I think it depends on whether or not the other class options are rigorous. My neighbor’s daughter goes to our local public school and takes tons of AP courses. She said the honors courses are like basic on-grade level courses there. At my son’s private school, honors courses are tons of work. Even regular classes have a lot of work. AP classes are only offered in 11th and 12th grades with the exception of one or two (by invitation only) in 9th and 10th.

Anonymous wrote:If you’re at a public school, you’re supposed to take as many as you can starting in 9th grade. If your school doesn’t do AP in 9th, they should at least be taking honors classes or the next grade level (10th grade math in 9th, etc.).

“supposed to”? Who gave you that terrible advice?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid graduated from McLean last year with 9 APs. I'm pretty sure that counted as "most rigorous". I don't think there are any APs for 9th graders and only one for 10th (AP World) though I do understand some kids request and get permission to enroll before they are technically eligible. She graduated with a 4.5 something GPA. Didn't apply to any top 20 schools but got into UVA (and is there now).

Congrats to your daughter, but I don't understand how her GPA was so high with only 9 APs. Was she at a 4.5 when she applied to college or did it go up by the end of the year? My son, who has never gotten below an A in HS, has now taken 6 APs through his junior year and his GPA is a 4.2222. APs are the only classes that give him a bump, so maybe other schools do it differently?

Most HSs give a 4.5 for an A in an Honors class and a 5 for an A in an AP class. If you are taking mostly honors and AP (offset by Music, P/E, electives) the math above should work.

Anonymous wrote:My kid graduated from McLean last year with 9 APs. I'm pretty sure that counted as "most rigorous". I don't think there are any APs for 9th graders and only one for 10th (AP World) though I do understand some kids request and get permission to enroll before they are technically eligible. She graduated with a 4.5 something GPA. Didn't apply to any top 20 schools but got into UVA (and is there now).

Congrats to your daughter, but I don't understand how her GPA was so high with only 9 APs. Was she at a 4.5 when she applied to college or did it go up by the end of the year? My son, who has never gotten below an A in HS, has now taken 6 APs through his junior year and his GPA is a 4.2222. APs are the only classes that give him a bump, so maybe other schools do it differently?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC took 10 at Langley and was not considered “most rigorous”.

OP here. How and when do you find out if you will be considered most rigorous?

I don’t want to ask other parents in real life because I don’t want to be that parent already thinking about this so early on.

What does it take to be top 10%? Top 5%

The parents I know are not close personal friends. They are more acquaintances so I don’t want to ask them too many questions.

Will guidance give you the historical GPA for top 5-10%? If APs are weighted differently, that would give you your answer. You could figure out how many APs would be generally needed to hit those GPAs.

Anonymous wrote:DC took 10 at Langley and was not considered “most rigorous”.

OP here. How and when do you find out if you will be considered most rigorous?

I don’t want to ask other parents in real life because I don’t want to be that parent already thinking about this so early on.

What does it take to be top 10%? Top 5%

The parents I know are not close personal friends. They are more acquaintances so I don’t want to ask them too many questions.

I would hope and think quality of APs matters more than quantity. By that, I would hope a college doesn't care if you take AP Comp Sci A (and do well) and skip AP Comp Sci Principles. Same, take the two AP Physics C classes (Calculus-based) but skip AP Physics I (algebra-based). Also, there are random APs considered relatively easy like AP Psychology which I am not sure a college respects if it seems obvious it was for an AP GPA bump and little else.

You should also do research on what a college expects for various majors. After applying to one school, my DS was poking around on the college website where for CS they expect applicants to take the highest Math available to them and the highest Physics available to them (which he had done, so not an issue for him). He didn't see something that specific at other colleges. In theory, this generally means AP Physics C and at least AP Calc BC, though they would expect higher math if the HS school offers it. One would assume the school would care more about those APs regardless of total AP quantity.

My kid had 14 APs and 7 post-APs and that is considered the most rigorous for this high school.

If you’re at a public school, you’re supposed to take as many as you can starting in 9th grade. If your school doesn’t do AP in 9th, they should at least be taking honors classes or the next grade level (10th grade math in 9th, etc.).

Does anyone know what most would be at Lake Braddock? Our counselor won’t say. I don’t really want to escalate because that is our family’s counselor for more than one kid. DC asked when looking at course selection. Let counselor know they wanted to be most rigorous and counselor wouldn’t answer just said take what you think is best. I tried to havec child ask to advocate for themself but it didn’t work. DC will most likely end with 10 Ap.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do most students do well on the AP exam at your child’s high school? I was shocked to learn that the majority of students at our local HS didn’t do well on the exam and could not use the class for college credit. Most simply took the class for the rigor check and the GPA bump and were quite open about that plan.

At our private HS, yes.

My son has received 5s.

He wouldn’t even be able to take 12-15 APs. His school has prerequisites, e.g., need to take the regular/honors version first, for English you need to sub out a writing sample and all require teacher recommendations.

Some of the honors courses have been much more challenging than the AP courses.

6-8 APs, but then lots of honor courses is rigorous at our high school.

Same. And our school offers some very interesting college level “deep” courses that are not AP. These look more impressive than done if the easy APs just to get a bump.

Mine will have about 10, but will also have 4-5 magnet classes that get DE, so, hopefully, this is hood for top tier apps.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really depends on the high school. Different schools have different class offerings. Also, your kid wants to take a sufficient number to be, for example, in the top 10% of the class.

As an aside, I think is daunting to look at admissions numbers and see that the average admitted student to UVa or UMCP from Fairfax or Montgomery county has something like a 4.5 weighted GPA, and then work backwards to see how many APs that requires.

OP here. My kid is at Langley. It feels like everyone takes at least 10 AP so that would not be considered rigorous. I hate that my kid is at this pressure cooker school.

The seniors parents I know or the ones who had kids graduate seemed stressed about even getting into UVA with perfect grades. These kids all have 4.5+ GPAs.

On the other hand Herndon HS actively and publicly tells parents and students not to take more than one AP a year, and only take Honors if you the student have a passion for it. They also actively discourage taking more than 3 Honors classes per year.

My DS had 18 finishing at a low rated FCPS school. Passed all tests with a 4-5. Over a 4.5 GpA. Still got denied at Ivy schools and Universities. It’s not all about the grades and top classes.

Is taking an AP class over the summer at a program like JHU CYY a waste of time as far as college admissions go? My understanding is that they are not included on the HS transcript.

Or, what if a student studies a course on their own and takes the AP test and passes with a 4 or 5?