<p>I have an issue I'd like to get opinions on. My school has an option in which one can go to Ohio State and take courses there if you've finished all you can do in a core curriculum area at the high school. I'm taking AP Calc BC this year (junior) and so would be able to take a higher calculus class at OSU next year (senior year). However, our school figures grades for college courses into our high school GPA, and I've heard it's insanely hard to get an A in OSU's higher math classes. </p>
<p>I've worked really hard to protect my 4.0 UW so far; is it worth risking the perfect GPA to take a more challenging math class rather than none at all? How important is GPA to extremely selective universities? If I drop from a 4.0 UW, will they look at my transcript and see that it happened because of a college course?</p>
<ol>
<li>Is your GPA really more important to you than learning?</li>
<li>When are you applying to schools? If you apply before the first semester is over, it won’t matter since they won’t see your grades, just the courses. In that case, it will look very good that you’re challenging yourself.</li>
</ol>
<p>“Is your GPA really more important to you than learning?”</p>
<p>Is this really a bad thing? Colleges get more and more ridiculously selective every year. People have to maintain their GPAs in high school so they can go to a college that will challenge them. </p>
<p>But still, there’s not really any huge difference between a 3.9 and a 4.0.</p>
<p>@AeroMike:
Unfortunately, this is what the American education system has boiled down to: forsaking learning for the sake of a number. Heck, even my guidance counselor told me to take Spanish I (a language that I already am quasi-fluent in) just so I could fortify my GPA.</p>
<p>@shinexalive:
I’d say it would be worth it. If you had a 4.0 throughout your HS year, then you are most certainly a devoted student, and odds are that you would most certainly be able to exceed at a multivariable calculus course. Not to mention that even if you got a B, chances are you most likely have been accepted at a top university EA.</p>
<p>If the only thing that mattered was GPA, then you wouldn’t want to be applying to extremely selective schools, would you? What about when you apply for grad school? Where do you draw the line on when you don’t take a class or course-load because it will be too difficult?</p>
<p>Having an easy schedule (with no math class) just to pad your GPA won’t look good on your application.</p>
<p>I still think it won’t matter what grade you get as long as you don’t fail the classes you take. Your transcripts will be sent before you get the grade for the class. The school you apply to will not know until they’ve made up their mind on whether or not to admit you.</p>
<p>@AeroMike: Yeah, that’s kind of what I was struggling with. I certainly think the class is worth taking to learn more than I know already, but I do also have to account for what college admissions might think too @halcyonheather, @Ach7DD: Do you happen to know when colleges release first semester grades? I suppose what I get in this class won’t matter for EA/ED, but for later…? But I definitely agree, again, that the class is worth taking - to me personally, GPA’s not all that important - but I don’t know what an admissions person might think. @huehuehue32: Nope, not at my school! <em>crying</em></p>
