Reply to Number of AP classes for top 20% of MCPS HS grads?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]As a parent and college counselor working with students applying to top 20 schools, I advise that taking the AP exam isn't always necessary, especially if your child isn’t interested in earning college credit. The added stress might not be worth it. Colleges primarily value the rigor of the AP course and the weighted GPA it provides. However, achieving an 'A' in the class itself can significantly strengthen their application. And I have plenty of examples of acceptances to prove this.[/quote]

There is zero downside to taking the AP exam. You don’t like the score you can expunge it. [b]If the added stress to take an exam is not worth it, then what are you going to do in college.[/b]

If there’s no score for the AP class it will be noted.[/quote]

so you are saying - even for kids who wants to study psychology in college, it's better to take AP Calc BC exam - lol[/quote]

100% yes. If the kid who wants to study psychology took the AP calculus BC class, they should sit for the AP exam. Otherwise the admission officers will be assuming the worst, eg no passing score. That’s why a lot of AP classes require the student to take the exam. You can demonstrate rigor with classes taken, grades and exam scores, preferably all.[/quote]

+1 And the AP exam creates a standardization across public and private schools. Different teachers at different schools grade differently, but the AP exam is graded externally across schools. [/quote]

That’s why private schools don’t like APs.  They can pontificate about how great their unique  curriculums are, but at the end of the day they don’t like that a child in McPS can also take and excel at 15 APs and get into the same colleges as the private school kid without paying 40k a year. [/quote]

This is false. I have one kid in MCPS and one in private. I don't care that my kid in private will take fewer AP classes than my younger child (if they stay in MCPS for HS). I don't care because I recognize that 1. the college AO will get a sheet from our school showing that my DD took the highest level of rigor available to her and the AO will evaluate her against others from the same school, 2. I value the independence of the school to offer courses that make sense for the community and work with the schedule (most privates have a rotating block schedule which we love, but it does have implications for AP classes), and 3. I am not sold on the APs classes prepare you best for college theory; two of DD's toughest classes were "regular" honors classes and one of her APs was honestly a joke (Stat). Also, PP is not taking into account the reality that most private parents are making that choice because they want a different overall experience than what they could expect at MCPS--a factor that goes well beyond the number of APs a school offers.

[b]That said, if everyone at your public takes 15 (or whatever) APs, your kid had best do the same. [/quote][/b]

Why?  Not every kid in private is taking the most advance courses or course load.  HS can still offer AP courses while having a block schedule (my niece goes to a school that does just this).  The sheet about rigorous and profile of HS is sent from all HS both public and private.

As folks keep saying do what is right for your kid and stop trying to compare public and private.

[/quote]

Pp you are replying to. When I said if all the kids on your public are taking X number of APs, your kid should too, that was in response to the OPs question about what kids need to do AP wise to be in the top 20% of the class. Of course your kid should do what makes the best sense for them and if that’s all APs, great.  If it’s a mix, great. If it’s none, great. It’s is however important to understand what all of that means re college admissions. [/quote]

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