Reply to Higher GPA with mid rigor or lower GPA w/ top rigor?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I know you won’t like this answer, but [b]you want the highest GPA in the highest rigor you can take.[/b]

Your examples above are definitely nuanced.  I am not a sure a college cares about the distinction of someone taking highest rigor in 4 core classes and then something less in electives vs someone who takes higher rigor in electives.  I agree that someone who chooses pottery/art or music electives for several years probably isn’t penalized vs the kid who has no real interests and just loads up on another random high rigor class.

A public school example is that colleges don’t seem all the impressed with a kid taking AP Psych just to have another AP vs a kid who played in the orchestra all four years (assuming that is offered as a class).  Is AP Psych “rigorous”?  Some would say not so much even though it as AP in its name.[/quote]

+1
And number of APs does not matter, it is quality. The average middle of the pack track at our private ends with 8-10APs. They never get into T25s or UVA or WM. Some get into VT. Their transcript has a mix of regular and honors 9 and 10th, usually an easier AP in 10(gov or psych), maybe Human Geo, then in 11th they usually have AP language, AP Precal, maybe another easy AP. In 12th they have APES, APStats (might have ABCal), APworld, another easy AP like Seminar or APcompsci, some have APPhysics1 which is taken in 10th by the top kids. These students have lower weighted GPA due to less honors 9/10 but the unweighted could easily be 4.0, due to the median grade in all courses being A- or A.
The top track(about 2 levels above these kids) comprises about 10-15% of students and typically would have a similar number of 10ish APs: APWorld, APUSH, senior AP elective(gov or Bio or seminar), APPhys1 in 10th, at least one of AP chem or APPhysC in 10-12, APLang in 10, APLiterature in 11, ABCal in 10 or 11, BC cal in 11 or 12(AB is mandatory before BC it does not overlap with BC curriculum). These students take all available classes honors in 9-10 and have a higher weighted, but the unweighted is often lower than 4.0 except the top few students of the grade who manage max rigor and a 4.0.

This is how colleges determine rigor, they look at the transcript of courses compared to what is offered and what the top students take. Often parents whose kids are not in the top classes do not understand that so many students take courses well above theirs. They count APs and think wow 10 has to be impressive and he has a 4.0 or 3.9 he will get in everywhere. When he won't because he is just average in his high school. If he gets a 1500 it will be worse than a 1380 because it will look like he could have handled the harder tracks but did not try.

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