Advanced Placement® Path Program

Achieve your educational goals with a path designed just for you.

The Advanced Placement® Path Program at the Ecole d’Humanité helps ambitious, motivated students reach their university goals.

 
A close up of an Advanced Placement math teacher who helps a high school boy. They both look at a 3d structure.

The AP® Path Program is unique amongst boarding schools in Switzerland. Part of our broader AP® Program, the AP® Path offers a fully customized, goal-oriented, educational plan for students who wish to push themselves academically and attend competitive universities around the world. Working closely with our AP® Path Program Coordinator, students on the AP® Path receive personalized academic guidance, coaching, and support to help them achieve their educational goals. 
Students in the AP® Path Program graduate from the Ecole d’Humanité having passed a minimum of five Advanced Placement® exams across diverse subject areas.

AP curriculum. Students and Teacher bending over a desk writing.

The Advanced Placement® Path Program

Is your child eager to deepen their knowledge in key academic subjects? Does your child dream of studying at a university in Europe? Does your child aim to attend a highly competitive university? 

Find out how the AP® Path Program can help your student achieve their academic goals.

The Advanced Placement® Path Program helps students reach their goals.

AP curriculum. Students and a teacher in a engaged nice discussion.

Do you have big academic goals? We’re here to help! 

Find out more about the AP® Path at our international boarding school by contacting our program coordinator, Emma Russo.

AP® courses allow high school students to take on college-level work while still in secondary school. AP® courses are fast-paced, challenging, and put a strong emphasis on academic excellence. AP® courses are based on a standardized curriculum created by the College Board, and allow students to earn college credit at many universities in the United States.

Graduating from high school with five or more AP® courses is an exceptional achievement that requires focus, dedication, and planning. The AP® Path Program at the Ecole d’Humanité gives students the guidance, coaching, and support they need to achieve this ambitious academic goal.

The path to five AP® courses begins when students enter the Ecole d’Humanité. Together with the AP® Path program coordinator, students articulate their academic goals and map out their own pathways to achievement. Advanced planning ensures that students have the prerequisites that they need for their chosen AP® courses. Coaching sessions, college advising, peer support groups, study sessions, and workshops give students the tools they need to be successful. Regular one-on-one meetings with our program coordinator ensure that students stay on track to achieve their goals.

In addition to guiding students on the pathway to achieving their goals, The AP® Path Program provides students with the tools, techniques, and habits they need to be successful in university and beyond.

 
AP curriculum. Two students on a hike smiling.
 

A Path to Balance

AP® Path students study hard and play hard. The AP® Path Program of five or more AP® courses is rigorous – it requires focus, dedication, and hard work. Yet, balance is essential to high school success. AP® Path students are encouraged to sample widely from our co-curricular offerings. They also devote time to a broad array of social, creative, physical, and outdoor activities.

A challenging academic path is important for students with ambitious educational and career goals. Equally, all students benefit from a well-rounded education. Our curriculum promotes deep, focused learning while also allowing students space for discovery. They develop diverse ways of knowing the world, their community, and themselves. Students who are physically and socially active and who engage with nature are more likely to succeed academically.

 

FAQs

  • Absolutely. If your student takes and succeeds in challenging courses that prepare them for AP® courses and exams, then your student may talk to our AP® Path program coordinator about joining the AP® Path Program. This is recommended before the end of their sophomore year so they have time to take five APs in their last two years of high school. Three AP® courses and exams in one year is a grueling schedule. Also, remember that qualified students can join an AP® course without necessarily being in the AP® Path Program.

  • It depends.

    While the AP® Path of five or more AP® courses and exams is a great option for students who want to apply to certain academically selective colleges and universities around the world, it is not absolutely necessary to be accepted into a university in the US. Taking AP® courses can enhance a student’s college application, or help them achieve a college degree in a shorter time-frame. However, some colleges in the United States do not require AP® courses, instead, they look for academic curiosity and commitment, leadership, engagement in many diverse activities, and positive recommendations from their teachers. Students can demonstrate all of this at the Ecole d’Humanité without taking AP® courses, though students will have access to more university options with success in AP® courses.

    To apply to colleges in Europe, students usually need to pass at least three AP® courses and exams. What is more important is that students take the right combination of AP® courses. For example, if a student wants to go to a university in the UK to study biology, we would recommend at a minimum that they take AP® English Language, AP® Calculus, and AP® Biology. Our academic and college advisors will work with your student to ensure they understand the college application process and have the opportunity to take the required courses they need to apply to the university of their choice.

  • We try to meet your student where they are. We want them to be successful by drawing on their unique strengths and interests. AP® courses require the ability to complete college-level work and comfort with standardized testing. If your student’s strengths and/or interests are not aligned with a standardized, test-based curricular program, we do not recommend the AP© Path for them. Instead, your student will benefit from our other academic courses which are more flexible in their approach to teaching and are tailored to meet the individual’s learning styles, needs and interests. These courses use progressive techniques like experiential teaching, project-based learning, and inquiry-based teaching. It is these classes that make the Ecole d’Humanité truly unique.

    The benefit of these courses is that they are not standardized like the APs, so they are academically challenging and stimulating in ways that suit each student. If your student has strength in a particular subject area and they desire to take a standardized AP© course in that subject, they are welcome to discuss this with their academic advisor.

    Students are challenged physically and artistically through sports, outdoor activities, handcrafts, art, and music classes. We believe that these skills are just as valuable as a student’s academic skills and we seek to nurture those strengths in your student as well.

  • Yes! Of course!

    Not only are they able to, but they are also expected to. While some AP® courses do require additional instructional hours, they will not prevent your student from participating in hikes, ski days, and other co-curricular courses. All students benefit from a well-rounded education that allows them to explore diverse ways of knowing the world, their community, and themselves. Students who are physically and socially active and who engage with nature are more likely to succeed academically.

  • We work with your student throughout the year to ensure success in their AP® courses and exams, and we expect that our exam takers will do well. If they are in danger of failing a course and / or an exam, we will notify and communicate with you.

We’ll help you make your academic dreams a reality!

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