Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids took both, if you can't... not sure you're qualified for a top school. Neither was particularly hard.

NP here. It's not always that a student "can't" do the work.

It's that if a senior is taking, for example, AP MV Calc + another post-AP math + AP Physics C /AP Chem block class + AP in their FL + a sport + an EC or 2, + volunteer work, how much does AP Lit really matter if the kid is not interested?

Math, Science, English, History, and Language are called core subjects for a reason. You don't specialize until college and are expected to be well rounded in the all of the core subjects in high school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is what a NOVA student should take, at a minimum, to be competitive when applying to top 50 colleges:

AP Lang
AP Lit
AP Calc (flavor depends on STEM vs Non-Stem
AP Stat
AP Chem
AP Physics
AP Bio
AP Comp Gov
AP US History
AP World History
4 years of the same language

Need 3 lab sciences so substitutions can be made there, and obviously more are available at most schools.

As Taylor Swift would say, “You need to calm down”. This to me seems like overkill for T50, maybe like top 25.

Disagree. UCLA is in the middle of the T50 and their freshmen have taken an average of 12 AP courses (including those at disadvantaged high schools that don’t even offer that many).

Anonymous wrote:Here is what a NOVA student should take, at a minimum, to be competitive when applying to top 50 colleges:

AP Lang
AP Lit
AP Calc (flavor depends on STEM vs Non-Stem
AP Stat
AP Chem
AP Physics
AP Bio
AP Comp Gov
AP US History
AP World History
4 years of the same language

Need 3 lab sciences so substitutions can be made there, and obviously more are available at most schools.

As Taylor Swift would say, “You need to calm down”. This to me seems like overkill for T50, maybe like top 25.

Here is what a NOVA student should take, at a minimum, to be competitive when applying to top 50 colleges:

AP Lang
AP Lit
AP Calc (flavor depends on STEM vs Non-Stem
AP Stat
AP Chem
AP Physics
AP Bio
AP Comp Gov
AP US History
AP World History
4 years of the same language

Need 3 lab sciences so substitutions can be made there, and obviously more are available at most schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids took both, if you can't... not sure you're qualified for a top school. Neither was particularly hard.

NP here. It's not always that a student "can't" do the work.

It's that if a senior is taking, for example, AP MV Calc + another post-AP math + AP Physics C /AP Chem block class + AP in their FL + a sport + an EC or 2, + volunteer work, how much does AP Lit really matter if the kid is not interested?

The last few years it feels like the system is encouraging kids to dial back on the AP count a little. The AP program retired a few awards linked to a high number of AP courses and UVA admissions says they do not expect applying students to have taken all AP courses. From what I can tell a good representation of AP courses across their core subjects gets you there without having to check every box.

I hope this is true. My kid really loves art and has a talent for it (think drawling/photography) and would like to continue taking it each year as an elective. Maybe doing AP Art and a portfolio as a facet of their application to college, but doesn’t plan to major in art. However, the AP rat race doesn’t really allow for DC to take art in 11th if they want a chance at UVA which is a shame.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids took both, if you can't... not sure you're qualified for a top school. Neither was particularly hard.

NP here. It's not always that a student "can't" do the work.

It's that if a senior is taking, for example, AP MV Calc + another post-AP math + AP Physics C /AP Chem block class + AP in their FL + a sport + an EC or 2, + volunteer work, how much does AP Lit really matter if the kid is not interested?

The last few years it feels like the system is encouraging kids to dial back on the AP count a little. The AP program retired a few awards linked to a high number of AP courses and UVA admissions says they do not expect applying students to have taken all AP courses. From what I can tell a good representation of AP courses across their core subjects gets you there without having to check every box.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some on this forum may not consider UVA a “top college” but my kid got in and took AP lang in 11th and DE English in 12th, as did many of her UVA-bound classmates.

+1. My student, NOVA public with 4.5 and 1560, 9 AP and 4 DE engineering applicant was waitlisted at UVA. Took HONORS English in 11th and 12th over Lang and Lit.

If you are coming out of NOVA you need a double digit AP count to be truly competitive. Sure some will get in with less but double digit AP count is the new norm.

By my count, if student took Lang and Lit that would be double digits.

Double digits means 10+

10 AP’s after Senior year? My kid’s school limits sophomores to 1 AP. Freshman cannot take any. Juniors and Seniors can take as many as they want, but with other requirements 10 AP’s is challenging to hit. But it can be done as long as Seniors take 5 AP’s

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some on this forum may not consider UVA a “top college” but my kid got in and took AP lang in 11th and DE English in 12th, as did many of her UVA-bound classmates.

+1. My student, NOVA public with 4.5 and 1560, 9 AP and 4 DE engineering applicant was waitlisted at UVA. Took HONORS English in 11th and 12th over Lang and Lit.

If you are coming out of NOVA you need a double digit AP count to be truly competitive. Sure some will get in with less but double digit AP count is the new norm.

By my count, if student took Lang and Lit that would be double digits.

Double digits means 10+

Correct...9+2=11

Anonymous wrote:My kids took both, if you can't... not sure you're qualified for a top school. Neither was particularly hard.

NP here. It's not always that a student "can't" do the work.

It's that if a senior is taking, for example, AP MV Calc + another post-AP math + AP Physics C /AP Chem block class + AP in their FL + a sport + an EC or 2, + volunteer work, how much does AP Lit really matter if the kid is not interested?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids took both, if you can't... not sure you're qualified for a top school. Neither was particularly hard.

Thank you doctor.

You’re welcome

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some on this forum may not consider UVA a “top college” but my kid got in and took AP lang in 11th and DE English in 12th, as did many of her UVA-bound classmates.

+1. My student, NOVA public with 4.5 and 1560, 9 AP and 4 DE engineering applicant was waitlisted at UVA. Took HONORS English in 11th and 12th over Lang and Lit.

If you are coming out of NOVA you need a double digit AP count to be truly competitive. Sure some will get in with less but double digit AP count is the new norm.

By my count, if student took Lang and Lit that would be double digits.

Double digits means 10+

Anonymous wrote:My kids took both, if you can't... not sure you're qualified for a top school. Neither was particularly hard.

Thank you doctor.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some on this forum may not consider UVA a “top college” but my kid got in and took AP lang in 11th and DE English in 12th, as did many of her UVA-bound classmates.

+1. My student, NOVA public with 4.5 and 1560, 9 AP and 4 DE engineering applicant was waitlisted at UVA. Took HONORS English in 11th and 12th over Lang and Lit.

If you are coming out of NOVA you need a double digit AP count to be truly competitive. Sure some will get in with less but double digit AP count is the new norm.

By my count, if student took Lang and Lit that would be double digits.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some on this forum may not consider UVA a “top college” but my kid got in and took AP lang in 11th and DE English in 12th, as did many of her UVA-bound classmates.

I am this poster. Extra info: she attended a high “FARMS” FCPS school.

West Potomac?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some on this forum may not consider UVA a “top college” but my kid got in and took AP lang in 11th and DE English in 12th, as did many of her UVA-bound classmates.

This is great news. Was this recently? What was the most common highest AP Math?

Yes. She will be a “First Year” this fall. Highest math was Calc BC. At least one AP class in each subject area, including World Language.

Do you mean every subject except English?

She took AP Lang, but not AP Lit. Took DE English instead. Kids that got into UVA a year ahead of her, did the same thing.

At my kids FCPS base HS, kids who take AP Lang (which is a junior year class) are not allowed to take DE English. It’s considered a repeat of AP Lang and a step down from AP Lit. It’s mean for kids who are community college/ lower half of VA state state schools tracked, because the kids end up with no AP English.

I’m a once upon a time English major. AP Lit is probably harder to many kids because literary analysis is a skill and most kids don’t have a lot of experience with it. I though AP Lang was much better in terms of college prep— for my STEM kid and my humanities kid. Non-fiction texts and a huge focus on analytical writing. Multiple drafts of research papers and such. Not fun, but very useful in many different college classes.

Expectation out of FCPS is top grads take both, Lang in 11th and Lit in 12th. (Except at TJ which has a different English track and you choose one or the other in 12th. My science major did Lang, which I think was a good call).