Anonymous wrote:OP, none of us know if your son will get accepted. If he has a strong preference for one of those LAC colleges you listed, apply ED. He definitely has a shot, but be realistic and have other easier-admit choices that your son would be happy at! You mentioned Pitt, good option maybe add a few more that he loves.

Also, to add: have him work magic on his essays. You mentioned he has a strong sense of his personality and drive, colleges really like this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All I can tell you is my son's experience with this last year. Same AP's (he had 15, including AP BC calc, Phys C, etc). When he applied to colleges, he had a 3.9 uw at a W high school, and 5s in all APs taken to date (obviously there were a handful of APs he was taking senior year so wouldnt get those results until after he graduated).

When we asked whether the rigor or the grades were more important, we were told by his private college counselor, and by any admissions rep we asked this of while he was looking at colleges, that ideally the applicant will have all As AND the highest rigor of classes (not helpful!). His private counselor seemed to think his 3 Bs took a number of colleges off the table for him.

If your son is at a W high school, I don't think that GPA will be offset by the classes he is taking. There are too many other kids taking those classes who have all As.

Nonetheless, I still think he'll have a good chance at the colleges you listed, especially if he applies ED to one.

Your kid sounds impressive! Where did he end up?

A college along the lines of Wash U/Emory/BC.

He also had 1590 SAT, and a solid year round sport, some civic volunteering, but little other ECs. His private college counselor did not consider him a candidate for top schools but I appreciate your nice words

OP, none of us know if your son will get accepted. If he has a strong preference for one of those LAC colleges you listed, apply ED. He definitely has a shot, but be realistic and have other easier-admit choices that your son would be happy at! You mentioned Pitt, good option maybe add a few more that he loves.

my kid is at a private hs that doesn't teach AP curriculum anymore, but he took AP tests for possible credit down the road and was told by several t20 schools at a college fair that they "love" kids who self study for the exams.

so I'm thinking they really want to see scores if you took the class.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not true. AP tests are for college credit. They add little value for admission. In our district, the tests are around $100-$150 to take. Many kids are opting out due to cost and not qualifying for a fee reduction. Maybe it is school specific but this is the info we got from the school counselor.

wrong. More elite schools are looking fondly upon a kid that gets all 5s. Now with test optional and grade inflation they are looking at them as a sign of college readiness.

Georgetown used to require SAT subject tests. Now the AP exam scores can provide valuable information. With US pass rates of only 20% on may subjects, a kid scoring 5s across the board is a very strong applicant and speaks to the fact his course grade 'A' wasn't an inflated 'A'.

NYU even lets you submit a certain # of AP scores instead of ACT/SAT.

That’s good if you want to go test optional but this kid already has a high ACT

Anonymous wrote:All I can tell you is my son's experience with this last year. Same AP's (he had 15, including AP BC calc, Phys C, etc). When he applied to colleges, he had a 3.9 uw at a W high school, and 5s in all APs taken to date (obviously there were a handful of APs he was taking senior year so wouldnt get those results until after he graduated).

When we asked whether the rigor or the grades were more important, we were told by his private college counselor, and by any admissions rep we asked this of while he was looking at colleges, that ideally the applicant will have all As AND the highest rigor of classes (not helpful!). His private counselor seemed to think his 3 Bs took a number of colleges off the table for him.

If your son is at a W high school, I don't think that GPA will be offset by the classes he is taking. There are too many other kids taking those classes who have all As.

Nonetheless, I still think he'll have a good chance at the colleges you listed, especially if he applies ED to one.

Your kid sounds impressive! Where did he end up?

Anonymous wrote:All I can tell you is my son's experience with this last year. Same AP's (he had 15, including AP BC calc, Phys C, etc). When he applied to colleges, he had a 3.9 uw at a W high school, and 5s in all APs taken to date (obviously there were a handful of APs he was taking senior year so wouldnt get those results until after he graduated).

When we asked whether the rigor or the grades were more important, we were told by his private college counselor, and by any admissions rep we asked this of while he was looking at colleges, that ideally the applicant will have all As AND the highest rigor of classes (not helpful!). His private counselor seemed to think his 3 Bs took a number of colleges off the table for him.

If your son is at a W high school, I don't think that GPA will be offset by the classes he is taking. There are too many other kids taking those classes who have all As.

Nonetheless, I still think he'll have a good chance at the colleges you listed, especially if he applies ED to one.

Bs take most Ivies off the table. Maybe not Cornell.

One of the few features I find useful on Naviance is the bar chart on each university’s page that shows the middle 50% GPA range for accepted students from your kid’s school.

This should give you a good sense of where your kid falls.

Anonymous wrote:Not true. AP tests are for college credit. They add little value for admission. In our district, the tests are around $100-$150 to take. Many kids are opting out due to cost and not qualifying for a fee reduction. Maybe it is school specific but this is the info we got from the school counselor.

wrong. More elite schools are looking fondly upon a kid that gets all 5s. Now with test optional and grade inflation they are looking at them as a sign of college readiness.

Georgetown used to require SAT subject tests. Now the AP exam scores can provide valuable information. With US pass rates of only 20% on may subjects, a kid scoring 5s across the board is a very strong applicant and speaks to the fact his course grade 'A' wasn't an inflated 'A'.

NYU even lets you submit a certain # of AP scores instead of ACT/SAT.

My full pay son had those APs last year but reported a little more than half of the scores, because he only wanted to report 5s and one 4. ACT was 35. His gpa was 3.9-something unweighted and 4.6-something weighted, BUT his transcript showed he'd had a resource class for 9th and 10th grade, and he had rather "dull" and non-competitive extracurriculars: a part-time job and volunteering in the same field. No athletics, competition wins or founding of non-profits! He is twice exceptional (gifted with learning disabilities) and he mentioned that in his personal statement because he thought the resource class needed a little context.

He was accepted to a reach he had initially been quite excited about (a program that selects about 5-10 students a year!), but finally picked a safety with a 49% acceptance rate, because:
1. It also has a great reputation for the major he wants.
2. He liked the campus, and was put off by the other campus.
3. He continues to need accommodations and the disability office of that private university is better resourced than the one at the reach public.
4. He had guaranteed 5 year merit aid at the private that brought it in line with the public institution, so money was not a deciding factor.

Conclusion: I think it's good for your son to push himself, not necessarily because he will end up in the most prestigious program, but because he will have more options and that's always empowering!

Additional note: some posters on DCUM told me that essays weren't that important. I think they truly made the difference for my son: he had an intended major in mind, and very specific reasons to choose it based on his family history and life experience. He wrote really thoughtful essays explaining all this, plus the extra 1500 word essay required by the reach program. Please don't neglect the essays! It's the only platform for expressing his own voice and make himself real and unique to the admissions people.

All I can tell you is my son's experience with this last year. Same AP's (he had 15, including AP BC calc, Phys C, etc). When he applied to colleges, he had a 3.9 uw at a W high school, and 5s in all APs taken to date (obviously there were a handful of APs he was taking senior year so wouldnt get those results until after he graduated).

When we asked whether the rigor or the grades were more important, we were told by his private college counselor, and by any admissions rep we asked this of while he was looking at colleges, that ideally the applicant will have all As AND the highest rigor of classes (not helpful!). His private counselor seemed to think his 3 Bs took a number of colleges off the table for him.

If your son is at a W high school, I don't think that GPA will be offset by the classes he is taking. There are too many other kids taking those classes who have all As.

Nonetheless, I still think he'll have a good chance at the colleges you listed, especially if he applies ED to one.

Anonymous wrote:sus not sis

?

Not true. AP tests are for college credit. They add little value for admission. In our district, the tests are around $100-$150 to take. Many kids are opting out due to cost and not qualifying for a fee reduction. Maybe it is school specific but this is the info we got from the school counselor.

sus not sis

it's a little sis to list 12 AP classes with no exam scores here. colleges won't give much credit to AP classes without scores accompanying them. there is a box on rigor that your guidance counselor will check for "most rigorous" which is a plus, but it doesn't get you where "most rigorous" plus good scores gets you.