My daughter likes school and wants to take another class this summer after 9th grade. The local school district only offers regular non-AP, non-honors classes in the summer (though some of them look interesting). This would pull her weighted GPA down – does that matter to colleges? If she decides she would rather take an AP class, are there any recommendations about where to find an online AP class offered in the summer, or which class would be best?
My understanding is that colleges look at unweighted GPA. My understanding is that colleges want students to consider rigor but also pursue things that show that they are being true to who they are. Taking a course that they love and excel in would seem as valuable as taking an extra AP just for GPA weighting.
@NorthernMom61 some colleges use weighted GPA. For example, IIRC, University of Alabama I believe uses weighted GPA to determine awarding of its scholarships. @mom2collegekids
But if this student wants to take a course, they should do so because they WANT to take a course…not so that they can somehow make their resume look better for college applications.
I will add…is there something else of interest this student could do? Colleges also consider the NON academic side of students.
That’s good to know @thumper1.
Also, some colleges re-compute GPA using a uniform formula…because high schools have lots of different ways to do so.
I also wouldn’t make a decision about what a college wants to see, unless you live in an auto admit state based on ranking. If you do live in an auto admit state, I would find an academic summer program that wouldn’t be included in the HS grade transcript. My niece did summer math programs for a while and then a summer bio program. My DD did a bunch of engineering related summer programs. Lots of academic stimulation but no impact on transcript.
I took summer math and history to get ahead in hs around 8-10th grade. Setting yourself up to take more APs down the line can’t hurt.
Most kids (and adults) like what they know. What she knows is school. I would use summer to expand her universe and try something new. It can be academic, but just taking classes makes for an uninteresting person.
The summer after 9th grade is a good time to try a first summer job or unpaid job-like experience. It also is a good time to fit in one last big family vacation if your family can afford to not have the kid working just yet. What has your kid done in previous summers? Is this the year to move up from being just a camper to a CIT?
If your kid really wants to take a class, look for something interesting that doesn’t generate a transcript such as language camp or “enrichment” classes offered through your local community college. Classes that generate transcripts will follow her forever. Remember that anyone who is willing to shell out the money can take the AP exams and CLEP exams. A non-credit course can help her get ready for one of those exams, and wouldn’t generate an academic transcript that needs to be reported.
KhanAcademy.org offers a lot of different subjects including some AP subjects. The activities are completely free, online, and there is no transcript issued which means no grades to worry about. KhanAcademy doesn’t work well at all in Internet Explorer. Log in through Mozilla or Chrome.
My DD is taking a required religion class this summer to get some flexibility in her schedule next year. Not everything needs to be about AP.