<p>Which one would you rather have?</p>
<p>Oh, and one more question. If your school does not offer any Aps, are there any other place to take it? Or do you have to self-study and take the test?!</p>
<p>From going onto the Common App website: with the Ivies/Ivy-esque, “Cirriculum Rigor” is usually ranked “Very Important” whereas “Rank” is usually ranked “Important” to “Considered,” with a few “Very Important.” General translation? APs > regular courses. Obviously, if you’re going to get a C in an AP course, you shouldn’t be doing it. Personally, I don’t see AP as a big deal. IB HLs are way harder! lol But you have to exercise your best judgement, and maybe pick and chose a few APs over AP-everything.</p>
<p>Unless there are ways for you to waiver out to another school to take AP courses, you’ll have to self-teach in order to take the test. And according to the Common App website, test scores (I’m guessing they include SATs/ACT/APs/IB) are usually ranked “Very Important” to “Important.”</p>
<p>Just to clarify: “not a big deal” = multiple choice, memorization-fueled. Sign of comprehensive intelligence on its own? Not in my book.</p>
<p>It really depends on the school, I would guess, since some schools, AP is no big deal, and some, it’s incredibly tough. I’d rather be balanced, like no 7 AP’s per year, but like maybe 2 or 3 (which is probably the most I can take a year at my school). </p>
<p>
Self-Study is always the easiest (as in, you don’t have to like register, pay, or w/e with no restrictions), and only if you are interested in the subject. If you can’t self-study then try online or community college (I know CC’s don’t exactly offer AP courses but it’s college level on the same topic…)</p>
<p>Just my opinion:</p>
<p>B in an AP course is far better than A in a regular course. The B at least challenged himself. The A didn’t even try.</p>
<p>If the forced choice is as the OP says, then go far the harder courses. OF COURSE try to do as well in those as possible, but a “play it safe” strategy in choosing high school courses is not safe for getting into the most competitive colleges. Most elite colleges graduate most of their illustrious graduates without those graduates maintaining A averages throughout college.</p>
<p>I’d say you should be able to get like A’s in APs if you work hard enough :3</p>
<p>APs because I’d be bored in regular classes.</p>
<p>In order to have the guidance counselor at my daughter’s high school write that she took the most challenging courses as part of his recommendation, he expected her to take most of the AP classes offered in the subjects she took.</p>
<p>So senior year consisted of AP Calc, AP Spanish, AP Bio, AP Lit, AP Gov and AP Economics (plus music theory and chorus.)</p>
<p>She got into all 7 schools that she applied to, so I can’t say he guided her wrong.</p>
<p>It was a crazy year. In addition, she was President of the school and Belle in Beauty and the Beast. However, she was able to pull off high honor roll (with weighting) for final grades, even though she was running mid to high B’s in some classes. She got +7% for all AP’s.</p>
<p>She took it all in stride (with only the occassional melt down). She probably could have studied a lot more (or not) with fewer AP’s and extra-curriculars. However, every college we went to repeated the same thing…that it was important to take the most challenging courses!</p>
<p>So I say go for the hardest course load your school offers. I would not self study and take even more AP’s independently, though. I think that is over-kill.</p>
<p>Her actual AP scores were mixed. She got 3’s on science and math. (And NYU won’t accept them.) The others were 4’s and a 5 in lit.</p>
<p>There are some classes you can take where a little extra studying will allow you to take the AP exams. </p>
<p>Remember, though, that you know yourself best… which also means that you know your limits best. Talking to your counselor wouldn’t hurt either.</p>
<p>AP classes. I must live up to expectations because of my race. <em>sigh</em></p>
<p>i took many AP’s and i got B’s in more than half of them. </p>
<p>my friend (“Tries”) took many AP’s and he got A’s, mostly B’s, and some C’s</p>
<p>my other friend (“Lazy”) took all regular classes and got A’s in all of them. </p>
<p>i am going to berkeley.
my second friend, Lazy, is also going to berkeley.
unfortunately, my first friend, Tries, is only going to riverside.</p>
<p>It’s best to get A’s in tough classes. </p>
<p>If it’s tough to the degree that you’re getting mostly B’s and even C’s, then forget about it. You might as well take a less rigorous course load.</p>
<p>Having a lot of rigor means nothing if you cannot show that you can handle it.</p>
<p>celcius_223-</p>
<p>Two points regarding our post:</p>
<p>1) Berkeley and UCLA are a little different than other Top 30 schools – they are slightly more formulaic, and cap AP’s for which UC extra credit is given to eight semester grades.</p>
<p>2) A “C” in an AP is not good, almost fatal as regards Top 30 admissions.</p>
<p>dunnin-</p>
<p>i didnt assert anything in my post. all i did was state some information that the OP might find useful.</p>
<p>For top schools, definitely go for the AP’s. I read an article about admissions at UPenn and they said something to the extent that they hardly consider candidates without an MRA (most rigorous available) curriculum without a huge hook.</p>
<p>Celsius- I didn’t mean for you to infer that you asserted anything…did I use that word?</p>
<p>looking at the people admitted to HPMS from my
school over the last 3 years I find that:</p>
<p>the A+ in every regular course (over rigorous APs with an A-)
seems better accepted in certain schools (Harvard, Dartmouth, UPenn, Cornell) than in others (Princeton, Yale, Brown, Stanford and MIT) - somewhat statistically speaking (sample of ~120 applicants to HPMS in 3 years) </p>
<p>I am not sure how universal this is across the nation…?</p>
<p>wat do u guys mean by regular courses, like honors or standard</p>
<p>now im thinking im screwed, iv only taken one AP through junior year (the rest honors, no standard), so am I screwed</p>
<p>im taking 3 or 4 next year so will finish with 4 or 5</p>
<p>is that too little or even
too little too late</p>
<p>or good amount but too late?</p>
<p>ahhhhh.. help me out</p>
<p>whichever get me more A’s. (disregard minuses and pluses)</p>
<p>if the number of A’s isn’t too far off, definitely AP.</p>