<p>Do you think colleges would view AP classes taken online the same way as they would view AP classes taken at your school? </p>
<p>I'm worried because I'm taking a few AP classes online but I only have like 3 that I actually took at school. The AP classes that I am taking online ARE <em>also</em> offered at my school, but I couldn't fit them into my schedule.
I have to send in a separate transcript for these AP classes taken online because my high school won't let me put them on my HS transcript.</p>
<p>I think that if you don’t take the exams, then colleges may in fact look at them as a “lesser” version of the one’s offered at your school.</p>
<p>I believe that often colleges use the AP score to check the difficulty of the class and the relevance of the grade given. For instance, an A in an AP class along with a 3 on the exam tells a college that the grade was heavily inflated.</p>
<p>That you personally need to send a transcript with grades for the online AP classes is a red flag.</p>
<p>I encourage you to rearrange your high school schedule so you can take the classes that are offered in your school. They will mean a great deal more to you (hopefully) than online versions – this because of relationships you build with the teachers and fellow students, in class discussions. In the end you’ll learn more. Your guidance counselor will see it in this way, as would most admission committees.</p>
<p>The one time where going outside your school curriculum make the kind of sense that resonates with admission committees is when you have a deep passion in a particular area (be it math, literature, history, etc.) and you can’t find enough in your school. Then go outside if you can manage it. But also let your school know what you’re doing so that there is a possibility that your extra work is recognized officially.</p>
<p>No, the on-line classes are not necessarily a waste of money. Fogcity is correct in saying that it is better to take the subjects in your high school if you can, but it appears that you have scheduling conflicts that preclude that option. </p>
<p>Don’t worry about having to send in a separate transcript for the on-line classes. There are thousands of students who take these on-line AP classes and they do so for a variety of reasons: because they have scheduling conflicts like yours, or because their high school doesn’t offer certain subjects, or because they want to save on college tuition by placing out of certain core/GED requirements with AP credit, etc. All of these students have to send in separate transcripts for their on-line classes, because I don’t know of any high school that will include outside classes that do not have any sort of formal tie to the school on its official transcript. So college admissions officers are used to seeing this arrangement.</p>
<p>But to give credibility to those on-line classes, you really do need to do the work and to take the AP exam for each class in May. As long as you score well on the exam, colleges will give the same weight (and college credit, where warranted) to on-line and in-school AP classes. If you don’t report an exam score, then the on-line classes are not likely to be taken seriously by the Admissions Office since there is no way to really judge the level of effort required for it. And that’s where they can become a “waste of money.”</p>