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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This thread echoes the typical refrain of admins when parents question how BASIS handles college counseling and applications. What you get is, don't complain, BASIS is free and has a fantastic track record in admissions. If you're unhappy it's because your kid isn't all that good.

I see room for improvement. Some DC privates competing with BASIS in admissions are adapting better to a changing admissions landscape.

For example there are privates and public schools in the burbs that have started [b]advising seniors aiming for Ivies to take 1-2 Cambridge A-Levels in Nov of senior year[/b]. This approach gives rising seniors 5 months after the last APs they've taken whose scores come in time to go with Jan applications to prep for additional standardized subject tests. A-Levels are on a par with IB Diploma higher level exams. Cambridge scores help seniors stand out on college applications.

At privates, AP course work doesn't wrap up junior year. BASIS could offer seniors more flexibility but the franchise is set in its ways. If you doubt this as a BASIS parent, ask the college counselor about Cambridge exams.[/quote]

So wait - a big complaint elsewhere in this thread is that BASIS is too focused on tests (APs).  So the solution is to focus on a new/different/additional set of tests - Cambridge A levels??!  And with respect to college admissions - at this point, doesn't everyone know that a kid needs to have straight As plus top test scores plus extra/outside school activities- and even then admission to the "top" schools is a crapshoot?  What is the magic that college counselors can (and are failing to) perform?[/quote]

Don't be a wise ass. Almost all colleges have gone test optional lately, so there's more emphasis on standardized subject test scores in admissions than before. Some types of test are better than others, e.g. British A-Levels not graded by computers, where work has to be spelled out, languages must be understood and spoken in lengthy interviews. By cutting BASIS seniors off from course work, too much gets crammed in by the end of junior year, particularly problematic for language study (immersion language study after junior year not relevant to AP testing in time for Jan applications). If Cambridge exam taking in fall of senior year weren't a good idea, Sidwell, NCS, GDS etc. wouldn't be pushing it. BASIS admins/counselors tend to be sticks in the mud. No argument there. If the College Board would allow AP testing in the fall, which they've been discussing forever, things would be different.[/quote]

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