<p>Looking for an answer to a question not yet answered..(at least for me).</p>
<p>Common guidance is to take the most challenging courses a student can while still "doing well" or getting "good grades". I have also heard the consistent message that colleges are not that impressed with all A's in non-honors or no AP classes when they are offered at one's high school.</p>
<p>At more than one school, I have either asked or have heard others ask, "Would you rather see a B or B+ in an AP course or an A in a regular course?" And every time the answer is "We'd rather see an A in an AP course!" </p>
<p>This is not helpful! Of COURSE an A in the AP course is the best. </p>
<p>So, my question is..do you think a B+ student with multiple AP courses is a better candidate than a student with less AP's but has more A's on his transcript? I imagine it depends on the school and their admission practices, but I am just looking for general guidance/opinions.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I mean… No one can really answer that except adcomms right? If it were me, I’d say a couple B’s in AP courses are ok but you want to have some A’s too. Do consider the more rigorous schedule as long as you CAN get some A grades.</p>
<p>addymithas right, dood if their to challenging for u dont take them.
universities would better have A’s in normal classes then B’s in AP classes.
what your doing every time u take AP or honors is taking a chance, if you now u can do good then take it.
having no AP classes doesn’t weaken your chances of getting in to a good university, it just increases the chances of people taking AP classes to get (not alot) in.</p>
<p>OP, fellow mom here, just finished the process with second and final kid. I totally agree, the usual comment, “All A’s on all AP classes is best” is useless!</p>
<p>I gather this is your first, so I suggest you tap two resources, your student’s counselor and some parents who have already gone through the process with one or more kids. Some of the things you need to learn are: how do colleges view your HS in terms of rigor? is your HS known for grade inflation or deflation? how detailed or not is your counselor’s presentation of grade distributions? where do your HS grads matriculate? does your school subscribe to Naviance, and if so, do they enable the scattergram feature for viewing?</p>
<p>Look for your school’s “profile” on the HS website. Also study the SSR your counselor will likely submit–ask them if they do, and if not, what do they supply to satisfy the college admission officer’s need for same/similar info. See <a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Docs/DownloadForms/SSR_School_Form.pdf[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Docs/DownloadForms/SSR_School_Form.pdf</a></p>
<p>With information in hand, you will have a better idea of how to advise your student. A lot depends on his/her college list–what is the selectivity level of schools you’re looking at? Pick two or three you think might be on the list and Google “common data set {name of college}.” Go to the most recent CDS for that school and scroll down to section C for admission stats of the freshman class. Study GPA and SAT. Look at the ranking for “rigor” of HS curriculum. </p>
<p>My kids took the most rigorous curriculum offered, ended up with a mixed record of A’s and more B’s, no C’s, and did very well in the process. So I think from what you are saying, focusing on the GPA component alone, if your student stays the course with AP’s and makes more B’s than A’s, he/she will probably do well, too. Obviously, you have to factor in all the rest–placing the GPA in context with peers via rank or, if non-ranking, then estimated rank based on GPA and grade distribution, standardized test scores, essays, letters of rec and EC’s…you know the drill!</p>
<p>HTH. Good luck.</p>
<p>I think what the officers are trying to say is that it depends. For instance, getting a B+ in an AP course vs an A- in a regular course, the B+ probably is better. However, getting a B in an honors, not AP, vs an A in a regular class, the A is probably better. They are just trying to say, shoot for A’s, and if you can’t handle all the honors/AP work just drop one or two as you will probably have to do less work even to get the A in the regular class.</p>