They won’t “hold it against her,” but she will be compared with the rest of the admissions pool. At selective schools, many other applicants will have undertaken more rigorous curriculums.

Anonymous wrote:My DC is taking APES next year (12th grade). Should DC try and switch to a different science AP? Has taken Honors Biology, Honors Chemistry and Honors Physics with As. Private school. Now I am panicking. DC is applying to Business, high stats, and APs across all core classes.

Private schools are a little different. Many don’t even have AP courses.

Anonymous wrote:My DC is taking APES next year (12th grade). Should DC try and switch to a different science AP? Has taken Honors Biology, Honors Chemistry and Honors Physics with As. Private school. Now I am panicking. DC is applying to Business, high stats, and APs across all core classes.

+ same

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC is taking APES next year (12th grade). Should DC try and switch to a different science AP? Has taken Honors Biology, Honors Chemistry and Honors Physics with As. Private school. Now I am panicking. DC is applying to Business, high stats, and APs across all core classes.

What’s his intended major? If not STEM there is no need to panic because he has honors in all other cores. If STEM it just looks better to take AP bio, chem, or physics.

Oh sorry, I just noticed the business. Yeah I think he’s fine.

Anonymous wrote:My DC is taking APES next year (12th grade). Should DC try and switch to a different science AP? Has taken Honors Biology, Honors Chemistry and Honors Physics with As. Private school. Now I am panicking. DC is applying to Business, high stats, and APs across all core classes.

What’s his intended major? If not STEM there is no need to panic because he has honors in all other cores. If STEM it just looks better to take AP bio, chem, or physics.

DCUM consensus: Maybe!

My DC is taking APES next year (12th grade). Should DC try and switch to a different science AP? Has taken Honors Biology, Honors Chemistry and Honors Physics with As. Private school. Now I am panicking. DC is applying to Business, high stats, and APs across all core classes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does everyone keep pushing William & Mary? It’s a hard admit and they want to see math and science too. Geez.

Lots of data points on this site of them not requiring AP Calc and having a significant amount of TO admits. Especially in ED. Its a good option for OP's child.

They don’t require AP Calculus for sure (although in the past they definitely did). But this student’s transcript isn’t just missing AP Calculus. It’s missing virtually every top level math or science class. And they’re from OOS. You are giving bad advice. Amateur advice. This student is not getting into William & Mary with virtually no rigorous math and science classes and no test scores. Not happening.

She has AP environmental science, so she does have a science AP. This is absolutely fine for a non-majors.

ES is not really a science course regardless of what the title says. Everybody knows that.

Goodness. You really are clueless.

The PP may not be wording things very politely, but there is something to what he/she is saying. AP ES, Like AP CS Principles and AP Psych, is generally regarded as being among the less rigorous options. If someone were applying as a science major, they would be well advised to take AP physics, AP chem, or AP bio. It would not look good for science applicant to select AP ES and not take one of the core sciences if they were available. For a humanities student it may matter less, but it still looks more impressive to have taken a core science.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does everyone keep pushing William & Mary? It’s a hard admit and they want to see math and science too. Geez.

Lots of data points on this site of them not requiring AP Calc and having a significant amount of TO admits. Especially in ED. Its a good option for OP's child.

They don’t require AP Calculus for sure (although in the past they definitely did). But this student’s transcript isn’t just missing AP Calculus. It’s missing virtually every top level math or science class. And they’re from OOS. You are giving bad advice. Amateur advice. This student is not getting into William & Mary with virtually no rigorous math and science classes and no test scores. Not happening.

She has AP environmental science, so she does have a science AP. This is absolutely fine for a non-majors.

ES is not really a science course regardless of what the title says. Everybody knows that.

Goodness. You really are clueless.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does everyone keep pushing William & Mary? It’s a hard admit and they want to see math and science too. Geez.

Lots of data points on this site of them not requiring AP Calc and having a significant amount of TO admits. Especially in ED. Its a good option for OP's child.

They don’t require AP Calculus for sure (although in the past they definitely did). But this student’s transcript isn’t just missing AP Calculus. It’s missing virtually every top level math or science class. And they’re from OOS. You are giving bad advice. Amateur advice. This student is not getting into William & Mary with virtually no rigorous math and science classes and no test scores. Not happening.

She has AP environmental science, so she does have a science AP. This is absolutely fine for a non-majors.

No it isn’t. But you’ll see.

OP, don't listen to people like this ^^. My kids all took APES as their science AP and were all accepted to T50 schools. None were interested in STEM majors. It is a non-issue.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does everyone keep pushing William & Mary? It’s a hard admit and they want to see math and science too. Geez.

Lots of data points on this site of them not requiring AP Calc and having a significant amount of TO admits. Especially in ED. Its a good option for OP's child.

They don’t require AP Calculus for sure (although in the past they definitely did). But this student’s transcript isn’t just missing AP Calculus. It’s missing virtually every top level math or science class. And they’re from OOS. You are giving bad advice. Amateur advice. This student is not getting into William & Mary with virtually no rigorous math and science classes and no test scores. Not happening.

She has AP environmental science, so she does have a science AP. This is absolutely fine for a non-majors.

No it isn’t. But you’ll see.

While she sounds like a wonderful student, I think if you are aiming for top colleges, the problem will be the competition with the sheer number of other qualified students. There will be some aspiring humanities majors who have excelled at the max rigor courses for humanities AND science and math. While I don't think lack of AP Calculus by itself is that bad, this combined with a lack of AP science (APES doesn't count) will put her at a disadvantage. But as many people have said, her odds really depend on her school and geographic area, and whether she has other qualifications that trump the weaker science and math curriculum. I agree with others to try to ED at some place where she could be happy but is also realistic admissions wise

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does everyone keep pushing William & Mary? It’s a hard admit and they want to see math and science too. Geez.

Lots of data points on this site of them not requiring AP Calc and having a significant amount of TO admits. Especially in ED. Its a good option for OP's child.

They don’t require AP Calculus for sure (although in the past they definitely did). But this student’s transcript isn’t just missing AP Calculus. It’s missing virtually every top level math or science class. And they’re from OOS. You are giving bad advice. Amateur advice. This student is not getting into William & Mary with virtually no rigorous math and science classes and no test scores. Not happening.

She has AP environmental science, so she does have a science AP. This is absolutely fine for a non-majors.

ES is not really a science course regardless of what the title says. Everybody knows that.

My view is that the lack of math and science places puts more of a priority upon identifying schools of interest, with an emphasis upon specific programs offered by the school and tailoring the application for these programs. In other words, fit is even more urgent because you are trying to persuade a school that she uniquely well-suited for it.

Research into possible schools and a strong effort to show demonstrated interest where considered would be helpful. Show demonstrated interest not only in the school but the program, too.

Of course, people will say everyone does this, but not to this granular degree if they have the stats.

For example, if I recall correctly, you can draft and substitute a different common ap essay for each school that accepts the common ap, so you can subtly tailor the essay for the school.

I’m not in position to say where she can and can’t get admitted, you need expert guidance for that, but I do believe Top 30 to Top 50 is possible if the effort is made to tailor the application for the school. For some reason, I also think there is an outside chance for NYU ED1 and possibly USC and Reed.

You probably aren’t interested in UCs (and they can be challenging for students and to justify paying OOS tuition), but UC Davis OOS might work. She might also like UC Santa Cruz for its eclectic social sciences and humanities. Just some ideas for you and others here to pick apart. People here hate Rutgers but my son almost went there for the social sciences.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does everyone keep pushing William & Mary? It’s a hard admit and they want to see math and science too. Geez.

Lots of data points on this site of them not requiring AP Calc and having a significant amount of TO admits. Especially in ED. Its a good option for OP's child.

They don’t require AP Calculus for sure (although in the past they definitely did). But this student’s transcript isn’t just missing AP Calculus. It’s missing virtually every top level math or science class. And they’re from OOS. You are giving bad advice. Amateur advice. This student is not getting into William & Mary with virtually no rigorous math and science classes and no test scores. Not happening.

She has AP environmental science, so she does have a science AP. This is absolutely fine for a non-majors.