What is considered more important in college admissions - GPA or course rigor?

Applying to College
1

<p>Hi, I'm a junior and I had a question regarding how colleges view GPA and course rigor. I currently have a 3.9 unweighted, 4.2 weighted GPA, taking generally difficult courses. This year I'm taking honors classes in precalculus and physics, as well as AP Spanish, and a semester-long organic chemistry course that is comparable to a college course. However, I'm not taking honors/AP US History or English. I have absolutely no passion for either subject and although I'm sure I would have done well in an honors class had I applied myself, my worry was that I simply wouldn't be interested enough to have the drive to do well in an honors-level course, so I decided against taking honors in the humanities and have instead concentrated most of my energy on math and science.</p>

<p>What my question is, will not taking honors in English and history greatly affect how admissions offices see me? I've still maintained a strong GPA, but I fear that its significance will be reduced because I'm not taking all of the most challenging courses that I can. To give you an idea, some schools that I'm interested in are GW, Tulane, and Emory. Even if I still did well in English and history, will my chances for admission be reduced because I didn't take a harder course? What do colleges put more weight on when admitting students, GPA or course rigor?</p>

2

<p>It all depends on what your interest in a major is. If you are more interested in science or engineering, then taking more challenging classes in those will be more important than in English or history.</p>

3

<p>The common data set, section C7, for each schools shows which each values more. Google it. For example: <a href=“http://tulane.edu/institutional-research/upload/CDS-2011-2012.pdf[/url]”>http://tulane.edu/institutional-research/upload/CDS-2011-2012.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;