Jaise ([info]takkey) wrote,
@ 2006-08-13 20:41:00
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When my heart weighs heavy
A question to all those high school seniors and/or college students (who have been through this obviously):

So. Are AP courses really all that important? Like, is it a must for somebody to take 5 AP classes to look good enough for a good college (I'm not talking Ivy League) to accept them? You know? Cause, I only have 1.

And I mean, I guess, the biggest problem is that I dropped AP US history. Which would have given me 2 APs (that plus English. So 2). But. Last year I really couldn't handle APUS. My end of the year grade was B-. Way too close for comfort. But, you know. Right now, I'm just bushed and confused and really very depressed. Help?

...:(

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[info]axls_rose
2006-08-14 01:11 am UTC (link)
A B- isn't that bad!! Colleges want to see that you are challenging yourself.

If I were you I would not have dropped APUS. Umm But from what I hear AP Art History isn't too bad. (i'm taking it this year) So I would suggest taking as many APs as you can handle because yeah. It DOES look good. But if you take 1 AP and you have great board scores and lots of extracurriculars,and a kickass essay, that can look just as good as someone taking 4 APs but getts B's or C's in the classes, yea dig?

Hope that helps. er.
Any chance youre taking Creative photo II next year?

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[info]takkey
2006-08-14 06:13 pm UTC (link)
D:

Er...I don't think I'll take Photo again. Ever. *headdesk* I don't have the time.

Yeah. Uh. But I think trying to get back that APUS NOW...is gonna be hard. I don't think the school will let it back into my schedule. ARLDKF.

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[info]raptorix
2006-08-14 01:38 am UTC (link)
The way I see it, AP courses are just a way to shortcut a bit of hassle later in college. Most of the AP courses are required for almost all general ed requirements, and are usually the most popular and hard-to-get-into-first-semester courses in college. Also, they tend to require the most expensive books and workload of all your courses in college.

So if you can, and you got the flexable scheduel and worth ethic to crank out those papers and read your eyeballs out and study til you fall asleep on your textbook every night, go for an AP course (or two) in high school. It's a great way to get your foot in the door.

I personally never took any AP classes, but I had friends who did. Sometimes I wish I had taken AP classes, (wasting 2 semesters taking below-college-level English classes was a pain in the ass when I was rather competent in English and managed to get a Distinguised on my Senior Project term paper and all.) but that's just me.

But, then again, I took the Junior-College route first, spent 3 years getting all my general education and Associates degree requirements out of the way for cheap before I begin this semester at CSUF, (which is friggen expensive, I tell you! JC fees are about $26 a credit, plus whatever other fees that don't usually go over $10, compared to CSUF's $100 a credit. And when you're taking about 15 credits a semester, that reaaaaaaaally adds up in the long run, (hell, even in the short run!))

Keep your one AP course. It means you won't have to bust your ass over the English requirements for general eds in college later on. Like I said, a shortcut.

Then again, I remember knowing a smug-ass bastard in high school who boasted of taking 5 AP classes in Junior Year, and I didn't know we offered that many AP classes to take to begin with! Don't know where he went, and I know for sure he wasn't class valedictorian... just some smug-ass overacheiver.

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[info]sougo
2006-08-14 02:33 am UTC (link)
I only took two AP courses in my high school career and I managed to get into a good school - the way I see things, the main thing AP courses will get you is an exemption from college courses. I think while they might look GOOD, your activities and things like your application essay can easily replace AP courses. If you're worried, maybe try joining a few more clubs this year, or doing more community service.

So my advice would be take the classes you feel comfortable taking. Challenge yourself, of course, but if one AP is enough for you to handle, then by all means. It's better to put forth your best effort in classes that you can handle, rather than bogging yourself down and dragging all your grades down with you. :3 Of course, a B isn't a bad grade at all, and if you think you can pull a B and keep taking AP US, then do it! <3

Good luck~

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[info]myuki_chan
2006-08-14 03:19 am UTC (link)
I don't know if anything I say will apply to you as I'm up here in Canada. lol

But let's see. I took... I think 3 AP courses? English, Chemistry and Calculus. The only thing they really did was offer a chance to be exempted from certain courses in university, providing you get a 4 on the exam. If not, I suppose it does still look good. I'm not sure if they actually look at whether it's AP or not up here though - it seems to just depend on what average you have when you're entering.

For example, the entrance average was something like 83% for the Science faculty but if you had 87% or higher, you were allowed early admission and therefore got to pick your courses earlier.

Taking the AP English is a good way to opt out of first-year English. It's useful.

B- isn't that bad. :) I don't know if anything I said helps, but that's my experience with AP courses.

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Liz
[info]lily22
2006-08-15 03:21 am UTC (link)
Awwww. Well, I didn't have all that much trouble with AP - even if the classes are difficult the tests usually aren't. They're not at all necessary unless you know what you want to major in or which college you want to go to - AND that major or that college's required classes and AP policy. None of MY APs came in handy at all for me *grumble,grumble*, but colleges like to see you challenging yourself. Don't not take the class just because you don't feel like it, but don't take it if you know you can't handle it.

(House rocks. XP)

Esther would say hi if she knew I were leaving a message. Good luck!

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