<p>Does it help to take honors or advanced classes in college? I mean in terms of professional school admissions (law and b-school).</p>
<p>I know that GPA is basically the most important factor in getting into professional grad schools..but is it somehow worth more to get an A in a tough college class than in a regular one?</p>
<p>Explanation: I'm an entering college freshman thinking about fall classes and I'm deciding between Intermediate Calculus and Honors Intermediate Calculus. Both are "sophomore level" classes. Which should I take, keeping in mind that I'm an English major, good at math, looking to either go the b-school route or the LSAT/Law school route.</p>
<p>HAHAHHAHA.... GPA the most important factor?! ...Try what your profs write...or experience in the relevant area!
GPA is often used as little more than a basic tool for skimming out the laughable applicants before spending valuable time and resources evaluating which candidates you actually want to admit!</p>
<p>So, yes, advanced coursework is helpful. I would check out some of the research done on professional school admissions!</p>
<p>I disagree. Taking advanced classes in your field is essential, but for classes completely unrelated to what you are studying, the final grade is most important. Law school admission committes won't care whether you took 'honors calculus' or 'regular calculus,' but they will notice a particularly low grade on your transcript. Do your GPA a favor and take the easier class</p>
<p>To clarify, from what I've gleaned in reading Grad School boards, for PhD programs, the things apumic mentioned are correct. But for professional ones, such as Law or Business, GPA is extremely important, as you originally thought.
I agree that since the course is unrelated to your major, there isn't really any need to take the more advanced class, but if you think you'll do well, feel free to go for it!</p>
<p>Just to clarify for the OP, advanced and honors are different things in college. Suppose you were a biochemistry major: advance classes would be biophysical chemistry and organic spectroscopy while honors classes could be anything from chem101 classes to advanced classes.</p>
<p>That's true -- a very low grade will hurt you, but trying to take easy courses and cover your transcript with easy As will do more harm than good. Basically, beyond a GPA of around 3.5-3.7 (depending on the program) the actual number matters far less than do most other factors. As I said, GPA is used for skimming out bad candidates moreso than finding the best ones!</p>