What’s the Deal with AP or IB Courses?
By Quetzal Mama • August 9, 2013
What’s the Deal
with
AP or IB Courses?
During
a recent coaching session, I asked my student to show me her transcript. She enthusiastically handed it to me,
delighted to display a perfect 4.0 GPA.
The first thing I noticed was that she had not taken any AP or honors
courses. This was puzzling to me. Knowing that her high school campus offered a
comprehensive AP program, I asked her why she hadn’t taken these types of
classes. She responded, “So I could
keep my perfect 4.0!”
While
this extreme strategy is not at all common with my students, it is very common
for students to limit the number of AP, IB, or honors courses for fear of
lowering their GPA. Students often ask
me how to balance this challenge, so today I’ll share some helpful information
regarding the importance of carefully choosing an appropriate high school curriculum.
The
most obvious reason to take a challenging curriculum is because selective
colleges expect this! First, colleges
want to see students who have challenged themselves to the best of their
abilities. Second, they seek students who
are passionate about learning. They are
a learning institution, after all. However,
most importantly, they will consider students who have demonstrated their
ability to succeed in a rigorous curriculum.
This is one of their benchmarks to determine whether a student may or may
not thrive at their campus.
To put this into
context, I'm pasting below a chart representing UCLA's most recently admitted
class. This chart represents the number of semesters of AP, IB, and/or
Honors courses that applicants and admitted students took throughout high
school. You can quickly see that nearly 70% of admitted students
enrolled in at least 16 semesters of Honors or AP courses. With 2
semesters equaling one year, it is clear that most of these students took
approximately nine (9) AP, IB, or Honors courses. This graph is also a
strong representation of what other highly competitive schools
will seek. The students I coach typically take 7 to 10 AP courses
(and receive high grades) in grades 10, 11, and 12. These students are
getting into selective colleges.
Honors Level Semesters- Grades 10-12
UC-approved honors courses include AP, IB, school-based
honors,
and transferable college courses.
|
||||||||
# of
|
# of
|
% of all
|
# of
|
admit
|
% of all
|
#
|
enroll
|
% of all
|
semesters
|
applicants
|
applicants
|
admits
|
rate
|
admits
|
enrolled
|
rate
|
enrolled
|
above 19
|
16,571
|
26.92%
|
7,273
|
43.89%
|
57.11%
|
1,998
|
27.47%
|
43.88%
|
16 - 19
|
11,341
|
18.42%
|
2,709
|
23.89%
|
21.27%
|
1,122
|
41.42%
|
24.64%
|
15-12
|
12,280
|
19.95%
|
1,556
|
12.67%
|
12.22%
|
747
|
48.01%
|
16.41%
|
11-8
|
10,108
|
16.42%
|
719
|
7.11%
|
5.65%
|
413
|
57.44%
|
9.07%
|
below 8
|
11,252
|
18.28%
|
478
|
4.25%
|
3.75%
|
273
|
57.11%
|
6.00%
|
We’ve
discussed what the colleges will get out of your AP, IB, or honors
participation. What about you? What do you get out of this? Aside from presenting a stellar academic
profile to the admissions reader, there are a few other perks that benefit you
personally. One benefit is that in
taking introductory college level courses in various subject matters, you will
obtain a general overview of the particular discipline– which may help you
narrow down your intended college major.
Maybe you are leaning toward a Political Science major, but unsure. There are currently eight different AP
courses related to a major in Political Science. Consider taking Comparative Government and
Politics, European History, Human Geography, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, United
States Government and Politics, United States History, or World History. By taking a few of these courses, you will
quickly know whether or not you want to spend the next four years studying this
topic!
There
is also a monetary benefit in taking AP or IB courses. Many universities will give you “credit” for
having completed one year of a college introductory course. To qualify, you will need to take the
corresponding AP Exam and obtain a suitable score established by the university. Depending on the college you attend, this
could save you a lot of time and money! At
this time, the current fee for one AP exam is $89. However, you may obtain a fee waiver based on
your status. Keep in mind the more
selective colleges may not provide credit for passing these exams, even when
the student obtains a perfect score of 5.
Students should compare the benefit of taking a corresponding exam(s) with
the cost of the exam(s).
What if your high school campus does
not offer an AP or IB program? This
happens. I remember working with
students last year attending Oakdale High School in the Central Valley of
California. This particular campus did
not offer AP courses. I explained to the
students that the colleges will not “ding” them for their inability to take AP
courses. If their campus does not provide
the opportunity, they will not be penalized.
However, students interested in attending a selective college should not
let this obstacle get in their way. They
can take an online or traditional community college level course(s) for the subjects
they intend to pursue in college. This
would demonstrate their intellectual abilities, quest for knowledge, and their ganas to overcome their obstacles.
Keep in mind that balancing a
rigorous schedule, while maintaining an impressive GPA will be
challenging. Students should not
overload their schedule with an excessive amount of AP or IB courses if it
significantly impacts their GPA. Also
note that these courses require additional hours of homework. Therefore, students should also balance
curriculum with their after school, home-life, and sports schedules. Each student is different and will need to
tailor a curriculum that best meets their abilities and time constraints.
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