Which looks better to colleges: a 4.0 with no APs, or a 4.0 with AP grades including some Bs?
Pretty simple question IMO, but I've heard a lot of conflicting info from college reps about this. I have a 4.0W (3.7UW) in part because I took a lot of AP classes but got some Bs in a few of my courses (including non-APs), but it happened that the As I got balanced everything out and I got a 4.0. If two otherwise identical students were applying in my circumstances, who would have the better chance of getting in?
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1 answer
Context is everything.
You will be up against 3 types of applicants with a 4.0 WGPA.
Applicant A> 4.0 UWGPA because there were no APs available to take at their school.
Applicant B> 4.0 UWGPA who had only 3-5 APs to choose from and they opted out.
Applicant C> 4.0 UWGPA who wanted a 4.0 and didn't challenge themselves even though 20-25 APs were offered.
You would most likely beat out Applicant C. It'd be a tie-breaker with Applicant B. And Applicant A would win out because they took the hardest classes offered them and got all As in them.
You didn't mention what APs you took either. If you took some really hard ones like AP Lang, AP Lit, AP Calc BC, AP Chem, or AP Physics, I'd say you win Applicant B and C. If they were standard ones, then I'd stick to my original guess.
Best of luck in your college admissions process.
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Thank you! I took: AP Euro and USH, AP Lang and Lit, AP Calc AB and BC, AP Physics, AP Computer Science Principles, and AP Enviro. Which I'd say is about 60% of the APs offered, I didn't take any of the artsy ones and I didn't take Chem and Psych.