Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you get "most rigorous" if you avoided AP chem, physics,bio and Calc BC?

There are too many potential combos to make "most rigorous" meaningful. Counselors are humoring parents.

I am the PP who asked the question and I agree. I worry it pressures kids to load up on easier APs classes that may be unrelated to their interests. My public high school didn't have this designation, it seems like a bad idea

Every high school has this designation whether you know it or not. It's on the form counselors fill out with the information they send to the colleges kids are applying to. But unless there's a clear delineation (like the IB Diploma program) you are not likely to know what it is unless the counselors tell you but they don't seem inclined to be transparent about it. Which I can understand since knowing that can just ramp up the pressure to load up on APs. OTOH, if the school says they'd give "most rigorous" to, for example, 8 AP classes then it could reduce the pressure to take 10-12 APs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you get "most rigorous" if you avoided AP chem, physics,bio and Calc BC?

There are too many potential combos to make "most rigorous" meaningful. Counselors are humoring parents.

I am the PP who asked the question and I agree. I worry it pressures kids to load up on easier APs classes that may be unrelated to their interests. My public high school didn't have this designation, it seems like a bad idea

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And I can ask the counselor but so far the one question we emailed to them has gone unanswered.

And please don’t feed me the line about what kids can handle. This is about making choices. And some kids will make different choices if they had this information — off of the options of choices they could “handle.”

I asked and was told that colleges do not see anything marked advanced vs regular diploma. I was shocked.

Yes, this two diplomas is just a weird Virginia thing. The only part that matters to colleges is that doing the requirements for advanced diploma is generally what you need for good college prep, all the core classes most years. The "regular diploma" is a watered down option.

For the student's curriculum rating, you will need to try to get that info from the counselors. They don't seem to like to be transparent about it

our daughter's FCPS one was definitely marked "advanced diploma" but i have no idea why

this is the type of diploma, not relevant to this question

Anonymous wrote:Can you get "most rigorous" if you avoided AP chem, physics,bio and Calc BC?

There are too many potential combos to make "most rigorous" meaningful. Counselors are humoring parents.

Anonymous wrote:Can you get "most rigorous" if you avoided AP chem, physics,bio and Calc BC?

If a student took Algebra in grade 9 and did not do summer school to advance further in math, then the “most rigorous” math would be Precal. Calculus would have to wait until college. I hope the counselor would acknowledge that. “Most rigorous” should not mean the highest level in every subject. Some students transfer in from other states or overseas, and may not have advanced as far as other students prior to high school.

Can you get "most rigorous" if you avoided AP chem, physics,bio and Calc BC?