Interesting about AP classes. We did not submit scores at all. We thought AP scores were only for getting credit to bypass classes. Therefore, only needed to submit them to the final school. So, should we submit them to schools were we are updating information due to deferral?
@RelocatedYankee I think we are seeing that more and more. The tippy top “stats” students have worse luck than the slightly super excellent “stats” student. I don’t know if it’s a difference in the schools selected for application or perhaps the famous “Tufts” syndrome that we here about on CC. But the defers and rejections this year for kids with 35-36 ACT scores has been down right brutal! >:)
@burghdad don’t take that the wrong way. She sounds great, and would have done well there. I just think that is something they would have noticed.
@amominaz yeah I don’t know for sure…just guessing. Top schools would expect scores, but UNC never said anything about them, and I think most kids I know didn’t submit them yet. And I do know several of those kids got in.
@ShrimpBurrito , I am very jealous of your D’s state of relaxation! We have a long way to go. I want S18 to begin enjoying his last semester of senior year, but there are still auditions to attend, honors college apps to turn in with essays, scholarship weekends, etc… To top it off, he did not land the role he wanted in his high school’s big spring musical, and is crushed that he will not have a big role in his last HS musical. The director chose a musical that has few great guy parts, then decided (we now know, before auditions even) that she wanted to give others a chance to shine. I get that, just wish she had chosen a musical that had more decent roles and solos. Ah well, he has gotten over that.
@ChattaChia interesting question…I would definitely think seriously about submitting AP test score when giving an update to a school that has given a deferral, particularly if the AP scores are 4&5. I think it might be helpful!
@burghdad I’m not sure if UNC and UVA practice gender preference in admissions for OOS, but it looks like UNC especially is very female (58+%), and UVA is also, but not quite as lopsided (I think I saw 55% female). I’m not sure if gender preference is the case, but it would maybe explain a little about your daughter’s experience.
I even saw a number as high as 61% female for UNC-CH, but I don’t remember where I saw that one.
I’ve read that a lot of LAC’s that skew female have an admissions preference for males. Supposedly the tipping point for schools is 60% female/40% male and when a school goes further female it becomes less attractive to both both females and males
Maybe state universities don’t do that, or maybe they only practice it for OOS? I really don’t know, just wondering.
For people like us who are still running around doing college visits, Southwest Airlines has posted some great sale fares today - lots of $29/$49 one way flights in March and April.
We are still visiting and trying to find a reason to select one college over the others. I’ve told S that college (or anything, for that matter) is what you make of it. Keep focused on the long term goal and push through each day. I really don’t believe there is a perfect “fit” when it comes to college.
Interesting perspective @Burghdad and @chb088 our school does offer a decent number of AP courses but for my daughter’s metriculating class (I only say this because I’m not sure if policy has changed) they were required to take the Honors version of a course prior to taking the AP version. So for Junior Year as an example she took Honors Pre-Calc Trig but doubled up on math and did an Honors Calc A and Comp Science course. AP English starts Junior year and there was some wiggle room to take an AP Bio or AP Environmental in Junior year but my daughter was toying with the idea of an engineering major when she made the schedule so took Honors Physics (which is a prereq to AP Physics). So I can understand how @Burghdad’s daughter might have been a bit stuck if they have similar requirements, especially if music was important to her. My daughter is a musician and in order to squeeze all of our school’s requirements (like year long PE and arts etc) she has never once had a lunch period. She “eats on the fly” as it were which allows her to fit in her band class. I think depending on the state and then the district, some kids have less opportunity to take AP courses; one would think that the high ACT score would demonstrate that her honors courses were sufficiently rigorous. My daughter had only two AP courses her Junior year as well (AP English, AP History) the rest were Honors level aside from PE. The max she could have had based on requirements would have been three AP if she had skipped Honors Physics and went into AP Enviro or AP Bio. This year she has all AP plus PE and Band.
I really looked into the issue of submitting AP scores, because at my D’s HS you are allowed to take an AP class without taking the tests. FWIW, her HS strongly advises that if you don’t think you are going to get a 4 or a 5 on a test, don’t take it and spend your time studying for the other APs. But my concern was that if a college sees she took 5 AP classes and only sees 4 AP scores reported, they might just assume that she bombed the 5th and chose not to report it. I received such contradictory recommendations from all the sources I spoke to, that I wonder whether it’s really dependent on the individual college. Also, I do think that colleges’ regional reps are familiar with the policies of the high schools that send a lot of kids to their college, so if they know a HS tries to limit the number of APs taken, then it might not look so bad to the college.
@AmyBeth68 that seems crazy…so basically they have to take two calculus courses, honors and then AP to take AP? There’s already not enough time to get everything kids want. DS high school only offers 2 AP in 11th, English and History and two AP in 12th, Calculus and Environ Science. They do offer a couple arts AP classes, music and art. Everything else is honors level, they don’t offer “regular” for lack of a better term.
I believe the honors classes are pretty rigorous…DS took the Biology SAT II in Nov. based on content from the Honors Biology class that ended in the prior May and got a 700 with no study. There was some content he was lacking, but that’s still a solid score for not having had AP Biology.
The thing his school does that I don’t like…is for things that are AP, they are only AP. So everyone HAS to take AP US History, regardless of their ability. To supplement the content in the AP classes, the teachers hold what’s called DS, directed studies, where they cover the additional content that is necessary to pass the AP test. It’s a crazy system. For AP US History last year, the teacher took the 30 best students for DS, and they basically covered 20 additional chapters during that time period that met twice a week on top of the regular class that met 2-3 times a week.
@melvin123 my DD was happy to send her bad Physics I (1) score. Her theory was it showed tenacity and resilience…yeah I own I did poorly on that test, physics is clearly not my thing, but I stuck it out and finished, it’s ok to fail, I picked myself up and moved forward, I am not ashamed. The exam score was consistent -ish with her barely B class grade.
I have been following this thread as I have a D18 and have learned so much in the college admissions process. My D will have 8 AP classes (4 taking now) and we did not send her scores, nor did she take all 4 tests (school does not require her to). She applied to some selective schools and I am now wondering if we should have put more emphasis on those AP tests.
At our school they strongly encourage all AP students to take the AP exam. The lure is that you can exempt from your class final if you take it. DS did not send any AP scores to colleges (he did not apply to any true reaches and his AP scores were all 4). He will send his scores to his chosen one to try to get credit.
I actually misspoke when I said they were not required. They are highly encouraged. You have to take at least 2 corresponding AP tests as one of the requirements to get a special honors recognition for graduation (she already had 2 other things that qualified her anyway). So she took 3 of the 4 tests last year. Her scores were not good–2, 3, 3–so we were advised not to send.
It is interesting to read the different way AP classes are treated. Our school does not require the exam, and the class is still weighted according to the final grade. We take some classes (calc, for example) in order to prepare for college math. My student will still take college calc even if he gets a 5 on the AP exam.
This weighted system has created a race to take APs for val/sal purposes. The top 2% of students at our school all have 4.0 unweighted GPAs (1,100 seniors) so AP classes are used to differentiate. My student could never break into the val category due to playing a sport.
We have purchased the prom dress here too! Prom is in late May. However, D was shopping with a friend & happened upon a dress that looks like it was made for her. It had to be purchased. I just hope it still fits in 3 1/2 months!