<p>This is a question that's always been a pretty interesting topic. I am in the IB Diploma Program at my school, so as a result, all of my core courses (English, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Foreign Language) have all been Honors, AP, or IB. More specifically, 10 were honors, 1 was AP, and 10 were IB. Pretty crazy I know. But am I down for the count if I got a C in IB Math but an A in AP Environmental Science? Or a B in Honors Spanish III but an A in IB Psychology? If over all, I have a B average GPA, but I've been taking the hardest courses possible, does it put me out for the count? So many ?s lol.</p>
<p>While colleges claim to take serious consideration of rigor of curriculum, I am starting to believe that they care about unweighted GPA more then they might say to. I am in a similar situation as you so this information kinda bums me out. But please keep in mind I am no adcom and therefore could be 100% wrong.</p>
<p>Yes, a rigorous courseload will help you in terms of a low GPA. However, just don’t be deluded in how much it’ll help.</p>
<p>The idea is, all else equal, a B+ student with a rigorous courseload (eg. IB Diploma or >8 APs) is usually preferred over a straight-A student with all “regular” courses. It shows that you have motive to actually face challenges.</p>
<p>However, start getting in the B- to C+ range, and it’s a harder question. Eg. if you were in regular courses, will you really get straight-As?</p>
<p>Just keep in mind that admissions officers are human and they will see your entire transcript, not just artificial numbers.</p>
<p>thanks for the advice guys!</p>
<p>If you take the AP/IB courses and you do poorly in them and continue to do poorly it would show that you are unable/unwilling to see your limits or that you don’t work hard enough either way if you can pull all A’s in regular courses and only C’s in AP/IB courses I would say limit the number of AP/IB courses you take.</p>
<p>yes, without a hook, a ‘B’ average will likely put you out of the running for Pomona and Chicago (or unless you are attending one of the nationally-known high schools, like Thomas Jefferson). Look at the Pomona Common Data Set: 92% of matriculants were in the top 10% of thier class.</p>