Reply to APs count more in first 3 years of high school?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]To answer OP's question, a student should first know what type of university he/she is shooting for.  If planning to apply to top 20 schools, student should absolutely show rigor in course selection.  How that rigor is demonstrated all depends on the school.  Some schools offer many many AP classes starting in freshman year.   Some don't offer APs until junior year.  And on the other extreme, some schools do not offer any APs (but have rigorous courses).

That being said, if your student is not shooting for a top school, then there is less risk in not selecting the most rigorous course load.  The student is competing against other students in his/her school who will certainly be taking a rigorous course load in order to gain admission to ivy or top 20.  What that means is in a school that offers many APs, the student would be expected to take many APs.  It is a sad truth, and a choice that the student needs to make.  Another thing to consider is that with the common app making applying to schools as easy as the push of a button, the kids who are enrolled in rigorous courses and targeting top schools are applying to many many schools, including the schools that would be considered their safties.  So even if you are not gunning for the tippy top schools, you will still be competing against your classmates who apply to your target schools.

For my son, he was shooting for a top 20 (not an ivy).  His school does not offer APs until junior year.  He took two in junior year and four in senior year.  FWIW, he had excellent test scores.  He was admitted to his first choice along with every other school he applied to.  Someone from a public school with many APs available would not have had the same outcome with the identical course load.

[b]The bottom line is that unfortunately the public schools that have APs starting in freshman year have created a very high pressure and stressful high school culture.  Especially in the high performing public schools (like the W schools in MCPS), students are loading up on these APs at too young an age.  To make things even more challenging, there is rampant grade inflation -- probably the result of lowering the bar for students who are unable to handle the AP courses at such a young age.   Change is needed.
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I totally agree with this.  And guess who the beneficiary of all of this is ... you guessed it, the College Board who gets fees to approve the curriculum and classes, for all of the tests and for all of the score reporting.  Cha Ching![/quote]

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