Important College Question re: APs

[Anonymous]

From first hand experience, does anyone have a perspective on whether or not it is better to take AP courses (to show you took the most rigorous classes offered) even if that means your DC will get a mix of As and Bs-----or is it better to take the regular course fare and get all As? I keep hearing both. Colleges want to see you took the most rigorous courses offered, AND colleges use GPA as a first cut (without looking much at what you actually took.) Help.

[Anonymous]

Deoends on what schools you are aiming for. A top tier school is going to want to see AP's especially one or two of the harder ones, if you olsn on majoring in a science, you need to take bio or chem and a calculus.

[Anonymous]

From first-hand experience: it also depends on the school your DC is in now. If you're at a school that's known for its academic rigor, if your kid is taking the toughest curriculum available, and assuming everything else in DC's application is strong (top test scores etc), then a couple or even a few B's or B+'s in the toughest classes is not disqualifying, even (or maybe especially) at the very very top colleges. Those colleges don't have strict and inflexible GPA cut-offs, and they have admissions staff who know the schools here, and who know what a B+ in, say, the very top math curriculum at School X really means. As with most things: no hard-and-fast rule, no definite answer. But if I had to say, I would say if you are at a really rigorous high school, you are better off earning a handful of B-type grades in the toughest curriculum than you are sailing through a less demanding course load with all A's. The notion that you were willing to challenge and push yourself, even in the face of less-than-perfect results, is quite powerful. Now, the more B's, the harder it is to make your case; but there is flexibility.

[Anonymous]

When we did college tours last year, one of the admissions officers in her presentation said the most frequently asked questions from students is this: Is it better to get an A in a regular class or a B in the AP class." I think this was at UPenn. Her answer was "it is better to get the A in the AP course." I think as others said what matters is the entire package of the applicant and the schools you are looking at and coming from.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: When we did college tours last year, one of the admissions officers in her presentation said the most frequently asked questions from students is this: Is it better to get an A in a regular class or a B in the AP class." I think this was at UPenn. Her answer was "it is better to get the A in the AP course." I think as others said what matters is the entire package of the applicant and the schools you are looking at and coming from.

Ugh! That answer is so unhelpful. I read that in a book on applying to schools. That really is a non-answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: When we did college tours last year, one of the admissions officers in her presentation said the most frequently asked questions from students is this: Is it better to get an A in a regular class or a B in the AP class." I think this was at UPenn. Her answer was "it is better to get the A in the AP course." I think as others said what matters is the entire package of the applicant and the schools you are looking at and coming from.

Ugh! That answer is so unhelpful. I read that in a book on applying to schools. That really is a non-answer.

the point of it is to highlight the stupidity of the question. These things are meaningless in a vacuum.

[Anonymous]

Jesus Christ can you folks just let your kids be who they are and not worry aobu this 24/7????

It is so sad hearing parents say their kids are so stressed out in high school .. it is ok to be average.

[Anonymous]

Academic rigor is very important at the top schools, much more important than raw GPA. GPAs are so variable as to be almost meaningless. If you want to get into a top 25, but probably down to top 50, take the tough classes. Inflating a GPA by taking easier classes is not a good strategy unless you are shooting for a lower tier random State U, and the hard classes are too tough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: When we did college tours last year, one of the admissions officers in her presentation said the most frequently asked questions from students is this: Is it better to get an A in a regular class or a B in the AP class." I think this was at UPenn. Her answer was "it is better to get the A in the AP course." I think as others said what matters is the entire package of the applicant and the schools you are looking at and coming from.

Ugh! That answer is so unhelpful. I read that in a book on applying to schools. That really is a non-answer.

It is very annoying but probably accurate in this age of single digit admissions percentages -- they really want people to understand the level of difficulty in getting in, as many people don't seem to take in the level of difficulty from the numbers.

With that said, to a certain extent that is the "one-size-fits-all" pitch. Numerically, most applicants will go to public school and they are trying to get the message across that you have to excel in the most rigorous courses. The selective colleges are very familiar with the local independent school. One of the Ivies has had the same rep for close to 30 years, for example. That rep knows the course catalogue of the independent schools. If a student is NOT excelling in the top level courses, they need to have some other angle, whether it is legacy, athletics, under-represented minority status. Even there, plenty of "hooked" applicants do not get in.

What I can say is that it is better to get a B+ in the regular course than the C+ in the advanced course (and that is more often than you think the real scenario at some of the schools with not much grade inflation).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: When we did college tours last year, one of the admissions officers in her presentation said the most frequently asked questions from students is this: Is it better to get an A in a regular class or a B in the AP class." I think this was at UPenn. Her answer was "it is better to get the A in the AP course." I think as others said what matters is the entire package of the applicant and the schools you are looking at and coming from.

Ugh! That answer is so unhelpful. I read that in a book on applying to schools. That really is a non-answer.

It is very annoying but probably accurate in this age of single digit admissions percentages -- they really want people to understand the level of difficulty in getting in, as many people don't seem to take in the level of difficulty from the numbers.

With that said, to a certain extent that is the "one-size-fits-all" pitch. Numerically, most applicants will go to public school and they are trying to get the message across that you have to excel in the most rigorous courses. The selective colleges are very familiar with the local independent school. One of the Ivies has had the same rep for close to 30 years, for example. That rep knows the course catalogue of the independent schools. If a student is NOT excelling in the top level courses, they need to have some other angle, whether it is legacy, athletics, under-represented minority status. Even there, plenty of "hooked" applicants do not get in.

What I can say is that it is better to get a B+ in the regular course than the C+ in the advanced course (and that is more often than you think the real scenario at some of the schools with not much grade inflation).

I agree with all of this above (I am 16:12 who reported the UPenn annoying comment). Her is another way to think about it. How many AP classes -- and which ones -- can your DC probably handle and do very well in? If a child has a few very hard APs already (say Bio, European History, etc.) will taking another one (third, fourth, fifth, whatever) tip the students breaking point such that it will hurt his/her performance in the other classes (AP or not) that he/she is already signed up for? I think that is a different way to look at it than just what grade will he she get in the AP vs. the regular class. Or will that tipping point mean dropping out of his/her most important EC during junior year in order to keep up with the work? These are all important factors in the big picture.

[Anonymous]

How many APs do high school students take over 4 years?

[Anonymous]

Huge variation depending on the student and the school. Public school kids usually take more than private school kids. Some privates don't offer AP's, and claim their regular classes are equally or more rigorous. Others do offer them in all subjects. And some offer them in sciences/math but not humanities. So you really need look at it school by school

[Anonymous]

If you want a shot at top schools, there are plenty of people who get As in AP courses for the number of slots that there are. You have to be the kind of kid that can handle that.

If you are looking at schools a tier down, most of them consider weighted GPAs, which typically reflect the rigor of the courses as well as the grades (although some look at unweighted as well, and some will just use GPAs as a cutoff). It is going to be a case-by-case and school-by-school (both what high school and what college) which is better, an A in a non-AP class or a B in an AP class. Overall there is no real gaming the system. Take courses that are appropriately challenging for your kid and try to do as well as you can in them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Huge variation depending on the student and the school. Public school kids usually take more than private school kids. Some privates don't offer AP's, and claim their regular classes are equally or more rigorous. Others do offer them in all subjects. And some offer them in sciences/math but not humanities. So you really need look at it school by school

Also is some public schools kids can take any AP class, where in my DD private, you have to have at least a B and be recommended by a teacher to be accepted in AP. For example for APUSH, a B was required in world studies, etc. Colleges are aware of course level.

[Anonymous]

What if you get B's but then get a 5 on the AP test?