Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think its a good idea for kids to take this many APs, anyhow. If they are really college-level classes, albeit spread over 2 semesters, that's a lot of work. I--like most people--took 4 college level classes per semester in college, and was not juggling 2 or 3 OTHER classes that had homework, papers, tests, etc. I never took higher level math, a lab science, reading and paper-heavy English and social science, and a language in the same semester.

This is LITERALLY OP’s point.

The arms race for most AP and IB courses is exhausting, but if you don’t compete with your peers, you are no longer “most rigorous path”.

Meanwhile over at HB, kids don’t have to kill themselves because their peers simply can’t load up and escalate the AP course load.

No I'm saying I never took hhigher level math + a lab science + reading and paper-heavy English + a social science + a language in the same semester in college and I think it's kind of crazy that kids would do AP-level classes for all of those plus 2 or 3 other classes. For what? Read the college boards on Reddit, many of the kids doing this are miserable and the chances of getting in a top college are basically a crapshoot anyhow. Let them do a couple AP classes a year if they need/want the challenge but this loading up just to get their GPA up another tenth of a point or to go from "more rigorous" to "most rigorous" is crazy.

--mom of an H-b 11th grader and a current college student

That was my freshman year engineering major workload. I think it’s pretty typical.

Oh no language so that’s true.

Yes, we all took calc and chem and English comp and econ our freshman year college, whether or not we were engineering majors. We didn't take FIVE classes.

Yes engineers at my school take 5 classes per semester, and one of them is a lab class (I think I actually had two labs because my high school didn’t have AP).

Just looked it up. Freshman year:

Physics (lab)
advanced chem (lab)
Multivar calc
European lit
Constitutional interpretation intro

OK well I still don't think a high school junior shouldn't be under pressure to do that kind of work to be get into college, and if a kid is taking more than 14 APs in high school (which is the assertion made that started this discussion) then something somewhere is broken

I don't know what to tell you, PP. The world has changed. The state flagships that kids used to be able to get into with 3.5s, 1100 SATs and an AP class or two are now only accepting kids with 4.0s, 1500 SATs and 10+ APs. The 3.5 GPA, 1100 SAT kids can still go to college, but it will be a 2nd or 3rd tier state school or less selective private. And that's fine. THOSE KIDS WILL BE FINE.

OP somehow thinks that HB kids are slacking and still getting into t-20s, and this is not the case.

I know there is a difference between 3.5s, 1100 SATs and an AP class or two and 4.0s, 1500 SATs and 10+ APs. I'm saying there isn't a difference between 4.0s, 1500 SATs and 10+ APs and 4.0s, 1500 SATs and 4 APs, especially if you are an upper middle class kid with college educated parents coming from Arlington Virginia, and the parents and kids that stress themselves out taking that heavy a courseload junior and senior year are doing themselves a disservice, at the end of the day T20 admission is pretty much a lottery.

Its a lot of pressure during the school year, its a lot of pressure at exam time, and its a lot of pressure at application time--kids feel like they a) failed or b) wasted their high school years if/when they don't get into the top schools, which most won't just due to numbers. Why set up your kid for that, when they could have a more balanced experience, more realistic expectations (genuinely treat T-20 schools as a reach and not something they are entitled to because of their grades/scores), and better mental health?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think its a good idea for kids to take this many APs, anyhow. If they are really college-level classes, albeit spread over 2 semesters, that's a lot of work. I--like most people--took 4 college level classes per semester in college, and was not juggling 2 or 3 OTHER classes that had homework, papers, tests, etc. I never took higher level math, a lab science, reading and paper-heavy English and social science, and a language in the same semester.

This is LITERALLY OP’s point.

The arms race for most AP and IB courses is exhausting, but if you don’t compete with your peers, you are no longer “most rigorous path”.

Meanwhile over at HB, kids don’t have to kill themselves because their peers simply can’t load up and escalate the AP course load.

No I'm saying I never took hhigher level math + a lab science + reading and paper-heavy English + a social science + a language in the same semester in college and I think it's kind of crazy that kids would do AP-level classes for all of those plus 2 or 3 other classes. For what? Read the college boards on Reddit, many of the kids doing this are miserable and the chances of getting in a top college are basically a crapshoot anyhow. Let them do a couple AP classes a year if they need/want the challenge but this loading up just to get their GPA up another tenth of a point or to go from "more rigorous" to "most rigorous" is crazy.

--mom of an H-b 11th grader and a current college student

That was my freshman year engineering major workload. I think it’s pretty typical.

Oh no language so that’s true.

Yes, we all took calc and chem and English comp and econ our freshman year college, whether or not we were engineering majors. We didn't take FIVE classes.

Yes engineers at my school take 5 classes per semester, and one of them is a lab class (I think I actually had two labs because my high school didn’t have AP).

Just looked it up. Freshman year:

Physics (lab)
advanced chem (lab)
Multivar calc
European lit
Constitutional interpretation intro

OK well I still don't think a high school junior shouldn't be under pressure to do that kind of work to be get into college, and if a kid is taking more than 14 APs in high school (which is the assertion made that started this discussion) then something somewhere is broken

I don't know what to tell you, PP. The world has changed. The state flagships that kids used to be able to get into with 3.5s, 1100 SATs and an AP class or two are now only accepting kids with 4.0s, 1500 SATs and 10+ APs. The 3.5 GPA, 1100 SAT kids can still go to college, but it will be a 2nd or 3rd tier state school or less selective private. And that's fine. THOSE KIDS WILL BE FINE.

OP somehow thinks that HB kids are slacking and still getting into t-20s, and this is not the case.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think its a good idea for kids to take this many APs, anyhow. If they are really college-level classes, albeit spread over 2 semesters, that's a lot of work. I--like most people--took 4 college level classes per semester in college, and was not juggling 2 or 3 OTHER classes that had homework, papers, tests, etc. I never took higher level math, a lab science, reading and paper-heavy English and social science, and a language in the same semester.

This is LITERALLY OP’s point.

The arms race for most AP and IB courses is exhausting, but if you don’t compete with your peers, you are no longer “most rigorous path”.

Meanwhile over at HB, kids don’t have to kill themselves because their peers simply can’t load up and escalate the AP course load.

No I'm saying I never took hhigher level math + a lab science + reading and paper-heavy English + a social science + a language in the same semester in college and I think it's kind of crazy that kids would do AP-level classes for all of those plus 2 or 3 other classes. For what? Read the college boards on Reddit, many of the kids doing this are miserable and the chances of getting in a top college are basically a crapshoot anyhow. Let them do a couple AP classes a year if they need/want the challenge but this loading up just to get their GPA up another tenth of a point or to go from "more rigorous" to "most rigorous" is crazy.

--mom of an H-b 11th grader and a current college student

That was my freshman year engineering major workload. I think it’s pretty typical.

Oh no language so that’s true.

Yes, we all took calc and chem and English comp and econ our freshman year college, whether or not we were engineering majors. We didn't take FIVE classes.

Yes engineers at my school take 5 classes per semester, and one of them is a lab class (I think I actually had two labs because my high school didn’t have AP).

Just looked it up. Freshman year:

Physics (lab)
advanced chem (lab)
Multivar calc
European lit
Constitutional interpretation intro

OK well I still don't think a high school junior shouldn't be under pressure to do that kind of work to be get into college, and if a kid is taking more than 14 APs in high school (which is the assertion made that started this discussion) then something somewhere is broken

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think its a good idea for kids to take this many APs, anyhow. If they are really college-level classes, albeit spread over 2 semesters, that's a lot of work. I--like most people--took 4 college level classes per semester in college, and was not juggling 2 or 3 OTHER classes that had homework, papers, tests, etc. I never took higher level math, a lab science, reading and paper-heavy English and social science, and a language in the same semester.

This is LITERALLY OP’s point.

The arms race for most AP and IB courses is exhausting, but if you don’t compete with your peers, you are no longer “most rigorous path”.

Meanwhile over at HB, kids don’t have to kill themselves because their peers simply can’t load up and escalate the AP course load.

No I'm saying I never took hhigher level math + a lab science + reading and paper-heavy English + a social science + a language in the same semester in college and I think it's kind of crazy that kids would do AP-level classes for all of those plus 2 or 3 other classes. For what? Read the college boards on Reddit, many of the kids doing this are miserable and the chances of getting in a top college are basically a crapshoot anyhow. Let them do a couple AP classes a year if they need/want the challenge but this loading up just to get their GPA up another tenth of a point or to go from "more rigorous" to "most rigorous" is crazy.

--mom of an H-b 11th grader and a current college student

That was my freshman year engineering major workload. I think it’s pretty typical.

Oh no language so that’s true.

Yes, we all took calc and chem and English comp and econ our freshman year college, whether or not we were engineering majors. We didn't take FIVE classes.

Yes engineers at my school take 5 classes per semester, and one of them is a lab class (I think I actually had two labs because my high school didn’t have AP).

Just looked it up. Freshman year:

Physics (lab)
advanced chem (lab)
Multivar calc
European lit
Constitutional interpretation intro

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think its a good idea for kids to take this many APs, anyhow. If they are really college-level classes, albeit spread over 2 semesters, that's a lot of work. I--like most people--took 4 college level classes per semester in college, and was not juggling 2 or 3 OTHER classes that had homework, papers, tests, etc. I never took higher level math, a lab science, reading and paper-heavy English and social science, and a language in the same semester.

This is LITERALLY OP’s point.

The arms race for most AP and IB courses is exhausting, but if you don’t compete with your peers, you are no longer “most rigorous path”.

Meanwhile over at HB, kids don’t have to kill themselves because their peers simply can’t load up and escalate the AP course load.

No I'm saying I never took higher level math + a lab science + reading and paper-heavy English + a social science + a language in the same semester in college and I think it's kind of crazy that kids would do AP-level classes for all of those plus 2 or 3 other classes. For what? Read the college boards on Reddit, many of the kids doing this are miserable and the chances of getting in a top college are basically a crapshoot anyhow. Let them do a couple AP classes a year if they need/want the challenge but this loading up just to get their GPA up another tenth of a point or to go from "more rigorous" to "most rigorous" is crazy.

--mom of an H-b 11th grader and a current college student

Look, if you expect a kid who takes 2-3 APs to be compared equally to a kid that has taken 10-12, you are delusional. The kid taking the 10-12 APs either has higher aptitude or stronger work ethic (likely both) than the other kid. If you want to get into a t-20 school, you're going to have to suck it up and play the game. If t-20 isn't your goal, then you can relax a bit and not take such a demanding course load. It is all about choices. Don't be mad at the ambitious kids. FYI - the ambitious kids at ANY of the APS high schools do just fine. I don't really believe that any APS individual school gives a measurable advantage as far as I've seen.

The point is the ambitious kids at HB don’t have take the boatload of AP because they don’t have peers trying to. So not an advantage for admission per se, but they get same opportunities with less effort.

Who are you talking to at HB? I have a senior there now and there is plenty of pressure for kids to take a boatload of AP classes. Most of my child's friends and academic peers will have taken 11-14 AP classes by the time they graduate. Is that not a big enough boatload for you to consider them peers to kids at other schools?

I'm an HB parent, and can confirm this. Why does OP think that HB kids aren't loading up the APs?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think its a good idea for kids to take this many APs, anyhow. If they are really college-level classes, albeit spread over 2 semesters, that's a lot of work. I--like most people--took 4 college level classes per semester in college, and was not juggling 2 or 3 OTHER classes that had homework, papers, tests, etc. I never took higher level math, a lab science, reading and paper-heavy English and social science, and a language in the same semester.

This is LITERALLY OP’s point.

The arms race for most AP and IB courses is exhausting, but if you don’t compete with your peers, you are no longer “most rigorous path”.

Meanwhile over at HB, kids don’t have to kill themselves because their peers simply can’t load up and escalate the AP course load.

No I'm saying I never took hhigher level math + a lab science + reading and paper-heavy English + a social science + a language in the same semester in college and I think it's kind of crazy that kids would do AP-level classes for all of those plus 2 or 3 other classes. For what? Read the college boards on Reddit, many of the kids doing this are miserable and the chances of getting in a top college are basically a crapshoot anyhow. Let them do a couple AP classes a year if they need/want the challenge but this loading up just to get their GPA up another tenth of a point or to go from "more rigorous" to "most rigorous" is crazy.

--mom of an H-b 11th grader and a current college student

That was my freshman year engineering major workload. I think it’s pretty typical.

Oh no language so that’s true.

Yes, we all took calc and chem and English comp and econ our freshman year college, whether or not we were engineering majors. We didn't take FIVE classes.

Yes engineers at my school take 5 classes per semester, and one of them is a lab class (I think I actually had two labs because my high school didn’t have AP).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think its a good idea for kids to take this many APs, anyhow. If they are really college-level classes, albeit spread over 2 semesters, that's a lot of work. I--like most people--took 4 college level classes per semester in college, and was not juggling 2 or 3 OTHER classes that had homework, papers, tests, etc. I never took higher level math, a lab science, reading and paper-heavy English and social science, and a language in the same semester.

This is LITERALLY OP’s point.

The arms race for most AP and IB courses is exhausting, but if you don’t compete with your peers, you are no longer “most rigorous path”.

Meanwhile over at HB, kids don’t have to kill themselves because their peers simply can’t load up and escalate the AP course load.

No I'm saying I never took higher level math + a lab science + reading and paper-heavy English + a social science + a language in the same semester in college and I think it's kind of crazy that kids would do AP-level classes for all of those plus 2 or 3 other classes. For what? Read the college boards on Reddit, many of the kids doing this are miserable and the chances of getting in a top college are basically a crapshoot anyhow. Let them do a couple AP classes a year if they need/want the challenge but this loading up just to get their GPA up another tenth of a point or to go from "more rigorous" to "most rigorous" is crazy.

--mom of an H-b 11th grader and a current college student

Look, if you expect a kid who takes 2-3 APs to be compared equally to a kid that has taken 10-12, you are delusional. The kid taking the 10-12 APs either has higher aptitude or stronger work ethic (likely both) than the other kid. If you want to get into a t-20 school, you're going to have to suck it up and play the game. If t-20 isn't your goal, then you can relax a bit and not take such a demanding course load. It is all about choices. Don't be mad at the ambitious kids. FYI - the ambitious kids at ANY of the APS high schools do just fine. I don't really believe that any APS individual school gives a measurable advantage as far as I've seen.

The point is the ambitious kids at HB don’t have take the boatload of AP because they don’t have peers trying to. So not an advantage for admission per se, but they get same opportunities with less effort.

Who are you talking to at HB? I have a senior there now and there is plenty of pressure for kids to take a boatload of AP classes. Most of my child's friends and academic peers will have taken 11-14 AP classes by the time they graduate. Is that not a big enough boatload for you to consider them peers to kids at other schools?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think its a good idea for kids to take this many APs, anyhow. If they are really college-level classes, albeit spread over 2 semesters, that's a lot of work. I--like most people--took 4 college level classes per semester in college, and was not juggling 2 or 3 OTHER classes that had homework, papers, tests, etc. I never took higher level math, a lab science, reading and paper-heavy English and social science, and a language in the same semester.

This is LITERALLY OP’s point.

The arms race for most AP and IB courses is exhausting, but if you don’t compete with your peers, you are no longer “most rigorous path”.

Meanwhile over at HB, kids don’t have to kill themselves because their peers simply can’t load up and escalate the AP course load.

No I'm saying I never took higher level math + a lab science + reading and paper-heavy English + a social science + a language in the same semester in college and I think it's kind of crazy that kids would do AP-level classes for all of those plus 2 or 3 other classes. For what? Read the college boards on Reddit, many of the kids doing this are miserable and the chances of getting in a top college are basically a crapshoot anyhow. Let them do a couple AP classes a year if they need/want the challenge but this loading up just to get their GPA up another tenth of a point or to go from "more rigorous" to "most rigorous" is crazy.

--mom of an H-b 11th grader and a current college student

Look, if you expect a kid who takes 2-3 APs to be compared equally to a kid that has taken 10-12, you are delusional. The kid taking the 10-12 APs either has higher aptitude or stronger work ethic (likely both) than the other kid. If you want to get into a t-20 school, you're going to have to suck it up and play the game. If t-20 isn't your goal, then you can relax a bit and not take such a demanding course load. It is all about choices. Don't be mad at the ambitious kids. FYI - the ambitious kids at ANY of the APS high schools do just fine. I don't really believe that any APS individual school gives a measurable advantage as far as I've seen.

The point is the ambitious kids at HB don’t have take the boatload of AP because they don’t have peers trying to. So not an advantage for admission per se, but they get same opportunities with less effort.

How do you know that? Do you know any HB grads and how many AP classes they took and where they got into schooll? And how do you know the ambitious kids don’t have peers taking “boatloads” of APs? Yes, there are not as many AP classes offered TOTAL at HB, but it’s certainly expected that those that are offered are taken if you want to get into a top college (I.e. 10-12).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think its a good idea for kids to take this many APs, anyhow. If they are really college-level classes, albeit spread over 2 semesters, that's a lot of work. I--like most people--took 4 college level classes per semester in college, and was not juggling 2 or 3 OTHER classes that had homework, papers, tests, etc. I never took higher level math, a lab science, reading and paper-heavy English and social science, and a language in the same semester.

This is LITERALLY OP’s point.

The arms race for most AP and IB courses is exhausting, but if you don’t compete with your peers, you are no longer “most rigorous path”.

Meanwhile over at HB, kids don’t have to kill themselves because their peers simply can’t load up and escalate the AP course load.

No I'm saying I never took hhigher level math + a lab science + reading and paper-heavy English + a social science + a language in the same semester in college and I think it's kind of crazy that kids would do AP-level classes for all of those plus 2 or 3 other classes. For what? Read the college boards on Reddit, many of the kids doing this are miserable and the chances of getting in a top college are basically a crapshoot anyhow. Let them do a couple AP classes a year if they need/want the challenge but this loading up just to get their GPA up another tenth of a point or to go from "more rigorous" to "most rigorous" is crazy.

--mom of an H-b 11th grader and a current college student

That was my freshman year engineering major workload. I think it’s pretty typical.

Oh no language so that’s true.

Yes, we all took calc and chem and English comp and econ our freshman year college, whether or not we were engineering majors. We didn't take FIVE classes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think its a good idea for kids to take this many APs, anyhow. If they are really college-level classes, albeit spread over 2 semesters, that's a lot of work. I--like most people--took 4 college level classes per semester in college, and was not juggling 2 or 3 OTHER classes that had homework, papers, tests, etc. I never took higher level math, a lab science, reading and paper-heavy English and social science, and a language in the same semester.

This is LITERALLY OP’s point.

The arms race for most AP and IB courses is exhausting, but if you don’t compete with your peers, you are no longer “most rigorous path”.

Meanwhile over at HB, kids don’t have to kill themselves because their peers simply can’t load up and escalate the AP course load.

No I'm saying I never took higher level math + a lab science + reading and paper-heavy English + a social science + a language in the same semester in college and I think it's kind of crazy that kids would do AP-level classes for all of those plus 2 or 3 other classes. For what? Read the college boards on Reddit, many of the kids doing this are miserable and the chances of getting in a top college are basically a crapshoot anyhow. Let them do a couple AP classes a year if they need/want the challenge but this loading up just to get their GPA up another tenth of a point or to go from "more rigorous" to "most rigorous" is crazy.

--mom of an H-b 11th grader and a current college student

Look, if you expect a kid who takes 2-3 APs to be compared equally to a kid that has taken 10-12, you are delusional. The kid taking the 10-12 APs either has higher aptitude or stronger work ethic (likely both) than the other kid. If you want to get into a t-20 school, you're going to have to suck it up and play the game. If t-20 isn't your goal, then you can relax a bit and not take such a demanding course load. It is all about choices. Don't be mad at the ambitious kids. FYI - the ambitious kids at ANY of the APS high schools do just fine. I don't really believe that any APS individual school gives a measurable advantage as far as I've seen.

I'm not mad at the ambitious kids but I don't think I'm delusional when I say taking 2-3 APs vs 10-12 APs makes that big a difference in terms of getting into college if you're talking about UMC kids from Arlington VA. Look at the scattergrams on Naviance and the GPA/SAT score plots--there are tons more kids that don't get in or get waitlisted than get in at all the top schools. I hope the ambitious kids understand that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think its a good idea for kids to take this many APs, anyhow. If they are really college-level classes, albeit spread over 2 semesters, that's a lot of work. I--like most people--took 4 college level classes per semester in college, and was not juggling 2 or 3 OTHER classes that had homework, papers, tests, etc. I never took higher level math, a lab science, reading and paper-heavy English and social science, and a language in the same semester.

This is LITERALLY OP’s point.

The arms race for most AP and IB courses is exhausting, but if you don’t compete with your peers, you are no longer “most rigorous path”.

Meanwhile over at HB, kids don’t have to kill themselves because their peers simply can’t load up and escalate the AP course load.

No I'm saying I never took hhigher level math + a lab science + reading and paper-heavy English + a social science + a language in the same semester in college and I think it's kind of crazy that kids would do AP-level classes for all of those plus 2 or 3 other classes. For what? Read the college boards on Reddit, many of the kids doing this are miserable and the chances of getting in a top college are basically a crapshoot anyhow. Let them do a couple AP classes a year if they need/want the challenge but this loading up just to get their GPA up another tenth of a point or to go from "more rigorous" to "most rigorous" is crazy.

--mom of an H-b 11th grader and a current college student

That was my freshman year engineering major workload. I think it’s pretty typical.

Oh no language so that’s true.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think its a good idea for kids to take this many APs, anyhow. If they are really college-level classes, albeit spread over 2 semesters, that's a lot of work. I--like most people--took 4 college level classes per semester in college, and was not juggling 2 or 3 OTHER classes that had homework, papers, tests, etc. I never took higher level math, a lab science, reading and paper-heavy English and social science, and a language in the same semester.

This is LITERALLY OP’s point.

The arms race for most AP and IB courses is exhausting, but if you don’t compete with your peers, you are no longer “most rigorous path”.

Meanwhile over at HB, kids don’t have to kill themselves because their peers simply can’t load up and escalate the AP course load.

No I'm saying I never took higher level math + a lab science + reading and paper-heavy English + a social science + a language in the same semester in college and I think it's kind of crazy that kids would do AP-level classes for all of those plus 2 or 3 other classes. For what? Read the college boards on Reddit, many of the kids doing this are miserable and the chances of getting in a top college are basically a crapshoot anyhow. Let them do a couple AP classes a year if they need/want the challenge but this loading up just to get their GPA up another tenth of a point or to go from "more rigorous" to "most rigorous" is crazy.

--mom of an H-b 11th grader and a current college student

Look, if you expect a kid who takes 2-3 APs to be compared equally to a kid that has taken 10-12, you are delusional. The kid taking the 10-12 APs either has higher aptitude or stronger work ethic (likely both) than the other kid. If you want to get into a t-20 school, you're going to have to suck it up and play the game. If t-20 isn't your goal, then you can relax a bit and not take such a demanding course load. It is all about choices. Don't be mad at the ambitious kids. FYI - the ambitious kids at ANY of the APS high schools do just fine. I don't really believe that any APS individual school gives a measurable advantage as far as I've seen.

The point is the ambitious kids at HB don’t have take the boatload of AP because they don’t have peers trying to. So not an advantage for admission per se, but they get same opportunities with less effort.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think its a good idea for kids to take this many APs, anyhow. If they are really college-level classes, albeit spread over 2 semesters, that's a lot of work. I--like most people--took 4 college level classes per semester in college, and was not juggling 2 or 3 OTHER classes that had homework, papers, tests, etc. I never took higher level math, a lab science, reading and paper-heavy English and social science, and a language in the same semester.

This is LITERALLY OP’s point.

The arms race for most AP and IB courses is exhausting, but if you don’t compete with your peers, you are no longer “most rigorous path”.

Meanwhile over at HB, kids don’t have to kill themselves because their peers simply can’t load up and escalate the AP course load.

No I'm saying I never took hhigher level math + a lab science + reading and paper-heavy English + a social science + a language in the same semester in college and I think it's kind of crazy that kids would do AP-level classes for all of those plus 2 or 3 other classes. For what? Read the college boards on Reddit, many of the kids doing this are miserable and the chances of getting in a top college are basically a crapshoot anyhow. Let them do a couple AP classes a year if they need/want the challenge but this loading up just to get their GPA up another tenth of a point or to go from "more rigorous" to "most rigorous" is crazy.

--mom of an H-b 11th grader and a current college student

That was my freshman year engineering major workload. I think it’s pretty typical.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think its a good idea for kids to take this many APs, anyhow. If they are really college-level classes, albeit spread over 2 semesters, that's a lot of work. I--like most people--took 4 college level classes per semester in college, and was not juggling 2 or 3 OTHER classes that had homework, papers, tests, etc. I never took higher level math, a lab science, reading and paper-heavy English and social science, and a language in the same semester.

This is LITERALLY OP’s point.

The arms race for most AP and IB courses is exhausting, but if you don’t compete with your peers, you are no longer “most rigorous path”.

Meanwhile over at HB, kids don’t have to kill themselves because their peers simply can’t load up and escalate the AP course load.

No I'm saying I never took higher level math + a lab science + reading and paper-heavy English + a social science + a language in the same semester in college and I think it's kind of crazy that kids would do AP-level classes for all of those plus 2 or 3 other classes. For what? Read the college boards on Reddit, many of the kids doing this are miserable and the chances of getting in a top college are basically a crapshoot anyhow. Let them do a couple AP classes a year if they need/want the challenge but this loading up just to get their GPA up another tenth of a point or to go from "more rigorous" to "most rigorous" is crazy.

--mom of an H-b 11th grader and a current college student

Look, if you expect a kid who takes 2-3 APs to be compared equally to a kid that has taken 10-12, you are delusional. The kid taking the 10-12 APs either has higher aptitude or stronger work ethic (likely both) than the other kid. If you want to get into a t-20 school, you're going to have to suck it up and play the game. If t-20 isn't your goal, then you can relax a bit and not take such a demanding course load. It is all about choices. Don't be mad at the ambitious kids. FYI - the ambitious kids at ANY of the APS high schools do just fine. I don't really believe that any APS individual school gives a measurable advantage as far as I've seen.

Anonymous wrote:I always wondered who were the students who dropped out from prestigious, high demand STEM majors in college.

That was me. Elite university from Appalachian high school. So unprepared, I feel bad taking a spot from someone who could have succeeded.