Taking APs outside school

Hi experts,
I hear about kids taking APs outside school and was wondering if you can help me understand the rationale. I am trying to decide if this is a good step for my DS (rising freshman in local public HS which does not offer any APs in 9th) -

  1. Does this help bump up the weighted GPA to help with college admissions?
  2. I am assuming self-study of APs only gives you college credit. Is that right? Do college credits help you get a leg up in admissions in some way?
  3. Looks like there are many APs that are recommended for self-study. For ex. AP Env Sci. Do colleges look at these “easier” APs unfavorably or recognize taking any AP as extra effort, esp if it bumps up the GPA?
    Thank you all!
  1. You need to check with your child's HS. My D's HS did not allow any outside classes to be included in their GPA or go on their transcript.
  2. Colleges vary greatly in if they accept AP credits. I don't think there is any value in terms of college admission to self studying APs. IMO, that just looks like trying to pad the number of AP courses which is completely unnecessary.
  3. Adcoms definitely know which AP courses are easier. Again, self studying is not going to move the needle for college admission.

There is no expectation from any college that a kid needs to take AP’s outside of school. Rather, they expect them to challenge themselves within the framework of the HS curriculum. It should really only be when a student has exhausted the offerings in a particular subject that s/he needs to look outside the confines of the HS. And this would almost never be the case for freshmen.

Also, in terms of college admissions, there is no reason to self study any AP. They’re not impressed. And the time could likely be better put to use elsewhere. There may be a valid reason for racking up potential college credit, but policies vary by college, and no 9th grader knows where they will go to college. But having college credit will not help with admissions.

A HS may give credit for any Virtual High School courses approved in advance, but if they give credit, and if they will weight the grade, varies by HS. It is highly unlikely that a HS will give credit for self study.

At my HS, we have a state Virtual High School which gives us weighted credit for AP courses. I’m taking Calc BC, Human Geo, and Com Sci A next year; they prepare you well for the exam, but you won’t be bombarded by homework. They weight it as any AP class, and they also go on the transcript. Some high schools don’t do this, so check with the counselor.

I personally think this is the way to go; self-studying doesn’t seem like it’s that useful; all you’re doing is spending time to get some more credit.

Colleges tend not to look at weighted gpa, anyway. The weighting scheme varies by high school, no standard. They look at the transcript and see the rigor and letter grade. Yes, the easier AP are not so impressive.

Big difference between AP in any old online context and the VS system. Adcoms like to see you interacted with the teacher and peers.

OP, does your D have a Dual Enrollment option at her high school? 9th is too early to worry, but if she later exceeds the courses available, many kids can take classes at a local college. Many kids do this, eg, for college level math- not as impressive to just take a random class, if at the expense of the high school cores colleges want to see.

Wait and see how her schedules develop.

Self-studying APs does not help you with admissions. They don’t look at your AP test scores for admissions…seniors who take APs don’t get the scores back until after they are admitted.

So if you do it, you would be doing it for College credit. See if your colleges of choice would give you credit and if that credit would be useful.

Also realize that doing well in your HS courses is vastly more important than self studying…also would you have time to do ECs if you are self studying?

Reasons you might be thinking of self studying:

  1. Love to learn - great! Take the classes
  2. Want college credit? Fine…but make sure it is not at the expense of your regular HS courses or ECs
  3. AP Scholars award with distinction…this is cool and all…but is not useful for college admissions

4) College Admissions...doesn't help. Many people take AP tests senior year after they are already admitted. Colleges don't generally take AP scores into account. They take your GPA/SAT into account

Stanford:
We expect applicants to pursue a reasonably challenging curriculum, choosing courses from among the most demanding courses available at your school. We ask you to exercise good judgment and to consult with your counselor, teachers and parents as you construct a curriculum that is right for you. Our hope is that your curriculum will inspire you to develop your intellectual passions, not suffer from unnecessary stress. The students who thrive at Stanford are those who are genuinely excited about learning, not necessarily those who take every single AP or IB, Honors or Accelerated class just because it has that designation.

Top colleges will look at AP scores, as a measure.

But self study is usually not the same experience.

Looks like if you do an AP via an accredited online institution like BYU, the institution does send the letter grade/transcript to the college of your choice which will use it to calculate a weighted GPA. If this is true, I guess thats why kids go this route?
@bopper, if you self-study, then you are right that you get college credits and no bump in GPA. But what about an online institution route which bumps up GPA - wont that help with admissions?
@lookingforward , why do you say colleges dont tend to look at weighted GPA? Has something changed recently?
If I havent said this already, this forum is amazing for newbies like me! Thank you!!

Weighed GPAs vary greatly from high school to high school. There is no consistency in what’s weighted and by how much. For example, at my D’s school there was no difference between an honors and AP course. Her weighted GPA was only a .2 difference between her unweighted. You’ll see posters here where their UW GPA is a full 1.0 lower than there weighted.

And holistic adcoms can learn more from the transcript, itself, actual courses and grades. GPA can be a mish-mash of electives, gym, etc, depending on the hs. An instate public might be more likely to just look at GPA.

Some colleges recalculate GPA. Some (and I’d say most) don’t, and just take the GPA from the transcripts. And most colleges do not reveal if they recalculate.

There is no standard. One HS might add 1 point for an AP; another might add 0.5 point highly selective private high schools don’t weight at all So colleges either recalculate to their own standard, or take the UW GPA. Weighted GPA is really most useful internally at the HS to calculate rank. And most US HS’s no longer calculate rank.

@gohigh

I suppose it depends on if colleges want students who take online AP classes not because of interest, but just to boost GPA.
Stanford says:
We expect applicants to pursue a reasonably challenging curriculum, choosing courses from among the most demanding courses available at your school. We ask you to exercise good judgment and to consult with your counselor, teachers and parents as you construct a curriculum that is right for you. Our hope is that your curriculum will inspire you to develop your intellectual passions, not suffer from unnecessary stress. The students who thrive at Stanford are those who are genuinely excited about learning, not necessarily those who take every single AP or IB, Honors or Accelerated class just because it has that designation.

My high school frowned upon taking any APs outside of school/self-studying. I was confused as to why since our school was small and rural and could not offer many of them due to enrollment numbers. I would not recommend doing it just for college admissions or bumping a GPA, and I doubt an outside class will affect a school GPA. Maybe later on in high school if your daughter is really interested in a subject and wants to try and get some credit out of the way. Maybe if she wants to get a head start, start deciding which SAT subject tests she is interested in? Many colleges recommend/require 2-3 subject tests and from personal experience, waiting until senior year to get them in is a horrible, stressful idea. lol