Which online AP courses should I take this summer to better my chances at admissions?

Applying to College
1

Hi all,

Let me give a bit of background before I proceed with my story. I’m currently a junior in HS. Last spring, I had anxiety issues that prevented me from focusing in many classes. Despite that, I managed to keep my grades barely afloat with high 80s to low 90s, except for a 70 in chemistry for that semester. When I saw my progress reports, I shied away from signing up for any AP courses next year, since I didn’t think I’d be able to handle the added pressure.

That turned out to be a big mistake. Over the summer I learned to control my anxiety, and this fall it really shone through in my grades-- I got an average upwards of 96. Despite that, however, my cumulative GPA is just below 90. My school is using this metric to limit me to taking only 2 AP courses next year.

I used my 2 options to pick AP Calc BC (I already have some experience with calc, + I love math) and AP Physics C. However, I’m not satisfied with taking just 2 APs-- I really want to show colleges that I want to take advantage of as many academic opportunities as possible. So, I did some research and found out that you can take accredited AP courses online . I’m planning to work my way through at least 2 of them this summer.

My dilemma is, which AP courses should I take? Here are the courses I’m considering right now:

  • AP Computer Science A from FLVS. I already know the material because I've been coding for 3 years, but I think the important thing is it would officially demonstrate to colleges that I have an interest in computer science and I can handle a challenging course in it.
  • AP Statistics from FLVS. I have a strong math background (as mentioned above) and I like learning new concepts, so I think this should be enjoyable. However, I don't think colleges view AP Stat as favorably as other courses, like those mentioned in [url = http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/489826-most-important-ap-classes.html]this thread.
  • AP Chemistry from ChemAdvantage. I want to show colleges that I'm willing to relearn the material from last year, and my poor performance back then was not indicative of all of my ability to comprehend this subject.

My main worries right now are that I haven’t chosen any humanities AP courses. The deadline to submit AP selections at my school has passed; I can still take APUSH online, but I have a feeling that colleges wouldn’t see that very favorably-- sitting in front of your computer is not the same thing as being in the classroom, engaged in the discussion. If I don’t take a humanities AP, however, I’m afraid I would come off as unbalanced towards colleges-- even though my US History teacher has agreed to write me a recommendation.

So, what online courses do you guys think I should take? Is my reasoning to take these 3 courses valid? Are there courses that would be more beneficial than Comp Sci/Stat to take? Is it worth the time to enroll in an APUSH online course?

Thank you.

2

I am not familiar with the specific summer courses and can’t comment on them. Also I can only give my opinion, and I understand that some people may have other opinions.

I do have some experience with a high school student who studied for an AP test on her own, and had some trouble finding a location that would let her take the test. This was however in languages, where the test taking has to include audio equipment. I am not sure whether there would be an issue for other tests. Also, after a lot of asking she was able to take the test (and did very well).

To me computer science seems like a good one for two reasons: Because you seem to be good at it (based on what you have said), and because math and CS are pretty much IMHO the core of STEM, and you already have plans to take AP math next year. I may be biased since math was my favorite subject, and CS was my next favorite.

I am not personally convinced that you need to take more than this one. IMHO taking one and getting a 5 is better than taking two and getting two 4’s. You also appear to be making major progress in your other grades.

I do get your argument that if you can do well on the chemistry AP test, then it would make the point that you poor grade in chemistry is due to a temporary illness, and not due to any inability in the subject. However, I would be careful not to try to do too much.

I think that humanities is more difficult to learn without a classroom (and a live teacher and a class discussion), and this does not look like it is your main focus right now. I wouldn’t worry about it.

I will admit that I have a general philosophy / belief that the US puts way too much pressure and stress on our high school students. There is a LOT of anxiety related illness in US high schools. I believe that our system is seriously broken, and that the “big name” university admission policies contribute to this in a major way. I think that parents and students should push back on this and find what works for us. I do understand that this might mean not intending to go to MIT or Stanford for undergrad, but a strong student does not need to go to MIT or Stanford or Harvard to do very well in STEM fields.

Also, congratulations on your recovery from your stress-related issues. Your good health is key, and it sounds like if you take things at a pace that makes sense for you then you will do very well.

3

Colleges are not going to be impressed by an online AP course. They prefer students to take AP classes at school if possible, and they like to see high grades ideally. If you do an online course in the summer, you can’t take the test until May. That’s a long time to wait to take a test.

If you are looking for college credit, you have to do the test. By all means, do an online course if you want to go for credit, but understand it isn’t going to help you get into a college. You can study on your own and still take the test, so it is possibly just wasted money to do it online.

I recommend self study or online study for AP courses when the school doesn’t offer the subject and you want a score that will either give you credit, or allow you to place out of intro level courses. I don’t recommend it to impress colleges.

4

@DadTwoGirls

Thank you for the advice. I think I’ll be able to handle 3 or more courses, though, since I’ll be tackling these APs over the summer. Plus, I already know the subject material for CS A since I learned Java a long time ago-- I don’t think 1 course would be challenging enough.

Thank you! By the way, from your comment it seems like you’ve gotten the impression that my stress was due to overly strenuous classes. I just want to clarify that this is not the case-- I was stressed out due to external factors, unrelated to school. However, it did prevent me from focusing on homework for long periods of time.

5

@Lindagaf

I know, but I’m not allowed to take more than 2 APs at my school due to my cumulative GPA. My school even says so on their profile they send out to colleges. Surely admissions officers would understand I’m taking an online course because I can’t get it at my school, not because I’m scared to take it in-person?

6

Take AP CS A and do something with it. This will be more useful to you than to take two AP classes.
You cannot really take AP chem over the summer because 1° it requires labs and 2° it’s far too intense to be thus compressed.
What you can do is take two summer session classes at your local community college, one in CS and one in something else (I’d suggest Writing or Communication since it’ll show balance in skills + will be useful to improve writing skills, which you need for all subjects).

7

Your main issue is your cummulative GPA. Colleges will see that you are only allowed to take two AP classes. So take two APs, get As and ace eveything else. Your GPA will matter more than what AP classes you take. You should ask your counselor to mention your anxiety issues and what caused them, so that colleges will have context as to why your grades were low. Your counselor should stress that your anxiety is now controlled. You won’t be penalized for what is beyond your control, in regards to the limit on how any classes you can take.

If you think you will enjoy stats, take stats. Colleges are not going to shake their heads and think “this person ONLY did AP stats, why didn’t they do physics instead.” If you are interested in it, take it. Stats is very useful for all kinds of things. An AP class is advanced. It’s a college-level course. It’s as legitimate as any other AP course. But if you can’t take the test, then I see no point in doing it, tbh. Make some enquiries as to how you will be able to take the test. At our high school, studetns can take any AP test they like, even if the school doesn’t offer it, but I don’t think this is true of all schools. Ask your counselor.

You can’t undo what’s happened. Don’t cause yourself more stress by knocking yourself out to make up AP classes in the hopes of impressing colleges. Find colleges where your grades and test scores ensure that you have a reasonable chance of getting in. It’s better to be realistic about this and find colleges where you can thrive and rise to the top. Don’t let yourself be swept up with dreams of tippy top colleges and all the stress that goes with that. Just a couple of weeks ago there were many kids posting about how they worked all their lives for their dream school, they applied to lots of reaches and only got into their safety, or whatever. Don’t be one of those kids. Find realistic choices for reach, match and safety schools. That doesn’t mean applying to twenty top schools in the hopes that you will get lucky. It doesn’t work that way because it isn’t a lottery. Work with what you have.

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@MYOS1634

I already know everything that will be taught in CS A, though. I’m not taking it because I’ll learn anything, I’m taking it because it officially shows colleges that I know the material and I have a CS interest.

The online AP Chem course [url = http://www.chemadvantage.com/Public_Site/Home_Page/homepage-lab-experiments.html]offers labs. If you say it is too intense to be squeezed into the summer, I can simply spread the remainder of it out over the next school year.

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+1, thanks for the advice! I think Writing and Communication sounds like a good idea. I’ll try to see any CCs offer that course.

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@Lindagaf

I am more interested in AP Physics than AP Stats which is why I only signed up for the former, but I definitely want to take the latter too.

Sure, I’ll ask. I think I will be able to take the tests though since even if my high school bars me from doing so, the College Board offers the option of taking AP tests at a different test center.

OK, I have no illusions of making it into Harvard, Yale, MIT, Princeton, etc. But I think it might be feasible that I can get in 1 or 2 tiers lower, e.g. Columbia or Cornell. Please hold your skepticism-- I have several other things outside of schoolwork that I think may make up for the low grades (I’m not going to get off-topic and list them here). But, of course, I’m not 100% sure that I’ll get in.

Let me put it this way: If you were talking to someone with 93+ averages throughout freshman to junior year, had taken no AP courses, but was being barred from taking >2 APs next year for whatever reason, would you say online courses might help?

10

Taking a tonne of APs is NOT going to help you to get in Ivies. You claim to know everything in CS so why waste time/energy on AP CS. Your GPA and SAT/ACT scores are more important. Do you have any hooks ?

11

To answer your question, no, I do not think online courses will help. You can self-study for free if you are motivated enough to do so. Many kids do that, including my own. An online course is effectively self study, but you pay for it. And, I will take the liberty of quoting @skieurope 's oft-quoted statement from AO’s at Columbia, et al: “Please don’t do that, it doesn’t impress us.”

It will not be negative against you. It will not help you though.

I am not sure why you think you have an easier shot at Columbia than Harvard. The acceptance rate is 6%. You have no better shot there than at Harvard, for all intents and purposes. By all means, apply, but Columbia and Cornell reject thousands of perfect applicants every year. If your school’s profile states that stduents are allowed only two APs , then you will not have that held against you. Appeal the rule, maybe that will work. And talk to,your GC.

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Hey, I’m about to take the final exam for APCSA on FLVS. The course was absolutely horrible - do NOT take it. 99% of the assignments are busywork, and you’ll spend several hours trying to figure out what the directions are asking in the first place. Take a programming course at your community college instead.

13

@grtd2010, @Lindagaf

I attend a Columbia program for high school students every weekend. I think my teacher, who is a Columbia student, would be willing to write a rec for me.

Some other things I think would work in my favor:

  • I qualified for the AIME
  • I got a 1540 on the SAT
  • I received an internship offer from a Microsoft employee

Do you mean if you’re an average student then no amount of APs will help, or if you’re an above-average student then more APs won’t affect your chances? (Not implying which bucket I fall into, just asking.) Also, I don’t think 2 is a ton of APs.

This website: (http://blog. prepscholar.com/best-online-ap-courses-reviewed) says that online accredited AP courses can potentially be listed on your HS transcript. I will try asking my GC before buying them, however.

14

A huge emphatic no.

Quite right. And this is not me saying this; this is AO’s telling me this.

Colleges expect students to challenge themselves within the curriculum available at their HS. You attend a very selective HS with which every AO in the country is familiar, so it’s not like you cannot be challenged there. (BTW, I deleted your link to your school profile - this website is called College Confidential for a reason.) You would be better off politely asking the school to reconsider the 2 course cap in your case based upon recent performance, since it’s not that the school limits all students to only 2 AP’s; it limits students with your cum GPA to only two.

I’ll take your word on the feasibility, but will disagree with you that these schools are any lower tier.

Congrats on dealing with your anxiety issues. Best of luck.

15

OP you have some CCs best long-time posters telling you the same thing:

  1. tippy top colleges will not be impressed by you adding AP summer courses
  2. “1 or 2 tiers lower, e.g. Columbia or Cornell” is simply wrong- they are the same tier. One tier lower is a college in the 15-20% admit level. Two tiers lower is the 25-35% admit level (indicative %, not exact, obvs).
  3. Do something with your summer that speaks to what you are interested in. Do summer courses ONLY if they link to your larger narrative arc. To quote the Dean of Admissions at Princeton: we don’t care what you do with your summer: we care that you do something and we care about what you do with it after the summer.
16

If you are worried about your GPA, perhaps it would be better to take a graded course where you get a transcript, like https://ohsx.stanford.edu/university-math rather than an AP.

17

You have to recalibrate your sense of “tiers”.
Roughly, you have colleges with acceptance rates 20% and below, which are first tier. Next tier is ~up to 40% acceptance rate. Next tier is 45-65% acceptance rate (ie., a majority of applicants are admitted). Next tier is what is termed “moderately selective”, ie., not open admission but close.
If you attend a strong, well-known prep school, use the college advisers there.
Requesting, politely and with a rationale, more than the 2 AP’s you’re currently authorized to take, would be better than those online classes you plan to take (which would not help your admissions AND would likely take time from something interesting that COULD help you with admissions).

18

@underscoreone One of the most important things I learned during my kiddos college application process that is particularly applicable to students at elite high schools applying to elite colleges is: trust Naviance. Log on to your Naviance account, and click through to the scattergrams. If your circle is in the midst of a field of red Xs, time to click to a different scattergram where your stats place you within the range of students who are typically accepted, or at least have a reasonable chance of being accepted from your school. When your stats put you in the red “wasteland” an extra AP or two, or six or even ten won’t help. The only things that might help would be: recruited varsity athlete, massive donations, family celebrity status, URM or, preferably some combination of the four…

19

Regarding some people’s criticism of online courses, PrepScholar says that it’s possible accredited online APs can be listed in your transcript (cannot link to the article here). I don’t know whether my school will allow me to list such courses on my transcript, so I’ll have to wait until break is over so I can ask my GC before getting back to y’all on that point. But if that’s not the case, then I definitely won’t be taking online APs (except maybe Stat).

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@HMom16, thank you so much for linking me to that course! I have one question-- how does Stanford check your prerequisites? I am very interested in taking Multivariable Differential Calc, but all of my calculus knowledge is through self-study and “Calculus A, B, or C” is listed as a prereq so is that course not an option?