Does college look at each subject grade or just overall when deciding who to accept?Answered
I am a high school junior and I took 5 aps total and this year alone I took 4 and my grade haven't been the highest as before when I took regular classes. Instead of A+ on everything i had some As and some Bs. Will those Bs put lower my chances of college admission?
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3 answers
Most colleges admissions officers would prefer a grade of B in an AP Class versus an A in a non-AP class. Why? It's because they like it when students challenge themselves by taking the hardest curriculum they can handle and do well in.
But there is some imaginary balancing line ok? So at one end of the ideal GPA/CourseRigor ledger is someone who takes a total of 10-12 APs and gets As in all of them and 5s on the AP tests. And the opposite end there is someone who take 10-12 APs and gets mostly Bs in them and 2s and 3s on the AP Tests. The later student is clearly struggling with this high volume of difficult courses.
Therefore you have to decide how many APs to take, so that it doesn't look too bad if you get Bs. So if your goal is to take 10 APs by the time you graduate, you don't want to get more than 2 Bs in them. So 20% Bs, something like that. Otherwise, it's best to cut back the APs and keep your GPA up. So you might have to take 8 APs and skip the ones that you know up front are going to kick your butt. So if you are not really the best reader, writer, orator, you might want to skip AP English Lit or Lang. Or if you are not super strong at math or science, skip AP Chem and AP Calc B/C.
You have to choose your battles if you are not good academically at everything. By taking every AP and doing a spotty job on them, you are in fact showing the Admissions officers all your strengths and weaknesses at the same time. And this is not necessarily going to help you when you are competing with people who have a perfect UWGPA regardless of their course rigor.
Good luck.
They will increase your chances of admission if you took regular course versions of them and got an A. AP classes are supposed to be challenging and by taking AP Classes you are challenging yourself to do good in the class. For example, a B in AP Physics 1 would normally be viewed as better than an A in Honors Physics or an A in regular physics
Those Bs will not lower your chances of admission because the rigor of AP classes will make up for them. Even at the most selective schools, receiving mostly As and a few Bs while taking as many APs as possible (ideally +8) will make you a competitive applicant. Hope this helps!
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@Code so if you took ap class and got a b college admission officer like to see that instead of a in regular class?