<p>I mentioned this in the thread about calculating GPAs, and I wonder if anyone could answer --</p>
<p>My D's high school weights the GPA for class ranking. They have 5 levels of classes -- AP, 1 (accelerated), 2 (honors), 3 (college prep), 4 (remedial). </p>
<p>I've always thought that the level right below AP (Level 1) would be honors. When a college views a transcript from this high school with level 2 classes, will they view them as honors level just because the school calls them that? Or will they view them as regular college prep level? What do you think? </p>
<p>Also, if a student can't handle AP, which is taken by 40% of the school, and only takes a few level 1 classes, it doesn't matter what GPA they have, does it, at least in terms of class rank. They are pretty much screwed because the @ 60% of the school that has taken more AP and level 1 classes are automatically ranked ahead of them if they have comparable grades. So if your GPA is ok (let's say 3.4), how much will a school that takes that level of student care if your class rank stinks because you didn't take many AP/honors?</p>
<p>Whether class rank matters depends on the college. Of course, for colleges which value rank highly, high school students may try to game the ranking system.</p>
<p>However, colleges typically consider the rigor of courses selected (either holistically when looking at the courses and grades, or recalculating GPAs with honors/AP bonuses), so that a student who does not choose the most rigorous available courses is at a disadvantage in college admissions compared to a student who gets similar grades in a more rigorous selection of courses.</p>
<p>By the same token, a student who “can’t handle” AP classes, when 40% of his or her school can, would be extremely naive to be considering the Harvards, MITs, UC Berkeleys and Swarthmores of the world. A student who can’t handle AP classes in high school should be looking for colleges and universities where getting solid grades in college-preparatory classes is good enough to secure admission. At those colleges and universities, class rank won’t really be much of an issue.</p>
<p>As for your original question, Sans Serif, I don’t think I can say what evaluation colleges will make when they see classes denoted “level 2” on your daughter’s transcript. I just don’t have the knowledge or the authority to speak for any college, let alone for “colleges.” But I do know that they won’t have to make that evaluation without context. Along with your daughter’s transcript, the school will send a document called a “school profile.” This profile will explain the different levels of classes offered, and provide information about what fraction of the class take each level of math, English, history and so on. You or your daughter might want to ask your daughter’s guidance counselor to let you see the school profile. You might find it informative.</p>
<p>Sikorsky, thank you - I didn’t know about the school profile and that’s something I’d definitely be interested in seeing. </p>
<p>Also, believe me, my d15, who definitely (at least at this point) can’t handle AP classes, has no intention of applying to Harvard, MIT, etc. Her dream school is Penn State, main campus, and at this point that’s a big ol’ reach. So I’m trying to figure out what would be a match for her, and if those matches care about stuff like class rank. I guess that’s the question - which are the colleges that will appreciate solid grades in regular college prep classes, with maybe a few honors classes sprinkled in, and won’t care about rank?</p>
<p>There are a couple more resources that might be useful to you, then. </p>
<p>One is a college or university’s common data set. Most colleges and universities publish them on their web sites. They’re all formatted the same way; that’s what the common refers to. Section C of the common data set gives information about applicants for freshman admission. Within Section C, subsection C7 gives statistics (e.g., 75th- and 25th-percentile scores on SAT and ACT; what percent of freshmen had GPA 3.75 and above, 3.50-3.74, 3.25-3.49, and so on; what percent of freshmen were in the top 10%, top quarter or top half of their high-school graduating class) for the college’s currently enrolled freshman class. Usually, you all you have to do is Google the name of the university or college, together with the phrase “common data set.”</p>
<p>There’s also a resource called Naviance, which high schools have to subscribe to, and your daughter’s school may or may not subscribe. (Ask in the guidance office.) If your school subscribes, Naviance will display the application history of students from your school for the past several years. It will show you each applicant’s GPA, SAT score and admissions result. (It doesn’t give applicants’ names, of course.) It can be very helpful to see how applicants with grades or test scores similar to yours have fared at colleges that might be of interest.</p>