According to the GPA calculator, only 8 semesters of Ap/Honors are counted. Does this mean that all other Ap/Honors will be looked at as regular classes? I mean the “course rigor” seems to just want you to take # years of a subject, and doesn’t really care whether it’s regular/honors/ap. Since they don’t take essays, and it’s all a numbers game. Getting a B in an Ap class would be a lot worse than an A in a regular class. Do they take into account the number of Apps and Honors then? So will taking more than 8 semesters of Ap/Honors classes actually hurt your chances at getting in? Because that just seems unfair.
SLO considers HS course rigor, GPA and test scores very important in their application review. Yes, you only get 8 semesters of honors points toward your CSU/SLO GPA, but taking just the bare minimum will not get you into competitive schools. They do take into account how many challenging courses your take,it is just not reflected in the GPA but in their MCA point calculations.
See this link if you want to know more about the MCA calculations:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cal-poly-san-luis-obispo/1694769-confused-about-mca-score.html
Ok thank you!
@YellowTiger, CP admissions is a bit quirky in that it is based 100% on an algorithm. As @Gumbymom said, you can read all about it in that post.
Specifically to your points, they are apples and oranges. First the GPA. CP “weights” GPA by adding up to 8 points to the calculation. Even though there is likely differences between honors, AP and IB, they don’t differentiate. For every A you get 4 points, every B, 3, etc. you come up with a total, divide by the number of courses and, VOILA! you get a GPA. It seems like it would, but choosing which semesters you want your honors/IB/AP to count towards really doesn’t matter. It effectively turns a B into an A, a C into a B, etc, but what it does mathematically is adds 8 points to your total before dividing by the number of classes. As you can see, it doesn’t matter what class you assign that point to, it’s still one point.
Where students can become a bit penalized for overachieving is when they’ve taken LOTS of classes. That dilutes the impact of the 8 points.
Now onto rigor. It’s also true that an AP class is not the same as an AP/IB class and CP, again doesn’t directly differentiate. Based on the typical high school curricula though they really do. Let’s start with math. Schools don’t offer AP algebra, since there isn’t such a beast. A few do, but most schools don’t offer non-AP Calculus. So, when it comes to math, everyone is on the same footing. Language is the same. Most schools make the 4th year AP. Where it seems to create an unfairness is in science. EVERYONE knows AP physics, especially the Calculus based Mechanics one, is VERY different than “regular” physics. Same goes for chem and bio. The thing is, if you only take the non-AP versions Freshman and Sophomore year, you won’t amass the maximum number of rigor points for lab science. You have to take more and at most schools those upper level sciences are almost always AP or IB.
Lastly, something you haven’t mentioned, but is another area that can be seen as unfair, CP only looks at EC hours and leadership can be anything. National Key Club president and Secretary of the school chess club count the same. They are very different in prestigue but both allow you to “check the box.” These are the sorts of things that make a difference, but also create randomness at holistic admission schools.
There are certainly exceptions, but for a totally objective algorithm, it’s pretty well thought out.
Hope that helps.
Ok thanks, because I’m taking the max amount of Aps that my school allows me to take and I have a couple Bs in them. Do they take your transcripts into consideration aside from the course rigor points?
You self-report your grades based on your transcript for the application. Once accepted your self-reported grades will be compared with your official transcript if you plan to attend. No sure if that is what you mean?
If you check SLO’s common dataset section C7, you will see they consider HS course rigor very important.
By course rigor do they just mean fulfill the 750 MCA points or do they look at the transcript that you give them?
If you look into the MCA post referenced above it will all become clear. They look at GPA as calculated by CP. Minuses and Plusses are not counted. That’s where the 8 semesters “weights” your GPA. Next most important is your test scores. Then there’s rigor. Finally ECs. Again, read the MCA post. It will clarify all of this for you. Good luck.