Reply to Lessons Learned- College Admissions- If you had to do it all again.....

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What do the boxes say after most rigorous?[/quote]

According to my child's HS counselor, the next box is "very demanding", which is what she gave his transcript. 10 AP/IB classes but didn't do the full IB Diploma.[/quote]

I don't get this category. Are they going to keep escalating until 16 year olds are have to produce Ph.d thesis level work?  At the same time, they want kids to "follow their passion", but how can they do that with 20 AP classes?  And while showing commitment to band, foreign languages, service, sport etc etc. And then the colleges will turn around and chose the girl who grew up traveling on the rodeo circuit anyway.[/quote]

This is why you should try to resist the temptation of the rat race.  It is unreasonable and unhealthy for teens to be spread this thin.  Let your child do what works for him/her.  Don’t sacrifice sleep, mental and physical well being just for a check box or just to make some AO happy.  Having gone through this admission cycle, we are glad that DC followed his own path, worked hard on his passion and gave his best in school but maintained his sanity throughout.  We gave up travel sport opportunities so he can focus on school work and part time job where he gets to pursue his passion.  In the end having 5 APs instead of 10+ still landed him in T10 and T20 schools.  He only had a handful of bedtimes that went pass midnight.

Just to be clear, he was prepared to be shut out given his 5 APs, but he also understands if a school can only focus on the nbr of APs or the perfect SAT, then it is not a good fit for him.  He rather not spend $70K to be at a place where he is miserable.[/quote]

Seems like a outlier for admission to T10 and T20 and shouldn’t be taken as lessons learnt for others in general [/quote]

I disagree.  DC's 5 APs are Comp Sci A (10th grader), Lang, APUSH, BC Calc, Physic C, Stats.  Got all 5s with all A/A+ in these subjects.  He is also in post AP maths.  He spent 3 years in a class that is his passion, getting international awards with his team.  So the rigor and commitment are there.  Add leadership roles in student organizations, he has a lot to offer.  He is a pianist, but is not into the competition circuit.  He uses his musical talent in the form of performances at senior homes.

My point is to curate the academic load and the ECs carefully to allow the student to pursue what works for him/her with lots of balance.  DC could've gone down the road of practicing piano for 3 hours a day while playing a sport for another 2 hours, followed by homework for the umpteen APs he has to take.  He  didn't want to practice 3 -5 hours of piano so he can win some local competition.  He loves to play and does practice, but wants to spend those hours doing his AP homework, self teach scripting and SLEEP.  He loves to sleep.

The lesson for us this year is not in the "how my DC got into T10 w 5+ APs", but rather that we are glad he lived a balanced and happy high school life.  The admission worked out well for him and life goes on....[/quote]

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