What is the criteria for "most rigorous" course load?

[Anonymous]

Can you tell me if these are typical answers?

DC met with the school counselor today:

Question: What are the criteria for the "most rigorous" course load?

Answer: It's how rigorous your course load was compared to others in your school.

Next question: Can you tell me how many AP courses 11th and 12th graders normally take?

Answer: No

Another question: Can you tell me where I fall in the grade distribution in my class?

Answer: No


When the colleges say "we are comparing you to other kids in your high school," how would the student know where they stand?

[Anonymous]

Well, I think the answer to the first question is where you went awry. To me, most rigorous is not in comparison to others. It’s when you have the choice of taking Bio or honors Bio or AP Bio, you take AP Bio.

Colleges get a school report so they know all the classes offered and whether you opted for the most rigorous or opted (or could only handle) Gen Ed.

[Anonymous]

OP here to clarify.

Questions above were asked by DC.

The Answers were provided by the counselor.

[Anonymous]

OP, our experience was the same as yours. It's like they worked to be the opposite of helpful.

[Anonymous]

Just my opinion, it's the most rigorous that your child can handle successfully. Now, "successfully" may be in the eye of the beholder.

I knew a woman whose daughter took no Honors or AP because she could not risk getting less than an "A." No matter that colleges want rigorous classes, this child was obsessed with getting A's. It made no difference to her that she could not get into the more competitive colleges--the child had some kind of obsession that would not allow the risk.

If your child want to get into a competitive college, then she should take as many as she can handle. But, you want her to get good grades, too. Only you and your child can figure out how motivated she is and what is reasonable for her.

FWIW, there are students who take almost all AP --including very rigorous ones.

[Anonymous]

According to UVA (one of their counselors posts on tiktok - Janine Lalond, I think), there is no set standard for "most rigorous". They look at an applicant's profile to determine if the student has done all that he could. It's not dependent on max number of APs or any such cookie-cutter criteria.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here to clarify.

Questions above were asked by DC.

The Answers were provided by the counselor.

You now complain to the counselor. The questions were fair -they are dodging. If you don’t get a proper response go to the principal. Your student can’t possibly know whether or not to apply to top schools if you don’t know where your kid stands vis-a-vis “most rigorous” and whether or not they are checking off that box

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here to clarify.

Questions above were asked by DC.

The Answers were provided by the counselor.

You now complain to the counselor. The questions were fair -they are dodging. If you don’t get a proper response go to the principal. Your student can’t possibly know whether or not to apply to top schools if you don’t know where your kid stands vis-a-vis “most rigorous” and whether or not they are checking off that box

Is it literally a checkbox?

If it were, there’d only be a single path of classes.

[Anonymous]

I thought that the app no longer had a check box. I looked at the (blank) form online and didn’t see it.

[Anonymous]

Wow, what an unhlpful unprofessional response. Unfortunately your kid depends on this counselor to actually specify to universities if the course load was most rigorous. Don't press the counselor, they might retaliate, but maybe ask the principal

As far as I understand you need Ap calc, ap english, apush, and ap chem or bio to be most rigorous. We shouldnt be guessing though. Did any other kid/parent ask this of an FCPS counselor and got a professional response?

[Anonymous]

DD had the same experience when trying to figure out where she falls in the class. It seems like this could be included in SIS with the cumulative GPA. She never did find out.

DD definitely got the "most rigorous" designation with 12 APs, but I'd love some clarity on this for DC2, who does not want to take as many.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD had the same experience when trying to figure out where she falls in the class. It seems like this could be included in SIS with the cumulative GPA. She never did find out.

DD definitely got the "most rigorous" designation with 12 APs, but I'd love some clarity on this for DC2, who does not want to take as many.

It's pretty clear to me that the "most rigorous" is the toughest schedule available. That should not be so hard to figure out. If DC2 does not want to take as many, that does not mean the schedule will not be rigorous--but, it won't be "most rigorous."
This is not rocket science.

[Anonymous]

Equally tough or tougher than that of your classmates, with As and 5s on the AP exams or 6s-7s on IB exams.

[Anonymous]

I was a first grade teacher. I can remember parents wanting me to tell them if their kid was "top" in the class. I would not do that--nor should any teacher. For one thing, it can change. For another, the parent might not like the answer. And, if the child is the "top," you certainly do not want that parent telling other parents (and they would)

You can look at the available classes and determine what is the most rigorous. Then, look again, and talk to the counselor about what he/she thinks your child can handle. Include your child in this discussion. Tell your child WHY he/she needs to pay attention and look at this decision seriously and honestly.

And, these days, no one knows what will get your child admitted to a college. It appears that many factors are involved other than test scores and grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here to clarify.

Questions above were asked by DC.

The Answers were provided by the counselor.

You now complain to the counselor. The questions were fair -they are dodging. If you don’t get a proper response go to the principal. Your student can’t possibly know whether or not to apply to top schools if you don’t know where your kid stands vis-a-vis “most rigorous” and whether or not they are checking off that box

Is it literally a checkbox?

If it were, there’d only be a single path of classes.

We're in APS but my kids' counselor was very up-front about it. She said there was a scale for her to check off -- "most rigorous" is the top, "very demanding" is the next down. Both my kids are in the "very demanding" category because they are W-L and not doing the IB Diploma or equivalent in number of AP classes, which is what it takes there to get the top rating. This was during class selection last year for my now 11th grader (older kid is now a college freshman). Older DC's transcript had 9 AP/IB/DE classes. 2nd DC on track to have 10, still not "most rigorous" but plenty of rigor for them.

I think some schools probably don't tell students/parents because they are trying to cut down on pressure to do more APs than a kid can handle but it's also not fair to not make the implications of schedule choices clear.