Can senior year APs make up for Junior year

Applying to College
1

Hello—
Just wondering if a student who did not take as many APs junior year could take a load senior year to up the course load rigor. If GPA is perfect, could it make up for it? For course rigor, would they look at it as a whole (ie. 7 AP total junior and senior year) or really be nit picky on a student who took maybe 2 junior year and 5 senior year —in terms of UC Berkeley, possible the slightly upper/upper private universities—

2

Yes. No AO is going to examine it year by year. As long as the GC checks “most rigorous” it does not matter when they were taken. That said, going from 2 AP’s junior year to 5 AP’s senior year plus doing college applications is a lot. So your assumption that the GPA can be maintained may be faulty.

3

UCB only uses 10-11th grades in their GPA calculation. Since applications are due Nov 30th, Senior grades will not be available so taking more AP’s will help your HS course rigor, but since you will not have any grades to submit, it will not impact your GPA. I agree with @skieurope that taking on a more rigorous Senior schedule with college applications due may not be the best choice. Remember, college acceptances are provisional, so you need to maintain your current GPA or risk losing your acceptance.

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4

Thanks for all your help! I only have 2 APs this year because there was a schedule mistake. I was worried that my course load junior year was rather light --since I had an above average sophomore course load and did very well-- so I was thinking of taking some CC course during the year (don’t know how much that would help me). After I’m done with all the testing junior year, I should have plenty of time for senior year, though I really do consider your advice of balancing the GPA & courses & college apps.

I’m looking at the factors Berkeley looks for in college apps, and it includes GPA and course rigor. The likelihood of maintaining a high GPA after junior year is relatively high (also b/c lesser course load). If I were able to handle the senior APs by putting in more effort, would it technically increase the “Rigor of secondary school record” factor even though I only took 2 APs junior year?

Thanks again.

5

I think it definitely can help you, but how many do you plan on taking?
I think there is a certain point where extra classes really don’t anymore

A good amount would be maybe 3-4
I wouldn’t recommend 5 or more unless you have at least 2 relatively easy AP’s

6

Normally, I would take 3-4, but I was thinking on pushing to 5 to make up for the relatively lighter junior course load.

7

For “upper” privates,there’s no simple answer. When you apply, you won’t have more than the one semester of senior year grades. You won’t have testing results for the senior AP courses. You can use Addl Info to briefly explain the schedule issue. Your GC can comment on this, too. Whether your load qualifies as most rigorous is up to your GC.

We don’t know what classes are getting delayed. The more they relate to your possible major, the tougher this is. You’re only starting junior year now; no one knows how you’ll do this year.

Will you have the ECs to back up that possible major? So far, you’re saying business, econ or CS- for a top private, that’s more than just being in the school business club or running some fundraiser. CS would want to see math-science activities. Maybe you get one of your LoRs from a senior year AP teacher who already knows you well, academically. (Versus someone who has to say he or she has only known you a short time. But make sure at least one is math or sci.)

The bottom line is, what can you do in junior year to make up for this, show drive and determination? A DE or online course can help, but needs to be a purposeful choice, not just random.

Do you understand what a top private will want, other than the count of APs? Dig into that, what the colleges say.

8

Thanks so much for this! I will def be working on boosting those ECs. I was just concerned b/c in top private universities, it almost seems like a requirement to have rigorous courses to be able to be accepted (though, there are some EXCEPTIONAL students). Yeah I am pondering about taking a CC course on economics, but I’m not exactly sure how much that would help me overall, and help me with my course rigor (not exactly sure if it can at least somewhat “makeup” my lack of AP courses for junior year).

9

A dual enrollment class at a CC “counts” as an AP. I would advise against taking 5 APs senior year. You’re better off taking 2 AP’s and one cc course each semester of junior year, and 3 APs+1cc course eaxh semester senior year - provided they’re well chosen.

10

Thank you! Quick inquiry: my local CC only accepts gives 10 credits max, even though each course is roughly 3-4 credits. There is a fall, winter, and spring session, so I’m not sure if it’s worth it to take it during every quarter (fall, winter, and spring) during the school year if there is a maximum anyways. 1 CC each term would be around 12 units, but the max is 10. Advice?

11

Does your hs have a DE arrangement? Does it include this max?

12

Haha sorry if this sounds dumb, but what is DE arrangement? My HS only allows students to take 1 CC course/term and will not put in on the student’s HS transcript.

13

If they allow 1/term, that’s that. If it’s not on your transcript, you send an official grade report.

14

You take one per term and ask for the cc transcript to be sent to each college you apply to.

DE : dual enrollment (HS students enrolled in HS and cc at the same time)

15

Six or seven APs is totally fine even for the most selective colleges, you just have to take the right ones

What’s been your courseload so far in 10-12, if it has honors, you’re ok. What APs will you take and have taken and what is your possible major?

16

A lot depends on your HS. In our public HS, where my pups took 15+ AP’s, and most of the top kids took 9-10, the GC might not check “most rigorous” schedule for kids taking “only” 6-7.

17

RE: What terms to take classes if you can only do 2/3. Check how the academic calendars between the CC and high school line up. Things like spring break could be at different times which might bother you. This could eliminate a term. Otherwise, think about if you have an EC that gets busy at a certain time of year. Otherwise, just choose. Or you could take mostly 3 credit classes and have 1 each term (3+3+3=9 <10, 3+3+4=10)

18

Thanks all! @theloniusmonk, do you mean 6-7 APS total (9-12)? Our HS rarely offers AP courses to 9-10 – only if they are exceptional enough to skip to AP Calculus (or if they do a language). I have 2 honors and 1 AP language courses in 10th grade and two APs (Calculus BC being one), 1 honors in 11th. My HS offers most of the core courses, but does not offer some such as AP Psych, Econ, Env. Sci., etc. I am not exactly sure what to major in in the future, but I’m looking mainly into business/econ/cs. Most students are taking at least 3 APs junior year (they could be taking easier APs like Calc AB), but do not have any APs sophomore year. I don’t know how my situation is like, considering the fact that I am aiming for relatively top tier colleges and top UCs.

Would senior year course rigor be seen equally as the rigor of junior year or other years?

19

Also, my local CC does quarter units, and apparently only courses with 4+ quarter units can be transferrable to UCs. Not sure if I should take a break in the fall term and take 1 course for winter, spring, and summer.

20

Your situation is typical of many schools in California where you don’t take too many honors or APs till 11th grade, so your 9th/10th are fine. And core classes are what is most important for adcoms so as long as you’re taking honors classes that’s in the natural sequence (geometry,alg 2/trig, pre-calc honors e.g.), you’re in good shape for the UCs .