I’m currently a Sophomore who has been maintaining 4.0 GPA throughout all school years so far, and as an avid learner who really wants to get into the big-named, prestigious universities, there is one thing that frustrates me the most; it’s that all my courses are regular.
The courses I took in my freshman year were all regular classes, (Except for Geometry which people often considers “advanced” for 9th graders) mostly since I took my dad’s advice on not to take challenging courses until the year after. But when I transferred late to a new school, all the Honors and AP classes were full, and I missed my only opportunity to take AP Euro as a Sophomore (Along with Honors Bio, Honors English, etc.) and even though I’m taking all Honors courses and AP US History in my Junior year, I still feel like I missed out and wasted 2 years in High School doing nothing that could help my college application. I find that my courses next year aren’t even challenging enough considering that I’m only taking one AP overall, which isn’t impressive at all by any means. Despite having the highest unweighted GPA possible, I’m just wondering if I even have a remote chance of getting into elite universities with this lacking of rigorous classes.
Your grades are good which is a major plus but if you are thinking elite schools you definitely need a more rigorous course load. You cannot change your past course load but can change your future. Can you add another one or two AP classes junior year? I have been on many college tours and spoken to many admissions officers and they told me that rigor is more important than grades. They still expect you to have high grades but rather see a student with lower grades in AP classes than one with higher grades in college prep./honors. You are definitely showing growth by taking more honors which is good but my advice would be to add another AP or even 2.
@colonelkiyo
I will be honest, your chances at elite schools are very, very slim.
This is because one of the things that colleges look at is the rigor. Elite schools are especially looking for that “most rigorous” designation by your counselor. If you don’t have that box checked, the fact that you have a 4.0 UW GPA is hugely diminished. Unless you have excellent EC’s, I would say you are probably going to end up a state school (although it could be a respectable one)
I agree with @Bookgal12 , it isn’t too late, as you are a sophomore. I made the same mistake in Sophmore year (I only took AP Euro when I could’ve done WHAP at the same time). At the end of sophomore year, I had done all honors and only 1 AP.
However, I told myself that I would try and challenge myself during junior year. I ended up taking 6 AP classes (US History, CompSci A, Art History, English Lang, Comparative Government, and Psychology) and 2 honors classes. I never thought I would make it, but here I am a year later, with 5 A’s in AP classes (I would have never thought that possible) and only a single C (sucks, but what’s done is done). Next year, I am doing 7 AP classes (including Academic Decathlon and AP Calc BC plus AP Physics C concurrently). While my unweighted GPA for junior year is around a 3.42, I am almost certain that I will be getting the “rigorous” schedule recommendation from my counselor. A year, ago, that would have been laughable.
It’s not too late to turn it around, no matter how slim the chances.
@RMNiMiTz
That’s what I was expecting.
Do you think it would heighten my chances if I mention that the rigorous classes were not available to late transfer students, such as myself?
Forgot to mention that my electives are very limited: AP Psychology, AP Eng Lit, AP US History, and AP Statistics being the only available AP courses for Juniors.
Definitely talk to your guidance counselor. They are in charge of telling colleges how your classes matched up with other students in your school and can tell them if you have been taking the hardest classes or not.
get as many ap classes as you can from now on and do it
@RMNiMiTz Taking the most rigorous classes and only getting a 3.42 isn’t impressive. It would be better taking regular/honors courses and getting As. Elite colleges prefer high UW gpa rather than a low UW gpa and a high weighted gpa. Also, it would certainly stress someone out taking all ap classes available. I would just suggest for ap to take ap couses they’really interested in from now on.
@colonelkiyo
Ask your counselor what is required for the most rigorous schedule and ask them to sign you up for it.
@Bobbybob444555
Getting a 3.42 unweighted GPA gives me a 4.4 out of 4 weighted GPA, compared to a person taking regulars, that could at maximum only achieve a 4.0 weighted GPA.
Yes they do prefer high UW GPA, but that’s only because the majority of applicants to elite colleges already have rigorous schedules. It doesn’t matter if you have a 4.0 UW GPA, if that “most rigorous” or “very rigorous” check box isn’t checked by your counselor. You value unweighted GPA much too highly (remember your “4.0” club BS).
@colonelkiyo
Don’t listen to a freshman like @Bobbybob444555 , he doesn’t realize that a rigorous schedule is necessary for the ivies. Yes, UW GPA is important, but restricting yourself to easy classes get’s you nowhere.
@RMNiMiTz is right 100%! Every college admissions officer at top schools I’ve spoken to all stressed course rigor more than anything else. I would take as many APs as you can without having a major drop in your grades.
While all this is true, elite colleges aren’t going to admit either those who had rigorous course loads but low UW GPAs, or easy course loads but high UW GPAs. They’re gonna admit those who had rigorous course loads and and high UW GPAs.
But could the lack of AP courses be excused if the counselor writes that all the rigorous classes were full by the time I transferred? Taking APs in my Junior year is out of the question.
It may help, but it still doesn’t look very good… These difficult schools are looking to see that you’ve taken hard classes to know if you can handle the difficulty of their school. Nevertheless, it’s too late to change your schedule now, right? Just sign up for as many APs as you believe you can handle next year, and make sure your counselor tells colleges that you weren’t able to take APs bc of your transfer. If you want to counteract the fact that you couldn’t take the most rigorous courses, maybe try to take community college classss over the summer?
@snowfairy137 is correct. An ivy has so many good students to choose from. They probably wouldn’t accept someone with a 3.42 with a high uw because there’s probably people with 4.0s and high uw. @RMNiMiTz I was just suggesting for op to take as many aps possible without having a similar drop in performance. A 4.4 W gpa isn’t something exactly amazing as well. Excelling in honors courses will give you a 5.0 gpa. Actually excelling in ap courses will give you a 6.0 gpa.
@Bobbybob444555
I’m not applying for ivies (going for public state school) so no need to worry yourself. If OP only has a 4.0’s, without a rigorous schedule, like @snowfairy137 said, he/she isn’t getting in.
That’s not how the school system works in my county (there is no 6 point system or 6.0 for AP classes), but of course, you would be the first to assume. You don’t know how the grading system in OP’s district works either, so why don’t you stop making assumptions.
@RMNiMiTz State public schools, although not appearing so rigorous, are competitive for aid. So yeah, knowing your limits on class difficulty is important.
@Bobbybob444555
Not necessarily. For instance, I don’t qualify for any aid because of my parent’s assets (not that I need aid but that’s another topic). However, say another person (perhaps OP) with parents needed aid. If their income was below a certain threshold, at certain state schools, they would qualify for a full ride. An example is Texas A&M, which gives full ride to those with income <60k, as long as they are in-state.
State schools are competitive for merit-aid, but not necessarily need-based aid.
That makes no coherent sense whatsoever.
@colonelkiyo Don’t take 7 ap classes only to get a 3.42.
Based on what I heard from my “advisers,” taking overload of AP is not a good thing. Instead, taking AP courses that stay consistent/relevant to my college SOP is what really matters. Or so I heard. Since I’m planning to write my essays based around societal changes, would taking AP Stats (for example) be absolutely necessary just for the sake of rigor?