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Whats generally considered "better"

A-CardA-Card Registered User Posts: 786 Member
edited February 2008 in College Admissions
Alright so i am gonna ask yo uguys a question and many of you guys are prolly gonna sigh but i am gonna ask anyways. What looks better to a top college, taking 7 ap's and getting all A's, or taking like 9-10 ap's and having like a B and a C. Their gpas would closely match, but the guys with 9 aps would have slighty higher gpa according to my schools grading system.
Post edited by A-Card on
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Replies to: Whats generally considered "better"

  • asdfjkl1asdfjkl1 Registered User Posts: 1,950 Senior Member
    7 APs with all As. You're doing better with a hard course-load as it is. Two more with longer grades isn't worth it.
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  • la montagnela montagne Registered User Posts: 1,140 Senior Member
    How would their GPAs match? For the latter, do you mean 7-8 As and one B and one C?

    Then, I'd say it depends. If most kids at your school take lots and lots of APs and by taking 7 you're taking a low-ish number (for the overachievers), and it's obvious that you're not taking the hardest courseload, then the latter might look better (if you could bring that C up to a B). Otherwise... in most circumstances, I'm pretty sure the first case would look better.
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  • DCforMeDCforMe Registered User Posts: 626 Member
    If you're taking 7 AP's, you're demonstrating you can handle a really tough courseload. I doubt many schools say "man, that guy's a really strong candidate, but I just wish he'd taken that 8th AP." You can make a pretty good argument there's not much difference between a kid taking 7 AP
    s and a kid taking 9. Getting a "B" and a "C" on the other hand, while not necessarily horrible, certainly will demonstrate that you're not handling the course load 100% perfectly.

    Of course, if the 9-10 AP guy has a higher GPA, he'd also have a higher class rank, which is certainly something that needs to be considered.

    All just MHO.
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  • GrumpsterGrumpster Registered User Posts: 498 Member
    It's better to have all As. It's not even a close comparison.
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  • A-CardA-Card Registered User Posts: 786 Member
    thing is i am ranked i think 5/700. Seriously until this year most high achieving kids took the same amount of aps as i did. The numer one class ranked guy who went to an ivy (last year hs seniors) took 7 like me in junior and soph year.
    I am taking another 5-6 ap's next year as a senior.
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  • godevils2011godevils2011 Registered User Posts: 196 Junior Member
    Ace the 7 AP classes and spend your extra time elsewhere doing something worthwhile.
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