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There is nothing wrong with a student having a C being in an advanced class. I had a couple of students in my AP calculus class that went on to score 4s on the AP exam. If the student has motivation, I'd let a D student take an advanced class. A real passionate teacher and a motivated student can make it work, trust me.
I'm sorry, but I disagree with this statement. Why would you pull a student who is getting A's out of the "regular" class if you didn't expect that they could do better? My daughter is in AP classes, I struggled with this decision myself. I didn't want her to be overwhelmed with the additional homework etc that AP class has, and I didn't want her A to go to a C because of it. Universities will look at this. I have called several myself to help make this decision with her. I spoke to admissions people at Rutgers, Villanova, and Princeton. I asked them what harm would it do if my child is offered AP classes and doesn't take them...well - the answer is pretty much what I thought - A student who gets an A in regular class will be chosen over the student who gets a C in an Honors or AP class. This answer stood for all 3 Universities.
That doesn't mean kids who don't take AP classes aren't just as likely to get in if its not available to them. All the Univ. I spoke with started with the same concept......They want to know how well each student does with what is available to them.
My daughter was recommended for 3 classes. I told her to choose one for this year. If she continues to do well, she can add another and so on. Either way - the colleges will look at the high school transcript. So should you decide not to pursue the advanced class this year you will be ok for the 9th grade year. Also, the one thing the Universities really don't like to see is a student going backwards. So if you force this issue and then she doesn't do as well as expected...for whatever reason....it will just "look" bad. IMO - I would probably have her take the year "off" and go into the AP classes in high school.
With that said - It is my very strong opinion that no one knows your daughter like you do, and how very important it is to listen to the almighty gut!
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She isn't going into AP though, she is going into IB in high school which requires you to take all pretty advanced classes to get your IB diploma. She won't be able to pick and choose which types of classes she takes. The one thing she will have to do by her senior year to get the IB Diploma is take the Mathematics Standrad Level Test, the Mathematics Higher Level Test, or the Mathematics Study Test. The Math SL test is equivelent to Precalculus and there is Caculus A with derivatives and integrals, etc.. The Math HL test is equivelent to Caclulus BC. The Math Study Test is the easiest as it covers stuff like finance, algebra II, statistics, and some precalculus.
You need to be sure your daughter will get far enough in math to be qualified for one of these three tests to get her IB diploma.
My oldest son just compleated his junior year of the IB program and is going into the rigurous senior year of IB. I advise you to look at the IB website and see the core requirements. A test must be taken in each of the subject areas shown around the hexagon. Two tests can be taken the student's junior year, while the rest are taken senior year. For example, my son took the Second Language (Spanish) test and the Mathematics Standard Level Test his junior year. He tests in the other four areas of the hexagon this upcoming school year.
I'm sorry, but I disagree with this statement. Why would you pull a student who is getting A's out of the "regular" class if you didn't expect that they could do better? My daughter is in AP classes, I struggled with this decision myself. I didn't want her to be overwhelmed with the additional homework etc that AP class has, and I didn't want her A to go to a C because of it. Universities will look at this. I have called several myself to help make this decision with her. I spoke to admissions people at Rutgers, Villanova, and Princeton. I asked them what harm would it do if my child is offered AP classes and doesn't take them...well - the answer is pretty much what I thought - A student who gets an A in regular class will be chosen over the student who gets a C in an Honors or AP class. This answer stood for all 3 Universities.
While it may be true for the schools you checked, it's not necessarily true for all universities. In our college search, several did state that the difficulty of the class would be taken into consideration. That is, a B or C in an advanced math or science class would be given more weight than an A in a PE or wood shop class.
While I understand they would give consideration to an A in a regular Lit class, I can't believe they wouldn't give consideration to someone who got a B or C in an AP Lit class and passed the AP test. We felt exactly as you did when our youngest signed up for the AP Lit class (Lit is his weakest subject). He ended up with a B and passed the AP test. I can't believe the universities you mentioned wouldn't take that into consideration in determining admission, regardless of what they told you.
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ackc,
Your son who took the AP Lit and got a B will have a higher priority than an A in regular Lit according to most colleges I have talked to. They want to see students who are taking the most difficult classes offered at their high school. Basically, if your school has 16 AP classes and in the course of a student's four years at that school, one AP test is taken, that shows the college the student did not take full advantage of the AP courses offered. Remember, it is typical nowadays for the most competitive universities to have students that apply who took all AP or IB classes and got A's.
We recently visited Brown University and someone asked "Is it better to get an A in a regular class or a B in a AP class."
The admissions lady said "For Brown, it is better to take the AP class and get an A."
Not totally answering the question, but there are tons of kids getting A's in AP classes applying to Brown and I got that she was implying they get more than enough students getting straight A's in AP than they can even accept.
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ackc,
Your son who took the AP Lit and got a B will have a higher priority than an A in regular Lit according to most colleges I have talked to. They want to see students who are taking the most difficult classes offered at their high school.
Hi missionhome,
Yes, I assumed that would be the case and our college trip confirms what you have said. I also agree with your Brown experience. A lot of students with A grades in regular Lit, won't be accepted because the universities will have plenty of students with A's in AP Lit who have passed the AP test.
Having gone through the college app/acceptance process twice now, I would advise everyone to calm down a bit and think about what is best for your kids! It depends on who you talk to in the college admissions office what kind of an answer you will get. It's sort of like talking to different doctors. The large universities look at grades and test scores. The University of Colorado has some sort of matrix for in-state students re: the above. Out of state students seem to be accepted on the basis of ability to pay the cost plus tuition. Smaller colleges look more at activities, etc. If it is your/your child's priority that s/he child get into an IVy League school, good luck! They have their own set of standards, and sometimes you can do everything "right" and not get in. The valedictorian of my daughter's class got a perfect SAT score (1600 at the time) and did not get in to Harvard. He went to Stanford instead.
My kids did take some AP classes, and received some college credit for them, b/c they took classes they could do well in. Bear in mind, too, some really prestigious colleges don't give credit for AP OR IB (University of Chicago in my friend's experience).
Great post Katiana, you put into words just what I was thinking. It doesn't pay to stress you and your kids out about taking every single AP available with the goal of getting into some name brand College. We are blessed here in the US with a huge variety of Colleges. When I was going through the college search process with my older two kids we were looking for colleges that fit them and their current real stats and even though neither were in the top ten of their class, there were many, many colleges to choose from.
My daughter took only two AP classes but got into every college she applied to, got a wonderful merit aid package, and graduated with highest honors from that college.
The GPA average doesnt actually start till 9th grade correct? IMHO it would be better to take a year off from the AP class, and possibly then take AP classes when they count (9-12) and then worry about the GPA average. Getting an A in Algebra I in 8th grade wont count towards the overall GPA as it would is she took it in 9th. She will still have the 11th and 12th grades to work on the AP classes and really polish off the GPA after getting thru all the basics.
False, false!! Any high school course, namely Algebra I and foreign language that are taken in eighth grade will be on the high school transcript and will be in the GPA. If you get a low grade, you can ask to have it removed but if it is an A, it will be there.
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