<p>Ok, so I will be applying to college soon and I was wondering what colleges like more:</p>
<p>a student that has taken AP/honors classes throughout high-school and has a 3.4</p>
<p>vs</p>
<p>a student that has taken the easy road AP/honors only during senior year and has a 4.0</p>
<p>Of course the pat answer is they like the student with a rigorous course load that still gets the 4.0, and at the selective colleges that is pretty much what you need. The rigor element keeps you from gaming the system.</p>
<p>At less selective colleges, frankly a 4.0 is going to look better than a 3.4, because they don’t pay that much attention to rigor, but a 3.4 is still fine.</p>
<p>A 4.0 is almost always better. But without rigorous courses, you won’t be admitted to top colleges.</p>
<p>ok thanks, I was the first one (3.4 w/ rigor).</p>
<p>ok how about a the same predicament, except a 3.8 weighted vs a 4.0 weighted</p>
<p>Neither are that great for selective universities. People create a falsely binary situation in which you can only get one or the other. The reality is that many students at selective universities take rigorous courses AND get a high gpa. It depends on where you want to go, I guess. </p>
<p>Nobody really cares about weighted. Weighted is really only important insofar as it determines class rank, which your school may not even publish.</p>
<p>They will prefer a student who took the rigorous courses and got A grades.</p>
<p>I agree that the best thing to have is straight A’s in rigorous courses but that’s not the issue here. Having 3.4 from a rigorous courseload is better than 4.0 from an easy courseload in many admissions offices. It’s better to have a rising trend than a flat or falling trend. </p>
<p>While you may not get into the very top colleges, you can get into some very good colleges. Take a look at College That Change Lives for a start.</p>
<p>so assuming cal poly slo, sdsu, csulb, florida tech, and embry riddle</p>
<p>The CSUs have a specific method of calculating high school GPA used for admissions:
[CSUMentor</a> - Plan for College - High School Students - GPA Calculator](<a href=“Cal State Apply | CSU”>Cal State Apply | CSU)</p>