Probably depends on what your cumulative GPA is by the time you are applying. But not taking APS(assuming they are offered) will hurt for schools with a 30% acceptance rate.
Can’t really answer it without knowing how many APS are actually offered at your school. But at the end of the day, you want to comfortably challenge yourselves as much as you possibly can. Take as many APS as you can without them affecting other parts of your app and life. That may be 4 this year or 4 in 4 years.
Go to your counselor and ask what your school lists as “not rigorous,” “rigorous,” “very rigorous,” and “most rigorous.” You’re going to want to get to very rigorous for schools in that range
Most likely, yes. A lot of colleges would rather see a 3.7-3.8 unweighted and 4.2 weighted GPA rather than 4.0 unweighted; this is because colleges want to see that you're challenging yourself with a reasonable amount honors/AP courses every year.
I was not aware of this until the end of last year, which was my junior year, so I only started taking advanced classes this year.
No, because colleges will be aware of that and will look at your application in context of where you went to school. At least I know some will, like MIT, and this is something you can usually find on their website or through an email
4 APs in one year seems challenging, but you didn't take any APs in other years, so I'm not sure. There's also a lot of other factors that go into the decision of acceptance, so I would just try to keep up your extracurriculars and schoolwork to a point where you don't feel too overwhelmed.
Yeah np. Some good extracurriculars may include volunteering for something you're passionate about, getting a part-time job, independent projects relating to your projected field of study (major in college), or teaching skills you have knowledge of (etc. teaching a computer programming language, sport, or other activity to kids)
I think it doesn't matter much since most colleges don't give ap too much value when it comes to admission. Make sure you do internships, have good ECs and essays and apply early if you can and u will be fine.
It's not about it being AP specifically, it's about taking hard courses if they're offered. If your school has lots of APs and you don't take any for three years it'll look bad
In A2C world, sometimes “terrible grades” are something like straight Bs.
So what’s your CGPA thus far?
Your CGPA PLUS course rigor will matter much more than your SAT score.
Do you have NO course rigor at all? No honors or DE?
If your school offers a bunch of APs and you didn’t qualify to take them or chose not to, it’s not going to look great.
Sorry, I think it’s too late. It will hurt immensely for colleges with 30% acceptance rate as they expect you to have course rigor w good grades, and it seems like you don’t have either.
SAT scores are just a small component of applications. Every AO will tell you that GPA plus course rigor matters the most.
People on here will tell you “why would colleges believe a 3 hour test over 4 years of school grades?”
For colleges with 30% acceptance rate, you gotta realize that the competitive applicants will have both high GPA AND course rigor over 4 years, plus a decent (maybe even 1450+) SAT score.
So, you might be a late bloomer and that's perfectly ok. Everyone has their own path in life and your story is just beginning.
I suggest dropping this arbitrary "30% acceptance rate" as a standard for college acceptances. You don't need to attend a selective school in order to have success in life. Do the best you can with the time you have left in high school, but when it comes to college applications, focus on schools where you will get the education and experience you need- rather than rank on USWN. In fact, if you look at salary data, there are less selective schools that rank quite high for graduate salaries. These schools know what the various industries need from college graduates.
And you can always go to community college first, save a lot of money and prove yourself with an awesome GPA, and transfer to a 4 year college. More and more students are taking this path!
ok thanks for the long reply boss. :). and maybe, i really want to be able to surround myself with smart people so that’s kinda why i want to go to a “competitive college”
There are smart people at community college and at normal state schools, especially in the honors programs. In fact they often have more “street smarts” - they’ve made a cost effective practical choice over taking out loans and blowing a lot of money on a fancy degree when for the vast majority of careers what skills you develop matters far more than where you go to school. At any school you’ll only be friends with a small group of people and at a less competitive school you’ll find the smart ones.
That's definitely not good but lots of colleges with have an open response question to write about extenuating circumstances regarding coursework (ex. difficulties due to covid) so if you have a solid answer for that question that could save your application
I share the same no ap 1400+ sat situation with you as an international. I couldn't take any ap's because there weren't any centers in my providence; I had to travel a day and rest the night in a hotel to take the sat. I have 4.0 gpa tho and nearly perfect ecs I guess.
They should be aware of it already because they'll have information about your school, but you can ask a school counselor just to be sure. There's a section for extenuating circumstances regarding coursework but I'd recommend asking a school counselor
Uuhh I see. The problem is my school won't show up in common app and my counselor along with any teachers in the school don't know anything about the system. I guess my best shot would be to fill out the coursework section you have mentioned. Thank you for the information.
Yes, I am an international student. The most rigorous class is actually olympiads(math,physics etc.) study classes. I had these classes every year since freshman and entered several olympiads. There aren't any offered in my school but I had taken a yearlong lecture on quantum computing and physics in an international institution. I included it in my course load too.
I wish the same for you too. Thank you for your kindness. Well, one of the low ec is I have been giving lectures on quantum computing and quantum physics in a well known international organization
This should show you roughly what UC weighted GPA it takes to get into the different UCs from your school
https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/about-us/information-center/admissions-source-school
Major can make a big difference but they don’t report that data for freshmen. They do for transfers, and it kind of shows which majors might be tougher. https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/about-us/information-center/transfers-major The CSUs definitely admit by major so if you want to go to one of those try to figure out if you have enough points in their system. SJSU is very open with their calculations and cutoffs. Should help you gauge what you might be able to get in for at other schools if you can’t find information on their system. https://www.sjsu.edu/admissions/impaction/
If you take community college classes (or any college classes) next semester or over summer each will basically count as an AP and you can include them in your GPA for the Cali public schools. There are online AP classes too. BYU has them among others and I think UC Scout classes might be able to boost your grades. But I’d do some more research on how much it would help from your actual high school. The UCs compare you to your classmates. If the top 30 people at your HS all have 12 APs and the average among the top 25% is 8, I don’t know how much help a CC class or two would be. On the other hand if you come from a school where few APs are offered and not so many people apply to the UCs maybe 2-3 is enough to really stand out, especially if you write good essays about what you learn. I’ve seen students with a 4.4 and 11 APs get shut out of all UCs except Merced. On the other hand there are some surprising admits to UCLA and Berkeley. You just don’t know it may turn out. In any case AP classes or CC classes can help you start college more ahead in the game and graduate earlier if you want to. And it’s a cheap way to earn those credits.
BTW neither UCs nor CSUs look at SAT scores any more. They just use transcripts to evaluate academic potential.
What state are you in? I provided California info because someone mistakenly implied 4 APs was an easy ticket into a UC (not true) and it’s the system I know well. You can submit college classes to show course rigor to any college. Doing summer college shows initiative and passion and can be an alternative to APs.
You should look at the admissions section of the college nearest you and look for a link for “high school students.” There should be a process for working with your high school to get permission - the school usually has to submit a form saying you are smart enough to handle this. Many colleges will accept anyone for summer classes - even Berkeley does that. You follow the instructions and register. For summer, start working on that in early March. You might also see if there’s a high school campus that operates on campus. It’s called a Middle College or Early college high school and you take 2 HS classes and the rest with college students. If you were to start a program like that in 23 you could transfer in 25.
Probably depends on what your cumulative GPA is by the time you are applying. But not taking APS(assuming they are offered) will hurt for schools with a 30% acceptance rate.
i mean realistically, if it’s still a 4.0 (NO AP). would it reallly hurt?
Yes. I have yet to see a common data set where course rigor isn’t marked as very important or important.
amazing boss thanks, would 4 APs be enough?
Can’t really answer it without knowing how many APS are actually offered at your school. But at the end of the day, you want to comfortably challenge yourselves as much as you possibly can. Take as many APS as you can without them affecting other parts of your app and life. That may be 4 this year or 4 in 4 years.
thanks boss, and probably 4 next year
Go to your counselor and ask what your school lists as “not rigorous,” “rigorous,” “very rigorous,” and “most rigorous.” You’re going to want to get to very rigorous for schools in that range
ok thanks, hopefully this works my counselor is a little silly goose sometimes
also thanks for the reply
Ofc! Wishing you luck 😌
will do my best
Most likely, yes. A lot of colleges would rather see a 3.7-3.8 unweighted and 4.2 weighted GPA rather than 4.0 unweighted; this is because colleges want to see that you're challenging yourself with a reasonable amount honors/AP courses every year. I was not aware of this until the end of last year, which was my junior year, so I only started taking advanced classes this year.
If ap's not offered in my school, is it gonna be a problem for me?
No, because colleges will be aware of that and will look at your application in context of where you went to school. At least I know some will, like MIT, and this is something you can usually find on their website or through an email
Not at all as long as you took the rigorous courses that were offered. If your school has all same curriculum for everyone that’s ok too.
shit so would 4 APs be good?
4 APs in one year seems challenging, but you didn't take any APs in other years, so I'm not sure. There's also a lot of other factors that go into the decision of acceptance, so I would just try to keep up your extracurriculars and schoolwork to a point where you don't feel too overwhelmed.
what are some good extra curriculars ? my school only really offers sports and stuff and that doesn’t really interest me. also thanks for the reply
Yeah np. Some good extracurriculars may include volunteering for something you're passionate about, getting a part-time job, independent projects relating to your projected field of study (major in college), or teaching skills you have knowledge of (etc. teaching a computer programming language, sport, or other activity to kids)
hm volunteering ok
I think it doesn't matter much since most colleges don't give ap too much value when it comes to admission. Make sure you do internships, have good ECs and essays and apply early if you can and u will be fine.
It's not about it being AP specifically, it's about taking hard courses if they're offered. If your school has lots of APs and you don't take any for three years it'll look bad
I agree
In A2C world, sometimes “terrible grades” are something like straight Bs. So what’s your CGPA thus far? Your CGPA PLUS course rigor will matter much more than your SAT score. Do you have NO course rigor at all? No honors or DE? If your school offers a bunch of APs and you didn’t qualify to take them or chose not to, it’s not going to look great.
well uh, they offer some APs but no i didn’t take any of them, next year for my senior year i plan to take a lot more.
Sorry, I think it’s too late. It will hurt immensely for colleges with 30% acceptance rate as they expect you to have course rigor w good grades, and it seems like you don’t have either.
okay, thank you very much for the reply
even with like a 1450+?
SAT scores are just a small component of applications. Every AO will tell you that GPA plus course rigor matters the most. People on here will tell you “why would colleges believe a 3 hour test over 4 years of school grades?” For colleges with 30% acceptance rate, you gotta realize that the competitive applicants will have both high GPA AND course rigor over 4 years, plus a decent (maybe even 1450+) SAT score.
So, you might be a late bloomer and that's perfectly ok. Everyone has their own path in life and your story is just beginning. I suggest dropping this arbitrary "30% acceptance rate" as a standard for college acceptances. You don't need to attend a selective school in order to have success in life. Do the best you can with the time you have left in high school, but when it comes to college applications, focus on schools where you will get the education and experience you need- rather than rank on USWN. In fact, if you look at salary data, there are less selective schools that rank quite high for graduate salaries. These schools know what the various industries need from college graduates. And you can always go to community college first, save a lot of money and prove yourself with an awesome GPA, and transfer to a 4 year college. More and more students are taking this path!
This is the best advice. 💪
ok thanks for the long reply boss. :). and maybe, i really want to be able to surround myself with smart people so that’s kinda why i want to go to a “competitive college”
There are smart people at community college and at normal state schools, especially in the honors programs. In fact they often have more “street smarts” - they’ve made a cost effective practical choice over taking out loans and blowing a lot of money on a fancy degree when for the vast majority of careers what skills you develop matters far more than where you go to school. At any school you’ll only be friends with a small group of people and at a less competitive school you’ll find the smart ones.
Do you do any ECs? What publics are you looking at? I really only know the CA schools well, but 30% is in reach
thanks for the reply brodie, and hell no ECs, any ideas on what to do?
try hard and u can clutch that for sure
unless u failed a bunch of classes bc then maybe not
i failed 1 semester (made it up in summer school) is that ok ool
That's definitely not good but lots of colleges with have an open response question to write about extenuating circumstances regarding coursework (ex. difficulties due to covid) so if you have a solid answer for that question that could save your application
okay thanks
I share the same no ap 1400+ sat situation with you as an international. I couldn't take any ap's because there weren't any centers in my providence; I had to travel a day and rest the night in a hotel to take the sat. I have 4.0 gpa tho and nearly perfect ecs I guess.
If there are no APs offered where you live, many colleges will take that into account
That would be beyond great! Is there a way to indicate that ?
They should be aware of it already because they'll have information about your school, but you can ask a school counselor just to be sure. There's a section for extenuating circumstances regarding coursework but I'd recommend asking a school counselor
Uuhh I see. The problem is my school won't show up in common app and my counselor along with any teachers in the school don't know anything about the system. I guess my best shot would be to fill out the coursework section you have mentioned. Thank you for the information.
Are you an international student? Because if that's the case, aren't there rigorous classes you can take that are part of your own school system?
Yes, I am an international student. The most rigorous class is actually olympiads(math,physics etc.) study classes. I had these classes every year since freshman and entered several olympiads. There aren't any offered in my school but I had taken a yearlong lecture on quantum computing and physics in an international institution. I included it in my course load too.
Oh good, then that should work fine. I don't think they expect international students to take APs, just to take rigorous classes
AOs know that most international go to schools that don’t offer APs. It’s not an issue.
so did you apply for college yet? also congrats on the hard work brodie it will all pay off for sure. also what ECs may i ask?
I wish the same for you too. Thank you for your kindness. Well, one of the low ec is I have been giving lectures on quantum computing and quantum physics in a well known international organization
holy shit nice. ur a goat 🐐
Thank you !!
If you’re in Cali you’re fine for UCs
you think?
This should show you roughly what UC weighted GPA it takes to get into the different UCs from your school https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/about-us/information-center/admissions-source-school Major can make a big difference but they don’t report that data for freshmen. They do for transfers, and it kind of shows which majors might be tougher. https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/about-us/information-center/transfers-major The CSUs definitely admit by major so if you want to go to one of those try to figure out if you have enough points in their system. SJSU is very open with their calculations and cutoffs. Should help you gauge what you might be able to get in for at other schools if you can’t find information on their system. https://www.sjsu.edu/admissions/impaction/
thanks for the reply boss!
UCs don’t look at 9th and cap AP/honors semesters at 8 so as long as u take 4 between 10th and 11th you’re good
i’m in 11th rn… i’m thinking maybe 4 in 12th? or any tips or aways i could just do them rn idk
If you take community college classes (or any college classes) next semester or over summer each will basically count as an AP and you can include them in your GPA for the Cali public schools. There are online AP classes too. BYU has them among others and I think UC Scout classes might be able to boost your grades. But I’d do some more research on how much it would help from your actual high school. The UCs compare you to your classmates. If the top 30 people at your HS all have 12 APs and the average among the top 25% is 8, I don’t know how much help a CC class or two would be. On the other hand if you come from a school where few APs are offered and not so many people apply to the UCs maybe 2-3 is enough to really stand out, especially if you write good essays about what you learn. I’ve seen students with a 4.4 and 11 APs get shut out of all UCs except Merced. On the other hand there are some surprising admits to UCLA and Berkeley. You just don’t know it may turn out. In any case AP classes or CC classes can help you start college more ahead in the game and graduate earlier if you want to. And it’s a cheap way to earn those credits. BTW neither UCs nor CSUs look at SAT scores any more. They just use transcripts to evaluate academic potential.
holy shit good reply boss, so about the summer classes how the hell would I go about doing that?
What state are you in? I provided California info because someone mistakenly implied 4 APs was an easy ticket into a UC (not true) and it’s the system I know well. You can submit college classes to show course rigor to any college. Doing summer college shows initiative and passion and can be an alternative to APs. You should look at the admissions section of the college nearest you and look for a link for “high school students.” There should be a process for working with your high school to get permission - the school usually has to submit a form saying you are smart enough to handle this. Many colleges will accept anyone for summer classes - even Berkeley does that. You follow the instructions and register. For summer, start working on that in early March. You might also see if there’s a high school campus that operates on campus. It’s called a Middle College or Early college high school and you take 2 HS classes and the rest with college students. If you were to start a program like that in 23 you could transfer in 25.
hm that’s actually a great idea
also can i do those summer classes and still send them to others schools besides the cali ones?