<p>I am a fairly good student going into their senior year who usually gets A’s and B’s. However this year my physics class gave me a bit of a tough time, and I got mostly C’s and B’s and it brought my G.P.A down by about .2 - .3 (its less than 3.5 greater than 3.0 now on a 4.0 weighted scale [you can get a 5.1 for taking A.P classes and getting all 99’s - 100’s] :-(). I am considering taking an A.P Biology class at my school next year, it seems fairly simple, and easy for an A.P. The problem is I have not taken an A.P before, not that I am worried about the difficulty level, it is other factors: I have built most of what I am going to try to use to get into collages on my computer - programming skill, with it I have accomplished a lot both in and outside of school. However I am worried that this A.P Biology class could A: turn into another “physics - incident”, or B: make it so I do not have enough time for this year’s science fair project (which is one of the main things I am going to try to use to get into collages). I am also taking another A.P (Computer Science) which should not be hard for me, however I am faced with a choice, if I don’t take A.P Biology I can take three other classes (although these would mostly be [what I believe the term to be] “gut - classes”), one of which being Game Development (my specially as a hobbyist programmer) and I could: significantly raise my G.P.A even higher than if I took A.P Biology, have some guaranteed time to work on my science fair project, probably bring my other grades up more, and unlike this year: sleep XD. So why not do it: here is my conflict, while at an internship I took this summer, I had plenty of opportunities to talk to people who went to M.I.T (my target) they said I may be able to get in with the other stuff I did even if I don’t have perfect grades, but, I would probably have to do well on both A.P exams, so I am worried that a school like M.I.T or W.P.I (another school I would love to go to) will look at my classes and think: “This kid did not challenge himself (or was not smart enough) and was lazy” and throw away my application if I do not take at least two A.P classes this year and “Ace” the exams :-(. That has been my debate with myself for months, could anyone enlighten me as to what I should do, preferably with the target of M.I.T in mind?
Also, just a couple of factors to consider (based on what other people have asked when considering my question):
1900 > S.A.T > 1500, one attempt so far
Motivation/Work Ethic = High
Caring About Quality of Senior Year = 0% Interest
Caring About Grades And Collage Admissions = 100% Interest
Other Classes:
Honors Pre - Calc (Attempts To Get Into A.P Calc = Failed Due To Scheduling Conflicts)
Computer Science Part 2 (Average Level)
A.P Computer Science
Humanities (Average Level)
Gym
Study Hall
Spanish (Average Level 2nd Year)</p>
<p>Hello there! I too am going to be a senior in high school. We use the same GPA system and I have a 5.4 GPA and am number 15 in my class (school is top 10 in texas). I have taken multiple AP classes, not biology, however, I can tell you that the class will be more difficult than almost every other class you have taken. On that same note, you cannot compare apples to oranges : physics to biology. </p>
<p>Bio is by no means an easy class. Expect to read your textbook cover to cover and have constant quizzes and tests. </p>
<p>If you put 1-2 hours a day into that class, you will do fine. Just have to ask yourself if you are willing to put forth the effort.</p>
<p>I’m not trying to scare you from Bio but just know that it isn’t easy. </p>
<p>If your school offers Environmental Science, take that</p>
<p>Sounds like you would MUCH prefer to take “game development,” so just take it and enjoy it. Probably more relevant to the field you want to go into anyway.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that MIT has some of the most rigorous admission standards in the country… Their average SAT score is well above a 2200 and most admitted students have a 4.0 or very near to it.</p>
<p>Thank you both for the replies!
@MrDrProfessorSir: When you said environmental science, did you mean A.P environmental science or average level?
@Pancaked: You are most certainly on target sir/mam, however, another thing I am worried about is the fact that I would like to double major in both Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science, and I figured having another science on my transcript may help. Do you have thoughts on this?</p>
<p>@HHSSPA It’s tough to say what will help, really. With a GPA less than 3.5 on a 4.0 scale, your odds are already very low. But that doesn’t mean you should give up. While a science may help, it will only help if you do well. I took AP biology and found it very easy, but I am good at biology so my course feedback is no help to you if you aren’t. If you want to do game development, perhaps taking that class will help you. It may show you have an interest in the field already, and getting a good grade will boost your GPA a bit. </p>
<p>The thing is, you don’t know who will look at your application. There may be some admissions officers at MIT who would prefer to see you do well in game development and look at it the way I described above. I’m also positive that there are MIT admissions officers who will look very harshly at your application for having a low GPA and taking a game course instead of an AP, especially since you have never taken an AP course before. You just don’t know who will see your application and how they will look at it. It’s a gamble.</p>
<p>But think about this, every college I’ve ever looked at with an acceptance rate less than 50% has always said something along the lines of this: “There is no typical applicant to [insert college] and no typical academic program, but it is strongly recommended that a student prepare for [college] by taking the strongest courses offered by his/her high school.” In this respect, you’re at a disadvantage for not having taken any AP courses when your school offers them.</p>
<p>If 3.0 < GPA < 3.5, and
1500 < SAT < 1900, then</p>
<p>0 < chances at MIT < .05%</p>
<p>Thank you for the replies.
@TheKillerrAnna: Ank you for the input.
@sherpa: Hence the E.C’s with programming. The person who, told me I had a chance at getting into M.I.T, was an admissions officer/alumni.</p>
<p>If you’ll get As in honors courses, it’s better than scraping by with Cs in AP courses.</p>
<p>It’s one thing to send off an MIT application just to see if you will get in. It’s another thing to set your hopes/dreams on it, and that’s what we’d discourage you from doing! There are plenty of great schools for CS.</p>
<p>@sunwardflyer: Its not that I think the course would be too hard, like I said it is other factors, I think I would at minimum be able to get a B- as long as it does not turn into a situation like the one I had with physics, the question is really: is this the deciding factor as to weather or not, I can get into the type of schools I want to get into (mainly M.I.T).
@Pancaked: Thank you. M.I.T is what I use as for my decision making process, and although it is the school I would like to attend the most, I do recognise what you are saying. I figure that by shooting for M.I.T (probably the best or one of the best schools in the world) even if I fail, there will probably be many schools impressed with my accomplishments.</p>
<p>@Everyone: I guess what really summaries my question is: do I really need this class to get into a school like M.I.T or W.P.I? Is it absolutely nessisary for me? And how do my A.P test scores factor into the equation?</p>