<p>MomfromTN–Thanks for the biggest laugh of the day. I needed that!</p>
<p>collegealum,
I would imagine there are many strong magnet high schools with strong academics, especially in the sciences, but doubt their high schools classes, even if they are AP classes, are more challenging than all but a handful of colleges and universities. That is just hard to believe. Perhaps you were being tongue in cheek. Yes Illinois Math & Science is a good HS with no doubt impressive classes. But where is the evidence that they are “harder” than all but a handful of college science programs?</p>
<p>I do believe college alum was being sarcastic, no?</p>
<p>It could be collegealum314 meant “aren’t harder” but wrote “are harder.”</p>
<p>At first I thought so too, redpoint, but am not 100% sure. The school is a strong math/science school, but that strong? Doubtful. Annasdad has posted the name of the school before, so its easy enough to look at their school profile, average SAT and AP scores (apparently AP classes arent taught per se, but it appears that students take the AP exam), colleges they attend, etc. Most attend UIUC after graduation.</p>
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<p>There are apparently a few rare super-elite high schools which do not bother with AP because their courses are more rigorous than AP.</p>
<p>But also, many colleges do offer science courses for non-majors which are likely less rigorous than high school level science courses. Some colleges do not even offer (for example) physics courses for physics and engineering majors because no one there majors in physics or engineering.</p>
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<p>Well, I haven’t surveyed all 3,000+ colleges and analyzed the rigor of their science classes, so I wouldn’t hazard a guess. I was only reporting what the parent of one recent (2011) biology major graduate of Northwestern told me.</p>
<p>So I guess anecdotal evidence *is *okay as long as it supports your position, annasdad?</p>
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<p>Let’s review.</p>
<p>Post 218: iloveblacklabs reports on the Greek GPAs at her school</p>
<p>Post 219: I post some research that indicates that her school’s situation is at variance with research into the effect of fraternity membership on GPAs.</p>
<p>Post 221: PizzaGirl responds “I’m not surprised that you think Greek life is what was depicted in Animal House, on every campus, no exceptions.” Note that I never mentioned Animal House, Greek behavior in general, or claimed that anything happened on every campus, no exceptions.</p>
<p>So perhaps, MomFromTN, you should be asking PizzaGirl why her panties are so much in a wad about a presumed (not actual) slight to the honor of her sorority sisters.</p>
<p>+1, patsmom!!</p>
<p>Oh my, an IMSA alum attended NU. I hope they didn’t mingle with the greek riff-raff. Or worse yet, participate in Greek life!! It could have had a deleterious effect on their GPA. And of course because they said the science classes were harder in HS then lets overgeneralize to all schools. Certainly it MUST be so! Wonder how their statistics courses are, since this estimation doesn’t pass muster.</p>
<p>ucb-
IB programs dont offer AP classes either.</p>
<p>Another serious entry in my list of schools where I wouldn’t want my kids to go: a school where there are serious difficulties in getting into classes. I was recently talking with some friends who work at a Cal State campus about the start of the semester. Waitlists of up to 100 students, and the only thing that will get you into a class is if you absolutely need it for graduation and you are supposed to be graduating at the end of the semester. Not having enough credits to carry a full load, putting scholarships and insurance coverage at risk, isn’t a strong enough reason to get in off a waitlist.</p>
<p>I looked up this “superior” magnet school. The average SAT score there is 78 points above the state average in our state and about that in a couple other states, what exactly makes these science classes so difficult that these kids score that low on the SAT?? I’m a little confused.</p>
<p>I will agree that most high school AP classes are as difficult as the 100 level college courses, but it makes sense because that is what they are. They use the same textbook or similar textbook as most colleges do for those classes. Once you get past those classes for a science major though, no high school has classes THAT hard.</p>
<p>Let me attempt to untie everyone’s panties, which unfortunately, in my absence, have apparently become knotted.</p>
<p>I wasn’t being tongue-in-cheek. To be clear, Anna’sdad said that he didn’t want his kid to a school in which the classes weren’t harder than his kid’s high school. I don’t know if he meant to say that, or he meant that the classes weren’t equivalent to his kid’s high school. I think it is accurate that there probably aren’t more than 10 schools where the math and science classes are actually harder. The classes covering AP level are done far differently, (e.g., in most cases you have to discover the physical laws through experiments rather than just learn it,) and the breadth and advancement of classes go far beyond AP-level. Probably the breadth of math and science classes is similar to Amherst or Williams. For instance, they offer biochemistry, a year long organic chemistry class, thermodynamics based on the Feynman lectures, among other things. The multivariable calculus class I took at a similar magnet school was actually significantly harder than the one I took at MIT. There are two versions of multi-variable calculus at MIT; one “regular” version that most people take, and one that only theoretical math majors take (for those in the know, they use Apostol.) I’m guessing that the MVC class I took was similar to the harder version </p>
<p>There are probably more colleges that are roughly equivalent, but Anna’sdad was talking about harder. </p>
<p>FYI–I went to one of the magnet schools similar to Annasdad’s kid, so I was speaking from experience.</p>
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The average incoming SAT CR score is 612, and the average incoming SAT math score is 675 (from wikipedia). This refers to the SAT score they got as freshmen when they applied to high school. I’d say 1290 is a pretty strong score for a freshman in high school. </p>
<p>The average SAT score (M+CR) outgoing score (taken as a junior) was 1390 for the class of 2009 (all I could find.)</p>
<p>I wouldn’t want my daughter to go to a college where people spend time analyzing the SAT score distributions of students at their high schools. Way off the list: Colleges where people discuss the SAT score distributions of students at other people’s high schools.</p>
<p>Kidding. Sort of. But, really, people.</p>
<p>So let’s see, if a student scores higher than 1390 but doesn’t go to one of those super magnet schools and took sciences that are easier than college class ones then what does that actually say about the contribution of those amazing science classes in student performance. </p>
<p>Because there are tons of kids here on cc that perform higher than 1390.</p>
<p>Hey, tell that to Mncollegemom…I’m not the one that brought it up.</p>
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<p>Jeez, people are a little defensive here.</p>
<p>BTW, if you calculated the median, it’s not far off from the numbers at HYPMS.</p>
<p>MomfromTN. Let’s have lunch!</p>