College bound...

[ladymoreta]

That's pretty ridiculous. Are you sure that's right? Four years ago I don't think there were even 26 offered, and it wouldn't have even been possible to take that many simply because there are only so many courses you can take in high school! I was one of those overachievers, and I only took 9 AP courses/tests.

You can take AP tests without having taken AP classes. The classes are geared towards teaching the test, but if a student wants to study on their own, they can sign up to take any AP tests they want. That may be what's getting the numbers up there.

[GreyhoundsRUs]

Actually - a lot more schools are not accepting AP credit, or changing what you "get" for it, or upping what you need on the test. Each school is unique - check on the schools' admission websites for the best information

[SoonerTexan]

You can take AP tests without having taken AP classes. The classes are geared towards teaching the test, but if a student wants to study on their own, they can sign up to take any AP tests they want. That may be what's getting the numbers up there.

I hadn't thought of that...actually, I think that is how my friend said Highland Park High School (in Dallas) gets on the Best US High School List one of those major magazines does every year.

Rapunzel - my 6th and 7th graders received letters from their schools recommending that they take this test...

http://www.ctd.northwestern.edu/numats/

You can choose the ACT or the SAT, and registration is going on now for test dates in Jan and Feb.

We chose the SAT and I believe it was $79 per, including study materials.

[Rapunzel]

My opinion of the AP courses is that if my child is ready for college material (such as testing out with an AP test) then I'll enroll him/her in a local college to get the actual, transferable credits. That way we're much safer having another college accept the credits vs. taking a chance with AP courses.

However, if we homeschool through high school those specialized SATs are the way homeschoolers prove their transcripts are accurate and that's what we'll do.

[NYCHoosier]

Actually - a lot more schools are not accepting AP credit, or changing what you "get" for it, or upping what you need on the test. Each school is unique - check on the schools' admission websites for the best information

If the website doesn't say or you just want general information, you can also check the profile on collegeboard as a starting point. I was curious, so I just checked...

There are 2,161 4-year colleges in the collegeboard database in the US (including Puerto Rico). Of those, 1,613 accept AP. Now, some may only accept 4's or higher and only look at certain subject tests, but that's still a lot of schools.

I hope I'm not driving you guys crazy! I just really like this stuff... I had an older brother, so I started reading college mail when I was 13. Ultimately, I ended up only applying to one school, so I feel I missed out a little. (Of course I was so so happy to know where I was heading in December of my senior year!!)

Also looking around on the college board website since you're out West, I was surprised to see how inexpensive BYU is, considering it's a private school that consistently sends students to top top graduate programs. Of course, it's twice as expensive if you're not LDS...

[SoonerTexan]

Also looking around on the college board website since you're out West, I was surprised to see how inexpensive BYU is, considering it's a private school that consistently sends students to top top graduate programs. Of course, it's twice as expensive if you're not LDS...

You know, DF said he saw ALOT of BYU students at his interviews. Hmm...the culture shock would have been too much for me, though.

[Rapunzel]

There's a cultural phenomenon among us LDS (Mormons): We tend to go into medicine, dentistry, business (after getting our MBA's), or law. There were quite a few LDS guys in dh's medical school - and we're nowhere near Utah.


BYU is cheaper because it is subsidized by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS church). None of the BYU campuses receives any federal funds - it stays afloat entirely through church funds, private donors, and student tuition/room and board.

Also, when I took the PSAT junior year of high school to qualify for National Merit, the [public] school paid for it.

This is really important. I took the PSAT 10th grade, was out of the country junior year (exchange student), and was not eligible for National Merit.

My college didn't give course credit for AP in general (there may have been some exceptions); it was used as a placement test. 5 on the BC Calc AP test => you get to take Math 5 instead of Math 3.

[SoonerTexan]

There's a cultural phenomenon among us LDS (Mormons): We tend to go into medicine, dentistry, business (after getting our MBA's), or law. There were quite a few LDS guys in dh's medical school - and we're nowhere near Utah.


BYU is cheaper because it is subsidized by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS church). None of the BYU campuses receives any federal funds - it stays afloat entirely through church funds, private donors, and student tuition/room and board.

You know, I could be totally wrong, but I think BYU offers a nice National Merit scholarship too. One of the semifinalists at my HS was really bummed becaused he forgot to take the new version of the SAT and that disqualified him from Finalist standing. Apparently that lost him a big scholarship to BYU, where he was planning on going. I felt so bad for him--such a nice guy.

[SoonerTexan]

Oh, and also...if your child has any sort of learning disability, you can apply for him/her to have extra time on the PSAT. I imagine it would/could make a big difference.

[HouseofWool]

There's a cultural phenomenon among us LDS (Mormons): We tend to go into medicine, dentistry, business (after getting our MBA's), or law. There were quite a few LDS guys in dh's medical school - and we're nowhere near Utah.

E's school, in the midwest, had a disproprotionately high number of students from Utah. My understanding is that many of those were Mormon.

[NYCHoosier]

There's a cultural phenomenon among us LDS (Mormons): We tend to go into medicine, dentistry, business (after getting our MBA's), or law. There were quite a few LDS guys in dh's medical school - and we're nowhere near Utah.


BYU is cheaper because it is subsidized by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS church). None of the BYU campuses receives any federal funds - it stays afloat entirely through church funds, private donors, and student tuition/room and board.

My former boss (attorney turned global bank exec) is LDS, went to BYU undergrad and NYU law. I met the girls from her ward (many of whom went to BYU), and they're all uber impressive. When out at NY Cares Day, I met another girl leading a group who went to Columbia medical school... turns out it was an LDS group, and sure enough, she went to BYU. I think if you look at the top law, medical and business programs in the country, there will be at least 1 BYU alumnus in each class, probably more. My favorite Colts rookie also went there. I wonder if the success can be attributed to the absence of substance abuse? Couldn't hurt...
Considering tuition is ~$4k/year (~$8k/year for non-LDS), seems like a good investment.

Sorry for the tangent! Just interesting to research...