YCBK 199: How important are AP classes

In this episode you will hear:   (07:52) In this week’s “In the news segment, an October 4th, 2021 article by Allison Tate of “USA Today”, “How important is it to take AP Classes for College Admissions” Dave and Mark answer several questions including: 1) What are AP classes? 2) How important are AP test scores? 3) How many AP courses should a student take? 4) Are all AP classes equal? 5) Do colleges see AP courses and dual enrollment courses as being equal? Plus more     (31:36) Mark and Lisa  answer the following three questions from listeners:   Question 1)  Why does the Common App ask what is the occupation of the parents?  If my husband has an executive management position are colleges going to discriminate against our son? (Kim from Illinois)   Question 2)   I see a lot of colleges we are looking at talk about the QuestBridge college application, what is the QuestBridge college application? Anonymous   Question 3) What is the maximum amount of loan debt a student should take out for an undergraduate degree?   (01:12:15) Mark interviews Matt McGann, the Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Amherst College. Matt will be discussing How to get a research opportunity with a college professor. This is part 2 of 2:   Part 2-Preview   Matt talks about some other people besides the professors themselves who are great people to reach out to if you want to do research Matt goes into more depth on the difference between doing research at undergraduate only college versus doing research at a place that has doctoral degrees. Matt talks about how the approach, who your mentor is and how the feel will be different Matt ends our interview by giving advice to a high student, what they can do to get an opportunity to start doing research while in high school with a college professor   (01:23:02) Our recommended resource is The American Council of Higher Education (ACE) website. We particularly want to draw attention to their top stories in Higher Education. This is a great way to stay current on the hot topics in the news beyond the one that Mark and Dave discuss every week on the podcast. https://www.acenet.edu/News-Room/Pages/Todays-Top-Higher-Education-News.aspx   (01:28:46) Our College Spotlight for episode 198 is Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, better known as “RPI”. This 36 minute college spotlight will be split over episode 198 and 199. This is Part 2/2   Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news,  and updates about the podcast before they go live:   To access our transcripts, click: Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans is used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript   Feel free to pass this podcast on to others who you feel will benefit, even if they are not a YCBK listener.   Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: . If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends:   Check out the college websites Mark recommends:     If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All he asks is that you review the services on his website first. His website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/