maintain sanity. Avoid comparing with the students who have turned high school into a Bataan Death March.  [/quote]

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