<p>I just don't trust that when colleges are bombarded with aps that they have the time to refigure each school's strange and unique way of weighing classes. I bet many kids get deferred or declined simply because their schools dont' have a good system. Schools need to have a standard system!</p>
<p>jlauer95, I was wondering the same thing. As a parent of a soph who is just beginning to look about, I was flabbergasted when I saw the sheer number of apps that are submitted to some schools. For instance, Brown had almost 16,000 (!) RD apps submitted. Just for curiosity's sake I would be interested to know how they even begin to whittle down all of those kids if you assume that most of them believe themselves to be a prospective student given their GPA, SATs etc.</p>
<p>KandK After I saw the number of aps these schools get, I just began questioning all of this. I'm thinking that they start by looking at basic stats, such as SAT/ACT SAT II's, AP scores (Since those scores are "nationwide" and less subjective) to identify their "top applicants". Then to further fill spots, they might look at classes taken, essays, recs, GPA's, and ec's. Or some kind of combination of this.</p>
<p>This is just a "theory". I think schools with "rolling admissions" have more time to look at aps, since they come in over a larger period of time. Who knows :)</p>
<p>An interesting note to jlauer's comment -- My S is ranked at top of class of 400 and has applied to a wide range of schools. Some of these schools and esp 3 top ones had only the Common App and NO supplement. He also applied to Michigan which is rolling and NYU. Both these schools had additional questions which really try to get at the heart of the applicant. I was surprised that such large schools actually tried to individualize the process somewhat.</p>
<p>"Michigan ... had additional questions which really try to get at the heart of the applicant. I was surprised that such large schools actually tried to individualize the process somewhat"</p>
<p>U. Michigan has to be on its good behaviour to get its new affirmative action program through judicial scrutiny. They used to do it, big school style, by the numbers and lost.</p>
<p>my original point was that I don't think colleges, when bombarded, have time to refigure each school's unique way of weighing AP and Honors classes. I wish their was a standard.</p>
<p>My son's school was "late in the game" to weigh AP classes and a friend of mine is certain that that kept her daughter from being accepted to one of her choices. She feels that the committee just didn't take the time to refigure her GPA to include the weight of the AP scores. I don't know if her concern is valid or not. I just think that when bombarded, "the details" like refiguring GPA's can "fall through the crack".</p>
<p>How's this: Ignore the highschool's weighting calculation, except maybe to see who is first and second in the class. Throw away applications from students who didn't take a demanding course load unless they have a big hook. Ignore grades in non-academic classes and compute a GPA. Easy.</p>
<p>Michigan may be doing things differently (not by the numbers) and using subjective things like essays, questions, etc. because that is a way to accept applicants that don't fit "the numbers". The idea of including subjective criteria has been long used to justify hiring urms that don't have the numbers over others with higher stats.</p>