<p>My high school is just over average...Somewhere around 150 out of about 350, I believe...I see that many people on here take AP classes as freshmen, and then they have nothing but AP classes as sophomores...I am a sophomore, and my high school is quite different...I have four honors classes and one AP class, AP American Government. In my high school, there are three AP history courses that can be taken as electives, starting sophomore year. Very few do this (6 sophomores in my AP Gov. class, 1 sophomore in AP World, & 2 in AP Euro.). While I am taking full advantage of the situation at my school, I feel that I will be greatly hurt by this. I see that many people have AP Calculus and comparable classes as sophomores, although such a feat is impossible at my school as a sophomore...There are prerequisites for most courses. Next year, I'm planning on taking about four AP classes (Language & Comp., U.S. II, Biology, and Spanish V), but the situation is still really irritating, knowing that many others are getting far ahead and will probably have higher admissions chances because of the courses their schools offer...While I am taking the most rigorous courses allowed, others in other schools are taking much more advanced classes, and I am certain that this will play as a detriment to me.</p>
<p>My school also has an off way of calculating one's GPA...4.0 is 100, 3.9 is 99, 3.8 is 98, and it goes on like that down to 3.4, which is 93-94...I know most people's schools have 4.0 being an A...When I write my GPA on my application, should I say how it is determined, does the school tell, or do they go under the false perception that I did worse than I did?</p>
<p>your guidance counselor should explain the situation</p>
<p>As long as you're taking the most advanced courses possible at your school, you should be fine. They're really looking for the level of difficulty of your courses WITHIN THE CONTEXT of your school. There is a section on the guidance counselor's report to check off "most challenging" "challenging" "average" curriculum in the school, or something like that. If you want, you can self-study for AP exams or take colleges courses somewhere nearby, but this is only if you really want to. </p>
<p>Don't worry! </p>
<p>As for GPAs, my school has something similar to yours, too, except it's out of 4.5 even though nothing's weighted. Along with the school GPA will be sent the grades for each class, so the colleges will recalculate your GPA. Also, this information might actually be explained on your HS transcript; check that. At the bottom of my transcript, it says A+ = 98-100 = 4.5
A = 93-97 = 4.17, A- = 90-92 = 3.98, etc...</p>
<p>Thank you very much!</p>
<p>Yeah as the above poster said Harvard is just looking to see if you are taking full advantage of your school. My school does not even allow you to take any AP's until junior year and even then you are only allowed 2 that year. That did not stop someone from getting into harvard ea with only gasp 4 AP's total.</p>