In my entire high school career i’ve only ever taken one AP class (World History) and had straight Cs all year. I usually take honors or aice/pre-aice classes to at least get a halfweight credit but i heard that taking AP classes look really good on transcripts. Should I take more AP classes in my senior or continue to take my usual honors/aice classes? Is it worth risking my GPA? My unweighted GPA is 3.5 and weighted 3.7
Take AP classes in subjects you think you can do well in. Senior year GPA is important since all college admissions are provisional, so if you tank your GPA, there is always a chance your acceptance (s) can be rescinded.
Also, the majority of schools will weight your GPA based on their own scale, but taking a rigorous HS schedule is important for the competitive colleges. Much depends upon which schools you are targeting.
I didn’t really do well in the one I did sophomore year so i’ve been a little skeptical about taking another. I also don’t plan on applying to any top/ivy league schools but I don’t know if taking any APs would help me get into the lesser known schools…
Again, it really depends upon which schools you are planning to apply. If you feel you cannot pull at least a B out of any of the AP classes offered, then I would take a Honors or Regular class instead.
Taking Honors classes does show some HS rigor, you will just not get a nod for the most rigorous HS schedule.
If you feel like you are going to struggle in AP classes, it is not worth it to take them. Many colleges will accept you even if you haven’t taken APs (not top schools like Ivies/Stanford, but you will find a college to go to).
Many students don’t take AP courses and get into college. Schools like to see a strong GPA with a rigorous schedule… If you don’t feel you can get a B in the AP class, Honors or dual enrollment if offered may be a better option. Dual enrollment is another way to show rigor and can be offered at the high school or nearby college. For my daughter dual enrollment helped cover her foreign language and science requirement in college. She took more Honors and Dual enrollment than AP courses and it worked for her. You could check with your guidance counselor and see what they would recommend as well. Good luck!
Thank you guys for the feedback! I plan on taking mostly honors with only 2-3 APs since I think that i’d do really well in them 