Reply to Not all high school good grades are equal at selective universities

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

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, many 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]

Is there any evidence that suggests that kids in AP classes are more likely to have parents doing their work for them?

The article indicates colleges are giving greater weight to the AP [i]exam[/i], not the AP grade, which should set your mind at ease. If Johnny's mom is doing all the work for him, so he gets an A in the class, it will be easy for colleges to see that something is amiss when he gets a 2 on the exam. While the kid who is soldiering through alone will actually be learning something and should perform better on the exam.[/quote]

They do talk about how wealth and tutors gives an advantage on test taking.

They also state... [i]But in an era of helicopter parenting, colleges increasingly worry that these essays aren't written by the student. To combat the possibility that parents, siblings or school counselors may be ghostwriting essays...[/i]

[/quote]

You don't seem to understand that tiger moms can't take the AP test for you, not even to write the essay.

Are you arguing that so many kids in AP Chem/History/French have a parent with a PhD in Chem/History/French that this is actually a significant problem in every AP Chem/History/French class? Please don't give me "this is the DC area" because I have kids in magnets here and I haven't seen the problem to the extent you're worried about.

PP is right. You should take comfort in the fact that all will be revealed when you send in a 2 on your AP test, and most kids send AP results to top colleges.

Also, you don't understand that "flipping the classroom" is a new educational model designed to take advantage of technology to cram more info and learning, by requiring kids to watch the online class first and then show up on class ready for discussion and practical exercises - more learning by doing. More hands-on, which helps with learning. It was NOT designed to keep moms away from projects, although that might be a side benefit for the occasion helicopter mom you're worried about. My college-age kid has some flipped classrooms. Google flipped classrooms. Also, I suggest you go back to your sister and talk to her again about this, and this time listen.[/quote]

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