<p>So, guys, from the beginning of my junior year, my counselor has been pushing me to take as many AP courses as I can handle. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, I don't think it was a piece of advice that worked out. My school, first-off, treats AP just like any other course, and so the rankings and GPA are completely unweighted.</p>
<p>In fact, I would have ranked among the top several kids in my grade had it not been the bloody pile of AP courses and the lesser marks. </p>
<p>So, do you think it is better to have less AP courses and better rankings, or the other way around for Ivy Leagues and like? too late now for me, but I think it's something that should be settled for the incoming grades.</p>
<p>All the colleges I have heard asked about this, or whose websites have statements about this, say it is more expedient for you to take the most challenging courses you can. When you consider that a "prep" school might send dozens of graduates to Ivy League colleges, many of those having B averages in terms of that school's grading rules, you can tell that Ivy League colleges are interested first in students being well prepared for college study (by challenging courses) and only secondarily in how high school students compare to other students in the same school's arbitrary grading system.</p>
<p>as a student in an pretty good int'l Ivy "prep" (2nd in canada), I can say with absolute confidence that NO ONE who gpes to ivy league from even top preps that I have interacted with in debate and MUN gets anything below 90 average, unless you got a MASSIVE hook or are an athlete</p>
<p>however, this might not apply to St. Grottlesex. I have not interacted with Groton etc. so I wouldn't know.</p>
<p>What Ivy League colleges are you talking about? Where did students from the most recent graduating class at your high school end up? And what kind of courses do students take at that high school if they don't take AP courses?</p>
<p>general, non-Cornell Ivies.
i think it was something like top decile or less at Ivies (again, decent for an international)
Normal Grade 12 courses</p>
<p>I guess this is how the ranking system is somewhat broken. I was ranked first in my class grades 9 and 10, but then i decided to take more classes than everyone else i was competing against for rankings. I ended up taking Physics and AP chem at the same time while everyone else just took AP chem. Even though i got As in both classes, my rank dropped. Rankings should do a better job at looking at course difficulty in my opinion.</p>
<p>you might be right, azngamer. but the thing is, skweing rankings toward AP courses might just intensify the already bad competition, and make everybody's lives harder. quite a dilemma</p>