Rigorous high school transcript for lib arts kid...

[madteaparty]

How many science/math AP/SAT2 did your liberal arts inclined kid have on their transcript? Thanks for indulging the barrage of questions today...

[regentrude]

My DD has no APs whatsoever. Her college required the SAT2 in math. She also has the physics one.

 

Most colleges don't require any SAT2s, and most students never take any at all.

[madteaparty]

My DD has no APs whatsoever. Her college required the SAT2 in math. She also has the physics one.

 

Most colleges don't require any SAT2s, and most students never take any at all.

But she had multiple DE classes in high level science and languages yes? DS will have DE galore, just not in sciences.

[Lori D.]

Can't answer your question directly, only "sideways"/ sort-of (lol).

 

No APs or SAT Subject tests here, with 2 non-STEM students who were not rigorous (average to a bit above average high school transcript load), and those tests were not really needed by either, as:

 

1. one student does not test well, so that is a useless measure of his abilities

2. neither were heading to a competitive/selective school, so tests showing high rigor/advanced level of work wouldn't have changed their admission or scholarships

 

Since your student will have loads of DE, I doubt AP or SAT Subject tests will do much to improve on that. Other than the AP English tests (which are "hard" APs), the other AP tests in Humanities-based or Liberal Arts-based subject areas are more "soft" AP tests, compared to things like the Calculus and Physics APs. And your student isn't headed in those STEM directions, so, not really needed...

 

 

As I recall, your student may be attending a brick and mortar high school? (sorry if I'm confusing you with someone else ;) ) If so, then you may want to just go for the AP classes (and tests) just to be able to work at a more advanced level, rather than mark time in regular high school classes -- even if the APs don't do that much for admission to selective / competitive / top tier colleges or with scholarships.

Edited April 25, 2017 by Lori D.

[madteaparty]

Can't answer your question directly, only "sideways"/ sort-of (lol).

 

No APs or SAT Subject tests here, with 2 non-STEM students who were not rigorous (average to a bit above average high school transcript load), and those tests were not really needed by either, as:

 

1. one student does not test well, so that is a useless measure of his abilities

2. neither were heading to a competitive/selective school, so tests showing high rigor/advanced level of work wouldn't have changed their admission or scholarships

 

Since your student will have loads of DE, I doubt AP or SAT Subject tests will do much to improve on that. Other than the AP English tests (which are "hard" APs), the other AP tests in Humanities-based or Liberal Arts-based subject areas are more "soft" AP tests, compared to things like the Calculus and Physics APs. And your student isn't headed in those STEM directions, so, not really needed...

 

 

As I recall, your student may be attending a brick and mortar high school? (sorry if I'm confusing you with someone else ;) ) If so, then you may want to just go for the AP classes (and tests) just to be able to work at a more advanced level, rather than mark time in regular high school classes -- even if the APs don't do that much for admission to selective / competitive / top tier colleges or with scholarships.

Well, he *was* heading to brick and mortar but we are having a hard time giving up the current flexibility. I'm not worried about the English/languages/social sciences but. What I'm wondering is how much rigorous the other stuff needs to be for a good transcript. Thank you

[Luckymama]

She has AP Environmental (area of interest) and AP Calculus AB and did not take any SAT2s.

 

Only DE classes are in languages :)

 

Traditionally-schooled older dd (English/French/theatre, graduating next month!) only had AP Bio. I forbade her from taking AP Calc because her stress level would have been too high, despite being able to do well.

[lewelma]

Coming at it the other way, my STEM son will have the equivalent of a 5 on AP English and a top CR SAT score. This proves rigor in the humanities in my eyes. Then he will have the standard set of honours type social sciences as homeschool courses, but no exam marks on those.

 

So could you do one AP science or math to prove capability and then just standard sciences?

 

Just a shot in the dark as my kid hasn't applied to university yet. :-)

 

Ruth in NZ

Edited April 25, 2017 by lewelma

[madteaparty]

Coming at it the other way, my STEM son will have the equivalent of a 5 on AP English and a tippy top CR SAT score. This proves rigor in the humanities in my eyes. Then he will have the standard set of honours type social sciences, but no exam marks on those.

 

So could you do one AP science to prove capability and then just standard sciences?

 

Just a shot in the dark as my kid hasn't applied to university yet. :-)

 

Ruth in NZ

Yes I do think we need to do one science AP. Thank you!

[OnMyOwn]

We're going to do at least one science AP and AP calculus and my dd will take the SAT Subject test for Math II and whatever science she does as an AP, which will probably be chemistry.

[GoodGrief]

None for mine (2013 grad). She had dual enrollment math/science during senior year.

[Roadrunner]

Another advice from somebody who shouldn't be giving one. :)

I would take bio, Chem, and physics all for non majors at CC. In 1.5 years he will be done with all of science and have a grade to show for it. I would however have him do AP Calc AB. Science APs are super time consuming, and for a kid with a ton of foreign languages and lit classes (lots of reading there), I would probably not bother with any AP other than Environmental Science if he is interested in it.

[Harriet Vane]

My dd had 4 AP tests, 1 CLEP, ACT, SAT. She also took two dual enrollment courses (Spanish, computer).

 

She took the minimum required science and math and went heavy on history, literature/writing, and foreign language. So for science she completed Bio, Chem, and Physics and for math she took Pre-Alg, Alg 1, Alg 2, Geometry, and a little personal finance course. We weighted her transcript pretty heavily on the humanities side with more than the required number of courses for Language Arts, Social Studies, and French + Spanish.

 

She was accepted to all but one of the schools she applied to and is currently attending a flagship uni, so this worked well for her. 

 

Ds is doing the opposite (in a brick-and-mortar private school). He is going heavy on math and computer, and sorta heavy on science. By that I mean he is taking only three years of science, but they are honors courses. His love is math, so he is taking as many advanced math and computer courses as he can. If all goes as planned, he will graduate with a Calculus AP, Physics AP, and Computer Science AP. He is going minimal with Language Arts, Social Studies, and Spanish. It's likely he'll have to take more Spanish in college, but he is fine with that.

Edited April 26, 2017 by Harriet Vane

[Harriet Vane]

Well, he *was* heading to brick and mortar but we are having a hard time giving up the current flexibility. I'm not worried about the English/languages/social sciences but. What I'm wondering is how much rigorous the other stuff needs to be for a good transcript. Thank you

 

 

I am a big proponent of keeping the non-passion classes to a lesser place in the student's life. If his love is English/languages/social sciences, then I would advocate not torturing him with difficult classes in the disciplines that he does not love (science, math, whatever). Let him give his time to his passions. 

 

Universities do not want generic students. They want to see personality and pursuit of goals. Obviously they also want excellence, so one way to achieve that is to take regular classes in the non-passion areas in the hopes that the less demanding workload will make it easier to maintain a high GPA. Balance that by taking honors or AP classes in the passion areas.

 

I posted already about my kids, so I will add this:

 

My daughter was homeschooled through high school. She did full and complete math and science courses and scored well on her SAT and ACT. However, we had the freedom to choose less demanding curriculum for those and take them at a slower pace. She worked much, much harder on her passion areas, though she didn't "feel" the weight of the hard work in those classes nearly as much as her loathed math and science courses.

 

Similarly, even though Ds is taking honors courses now and will take APs for science, math, and computer science, we have purposely kept him at the non-honors level in his humanities courses. That way he can keep his grades up in the non-passion courses while pouring his energy in the areas that are vitally interesting to him.

[8filltheheart]

Is your plan still international colleges? For those you will probably need APs.

 

For here, it really depends on just how competitive the schools are and what they specifically are looking for. I don't think there is "an" answer. There are probably multiple successful scenarios.Fwiw, my dd was accepted at schools ranked around 30 without any APs or DE. Her 2 subject tests were Latin and math 2.

 

It is really more about who they are over all and how that fits the schools' desired profile.

Edited April 26, 2017 by 8FillTheHeart

[madteaparty]

Another advice from somebody who shouldn't be giving one. :)

I would take bio, Chem, and physics all for non majors at CC. In 1.5 years he will be done with all of science and have a grade to show for it. I would however have him do AP Calc AB. Science APs are super time consuming, and for a kid with a ton of foreign languages and lit classes (lots of reading there), I would probably not bother with any AP other than Environmental Science if he is interested in it.

I already signed up for the same bio you did ;) and anyway chemistry will be done (just have to figure out how done they are).physics will be DE. Thank you

[madteaparty]

Is your plan still international colleges? For those you will probably need APs.

 

For here, it really depends on just how competitive the schools are and what they specifically are looking for. I don't think there is "an" answer. There are probably multiple successful scenarios.Fwiw, my dd was accepted at schools ranked around 30 without any APs or DE. Her 2 subject tests were Latin and math 2.

 

It is really more about who they are over all and how that fits the schools' desired profile.

He will have the APs in a handful of degree-related subjects if he still wants to try for a European school. He's not aiming for a particular level of selectivity in terms of rank, but only schools that have advanced coursework in his areas of interest.

I was just wondering how far the science needs taken. Thank you.

Edited April 26, 2017 by madteaparty

[JanetC]

My art major is at a liberal arts school. She took bio and chemistry at home, no AP or subject test. She took DE meteorology at a non science major level.

 

I think you should have three credits of high school science, including life and physical, even for a liberal arts kid. Mine has to take some science gen eds at her school as well.

 

Agree that European schools ask Americans for lots of APs. Maybe five?

Edited April 26, 2017 by JanetC

[snowbeltmom]

I am a big proponent of keeping the non-passion classes to a lesser place in the student's life. If his love is English/languages/social sciences, then I would advocate not torturing him with difficult classes in the disciplines that he does not love (science, math, whatever). Let him give his time to his passions. 

 

Universities do not want generic students. They want to see personality and pursuit of goals.

This is the approach I take with my kids as well.  They have a ton of classes beyond the "recommended" in their areas of interests, while they simply meet the bare "recommended" level in areas of non-interest.

[madteaparty]

This is the approach I take with my kids as well. They have a ton of classes beyond the "recommended" in their areas of interests, while they simply meet the bare "recommended" level in areas of non-interest.

This is exactly what he would like to do. I was just trying to gage what the "recommended" looks like. Mom/ random online provider grades all the way or at least one science AP? This thread has given me the answer. We already plan for math to calculus just following the sequence. Sciences harder to sort. Thanks everyone

[snowbeltmom]

I already signed up for the same bio you did ;) and anyway chemistry will be done (just have to figure out how done they are).physics will be DE. Thank you

Fwiw, I think your science plan looks really good.  I don't think you need anything beyond this - not APs and not SAT II's. 

[Sebastian (a lady)]

How many science/math AP/SAT2 did your liberal arts inclined kid have on their transcript? Thanks for indulging the barrage of questions today...

 

DS may be an outlier.  He is planning for a humanities degree, but was applying for a service academy and ROTC scholarship that prizes STEM coursework.  So he had to demonstrate that he would succeed in the required calculus and physics coursework.

 

AP's

8 Total.  All humanities - history, government, English lit, Latin, government

 

SAT Subject Tests

5 Total - Math (both 1 & 2 taken in different sittings), Latin, chemistry and literature.  A couple of his schools required subject tests from all applicants or from homeschooled applicants.

 

DE

Pre-Calculus, Trig, Calculus, Statistics, General Chemistry (2 semesters), modern foreign language (2 semesters)