How Does Music Compare to AP Classes?

[Keilexandra]

<p>^If the 9-10 AP student is val, then I assume that there aren’t any other students at his/her HS who takes significantly more AP courses with equally high grades–otherwise the math doesn’t work out. For the record, I don’t believe that 9-10 APs vs. 13-14 APs from different contexts makes any significant difference in admissions.</p>

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@SimpleLife

Rarely do two students of that caliber present themselves as entirely equal except for one, single factor – the number of APs.

To the contrary! I’m not talking about musical prodigies, just normal students who are good enough at music to send in a supplement CD, for example. And I say “equal” in a subjective context, as admissions might “rate” students on a 1-5 or 1-9 scale (even LACs like Williams do this, and their rating system has been written about though I haven’t the time to look for a link). So if two students are both extracurricular 7s–in the “match” range for acceptance but by no means a sure admit–but one is an academic 8 and the other an academic 8.5 due to exceptional course rigor… it can make a difference.</p>

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@SimpleLife

Colleges say they look at each student individually and holistically, with regard to what is available to each student at their individual schools.

Indeed. But colleges also assume that all students at a particular high school have the same access to course rigor, and thus the same opportunity to craft an AP-heavy schedule. Note, this is an ASSUMPTION, but a common one, IMO.</p>

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@SimpleLife

If you can excel in 10 APs, become the valedictorian, and have excellent musical achievement, and complete the most rigorous academic course load available (considering that you took 4 years of music and really excelled in that arena)

Similarly, many colleges do NOT consider music to be a rigorous academic course. Instead, it’s considered an elective. TBH, my band course was not academically challenging at all, though time-consuming because of my outside commitment to music. </p>

<p>Basically, Candidate A from Podunk HS has 5 “solids” each year while Candidate B from Podunk HS has 6 “solids” each year, and they both have excellent extracurriculars (“soft factors”). Their “outside” excellence doesn’t have to be equal musical talent–maybe one is an actor who has excelled in theatre. It distills to the same (literal) number in admissions.</p>

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@SimpleLife

That 13-14 kid could obviously fit 13-14 in his/her schedule, for whatever reason, and the other kid couldn’t.

Or, the first kid made academics his top in-school priority and “somehow” managed to juggle music/theatre/etc. on top of it, while the second kid is pretty great too but hasn’t proved himself as much the multi-talented star since he got an entire extra period to work on his music during school.</p>

<p>I exaggerate, but is such a thought process so implausible?</p>