Reply to Important College Question re: APs

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=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.  [/quote]

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

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).
 [/quote]

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.     [/quote]

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