Hi,
I’m a rising senior and signed up to take AP Government, AP Literature, and AP Photography this year. I have a 3.3W cumulative, and 3.17W for my 2nd semester of junior year. English and History are my only real strong suits, as I took AP Lang my junior year and got an A first semester and B second. I’m planning on going to a CSU, (I’m looking at SFSU and SJSU mainly) and I decided to take those AP classes in order to show that I am challenging myself although my GPA isn’t amazing. Now, I’m contemplating just switching into regular classes and getting my GPA up a little- while omitting any extra stress I’d take on from AP classes. What do you think my best bet would be? Or does my schedule for senior year not really matter since I’ll have already submitted the common app to CSUs before semester grades come out? Thanks.
CSU’s use the CSU application and not the common app. Senior grades are not considered in your CSU admission decisions but you need to maintain your current GPA (some leeway) and pass all Senior year a-g courses with a C or higher to keep your provisional admission.
CSU’s will however, consider your Senior course rigor since you will self-report planned and in-progress Senior classes. Some CSU’s will require a Mid-year transcript once accepted to make sure you are on track.
CSU’s only use 10-11th grades (like the UC’s) in their GPA calculation.
One additional consideration for the APs, if you take the test and get at least a 3 you could get credit toward General Education at a CSU. In other words, APs can help you arrive at a CSU with some requirements already done. SFSU has information on its website about what credits you can get for AP exams. Having said that, do not put yourself in situations in which you could end up with a D in one of those AP classes because some people have had acceptances revoked as a result of getting a D in senior year.
as long as you complete the a-g matrix, the CSUs don’t care which classes you take Sr year for most majors. (CP SLO is a little different, they give points for some specific classes). I agree with @bookguy don’t kill yourself with a bunch of really hard classes Sr year.
Good luck
Just be sure to not get a D in either semester. I rec’d a 68 in Eng in my second semester after struggling all year with a medical diagnosis of depression…2 points shy of a C- and my offer to CSU Fullerton was recinded. My final semester GPA was a 3.5 and it didn’t matter. I want to add I have never had anything less than an A in english since 4th grade… 1 bad semester and its gone. My GPA when I applied was a 3.83 and I was admitted in Dec of 2016. Dont get a D.