Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Students would do well to gain life skills and grow as individuals. My son who goes to engineering school and has great grades stays aways from asian lab partners as they tend not to be team players, under communicate and are afraid to admit when they do not know the answer.

Your son sounds like a charming guy.

Anonymous wrote:NP here.

APs aren't necessarily the most challenging courses. Basically, they're supposed to be the equivalent of a freshman survey course taught at an average college. And often they're taught by people who don't have the credentials to be hired to teach such a course at a typical college.

My kid's private school has both post-AP courses and non-AP courses that are more challenging than APs. My objection to APs is that we're treating base metal as if it were the gold standard, intellectually speaking. Wrong model for a good curriculum.

Anonymous wrote:Just to reinforce the idea that there is no minimum - one of the DC area private schools with a very strong college admissions record actively caps the number of AP courses at 8, except under unusual circumstances. While colleges want to see students take the hardest courses available, this is far less important for high schools where there are multiple AP and post AP classes offered in every subject.

Remember, the Ivies do not give any credit for AP and scores are self-reported, so they are read with a grain of salt. High schools in the DC area are well known to the admissions offices so they can judge a transcript in context. And the top colleges are very used to rejecting lots of candidates with over-the-top AP course loads.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Asians take AP courses because they want to take rigorous courses. They also try to obtain high gpas and high SAT scores because Asians have to show better qualifications than other groups. They also engage in many ECs other than violin and tennis because in part they want to or because they have to.

So having relatively higher SAT scores are held against them, having relatively higher gpas are held against them and now having more AP classes are held against them? ECs are held against them since they are stereotyped as having no ECs or only playing violins or playing tennis.

So now Asians should limit APs to 8 to 11 just to show that they are different than other Asians? Now that's strange to say the least.

PP you are responding to - I don't believe that's what I said. My point was it's hard to separate yourself when all the applicants look the same and have similar stats/ECs. Many Asian kids from DC area have high stats, test scores, and crzay number of APs and all want to go to Ivies. From AdCom perspective these kids are dime a dozen. I am not saying that's right or wrong or whatever. Just pointing out how the system works whether we like it or not. It is what it is.

So Asians with fewer APs are slackers and they will not be competitive applicants and Asians with too many APS are supposedly unbalanced. This is no win situation.

Regardless of the potential impact on college admissions, it is preferable to academically challenge oneself and have non-academic life as well and, take the most rigorous courses possible. It's not just about college admissions.

Asian parent.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I go by my original post above. A lot of top schools do not accept any APs for credit.

This is a true statement. (Most) Top tier schools do not give credits for AP/IBs but getting into one of those schools without taking APs will make it even more difficult. Many schools (tier below) will honor APs/IBs for their Gen Ed and intro requirements.

Anonymous wrote:Students would do well to gain life skills and grow as individuals. My son who goes to engineering school and has great grades stays aways from asian lab partners as they tend not to be team players, under communicate and are afraid to admit when they do not know the answer.

Anonymous wrote:

Asians take AP courses because they want to take rigorous courses. They also try to obtain high gpas and high SAT scores because Asians have to show better qualifications than other groups. They also engage in many ECs other than violin and tennis because in part they want to or because they have to.

So having relatively higher SAT scores are held against them, having relatively higher gpas are held against them and now having more AP classes are held against them? ECs are held against them since they are stereotyped as having no ECs or only playing violins or playing tennis.

So now Asians should limit APs to 8 to 11 just to show that they are different than other Asians? Now that's strange to say the least.

PP you are responding to - I don't believe that's what I said. My point was it's hard to separate yourself when all the applicants look the same and have similar stats/ECs. Many Asian kids from DC area have high stats, test scores, and crzay number of APs and all want to go to Ivies. From AdCom perspective these kids are dime a dozen. I am not saying that's right or wrong or whatever. Just pointing out how the system works whether we like it or not. It is what it is.

Asians take AP courses because they want to take rigorous courses. They also try to obtain high gpas and high SAT scores because Asians have to show better qualifications than other groups. They also engage in many ECs other than violin and tennis because in part they want to or because they have to.

So having relatively higher SAT scores are held against them, having relatively higher gpas are held against them and now having more AP classes are held against them? ECs are held against them since they are stereotyped as having no ECs or only playing violins or playing tennis.

So now Asians should limit APs to 8 to 11 just to show that they are different than other Asians? Now that's strange to say the least.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it even possible to take 17 APs?

yes.

"why" is another question.

Agreed...any parent that would sanction that type of behavior is nuts....and you don't need papers to prove it.....

Ivy league interviewers here......8-11 MAX...anything more would raise serious questions.....

Genuinely curious... what questions would be raised? What impression would this give, exactly?

Unbalanced applicant, NP BTW.

Probably one of the most detrimental perceptions of Asian students.

Thanks. I hadn't considered that. DD (currently in 8th grade) is planning her HS schedule and she wants to do 15 total AP exams (not 15 classes, several exams via self-study). I wasn't sure this sounded like a good plan from the outset, but now that I know it will be detrimental to her for university admissions that is another concern. My oldest niece did 13 plus several extra-curriculars, which I think is why DD finds this reasonable, but now I can use this info to guide her to a more appropriate number.

We don't happen to be Asian, but I can't imagine that would matter. The number of APs is probably appropriate or not regardless of the applicant's race/ethnicity.

Part of me doesn't want to discourage DD from striving to do her best academically and taking a tough courseload, but I appreciate the perspectives from parents of older kids who are saying it's a better idea to reduce the number she plans to take. I think I will have her cut her list nearly in half. Would that be more reasonable?[/quote]

My two cents:

1) self-studying to raise the number of APs is a bad idea. Particularly when it's clear the applicant already has enough APs.
2) Asian thing matters more than you think b/c so many of them do it -- your DC just becomes "one of them" with nothing separates your DC from other Asian kids.
3) You should NEVER discourage your kid from striving to do her best. Nothing wrong with striving to be the best... just don't force it.
4) No right number or wrong number of APs... Each kid is different.

Asians take AP courses because they want to take rigorous courses. They also try to obtain high gpas and high SAT scores because Asians have to show better qualifications than other groups. They also engage in many ECs other than violin and tennis because in part they want to or because they have to.

So having relatively higher SAT scores are held against them, having relatively higher gpas are held against them and now having more AP classes are held against them? ECs are held against them since they are stereotyped as having no ECs or only playing violins or playing tennis.

So now Asians should limit APs to 8 to 11 just to show that they are different than other Asians? Now that's strange to say the least.