My DS has always been ambitious in taking AP’s- as a Junior he has taken 7 AP’s (including 3 this year). He would like to take 4 AP’s next year, and quite truthfully he’s on the path to because he’s on an AP tract where regular classes would actually hurt his GPA. He is a good student but does kind of just enough to get by… he’s getting mostly B+ in his AP, with one A- . He loves the challenge of APs’ and does not get stressed. However, he’s getting penalized with his unweighted GPA’s by challenging himself with his AP schedule. He’s got a 4.2 weighted and a 3.4 unweighted.
What should we do going into Senior year? We were hoping to go early decision on most of the schools, and my son’s school is on a quarterly semester plan. He would ideally like to take
AP Calc BC
AP Physics C (he wants to go into Engineering)
AP Stats or AP Envir Science
AP Lit (he has to due to requirements with his school)
.5 elective
Theology (required)
I am thinking maybe he should take “easier” AP’s and try to boost his grade first semester…
AP Calc AB
AP Envir Science
AP Stats
AP Lit
.5
Theology.
What are your thoughts on this… will the colleges see he’s taking “easier” AP’s and could this backfire on us. Or perhaps doing extremely well first semester- will it help his unweighted GPA?
Thank you so much for reading all of this, I appreciate other feedback, experiences…
You can only go ED to one school. But what are his current target schools? And if he is just doing “enough to get by,” why is an option not to just put in more effort?
For engineering, physics is more important that environmental science or stats. If he needs stats for his major, he’ll need calc-based stats, which AP Stats is not. Calc AB vs Calc BC will not make a difference for his target colleges, but AB will allow him a better (i.e. slower) pace. But that comes with the caveat that the following year in college, the pace picks up dramatically.
He only gets one ED, and decisions will be back before first semester grades are in. Whatever his grades are at the end of this semester, that’s what they are for ED.
If he loves a challenge, why encourage him to take less challenge?
If he habitually does just enough to get by, why do you anticipate he’d start doing more if the classes changed?
Depending on what schools he’s targeting, another year of language and/or social studies might improve his odds more than doubling up on math or science.
Yes, its a HE issue. And its Early Action not ED. He just completed Spanish 4, the only language option is AP Spanish which he doesn’t want to do. AP Government is an AP option for Soc Studies, maybe that’s an option.
He loves the challenge but its not helping his unweighted GPA, and at what point is the benefit of the challenge supersedes the actual number that they’re requesting when he applies. Will they say, look he challenged himself that’s why his unweighted is a 3.5 or will the write him off because of it. He’s hoping for merit scholarships.
For EA/ED, junior year grades matter more than senior year.
He still has time to pull up his grades in junior year, especially if he is only doing “enough to get by”. Why not put in more work now?
He must take CalcBC if he wants to go into engineering. Many students would be more advanced than that.
Also AP Physics C is one of the tougher classes, and needs Calculus background. Does his school offer Phy 1?
He’s taken Physics 1- freshman year and really enjoyed it. He was/is looking forward to Physics C- but now he’s concerned that he’s taking on too much. So he was originally thinking BC and Physics C- . THank you for your feedback, they really want to see CalcBC for engineering- good to know. And you’re right, he does have time to do more… which would be the best route.
Interest in engineering suggests that math and physics may be his favorite and best subjects, so if he wants to back off on the rigor, he may want to do so in other areas.
If he wants to lighten his load, he could take a lower level English class. He will not be a competitive engineering candidate at a top 100 school if he doesn’t take (and do well in) Physics C and Calculus BC. He might get into a school as an undeclared major, but the weed-out classes he would have to excel in to then get admitted to the engineering school (if it isn’t already full with direct admits) likely won’t be any easier than Physics C.
With a 3.4 GPA, he is unlikely to get into a super competitive college or engineering division where choosing calculus BC versus AB may matter.
But if math and physics are his strongest and favorite high school subjects, backing off on the rigor elsewhere makes sense, especially since calculus and physics are more likely to be helpful in engineering than environmental science or statistics.
Thank you all for your feedback! All the comments have given us a lot to think about, thank you and if there are any others comments/opinions or suggestions they’d be appreciated!!.
ucbalumnus- he has a 4.2 GPA- because he pushed himself with AP’s, I surely hope schools will appreciate that, vs only looking at his unweighted GPA.- not sure but he hopes.
Look at the common data sets for the colleges he is thinking of applying to. There is a matrix in that document of what the college thinks is important in selecting students for admission. Some schools will emphasize GPA, others strength (rigor) of schedule, still others will think both are important. From there he can make an informed decision.
I would keep the rigor in the areas where he wants to study in college. And then get good grades in those classes.
Assume many competitive schools will be looking at his UW GPA. As per UCbalum, that 3.4 is going to exclude him from very competitive programs. Perhaps define what you call competitive, and how are his test scores? And are you looking for merit money? Again, look at the merit money guidelines, if they even look at WGPA. You might want to look at programs that are not competitive, but auto, if you need merit money.
He is going into senior year and He will be applying to colleges right? I have a visceral reaction to the gaming of GPA-better for Him to get an education.
A few comments:
–College admissions officers do pay attention to senior year course rigor. They will certainly understand that an “A” in APES is not the same as an A in AP Physics C etc.
–Your S should want to prepare himself as best he can for college. If he wants engineering I’d take Calc BC and AP Physics.
–If he typically does enough to get by how do you know he will excel at the “easier” AP courses – he may do enough just to get by in those as well.
–Admissions are determined before senior year GPA comes out.
My $.02 - For a student planning on engineering, AP calc and AP Physics C are a must. Not necessarily for admission, but it will help immensely to have the exposure to those subjects before hitting college.
I agree if there is a worry about too much rigor, drop AP lit to regular.
The most competitive schools want rigor and grades. Schools will look at the 3.4. There is no getting around that.
Easier AP classes next year wont move the needle for admission.
IMO, his list of match and safety schools should be created around the UW GPA, not the weighted.
If this was my child, I would be most concerned about “only does enough to just get by.” He will need a huge change in work ethic to be successful studying engineering at any college. I would encourage those habits to start now.
I agree a 3.4 unweighted is on the very low end for engineering. My son applied for engineering this year and we found that engineering at most schools is much harder to get into than arts and sciences. He has been fine but he has very high stats. Every school I have heard of starts with the unweighted GPA. Some add points for honors, some add points for AP and some add points for neither. This makes sense because every school weights things differently. Some schools are transparent about how they calculate their GPA. Others are not. It is all different. How are his test scores? I would think about taking a math and science subject test as another data point. Math II and Chemistry is what my son did in June after junior year.
This is a little off-topic of which courses to take, but addresses the doing just enough to get by. If you can figure out a way to get your son to see that his high school work habits are not setting himself up for success in college, you will be doing him a huge favor. I say this because our son took a similar approach in high school, which carried through to college and he ended up with a B- GPA 1st semester. He is now in danger of losing his scholarship. If I knew the answer to how to get a bright but not particularly hardworking (and unstressed) kid to realize that a work ethic is necessary in college and life, I’d share it, but I don’t. Just something to think about now since he still has another year in HS.