AP calculus is usually accepted for advanced placement in math in college. AP sciences are somewhat less commonly accepted for advanced placement in those sciences in college, and pre-meds may have to consider that some or many medical schools do not accept them to fulfill pre-med course requirements.
Examples other than medical school?
There’s no way someone who skipped Gen Chem due to AP, then went on to get A’s on O.Chem, P Chem, InOrganic and Analytic would be asked to go back and do Gen Chem for any PhD/MS admissions.
One example would be AP Statistics is not acceptable for “many/some” graduate nursing programs (MSN, NP, DNP, SRNA, etc.), although they were allowed for the BSN degree. There is also the issue of the age of a course for graduate degree. “Some” program require that courses were taken within (NOT older) than say, 5-years.
Anecdotally, I and colleagues at my university frequently have to spend half the term of freshman English un-teaching The bad habits that incoming students picked up in their AP prep course work. Worse, because these students were assured that these courses were the equivalent of "college level "work, they are, generally speaking, much more resistant to instruction then my students who do not come into their university course work with so many preconceptions.
To answer the original question, a grade in a HS course demonstrates diligent attention to the material of that course, and its requirements. That is a skill which transfers, universally, to one’s college studies. Knowledge of a particular historic subject that was covered on that year’s exam, or a (frequently wrong) rhetorical trick, does not.
Thus, GPA > AP scores.
If you apply to British schools, like my daughter is doing, they care little or not at all about GPA. It’s AP scores and SAT/ACT all the way.
Re: #22
In that case, the requirement is for a 300-level (presumably calculus-based) statistics course, so it would not be like only repeating the content of AP statistics (which would be a 100-level non-calculus statistics course). The 300-level statistics course would cover the material in greater depth and with calculus.
What a grade in a HS course demonstrates varies from HS to HS (and even from teacher to teacher for the same class at the same school). Depending on the amount of grade inflation, the level of diligence required for a given grade can be wildly different. Some schools allow kids to retake exams and resubmit papers/projects. Offer generous “extra credit.” All serve to bump up grades. So how do you compare a 3.5 from a high inflation school to a 3.5 from a true grade school when you don’t know which one is which?
Retaking the same test or resubmitting a paper/project is somehow better than knowledge of a particular historic subject that was covered on that year’s AP exam or a rhetorical trick (whether right or not)?
AP tests at least provide a basis for comparing kids from different schools. Its true that different kids have different opportunities to take AP classes/exams. But that is true of many other aspects of college applications. Its something of an apples to oranges comparison (or at least a jonathan versus honey crisp comparison) for all of those reasons. And yes AP exams are taken on one date but so too are ACT/SAT/SAT2 tests. Different kids have different opportunities in terms of prep for those too.
I don’t think its a coincidence that the “AP’s are not good enough for X college” approach serves to preserve revenue.
@Wien2NC
I agree, but with a comment… The weird thing is that you are self-reporting those scores on the FAFSA. Would it be easy to lie? Obviously it’s entirely understandable that colleges would discount the importance of unverified score claims.
Redoing a poor assignment is one of the best ways to attain mastery of a subject.
@IN4655 I should clarify my point … Many students are in a similar financial/school position, and so apples can be compared to apples, and then AP scores are a great measure of comparative academic ability. In that context I’m confused why schools would not look at them (the real results and not just the self-reported scores). Otherwise I agree with what you’ve written, including probably about IB, though I’m much less familiar with IB and its testing.
Thanks for everyone’s input, by the way! The CC community is the best …