Anonymous wrote:Regardless of what the AOs say, there are plenty of examples of students who don't take the highest rigor in all 5 cores and are still admitted to UVA. It's not a requirement, not the bright-line rule that would help students (1) decide whether to apply and (2) what to take in high school.

This. Just in our neighborhood so many examples.

Anonymous wrote:Top kids will take

AP Lang&Comp and AP Lit

APUSH, AP World, AP Euro, AP Gov

AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Physics C

AP Calc BC, AP Stats

That is the proven formula for top colleges. Any reasonably strong student will have take these core AP classes, no matter their intended major.

Our unhooked neighbor is a first year. Did not take the ones I bolded. Did take AP Human Geo sophomore year.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Our admissions process at UVa is a holistic one."

Translation: we'll do whatever the heck we want and change the rules whenever we see fit to do so."

OP here. Yeah this is how it felt. We asked if it would be looked down upon to forgo AP foreign language to instead take a second AP science (child’s interest) and were basically told yes but we were welcome to try to explain it. But the woman was about 25 and didn’t even go to UVA so I was wondering if she even actually knew. I’ve definitely heard/read of unhooked students going to UVA without AP foreign language.

If UVA looks down on that, then your kid should go to another school.

NP here, we were told basically the same thing. My STEMMY kid decided to forego more language in order to take AP science and math classes, even though that means UVA will likely snub him. I guess it's easy for someone else to just say oh just go to another school, but we live in UVA, it's our state flagship, it has great programs that he's interested in, and we would really like to take advantage of our state's flagship or at least have the chance to and not be shut out by some arbitrary criteria that seems unfair to kids with different interests.

You know what you need to do to get into UVA. Your DC made a choice. There is a lot of time to take more math and science in college. High school is not for specializing, according to UVA. It isn’t unfair, you just don’t like it.

I think it's strange to basically force kids to take a class in an area of non interest when it means foreging classes in areas of interest. I disagree that you should wait until college to take those classes. Of course you specialize further in college, but high school is for developing interests to decide what you want in college. A lot of colleges require you to apply to a specific major. So... what if a kid is interested in majoring in Chemistry or Biology? You really think they shouldn't take AP Chem or AP Bio so they can take French?

In most cases, there’s no reason they can’t do both.

Are you familiar with these classes? It sounds like you are not. AP Chem and AP Bio both have labs so they are two period classes. For my kid that means he cannot take both AP Chem and Spanish. Not enough room in the schedule.

So again this arbitrary rule hits the STEM kids harder. It wasn't an issue for my other kid who was more humanities focused.

In our public HS with block scheduling (A/B days) AP sciences are not 2 blocks. LCPS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Top kids will take

AP Lang&Comp and AP Lit

APUSH, AP World, AP Euro, AP Gov

AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Physics C

AP Calc BC, AP Stats

That is the proven formula for top colleges. Any reasonably strong student will have take these core AP classes, no matter their intended major.

My kid is at a T10 without AP Lang/Lit, without a fourth level of foreign language, without AP Bio or Chem, without AP World or Gov. And he is not alone.

Yep. My kid is at UVA with — gasp! — DE US History! There is no formula.

was there in school apush available?

Yep. They chose DE for that subject. APs for all others plus Calculus 3 after BC junior year. Good ECs. 1500+.

Just chiming in to reassure people that it’s not an automatic no for any one thing.

Adding that they did AP World and AP Human Geo plus the AP Lang and AP Lit and AP sciences.

Can we get this to 30 pages? Can we keep it alive until ED deadline on 11/1?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Our admissions process at UVa is a holistic one."

Translation: we'll do whatever the heck we want and change the rules whenever we see fit to do so."

OP here. Yeah this is how it felt. We asked if it would be looked down upon to forgo AP foreign language to instead take a second AP science (child’s interest) and were basically told yes but we were welcome to try to explain it. But the woman was about 25 and didn’t even go to UVA so I was wondering if she even actually knew. I’ve definitely heard/read of unhooked students going to UVA without AP foreign language.

If UVA looks down on that, then your kid should go to another school.

NP here, we were told basically the same thing. My STEMMY kid decided to forego more language in order to take AP science and math classes, even though that means UVA will likely snub him. I guess it's easy for someone else to just say oh just go to another school, but we live in UVA, it's our state flagship, it has great programs that he's interested in, and we would really like to take advantage of our state's flagship or at least have the chance to and not be shut out by some arbitrary criteria that seems unfair to kids with different interests.

You know what you need to do to get into UVA. Your DC made a choice. There is a lot of time to take more math and science in college. High school is not for specializing, according to UVA. It isn’t unfair, you just don’t like it.

I think it's strange to basically force kids to take a class in an area of non interest when it means foreging classes in areas of interest. I disagree that you should wait until college to take those classes. Of course you specialize further in college, but high school is for developing interests to decide what you want in college. A lot of colleges require you to apply to a specific major. So... what if a kid is interested in majoring in Chemistry or Biology? You really think they shouldn't take AP Chem or AP Bio so they can take French?

In most cases, there’s no reason they can’t do both.

Are you familiar with these classes? It sounds like you are not. AP Chem and AP Bio both have labs so they are two period classes. For my kid that means he cannot take both AP Chem and Spanish. Not enough room in the schedule.

So again this arbitrary rule hits the STEM kids harder. It wasn't an issue for my other kid who was more humanities focused.

Why are they 2 period classes? Not true at my DC’s school. Granted it is private and they are on a block schedule. Are public schools not on a block schedule? Maybe that is where you should focus your advocacy. Reduces nightly homework and increases class time when you only have 4 classes a day.

Public school, block schedule, 2 period AP sciences

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Top kids will take

AP Lang&Comp and AP Lit

APUSH, AP World, AP Euro, AP Gov

AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Physics C

AP Calc BC, AP Stats

That is the proven formula for top colleges. Any reasonably strong student will have take these core AP classes, no matter their intended major.

My kid is at a T10 without AP Lang/Lit, without a fourth level of foreign language, without AP Bio or Chem, without AP World or Gov. And he is not alone.

Yep. My kid is at UVA with — gasp! — DE US History! There is no formula.

was there in school apush available?

Yep. They chose DE for that subject. APs for all others plus Calculus 3 after BC junior year. Good ECs. 1500+.

Just chiming in to reassure people that it’s not an automatic no for any one thing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Top kids will take

AP Lang&Comp and AP Lit

APUSH, AP World, AP Euro, AP Gov

AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Physics C

AP Calc BC, AP Stats

That is the proven formula for top colleges. Any reasonably strong student will have take these core AP classes, no matter their intended major.

How many kids do you know that followed this formula. Our school district has prerequisites for science and math and a no freshmen are eligible rule.

The science prereqs exist at ours too—kids do bio chem physics 9-10-11 and then 10th or 11th take a second science as AP, the other yr take a second math(AP stat ) or second history, then in 12th take the other 2 AP sciences together. The top several dozen take 6 core classes like this in 10-12. They dont offer AP language though and APgov is not done by the most advanced kids, itis considered easy there and only done by those who are doing normal 4 science courses not the 5th or 6th.

All high schools are different. The norm for what uva expects is different at all schools. AB calc is plenty for uva at this school, and taking ALL the ones you mentioned is not possible and not necessary for UVa. Taking 6cores for 3 of the yrs is almost mandatory for T10 but not for uva yet most admits there have 2 high school yrs with 6 core

At my DCs school, with science prerequisites for APs, the top kids take honors bio-chem-physics. In 11th, STEM kids take AP chem or bio as an elective and AP Physics and Chem/Bio in 12th. The top humanities and social science kids take one science AP in 12th and it can be either APES, Bio, Chem or Physics. It doesn’t really matter which one for non-STEM kids.

Anonymous wrote:Top kids will take

AP Lang&Comp and AP Lit

APUSH, AP World, AP Euro, AP Gov

AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Physics C

AP Calc BC, AP Stats

That is the proven formula for top colleges. Any reasonably strong student will have take these core AP classes, no matter their intended major.

Not exactly. I have two at top 20s. But most of it is right. The STEM kid took Multivariable. The liberal arts one did BC. Statistics is soft. The smart kids aren't taking Statistics.

And some of the English and History AP classes would be teacher dependent. Some teachers have a bad reputation and top students will avoid them even if it means stepping down a level. It's a combination of bad teaching, meanness, capricious grading, and time. These kids are fully occupied by junior year. Time management is their biggest challenge. And teachers that don't acknowledge that these students have five other AP classes and their ECs and their sports and their jobs are not cool. That's all very school dependent. But every smart kid knows what's what with the more advanced classes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Top kids will take

AP Lang&Comp and AP Lit

APUSH, AP World, AP Euro, AP Gov

AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Physics C

AP Calc BC, AP Stats

That is the proven formula for top colleges. Any reasonably strong student will have take these core AP classes, no matter their intended major.

My kid is at a T10 without AP Lang/Lit, without a fourth level of foreign language, without AP Bio or Chem, without AP World or Gov. And he is not alone.

Yep. My kid is at UVA with — gasp! — DE US History! There is no formula.

was there in school apush available?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Top kids will take

AP Lang&Comp and AP Lit

APUSH, AP World, AP Euro, AP Gov

AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Physics C

AP Calc BC, AP Stats

That is the proven formula for top colleges. Any reasonably strong student will have take these core AP classes, no matter their intended major.

How many kids do you know that followed this formula. Our school district has prerequisites for science and math and a no freshmen are eligible rule.

The science prereqs exist at ours too—kids do bio chem physics 9-10-11 and then 10th or 11th take a second science as AP, the other yr take a second math(AP stat ) or second history, then in 12th take the other 2 AP sciences together. The top several dozen take 6 core classes like this in 10-12. They dont offer AP language though and APgov is not done by the most advanced kids, itis considered easy there and only done by those who are doing normal 4 science courses not the 5th or 6th.

All high schools are different. The norm for what uva expects is different at all schools. AB calc is plenty for uva at this school, and taking ALL the ones you mentioned is not possible and not necessary for UVa. Taking 6cores for 3 of the yrs is almost mandatory for T10 but not for uva yet most admits there have 2 high school yrs with 6 core

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Our admissions process at UVa is a holistic one."

Translation: we'll do whatever the heck we want and change the rules whenever we see fit to do so."

OP here. Yeah this is how it felt. We asked if it would be looked down upon to forgo AP foreign language to instead take a second AP science (child’s interest) and were basically told yes but we were welcome to try to explain it. But the woman was about 25 and didn’t even go to UVA so I was wondering if she even actually knew. I’ve definitely heard/read of unhooked students going to UVA without AP foreign language.

If UVA looks down on that, then your kid should go to another school.

NP here, we were told basically the same thing. My STEMMY kid decided to forego more language in order to take AP science and math classes, even though that means UVA will likely snub him. I guess it's easy for someone else to just say oh just go to another school, but we live in UVA, it's our state flagship, it has great programs that he's interested in, and we would really like to take advantage of our state's flagship or at least have the chance to and not be shut out by some arbitrary criteria that seems unfair to kids with different interests.

You know what you need to do to get into UVA. Your DC made a choice. There is a lot of time to take more math and science in college. High school is not for specializing, according to UVA. It isn’t unfair, you just don’t like it.

I think it's strange to basically force kids to take a class in an area of non interest when it means foreging classes in areas of interest. I disagree that you should wait until college to take those classes. Of course you specialize further in college, but high school is for developing interests to decide what you want in college. A lot of colleges require you to apply to a specific major. So... what if a kid is interested in majoring in Chemistry or Biology? You really think they shouldn't take AP Chem or AP Bio so they can take French?

In most cases, there’s no reason they can’t do both.

Are you familiar with these classes? It sounds like you are not. AP Chem and AP Bio both have labs so they are two period classes. For my kid that means he cannot take both AP Chem and Spanish. Not enough room in the schedule.

So again this arbitrary rule hits the STEM kids harder. It wasn't an issue for my other kid who was more humanities focused.

NP.

AP Chem and AP Bio are not 2 period classes at my kid’s school. You cannot assume every school has the same scheduling or requirements as your child’s school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Top kids will take

AP Lang&Comp and AP Lit

APUSH, AP World, AP Euro, AP Gov

AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Physics C

AP Calc BC, AP Stats

That is the proven formula for top colleges. Any reasonably strong student will have take these core AP classes, no matter their intended major.

My kid is at a T10 without AP Lang/Lit, without a fourth level of foreign language, without AP Bio or Chem, without AP World or Gov. And he is not alone.

Yep. My kid is at UVA with — gasp! — DE US History! There is no formula.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Top kids will take

AP Lang&Comp and AP Lit

APUSH, AP World, AP Euro, AP Gov

AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Physics C

AP Calc BC, AP Stats

That is the proven formula for top colleges. Any reasonably strong student will have take these core AP classes, no matter their intended major.

How many kids do you know that followed this formula. Our school district has prerequisites for science and math and a no freshmen are eligible rule.

DP. There is no formula. The PP's list is a formula for stress, burnout, and to be able to tell themselves they did all they could.

Anonymous wrote:Top kids will take

AP Lang&Comp and AP Lit

APUSH, AP World, AP Euro, AP Gov

AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Physics C

AP Calc BC, AP Stats

That is the proven formula for top colleges. Any reasonably strong student will have take these core AP classes, no matter their intended major.

How many kids do you know that followed this formula. Our school district has prerequisites for science and math and a no freshmen are eligible rule.