My fellow College Coach admissions consultants and I get asked quite a few questions every year about high school course selection and college applications.  Colleges want to see you challenge yourself as much as possible in the context of your high school, and will not compare curriculum options across high schools.  The majority of colleges do not have a preference between AP and IB classes, so you should instead focus on challenging yourself as much as possible with the classes available to you at your school.

The Advanced Placement (AP) Program

The AP program offers students a challenging, fast-paced learning environment. Generally taken in junior and senior year, students can pick which individual subjects to take at the AP level depending on what is offered at their school.

During this time of year, my meetings with juniors often begin with questions about next year’s coursework.  Families worry both about how much their student can handle and how colleges will view their curricular choices during the college selection process.  Jimmy can take 4 APs, but his Eagle Scout project will take up so much time after school.  He also wants to take the philosophy and world religion electives.  What should he pick?  Sarah wants to get into the State Engineering College, so should she take a lighter course load outside of math and physics to boost her GPA?

Most families understand the numeric output of the GPA.  But what really matters to colleges is what those little numbers represent—how much a student challenges herself, and the success she earns through those challenges.  So yes, colleges do care whether students take AP, IB, and honors courses. 

When I meet with students and their families about the college admission process, the topic of choosing the right extracurricular activities for college admissions is one they want to discuss with a level of seriousness usually assigned to matters of national security. I can’t say I blame them given that talk of college usually begins almost immediately after a child loses all her baby teeth. One question is always raised: how many extracurricular activities should my child be doing?

Extracurricular Activities vs. Academic Work

As with many things related to college admissions, it depends. Some students can manage 20 hours of activities per week while still maintaining their academic work, while others are only able to handle eight.

5 Tips for Helping Your High School Junior with Stress During the College Admissions Process

It’s not uncommon at this time of year as a parent of a high school junior to think “What is going on?  Is this year ever going to get any easier?”  It sometimes feels endless:  the number of tests students need to take on top of their most intense academic demands thus far in high school, trying  to research and visit colleges, juggling what are probably multiple after-school activities, and of course, Driver’s Education!  Phew!  Well, maybe it helps to know you are not alone.  When parents who have survived junior year commiserate with you, most of them will very likely let you know that, though the college application process isn’t a walk-in-the-park and the stress of waiting for decisions can be a nail-biter, somehow, senior year is actually easier.

So, how do you deal now?  Beyond running away to a different country or pulling the covers over your head, we recommend trying to infuse as much down time and balance into your family’s life as possible.  Here are a few quick suggestions.

Over the last week I enjoyed four conversations with four different college bound students about their summer plans:

• The first student, whom we’ll call “Charlie,” is a junior and avid soccer player who will play a portion of the summer with his traveling soccer league and will then take a two-week course on a college campus to learn more about engineering. He’ll also travel to Europe with his school’s soccer team to compete in tournaments.
• The second student, we’ll call her “Sara,” is a sophomore who studies three languages outside of school during the academic year.  She will work at the Girl Scout camp she has attended since the seventh grade.
• “Jaimie,” our third student, hopes to attend a six-week summer study in architecture at a university with a renowned architecture program in order to determine if she would like to indicate architecture as a major on her college applications this fall.
• And finally, “Steven,” the fourth student, will shadow a veterinarian in the mornings and volunteer at a local shelter in the afternoons when he’s not traveling around the country with his family visiting colleges.