My oldest is a freshman and I'm glad I didn't have to consider it this year. Next year he has selected to take AP Pre Calc and AP World History and I told him he's going to have to work hard and he says he's up for the challenge so I am going to allow it.

I think there are too many APs offered and I recently wondered where to draw the line in 11/12th grade. I don't want him to feel like he has to take them all. I recently had an epiphany from my time working as a college admissions counselor (a long time ago) (and I haven't yet hired a college counselor but may in the future) - that I think the 4 core classes - math, history, science, and social studies would be the ones to focus on. If you can't take it all 4 of those, I would suggest to him to prioritize the classes he is more interested in pursuing in college.

Elite college admissions are a total crapshoot even for the best of the best so nothing is worth making yourself totally miserable for IMO - since at best you only get a crapshoot even if you made yourself completely miserable.

This is a big topic of discussion in our hour right now as our junior is picking senior year courses. Our school doesn't allow APs until sophomore year and usually only 1 is approved in the social studies department.

9 - None
10 - 1 history AP
11 - 4 APs (science is 2 periods),(this leaves 2 non-AP spots)
12 - ?????

There are 7 periods, so a science elective is an issue. My kid is looking at 5/7 periods being AP again, but the question is will that be 4 or 5 courses. Unfortunately, this seems pretty common in their school.

So I get Calc BC, AP Chem, AP Physics etc are seen as rigorous. What are APs that are considered not rigorous? seminar? Research? Psych etc?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:our student is at a public HS with limited college or guidance counseling so he is pretty confused and we're from out of country.

he is aiming for UVA, Tufts etc. he knows that is hard. he is currently getting unweighted grades of B+ to A range.

how many APs should he take in junior year to be competitive? he's picking his courses next week.

This will depend on his high school. What school system is he in?

Some kids will do the same amount of work and get the same grade whether they take AP or not.

It may depend on the teacher whether the class is actually interesting, is a GPA killer, etc.

Parents also need to understand whether buying AP credits onto their child's college transcript is something they plan on doing. It doesn't make sense at some universities.

Maybe post your child's draft/sample course picks and then people could help better?

In the meantime, have your kid ask friends about the reputation of the classes at his school.

quality (rigor) over qty. For non STEM kids you'll still need to show that your kid is not hiding from these classes so some science/math rigor will be important. Even if not AP, should at least be honors level. Since your kid attends a competitive public, you can expect that his peers, even the STEM bound kids, may be applying to the same schools so that's where it gets a bit of a tougher call. Focus on ECs where they can stand out over those kids. But no need to add stress and take classes they're going to absolutely hate.

Anonymous wrote:our student is at a public HS with limited college or guidance counseling so he is pretty confused and we're from out of country.

he is aiming for UVA, Tufts etc. he knows that is hard. he is currently getting unweighted grades of B+ to A range.

how many APs should he take in junior year to be competitive? he's picking his courses next week.

This will depend on his high school. What school system is he in?

Anonymous wrote:how many APs are students typically taking prior to graduating high school?

my son's plan:

9th: no APs
10th: 1 AP
11th: 3 APs
12: 4 APs

Total: 8 APs

This is what my son did. It’s considered most rigorous at his private. There are prerequisites for the AP courses and dine you need to apply for (writing sample for AP lang, etc).

He has honors in others. His younger brother likely will have 4 Jr year because they bumped him a math level this year ;sophomore).

our student is at a public HS with limited college or guidance counseling so he is pretty confused and we're from out of country.

he is aiming for UVA, Tufts etc. he knows that is hard. he is currently getting unweighted grades of B+ to A range.

how many APs should he take in junior year to be competitive? he's picking his courses next week.

Anonymous wrote:My DD is at a competitive public HS where her peers are taking large number of AP courses "to look good for college". How much is too much. My daughter is an A- student, prefers humanities for college.

Her school has 6 courses per year. Currently she is considering 3 APs, 3 regular for next year.

Are you worried about the peers or you worried about your kid won't look good for college?

My daughter is taking 3 APs in junior year, and planning to take 4 APs in her senior year.

how many APs are students typically taking prior to graduating high school?

my son's plan:

9th: no APs
10th: 1 AP
11th: 3 APs
12: 4 APs

Total: 8 APs

Both my kids took 3 AP's this year, 11th grade. One will be taking 5 next year (1 is a single semester course only) and the other will be taking 6 (same single semester course + one outside of school).

They are not at a particularly competitive HS.

How many are too many will depend on the student. If this student might be aiming for highly selective colleges, I would shoot for 8-10 APs over the entire four years of high school.

There are posters here at DCUM who are under the mistaken impression that "most demanding" for rigor for highly selective colleges involves a race to take the most APs. That is incorrect. Rigor is part of an academics threshold, not a competition.

The other consideration may be weighted GPA. Check the high school's School Profile document to see the GPA distribution. Taking fewer unweighted classes where possible is one way to maximize weighted GPA, in addition to taking a reasonable number of APs.

Anonymous wrote:My DD is at a competitive public HS where her peers are taking large number of AP courses "to look good for college". How much is too much. My daughter is an A- student, prefers humanities for college.

Her school has 6 courses per year. Currently she is considering 3 APs, 3 regular for next year.

Exactly the same for my rising junior son. He’ll do 3 APs, 2 Honor, 1 elective.

Not sure how it will be perceived by colleges. He has classmates who will do more APs, but his elective is important to him. I am over caring what colleges think this point.

My DD is at a competitive public HS where her peers are taking large number of AP courses "to look good for college". How much is too much. My daughter is an A- student, prefers humanities for college.

Her school has 6 courses per year. Currently she is considering 3 APs, 3 regular for next year.