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At McLean, loading a schedule with Advanced Placement courses has become increasingly routine—and the pressure is reaching students earlier. Some freshmen take as many as three AP classes, while juniors may fill nearly every period with college-level coursework. Many ultimately find the workload unmanageable.

The school should respond by establishing more prerequisites for AP enrollment. Depending on a course’s expected difficulty, students could be required to complete a related regular or honors class before advancing. Those who already understand the subject could demonstrate their readiness through an assessment and enroll directly.

Too often, students select AP classes primarily for the GPA boost and the appearance of academic rigor. That calculation can overlook the stress created by taking several demanding courses alongside extracurricular activities.

AP classes cover college-level material and often require students to work with greater independence. The heavier assignments, extensive homework and expectation of proactive learning can make an AP-heavy schedule especially difficult to sustain.

There is also a cost to learning when students choose courses for their labels instead of their content. Without genuine interest in a subject, they may focus on preserving a grade while retaining little of what they study.

Broader access to advanced classes can encourage intellectual ambition and expose more students to higher-level work. But that purpose is weakened when AP enrollment becomes primarily a strategy for strengthening college applications.

As overloaded schedules become normalized, other students feel compelled to follow the same path. Thoughtful prerequisites could interrupt that cycle and help students choose classes suited to their preparation and interests, restoring AP courses as opportunities for meaningful advanced study.