AP Exams - anyone else based in the US get results today?

[JesusWeptLady]

So I've posted before about living in the US with UK kids who will be applying to UK universities. Today they got their AP exam results which are taken as A level equivalents. They both did ok in relevant subjects for their intended studies, so I am not sure if they should sign up for more exams (up to 3 more) next May or just take these as their best offering on the UCAS forms.

Depends what they are, what subject they're applying for and which unis. But they may be OK effectively applying with grades in hand.

Paying overseas fees will help with admissions.

Yes definitely depends on the UK Uni/subject being applied for. DD applied from the US this year to study Law with 2 good AP exam scores from junior year , good SAT and strong gpa. She took another 3 APs in senior year. The offers she got were exactly in line with what were listed on the University websites under the equivalent requirements for US students. Where they wanted 2 APs plus SAT score she received offers conditional only on graduating high school as she had already met the requirements.Where they required 3 APs at 5 she was offered a place conditional on getting another AP pass at 5 senior year. She only applied for Universities for which she met/would meet the requirements (a couple were “top tier” Unis although not COWI).She got offers from all the Universities she applied to.

This is so good to read. Thank you. Is she going to a UK university in the Fall and do you mind my asking which one?

One of our kids now has 4 AP's at 5's in required subjects the other has 3 AP's at 5 and a 4 in different but also the required subjects for the desired major. They are going into 12th grade soon so there is an option to take more if needed.

Yes, DD did. She now has four APs with score of 5 and 2 more APs with scores of 4. She is taking four more next year, mainly just out of interest/preference over the other courses being offered at her school.

For some of the UK courses she will be applying to she has all the required AP 5s already, but for two of the courses Chemistry is required and she won't take that until next year.

She's applying to both USA and UK so I think that's also influenced her decision to take more this year (for "rigor" on USA apps)

Yes she is going to a UK University this fall. She picked University of Exeter. They allow you to have an A in an Honors level class in lieu of an AP exam score so she received an Unconditional offer from them as she had already met the academic requirements.She also received offers from Aberdeen and Sterling - just required graduating high school with 3.3 GPA. Edinburgh offer conditional on another 5 from senior year AP (which we just heard she got yesterday so now her American father is traumatized she turned them down/her British mother thinks Exeter is a much better fit).

That is fabulous. Congratulations to your kid. Exeter is one of the tops (as you probably know). I hope she has a wonderful time there.

Congratulations to your DC, OP, and to the others on this thread

I agree that depending on the particulars this might be enough that they will be applying with grades in hand. Or they could still be missing required subjects.

The Admissions websites of the universities the DC are interested in may clear this up. If they don’t, I feel certain that Admissions teams would be delighted to hear from prospective applicants in this situation.

It’s best for the applicant to email the admissions contact, who will route the question properly. This is the time to do it, before the current admissions cycle starts heating up.

IIRC your DC have English as a first language but may be on Overseas fees? Are they too idealistic to subtly work this into the query? Although I am British my family relocated to America 10 years ago. However I have always planned to attend university (as an Overseas student) in the UK. In Year 11 I received Grade 5 in AP exams in X, Y and Z and Grade 4 in W. Do these grade satisfy the AP component of the Entry Requirements for your degree programme in A? If not could you please advise me of further AP subjects and grades required? Thanks and courteous sign off

Because the combination is extremely potent

Regardless of fees status, the Fulbright Foundation website may have some information about this

Thank you. I’m keeping my fingers crossed it all goes well. Plus Exeter is much closer to my family who are all still over there.Good luck to your 2 as well.
DD is a clever hard working girl but I have to say I think (from my personal experience only) International fees+English as 1st language+American so no problems with getting money to the UK/used to paying eye watering university fees made her an extremely attractive applicant to them. Over in the US she doesn’t tick any of the widening participation/diversity boxes so ironically she would have found it easier to get into her top US pick if she could have applied as an International student over here as it would have made her “more interesting”…..

Huge caveat: DC cannot make it sound like they are taking admission for granted if subjects are suitable! Rather, the context of this query is, ‘are my AP subjects suitable? I am asking now because I can still revise my Y12 choices.’ The implication is, I humbly understand you will be considering my application holistically against the competition.

Though outside of the fierce Oxbridge competition where anything could happen I am highly optimistic for both of them

Thanks for this @poetryandwine your advice as always, is particularly helpful.
DS has 5's in AP exams US History, European History, English lang and Psychology. He wants to study History. We checked with all the admissions offices of the Unis on his list what they would prefer in terms of subjects and grades. One or two of them actually said "no subject requirements" for History which surprised me. He also has a solid SAT and a high GPA.
DD has 5's in AP exams English Lang, Biology, Psychology and a 4 in Government & politics. She wants to study Psychology which we know is super competitive (here and over there in the UK) but is lined up to take AP Chem, Stats and Calculus this year so should have all the bases covered. She has a solid SAT and a high GPA as well.

Got it - thanks!

We are in the same boat. Having a high performing cohort in the school means they are pretty much of a muchness in terms of competing with their peers. Only a few EC's they have that are unusual that might have helped with US applications, which we are not doing anyway.

I would still take at least one more AP in Senior year. DS had taken 10 AP's by the end of junior year, got all grade 5's and covered all the relevant subjects but two of the universities he applied to made the offer conditional on getting at least one more grade 5 in Senior year (along with maintaining a certain GPA).

Not quite on the subject of this post but I would like to add .There has been a lot of press about the International students getting Uni places with lower academic requirements.We did tours round all the prospective Unis last summer and spoke to their International recruitment staff. They were all very welcoming and helpful but made it very clear to us that if DD did not meet the admissions requirements listed she would not get a place and even if she did there was no guarantee of an offer. All the Universities were asking for 5/4 on multiple AP exams plus strong class grades over the full 4 years of high school.APs are not as in depth as A level courses (only being a 1 year course) but getting a 5 is difficult. Only between 10-15% of exam takers get the top grade. Add to that the fact that schools only normally let their top performing students study and take AP classes and you are competing against only those top performing students to get that grade. Academically the Unis were not going to give us an easy ride just because she was an International student.

I agree that good universities, units of admission and international students themselves are being unfairly tarred. A recent driving force was an article in one of the broadsheets (we don’t subscribe to) that stirred up a lot of trouble by comparing Y1 entry requirements ‘for Home students’ IIRC to the entry requirements for international foundation years (Y0) at some prominent Russell Group universities. But it very much backgrounded the difference in the levels.

I think this was either The Times or The Telegraph. It was appalling journalism from a reputable newspaper.

In truth plenty of universities are now practising double standards, which is unfair to both qualified Home students who are rejected and unqualified Overseas students who are admitted. Desperate times, desperate measures - not that I find this remotely acceptable. I felt very lucky not to face this pressure when doing admissions.

There are so many excellent Overseas students, particularly in STEM, that it is possible for a good STEM School to chase the dosh without compromising standards - indeed, one could argue, by raising them. Imperial does this very effectively. This raises questions about the fundamental purposes of a British university that are more subtle than they first appear, especially given that every Home student on a British STEM course is a money loser.

It is quite a mess.

PS My School like the one you describe still does not succumb to this practice. Not sure about the entire uni however

@poetryandwine Thank you. If you want to take a positive view take it as a compliment that top UK Universities are so well regarded you have a large number of highly qualified students worldwide who are eager to study with them and pay a hefty price for the privilege. On the downside having followed the UK news the Universities have been placed in a very difficult spot and it is no wonder that they are having to make tough choices.
Over here in the “Land of the Free” (although in practice that only applies if you earn plenty of money) we parents face a different dilemma. The problem is not necessarily getting a place at the University you want but paying for it (a good private one can now be $90k per year!). A number of DD friends are not going to the best Uni they got in to but to the one that gave them the most money (fee discount based on being above the average academic profile of other applicants). Speaking as a parent of an 18 year old the grass is definitely not greener over here. If I worked for a University though I am sure I would have a very different view….

Yes, I think this is wise, especially for my DD.

What did your kids decide in the end - are they doing more APs this year? Have they done their UCAS application yet?
Reading with interest because I'm in the US with a 10th grader who wants to go back to the UK for uni

Hello @BlueSkyHawk I had to name change slightly, but to answer your question, they both got places at RG universities quite quickly after applying in early Sept. My DS has offers from all 5 places, 4 "unconditional" and 1 wanted 1 more AP exam at grade "5". My DD has offers from 3 RG, she is waiting on Bath & Oxford. But she is v interested in the offers she has in hand. Because the kids had the grades up front, they didn't apply to safeties, targets and reaches, they were all high targets except Oxford for DD, which is a reach for everyone. I think personal statements may well no longer exist by the time your kid applies, but both kids worked hard on those, starting their drafts the summer between 11th and 12th. They also got good recommendations from key teacher (subject relevant). Although US high schools do not predict grades, my DD was asked for them by Oxford and Edinburgh. Fortunately the guidance counselor at school had dealt with this kind of thing before and provided them for her. I think this covers it, but any other questions, please ask!

Congrats to your DC, OP. That’s great news!

@poetryandwine Thank you. I forgot to say, there were lots of requests for additional information from all the universities for both kids (except Bath who have remained silent since their acknowledgement of application letter), they had wanted fee status questionnaires, photos of uk passports, transcripts of all classes taken in high school, with all grades, official letters from school stating GPAs for each of them, direct confirmation from the College Board of results (AP & SAT) (which costs about $40 a pop) and because one teacher had emailed their rec from a gmail account instead of a school act, they were asked to print it out on school headed paper sign it and upload it as a Pdf. It was very admin heavy in Sept !

Wow that's great! I didn't expect they would already have received offers! Well done to them!
Thank you for the additional information as well. I didn't know there would be so much admin. I also didn't know that high schools here don't usually do predicted grades for college/uni applications!
It's good you mentioned they wanted a transcript because my DD is on track to do 4 APs in core subjects next year (11th grade) and I would rather she did 3 to minimize stress but if she doesn't do an AP in those classes, she has to do a regular level class. Her school don't offer honours classes in 11th grade so it's a regular class or an AP class. I was telling her it doesn't matter for UK universities because they just want the APs so better to focus on getting good grades in 3 APs (she already had one from 9th grade and is doing one this year in 10th grade) so she really doesn't need to do 4 next year. But now you mentioned they ask for a transcript, maybe she is right that it might look odd to have dropped from honours level to regular level in 11th grade. It's so annoying that she is kind of forced into doing 4 APs like this.
Anyway, congratulations to your DC again! It's such an exciting time for them. I'm sure you have a lot of mixed feelings about it though! I hate the thought of DD being so far away but I think UK universities are a much better fit for her

@BlueSkyHawk Is the AP / non Honors subject one that will be required for any major that she is interested in studying? Because it may not ultimately matter at all. My DD applied for a course that said on the subject page that the applicants from the US would need a mix of sciences and math subjects and MUST include AP Calculus BC. She is taking AP Calc AB and AP Stats and they didn't seem to mind. They did ask to see her transcript in order to judge her 11th grade Math grades. She took Pre-Calc and her two semester end grades were A and B (literally the only B she got in 4 yrs of HS). And again they didn't seem to care. They have not even asked for her to get results in these Math AP's they will take her without them. And this is a very competitive course. I think the lure of US students paying international fees cannot be underestimated.

We are moving to the UK next summer all together after a 15+ yrs stretch so we will be close at hand. If we weren't I'd make sure they were near Manchester or London for international flights though.

@JesusWasaLady she's not sure what she wants to study at uni yet, which makes it harder to decide which APs to take next year. Maths is her least favourite but she is expected to take AP Calculus AB next year and I was thinking she should do it so that she has a maths qualification since UK students will have at least a maths GCSE. So it's great to know your DD got offers without completing that AP yet, through submitting her high school transcripts.
Can I ask, do your DC have any free periods now in 12th grade or last year in 11th grade? They don't do that as a rule in DD's school. She could have that next year if she drops her foreign language but her guidance counsellor said only a few students do that and seemed to think it wouldn't look good.
I find it so strange because when I was that age, doing A levels in England, I'm sure there were free periods throughout the day! I think that would be a big help if she does end up doing 4 APs. It's hard to go against the advice of the guidance counselor and teachers but i know the guidance counsellor doesn't have experience of applying to Uk universities because she is new