Please help - being punished for taking many APs

Applying to College
1

<p>At my school, AP classes are weighted out of 5, and everything else is out of 4 (honors, GT, regular). We use the weighted GPA to rank, which sounds ideal, but there's a hidden flaw: any outside classes are considered "regular" classes and weighted out of 4.</p>

<p>These outside classes include all online AP courses and community college courses taken for high school credit.</p>

<p>Because of this, anyone who takes outside classes is at a significant disadvantage in terms of class rank. Unfortunately, I already took classes over the summer at a local CC (the AP equivalents of Micro, Macro, Music Theory, and Comp Govt--all of which I'll take AP exams for credit). This means that my weighted GPA is lower than someone else who took the same number of school APs, simply because I have additional non-weighted courses.</p>

<p>Right now, my rank is at 40/600, even with a UW 3.9 GPA :( (The current val has a 4.0, but took 6 fewer APs than I have.) Additionally, I'll be taking Calculus II outside of school to continue with math studies, since I've exhausted my school's math curriculum. However, these classes will still be weighted as "regular" courses, furthering lowering my weighted GPA. Bottom line: I'm being punished for taking additional, tougher classes.</p>

<p>I would be fine if my counselor will explain the situation in my applications. However, she is new this year and has no experience in counseling. I tried explaining why I'm at a disadvantage for class rank, but she insisted that the system was not flawed...so I assume that she won't be explaining anything to adcoms about my subpar class rank.</p>

<p>Should I explain the situation myself in the application? </p>

<p>Please help me out if you have some experience with similar situations--I'm extremely worried about my class rank! Thank you :)</p>

2

<p>^Yes, you should definitely explain the situation in your app. Be as clear with your situation as you were above in less words though. good luck dude :)</p>

3

<p>I don’t think it wise for you to explain why your class rank is not as high as it should be. Simply let your record speak for itself, and with the numerous “college” level courses that you’ve taken it would clear to admission committees (and to your GC) that you’ve taken the most rigorous program possible while in high school. Your grades (unweighed) in the college courses are very strong.</p>

4

<p>If you do choose to put in anything, don’t use it as an explanation.
If anything, put something along the lines of:</p>

<p>“(your school) ranks students based on a weighted GPA. Advanced Placement classes taken at (your school) are graded on a five point scale, while all other classes are graded on a four point scale.”</p>

<p>Let the Adcom’s infer the rigor and what it did to your GPA. Don’t tell them directly that you take way more than usual AP courses.</p>

<p>For example, at my school, we are discouraged from taking any more than two AP’s at a time. Our counselors have us put that on it. However, we don’t need to tell them that “I am taking (1/2/3/4) more AP’s than recommended” we just let them see that.</p>

5

<p>I would be more direct. I would, under “Additional Information” or some other convenient place, put:</p>

<p>“My school does not weight AP classes taken online, or community college courses. This methodology affects weighted GPA and class rank significantly.”</p>

6

<p>Your school’s ranking and grading is supposed to be covered in the School Profile. This is something that gets sent along with your counselor recommendation. This makes it possible for the admissions folks to look at your transcript in the context of what your high school offers. It also hugely lightens the load for high school counselors, since they don’t have to explain the same things overnadoverandover on every student’s application. A good profile is a very powerful tool that a high school can use in the college admissions game. Here’s a more detailed explanation: [High</a> School Profiles - Ask The Dean](<a href=“http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/archives/000188.htm]High”>http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/archives/000188.htm)</p>

<p>Ask if you can see the school’s profile. If you sense that the school is going to brush you off, get one of your parents or your guardian to ask. Make sure that the profile is up to date and that it properly represents the ranking metric. If it doesn’t, have the parent/guardian offer to revise it to present the school in the best possible light. It may be too late for this year’s applications. If this crucial information is missing, then yes, you (or parent or guardian–sometimes you need to call in the big guns) should have the counselor explain the situation. If the counselor still digs in her heels, then I would use wording like DunninLA provides, adding how this is information that is not provided in the school’s profile.</p>

7

<p>you’re not being punished for taking harder courses.</p>

<p>i assume you knew the policy going in so it was your own choice. deal with it.</p>

<p>and yes, they’ll SEE the courses you took so no need to explain</p>

8

<p>…you’re in top 10%…what’s the problem</p>

9

<p>^Not all top 10% are created equal. Most admits to top colleges from average schools (ie, not feeders) will be val or sal.</p>

<p>OP, I wouldn’t be vague. Ask your GC one more time if she will include it in her letter. Perhaps email her and ask her to say something along the lines of what you will put in your Additional Information section, so she has something to base it off of. She may just be confused by your request.</p>

<p>Then write something along the lines of: * My school ranks using weighted GPAs. AP classes are weighted out of 5 points and all others, including community college courses, are weighted out of 4.0.*</p>