<p>Hi my name is Rory and I was wondering which do colleges look at more: GPA or academic rigor? I am currently in 3 classes that are just below honors and my English is on the lower scale in terms of rigor. I have an A+ right now in English and I only have one B which is Spanish. I feel that my English class is sometimes too easy but my previous teachers and my parents were worried about my inability to keep up if I were to go to a more rigorous English. I am a good writer but I have cerebral palsy which affects my abilities to some degree. What would colleges look at more, my grades or academic rigor?</p>
<p>You need rigor with good grades. Take as hard a schedule as you can that will still allow you to maintain good grades, mostly A’s with a few B’s. If you are getting an A+ in a class and there are harder ones available, definitely go harder. </p>
<p>If you think you can do it, do it. It’s likely those around you are trying to protect you, this is where you need to step up and let them know you want/need to do it.</p>
<p>You should have a healthy balance of both, preferably more rigor</p>
<p>Both. Try to take as rigor courses as possible while you can maintain your GPA above 3.8.</p>
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It depends on the school. Google the Common Data Set for each school and look at section C7. It will say how much weight is given for each element in admission.</p>
<p>The answer to OP’s question depends in large part on which schools Rory will apply.</p>
<p>Large, public colleges tend to emphasize objective, quantifiable criteria such as GPA and test scores.</p>
<p>Highly selective universtities tend to emphasize holistic evaluations with extra weight given to subjective criteria such as rigor.</p>
<p>Rigor. </p>
<p>Dont take my word for it, just go the the CDS. You will not find a school that puts GPA above rigor. </p>
<p>You should have some college level, AP, or honors classes in each of your core subject areas (math, english, science, social science) and the most competitive applications have 2 or more.</p>
<p>What kind of colleges are you applying to?
Some colleges, like “East State U” or “Local Public College”, don’t care much about rigor.
However selective colleges consider it their #1 factor (have you taken 4-5 core classes each year? have you taken 5 AP/HOnors each year? If not, is there a reason?) over GPA.
Considering you have CP though, this may be a bit different. Do you have an IEP?</p>
<p>But overall, apparently there’s no need for you to avoid a harder class “just in case” since you’re doing very well in your current class. The Honors version may be very hard (it’ll be a “jump”) but it shouldn’t be impossible.</p>
<p>I agree though, if you have an A+, try to switch to a more demanding class. Perhaps your guidance counselor will accept this on a trial basis. If Cp comes in between you and your performance, check if you’ll still be able to switch back next semester.</p>
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Good recommendation on the front end, however the rest is not true. Mizzou weighs GPA as Very Important and Rigor as important. As do Penn State and WVU (just some I have in a spreadsheet so there are definitely more).</p>
<p>I agree with Erin’s Dad. I also did a quick search (picking schools randomly) and found that the University of Akron and University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff both consider GPA more important than rigor according to their CDS.</p>
<p>In my searching however, I found that not one school had Rigor as “Very Important” without also having GPA and/or Class Rank as “Very Important”.</p>
<p>I stand by my earlier assertion that the proper answer for OP all depends on what schools will be considered.</p>
<p>Agree with Erin’s Dad too. Also, course rigorous and GPA are in two different scale (one parametric and one non-parametric). I don’t see how one can compare the two. What is the equivalent of GPA 3.8 with high rigor when GPA is 4.0? A GPA of 2.5 with all top level courses probably is not as good as someone with GPA4.0 with only a couple AP for most schools. From all the books I read, top schools want both. For schools that do wGPA, the rigor level is integrated into the GPA in some way. The important thing is, you need to challenge yourself as much as possible while you still do not suffer with a lower GPA.</p>
<p>“In a selective-admission environment, the reality is that enough students will have done both to fill [an incoming freshman] class before reaching those who did poorly in advanced courses or well in basic courses.” </p>
<p>I think this quote from UT Austin sums the situation up pretty well</p>
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<p>That’s true … but typically, selective colleges will mark GPA as well as rigor as “very important” in the CDS table C7. By “selective”, I don’t just mean Ivies and other T20 schools. I mean T100 and beyond.</p>
<p>But consider section C11 (GPA distributions) of the CDS as well.
Many very selective private schools leave section C11 blank. You won’t find GPA distributions or an average GPA for Williams College (USNWR #1 LAC) in its CDS or on the USNWR site. You will, however, find very high average GPAs (approaching - or even exceeding - 4.0) for many state flagships. The University of Maryland, for example, lists its average HS GPA as 4.07. So I think there are in fact different patterns in the handling of GPA and rigor even among schools that list both as “very important”.</p>
<p>I have an IEP that says that I only have to do a certain amount of homework due to the fact that it takes me longer to get it done. I have taken five core subject classes my freshman and sophomore year.</p>