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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This was my college roommate. Had straight A's from tiny town hihg school in PA. I thought he'd kick my butt, me being a B-average student from a "W" school in MoCo. We were both in engineering so not easy stuff.

His grades the first yet? All F's except for 1 D. He transferred out right after. I guess in his HS, just showing up gets you a B, and turning in your assignment on time gets you an A.[/quote]

This is least intelligent post I have read in a while, which says a lot since I read the 2nd wives thread.[/quote]

Nah, that one was OK. The one about "manipulating AP tests" was dumb, as was the one about getting someone else to take the SAT for you. For a year or so now, the College Board has required that you upload your photo when you register, and that you show ID on the day of the test. I don't think you can change your registration photo. So if your plan was to get different people to take your various AP and SAT subject tests for you, you're SOL.

I agree that it's widely known that colleges' regional reps understand the relative rigor at different high schools within their assigned regions. Also that many colleges reweight your transcript according to their own, proprietary formulas.[/quote]

You can manipulate your GPA with AP classes especially if your tiger mom does your projects and you have top notch tutors.[/quote]

OK, you really don't understand how this works, do you? I nominate your "get your tiger mom to do your AP projects for you" as the least intelligent post today. AP classes are nothing like the middle school science fair, unless your tiger mom also happens to be an NIH chemist or a university history prof.

For the record, most selective universities start with your UNweighted GPA, i.e., they give your A in AP World History a 4 not a 5. Then they reweight it using their own system. They may well give more weight to an AP class--but that's because AP classes are harder than regular or honors classes. High school honors classes are pretty easy, frankly. AP classes are supposed to be college-level classes, so the kid is working harder. Don't you think more work might deserve a higher weight?

The tutor thing is an advantage that rich kids have over poor kids. Yes, rich kids can buy extra help. But at the end of the day, kids in AP classes still have to master more material than kids in regular or honors classes.

[/quote]

Okay, so you don't know how it works. My sister teaches in a high school and all the parents do their kids outside research. Most their tiger moms have advanced degrees. You are delusional if you think these kids do original research and hand in projects done without professional help.

Her principal has flipped 1/2 the projects to in school projects with lectures being viewed at home because it is impossible to get moms and dads out of the mix.

I don't care if they weight AP classes with a silver spoon but the fact is people are playing the system.

Even though selective school redo GPAs, less selective do not. Also, more selective schools look at how rigorous the schedule is and when your mom and a tutor do some of your homework for you and edit/rewrite all you research papers it is much easier to take a rigorous schedule.

In the end no matter how much an AP student has to master vs another student ... They are missing out mastering things like resilience, independence and emotional intelligence other kids are mastering without their parents doing their work for them.[/quote]

I'm not the poster you are responding to, but I think you're being overly dramatic and definitely relying on anecdotal "evidence" to back up your theory that ALL students who take AP tests have their parents do their work. Although I'm confident that there are some idiot parents out there who are so desperate for their kids to go that Ivies or other selective schools that they do their kids' work for them and I also believe that the teachers and school administrators have to change things because of overly involved parents, but your sweeping generalizations that AP classes are worthless because some people do this is rather odd. It's a slap in the face to the kids who do work their asses off in these difficult classes and do well. My DD didn't take AP classes, but was in an IB program of which she never received any help from me or her father. She was there to learn, worked her butt off and did quite well. I wouldn't have done her work for her if she asked, but she never once asked. She WANTED to do it herself and, you know what, so did all of her friends.[/quote]

I am sure you are proud of your daughter and all her work, but it is equally impressive if a kid helps support his family working and gets pretty good grades in non-Ib/AP classes... Or a kid is a star athlete which is equivalent to a full time job and gets alright grades... Or a child with dyslexia that works their ass off for B's.

It's not like she has cured cancer, I smart sure end is a good student, but good students are a fine a dozen..

This is why northern VA kids have such so hard time getting into UVA, they may have better scores than somebody in south western Va. but that does not make them "better".[/quote]

NoVa kids have a hard time getting into some state schools because the schools admit less qualified students from other parts of the state to ensure support for continued funding by the state legislature.  The NoVa kids are clearly discriminated against because of their address, but so it goes.  [/quote]

They are state schools.  Part of their mission is to seek qualified applicants from all parts of the state.  If you don't like it, convince the state to set up University of Virginia-McLean[/quote]

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