Colleges...

[JS80]

Yea saving $14k on college was really silly.

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: AccruedExpenditure
Freshmen, Soph's and Juniors - AP/Honors classes are worthless if you don't get A's in them. If the 'regular' class is an easy A, opt for the regular class and spend that time picking up an extra-curricular that will look good on your college application.

If you're a Senior taking more than 1 AP class you're really wasting your time. You're better off enrolling co-currently at a local community college and taking the courses there.
-AE

Big tip: colleges are now taking a much closer look at what students have done as far as community service, especially the scholarship committees. It adds more to the balance.

Originally posted by: TuxDave
I think I fell into the boat where my H.S. went far more into the subject than what the AP test covered because the teachers wanted to teach it. Sadly I believe there was a strong interest from the parents/students to have an official AP class so the year after I graduated they changed our Adv. Chem and Adv. Physics courses into AP.

I preferred the old way where the teacher had the freedom to go into any subject regardless if it was on the AP test. I still ended up self-studying for the AP tests and getting my 5s

I believe in your school's "old way" - much less pressure on the teacher and students, much more fun, you can spend extra time on certain topics (I spend a ton of time on related rates, applied max/min problems, and applied differential equations.) I've said many times, it's a piece of cake to get credit for Calc I in high school, and start in Calc II in college. Too many students get credit for Calc I, Calc II in h.s., then fall flat on their face in college because they still haven't developed the different study skills that are necessary. If you're majoring in engineering, math, or science, you're usually (not always) better off starting in Calc II. If you're majoring in just about anything else, you're done taking math classes with the possible exception of statistics.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Xylitol
Kind of gay that APs help your GPA for getting into college a lot, but the AP test scores don't matter. I mean my school's AP classes are harder than others and even though I got 5's on my tests, I didn't do as well in my AP class as some other people at different schools who got 3's/4's

Honestly, APs are really retarded and I wish that there were just honors/regular classes (but there are no classes that are more in-depth than honors classes that aren't called 'AP')

Dunno if you followed me through my whole statement, but I just read someone's thread about APs and it made me think about this

one of the high schools around here would adjust your semester grade upward if you did well on the AP test.

they used to cheat at academic decathlon doing that. the teachers would give students mostly Bs, no As, and a few Cs to get smart kids into the 'C' group for academic decathlon (high scores in the C group are what separates really good teams from everyone else). then at the end of the year when they got 4s and 5s on the AP their grades would be adjusted up to As.

 

[Fardringle]

I enjoyed my AP classes a lot more than the basic classes in High School, I didn't get 5's on every AP test that I took, but I passed all of them and because of this I entered college one semester away from full credits as a college Junior. Essentially, I got my Bachelor's Degree in two years instead of four (or five) because of my AP classes in High School. It definitely wasn't a waste of time and I could not have done that by taking a few classes part time at a community college while still attending High School.

Before you say that my High School experience must have been very stressful and boring because of all of the homework, I have to say that unlike many people, I loved my High School experience and I would gladly do it again if I had the chance.


edit: In regards to the statement in the original post that the AP scores don't matter at all, things may have changed since I went to school, but at the time a 5 in some subjects was worth as much as 15 credits in college where a 3 on the AP test was only worth 5 college credits (or less). So yes, the test scores matter a lot even if they aren't directly reflected in your GPA.

 

[Xavier434]

My school had weighted grades. Honors, AP, and IB classes were all weighted on a GPA scale of 5.0 instead of the standard 4.0. The extra point is basically a bonus in the sense that B's are worth the same as A's from a normal class. I thought it was fair in terms of difficulty differences and academic content variations.

 

[Aikouka]

Originally posted by: MrCodeDude
Horrible information. Taking English Lit AP and Calculus AB/BC got me full credits for three classes (two of which I heard were weeder classes) and put me nearly a full quarter ahead of schedule before entering college.

I also got 18 or so units of elective credit for the classes, which if I weren't an Engineer, would have gotten me out of 3-4 more classes.

Yeah... I got credit for two chemistry courses because of AP Chemistry and AP'd out of Calculus I. The amusing part is, I tested into pre-calculus based on the college's test (I made some dumb mistakes or something and missed it by a hair).

Although, I think being in Calc II and not having Calc I hurt me a bit more... they used the same book for each (just half of the book for each class) and there were things that we didn't cover in AP Calc that they covered in their Calc class.

 

[Shadow Conception]

Originally posted by: Xavier434
My school had weighted grades. Honors, AP, and IB classes were all weighted on a GPA scale of 5.0 instead of the standard 4.0. The extra point is basically a bonus in the sense that B's are worth the same as A's from a normal class. I thought it was fair in terms of difficulty differences and academic content variations.

Mine's exactly the same. If your final grade in a(n) AP/IB/higher up pre-AP course/higher up engineering course comes out to be a "B", they adjust it one grade higher to an "A". If it comes out to an "A", your GPA goes from a 4.0 to a weighted 5.0.

So, does it look good if you have an internship here and there, one or two activities, enrollment in a special engineering program, and a load of tough classes (APs/pre-APs), and good grades throughout high school? Will they criticize you heavily for the general lack of extracurricular activities?

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: Shadow Conception

Originally posted by: Xavier434
My school had weighted grades. Honors, AP, and IB classes were all weighted on a GPA scale of 5.0 instead of the standard 4.0. The extra point is basically a bonus in the sense that B's are worth the same as A's from a normal class. I thought it was fair in terms of difficulty differences and academic content variations.

Mine's exactly the same. If your final grade in a(n) AP/IB/higher up pre-AP course/higher up engineering course comes out to be a "B", they adjust it one grade higher to an "A". If it comes out to an "A", your GPA goes from a 4.0 to a weighted 5.0.

So, does it look good if you have an internship here and there, one or two activities, enrollment in a special engineering program, and a load of tough classes (APs/pre-APs), and good grades throughout high school? Will they criticize you heavily for the general lack of extracurricular activities?

As long as you show that you are active in some sort of activity/organization outside of your academic life which most would consider productive when it comes to your development as a student/adult/leader then that's fine. It depends on what school you are trying to be placed in of course. Some are more strict than others.

What are your "one or two activities"?

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Xylitol
Kind of gay that APs help your GPA for getting into college a lot, but the AP test scores don't matter. I mean my school's AP classes are harder than others and even though I got 5's on my tests, I didn't do as well in my AP class as some other people at different schools who got 3's/4's

Honestly, APs are really retarded and I wish that there were just honors/regular classes (but there are no classes that are more in-depth than honors classes that aren't called 'AP')

Dunno if you followed me through my whole statement, but I just read someone's thread about APs and it made me think about this

You wish there were just honors and regular classes, which do nothing for you. You wish there were not AP classes, which earn you college credits and save you tons of money.

AP scores DO matter with regard to earning college credit.

 

[FallenHero]

In about 2 years, none of this will matter to you.

 

[Shadow Conception]

I'd like to join Debate Team this year. Friend of mine wants to create sort of a Mini-UN club at our school, in which you represent a nation, write up papers, have discussions, and so on. I'd like to join that if it gets created. I'm in the engineering program at my school (although I'm uncertain if I really wanna be an engineer; I'd rather major in computer science or something). I completed a week-long internship in Bangladesh this summer, and I wanna go back badly next year to do the one-month one. I dunno what else to do that's extracurricular, really.

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: Shadow Conception
I'd like to join Debate Team this year. Friend of mine wants to create sort of a Mini-UN club at our school, in which you represent a nation, write up papers, have discussions, and so on. I'd like to join that if it gets created. I'm in the engineering program at my school (although I'm uncertain if I really wanna be an engineer; I'd rather major in computer science or something). I completed a week-long internship in Bangladesh this summer, and I wanna go back badly next year to do the one-month one. I dunno what else to do that's extracurricular, really.

I'd say that you should definitely join the debate team then. That looks really good.

 

[Eeezee]

Colleges know which schools used weighted grades. They renormalize everything anyway; they take your transcript and renormalize your GPA to a 4.0 since different schools give AP/honors different weights for GPA.

Don't fool yourself into thinking that a 4.8 using weighted AP courses is worth more than a 4.0. They renormalize it all anyway.

What AP courses are good for is getting out of some of the stupid classes that everyone has to take. Take as many AP tests as you can. Getting a 5 on all of them should be easy (generally a 60% is worth a 5). Even a 3 is worth some credit at most schools, though. More AP tests = fewer courses you have to take in college. College is a shit ton more fun than high school, it's a lot better to study hard in high school and screw off in college than the other way around.

 

[KingGheedora]

Don't colleges consider gpa's from each school differently?

 

[imported_Lothar]

Originally posted by: AccruedExpenditure
Freshmen, Soph's and Juniors - AP/Honors classes are worthless if you don't get A's in them. If the 'regular' class is an easy A, opt for the regular class and spend that time picking up an extra-curricular that will look good on your college application.

If you're a Senior taking more than 1 AP class you're really wasting your time. You're better off enrolling co-currently at a local community college and taking the courses there.
-AE

Nonsense.

 

[Jschmuck2]

Yes, they are "gay."

Tool.

 

[frostedflakes]

Originally posted by: TecHNooB
APs can potentially save you an outrageous amount of money.

Yeah, wish I had taken more AP classes (and also paid better attention in the few I did take). Not only cheaper than CC, but can save a lot of time as well. Guess I can't speak for all college students, I know some enjoy 4+ years of partying, but I'm kind of anxious to get my degree and start doing some real work. If I would have taken full advantage of the AP courses my HS offered and taken a few CC classes in HS, I probably could have been out of college by 20, vs. 22 or 23 at the current pace. Honestly it's something I wasn't too concerned about in HS, but wish I had put more thought into my future.