CS admission UIUC/Michigan/G Tech/CMU and AP CS A course in high school [after 5 on AP test]

Applying to College
1

I am looking for advise on course selection for S26 for 11th grade. We are wondering how important is taking AP CS A in school for admission into schools like UIUC CS, Georgia Tech, CMU and Michigan. He already took the AP CS A exam in 9th grade and got a 5. He has decent ECs including leadership position in competitive programming and IOS app development at school , silver level in USACO (will work towards Gold next year) and research in deep learning.

The AP CS A curriculum at our school is pretty challenging and consumes lot of time (even for someone who knows the content already). He is also struggling to squeeze it in his schedule in 11th grade. Maybe he can do in 12th grade if needed when he will have the more time and much easier to work into his schedule. His Math track will be Calc BC in 10 the grade, AP Stats in 11 grade along with Multivariable calc in Community college and Linear Algebra in 12th grade. AP physics 1 in 10th grade, AP Phy C in 11th grade and AP chem in 12th grade. That pathway is pretty advanced Math/Science curriculum as per our school. However, it is a convention that most kids on our school do AP CS A in 10 or 11th grade if they are applying for CS and above colleges know about it based on past kids who applied from our school.

Do you think he will penalized at the above school for not formally taking AP CS A ? If yes, Do you think it will help a bit if he takes it in 12th grade ?

1 Like
2

I stopped reading after "He already took the AP CS A exam in 9th grade and got a 5. "

There is now no benefit to taking the class. Zero. Zilch. Nada

4 Likes
3

I agree with ski.

Also paging @hebegebe for advice/insights for this student.

1 Like
4

I agree with ski that the class will be a waste of time.

IMO, a better use of time would be to make progress on the USACO competition. Historically, making it to USACO platinum has been a plus factor for admission. In addition, the skills learned along the way are very useful for getting CS internships in college.

2 Likes
5

Taking the course after an AP 5 score would look like grade grubbing.

2 Likes
6

I didn’t realize there is a negative side to taking that course.

1 Like
7

Negative might be too strong a word, but taking a course already mastered vs taking a course and expanding knowledge won’t be viewed positively.

1 Like
8

Would be a GPA booster. Busy AO may not even notice the test was taken before the class.

1 Like
9

True - and technically you needn’t report the test - and if you do, they might see the score, not the when.

2 Likes
10

Carnegie Mellon does not like to see SAT or ACT scores from 9th or 10th grades. They strong encourage only submitting later scores. You might want to reach out directly to ask what their perspective would be on a self-studied test score from 9th grade.

1 Like
11

If he took the AP CS A exam already and scored a 5, colleges will take that into account. I’d argue that is more impressive than taking the course + test, since it shows initiative. So he’d be better off continuing to show initiative in CS, like through USACO competitions or personal projects. I’ve worked with plenty of similar students who pass AP CS A in 9th or 10th and are wondering what they should work on next.

2 Likes
12

This topic was automatically closed 180 days after the last reply. If you’d like to reply, please flag the thread for moderator attention.