mbrady Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Are AP classes vital to homeschoolers getting into college? My daughter has taken a couple classes through the Well-Trained Mind Academy this year, and they have been challenging classes with great teachers. I am very pleased with them and would be happy with my daughter continuing to take them through high school, but I worry that colleges will not recognize them as the quality, college- prep classes that they are. Or should my upcoming sophomore take as many AP classes as she can to prove to colleges that she is a serious student. I'm really not concerned with the college credit. I just want to give her the best high school education possible and for colleges acknowledge her hard work. Another question- She will naturally need to take AP classes in math, science, and Latin her senior year. However, she will apply to colleges early in her senior year. Wiill those AP classes have any weight in her admission? Thanks for your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 No, AP classes are definitely not vital. They may be helpful, but they are not vital. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 AP are not vital, not even for admission to extremely selective schools. For very selective schools, some outside validation is necessary - but that does not have to come from AP classes. Standardized test scores, SAT2 subject tests, and dual enrollment work just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttichen Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 It depends what she is looking for. She absolutely can get into college without any APs. The thing is, a lot of colleges are going to expect to see them and the kids she will be competing with for admissions and scholarship money will have taken them. If you choose not to do APs and she is aiming for a selective college and/or a merit scholarship, you are going to need other objective ways to prove she's taken rigorous coursework. I live in an area where there are no four-year universities available where my dc could do dual enrollment. APs provided a way for us to show colleges that our kids had learned each subject as well as the best public and private school students. You're right, APs taken in 12th grade are going to show up as courses but the tests will come too late to help with admissions. We had our kids finish their requirements for us, including all of their AP exams, by the end of their junior year. They did an internship their senior year and classes they designed (e.g., ds18 has a class where he is teaching himself programming languages and tinkering with his Raspberry Pi.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 Are AP classes vital to homeschoolers getting into college? My daughter has taken a couple classes through the Well-Trained Mind Academy this year, and they have been challenging classes with great teachers. I am very pleased with them and would be happy with my daughter continuing to take them through high school, but I worry that colleges will not recognize them as the quality, college- prep classes that they are. Or should my upcoming sophomore take as many AP classes as she can to prove to colleges that she is a serious student. I'm really not concerned with the college credit. I just want to give her the best high school education possible and for colleges acknowledge her hard work. Another question- She will naturally need to take AP classes in math, science, and Latin her senior year. However, she will apply to colleges early in her senior year. Wiill those AP classes have any weight in her admission? Thanks for your help! AP classes are certainly not vital and just one of many methods. However, as a previous poster mentioned it is what admissions expect and what the "competition" is doing. If you are going to opt out and are considering a college where that sort of preparation is expected you may need to be looking for DE, SAT2, and other outside evaluation tools. I could see combining an outside provider (especially one who is evaluating your child not you) with another exam system. This is where submitting course descriptions comes into play. I imagine AP classes taken senior year will carry weight in the admissions process if they are approved by CB. Plenty of non-homeschooled kids are taking many APs senior year. While there may be no test score, taking AP classes senior year does meet the nebulous requirement of taking the most challenging curriculum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 My guys did no AP "courses." Middle son did, however, take a couple of AP tests after his "regular" courses and we reported his scores. (Stats w/AP test score = 5 vs AP Stats) That, combined with a tippy top high ACT and three DE classes did just fine for getting him admission and decent merit aid. We also made sure other courses were at the AP level even when we opted for him not to take the AP test at the end (he's pre-med, we wanted As in college classes not AP credit for some). His Calc, Bio, and Chem were all at the AP Level. If they hadn't been, he'd have had to struggle far more in his (Top 30) college classes as essentially everyone coming in has studied at that level for those classes and the 101 classes assume that foundation (more or less). At lower level colleges this is not an issue. Their course content for their 101 courses is often essentially the same as AP. Repeating any of those would be a total repeat and rather boring for most students. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 Just wondering can one prepare for an AP exam without taking an official AP course? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 Just wondering can one prepare for an AP exam without taking an official AP course? Yes, this is what my guy did. I had no desire to pay hundreds of dollars for a course nor to try to get our syllabus approved. We used the same textbooks courses used and picked up Study Guides for the tests + samples of older tests. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 Just wondering can one prepare for an AP exam without taking an official AP course? Absolutely. You can go on the College Board site and poke around for recommended texts and sample syllabi. And you can use test prep books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 Absolutely. You can go on the College Board site and poke around for recommended texts and sample syllabi. And you can use test prep books. Awesome, thank you. It would be nice if lots of other things worked that way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkT Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 Take a few during the Junior year / 11th grade - if the desired score is not achieved (4 or 5) then you do not have to send it to the colleges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purpleroses Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 My daughter wants to attend a selective college. So AP courses are helpful and shows she can handle college level work as a homeschooler. Especially if she gets a good score on the AP exams. It's not a requirement though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 Take a few during the Junior year / 11th grade - if the desired score is not achieved (4 or 5) then you do not have to send it to the colleges. You don't have to report a score? I didn't know that. Hmm. We did an AP course last year and ds was worried about doing two tests so he opted out. He's been kicking himself because it's a topic he likes, so he was contemplating reviewing and taking the test this year. I think he has too many tests this year, but if he doesn't have to report the grade, maybe there is nothing to lose? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddavies Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 If you're only looking at colleges in the US, the previous posters have covered it! Universities in other countries do sometimes require AP courses/exams from American students. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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