How seriously will colleges take non-AP classes?

[thomaddox4]

Hi everyone, just a quick question about college applications. I'm in a STEM program at a public school, and some of the classes that I take are weighted as AP even though they are not official AP classes. Some people that I've talked to have seemed to disregard these as just the school being too easy and them acting as GPA boosters, and I'd like to know if colleges will have a similar attitude. My school is pretty reputable, but will there be colleges that don't take them seriously? I'm starting to get a little worried that they won't, and if this is the case than my transcript (and GPA) will look much weaker than it should.

 

[Dr Transport]

if a college is knowledgeable of the grading practices of a school/system, for example, new york city schools, they can and sometimes will recalculate the applicants GPA and use that in their decision. before anyone starts screaming, I heard that directly from an admissions counselor at a university where my oldest currently attends, this individual told me that they routinely do it to counter act the public schools grade inflation policies, i.e. upping the points for an AP course.

 

[thomaddox4]

if a college is knowledgeable of the grading practices of a school/system, for example, new york city schools, they can and sometimes will recalculate the applicants GPA and use that in their decision. before anyone starts screaming, I heard that directly from an admissions counselor at a university where my oldest currently attends, this individual told me that they routinely do it to counter act the public schools grade inflation policies, i.e. upping the points for an AP course.

They do take into account the difficulty of the courses though, right? It seems silly to me that someone that might be taking way, way easier classes than me could have a higher unweighted GPA and therefore be preferred by colleges.

 

[Dr Transport]

They do take into account the difficulty of the courses though, right? It seems silly to me that someone that might be taking way, way easier classes than me could have a higher unweighted GPA and therefore be preferred by colleges.

I don't have an answer for that...you'd have to check with the admissions office at the school you are applying to, each university has different policies.

 

[Dr. Courtney]

From what I can tell, dual enrollment courses tend to have a better reputation for college admissions than AP courses, whose reputation has been in gradual decline for the past 10-15 years. Test scores (ACT, SAT Subject, etc.) and other accomplishments also carry more weight than grades in AP classes and other classes. There are very few high schools whose grades are trusted any more by selective colleges and universities.

Grades below an "A" can work against you. If you are taking the most challenging courses available at your school, earning As in those courses will not usually work against you. But you need to do well on the standardized tests (AP, ACT, etc.)

Given the decline in reputation of AP courses and the uncertain outcomes on AP exams, I recommend taking the dual enrollment equivalents if at all possible. Earning As in accredited Calc 1 and Calc 2 courses through a local college means a lot more than AP Calc, etc.