College application - number of APs, GPA, and Summer activities

[ucbalumnus]

@albright7

My kid was planning to cover 6 APs in 11 & 12:

• 2 in Science
• 2 in Math
• 2 in CS

If the two math are AB and BC, then they are unlikely to be difficult for a student on the +2 math track. Even BC without AB is unlikely to be difficult for such a student. Statistics is usually a relatively easy course.

Fos CS, CS principles is generally not difficult. CS A is mainly if the student is interested in major in CS or similar, so may not need to be taken.

So it is like that only the two science ones would be “hard” or high work for the student, which could leave capacity to take AP courses in other subjects.

AP English courses are typically honors options of the usual grade level English in 11th and 12th grades. Similar with AP history and government. AP foreign language is usually at a designated level (4, 5, or 6 depending on high school).

[albright7]

@Twoin18

You can also search for your HS’s profile if one is published for colleges, which often gives a GPA distribution for the graduating class, and then work out roughly where you stand based on expected grades and weighted courses.

I found my school profile on https://www.cde.ca.gov/
But not sure which report gives GPA distribution.

[albright7]

@ucbalumnus

So it is like that only the two science ones would be “hard” or high work for the student, which could leave capacity to take AP courses in other subjects.

The kid was thinking of AP Physics 1 and AP Physics 2. Is that a good idea? Or need to replace Physics 2 with Physics C (again there are 2 options for C).

[ucbalumnus]

@Twoin18

Many HSs notify students they are in or close to the top 9% in the spring of junior year, asking for permission to release their information to UC admissions. If this doesn’t happen then you will at least know when you fill in the application as it is flagged as eligible.

Actually, a more direct way is to ask the counselor what the UC ELC benchmark GPA is for the high school (which was determined from a recent previous class), then recalculate the students GPA for UC to compare with the benchmark.

Asking for the records release appears to be for determining the UC ELC benchmark GPA for future classes (see the linked page, box titled “How does UC calculate my school’s historic or benchmark GPA?”).

[ucbalumnus]

@albright7

The kid was thinking of AP Physics 1 and AP Physics 2. Is that a good idea? Or need to replace Physics 2 with Physics C (again there are 2 options for C).

Physics 1 and 2 are non-calculus physics courses similar in content to physics for biology majors. Each covered the content of about a semester of college course.

Physics C uses calculus, though to a lesser extent than calculus based physics in college for physics and engineering majors. The two parts are mechanics and E&M, but each of these may not cover all of the topics in a semester of college physics course.

In terms of using AP credit for actual advanced placement in college, physics and other sciences are less reliable for this purpose than calculus and foreign language (i.e. colleges are less likely to offer advanced placement for AP credit in science than calculus and foreign language).