AP, CLEP, and honor college courses counter-productive?

[zut212]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I. The year before I graduated from HS, I took 2 Special Program for Academically Talented Students (SPATS). I made an A and a C at the college that I ended up for my undegraduate.
II. In high school, I took many AP Exams, and I scored a 5 on the Calculus Exam, and therefore, this is equivalent to two A-grades for college: An A in Calculus I and an A in Calculus II.
III. In college, I took some AP courses. I scored As and Bs in them.

Here are my questions:
1. Would (I) hurt me, since in my college transcript, I would think that this included with my entire undergraduate coursework, and it would bring down my GPA? Or would the admissions council be impressed that I was in SPATS to begin with?
2. I didn't take Calculus I or Calculus II in college, since I scored a 5 on my AP Exam. By not taking these courses in college, I denied myself two A-grades that could have boosted my GPA. How does the Admissions Councel view this? They had better view this favorably in my opinion!
3. Would the admissions councel also factor in the fact that some times, I took the more advanced courses as opposed to the non-honors coursework?

 

[gravitywave]

I. You got an A and a C. I had the same thing, from the same type of program. It means you started college with a 3.0, oh well. Luckily you have ~120 credits left with which to bring that number up. Your high school activities mean nothing unless they were publishable 😛

II. It doesn't matter much either way. You now have calc I+II out of the way, which leaves you free to take other courses instead. plus, you can apply to Johns Hopkins, Wash U or Harvard for medical school, as these schools require both semesters. yay!

III. strength of schedule is a (tiny) part of what adcoms look at in your application. mostly, it's best just to get A's.

EDIT: i don't see anything about CLEPs in your post, although you mentioned them in your title. Avoid them, med schools are not impressed with them.

 

[Astarael]

I. The year before I graduated from HS, I took 2 Special Program for Academically Talented Students (SPATS). I made an A and a C at the college that I ended up for my undegraduate.
II. In high school, I took many AP Exams, and I scored a 5 on the Calculus Exam, and therefore, this is equivalent to two A-grades for college: An A in Calculus I and an A in Calculus II.
III. In college, I took some AP courses. I scored As and Bs in them.

Here are my questions:
1. Would (I) hurt me, since in my college transcript, I would think that this included with my entire undergraduate coursework, and it would bring down my GPA? Or would the admissions council be impressed that I was in SPATS to begin with?
2. I didn't take Calculus I or Calculus II in college, since I scored a 5 on my AP Exam. By not taking these courses in college, I denied myself two A-grades that could have boosted my GPA. How does the Admissions Councel view this? They had better view this favorably in my opinion!
3. Would the admissions councel also factor in the fact that some times, I took the more advanced courses as opposed to the non-honors coursework?

Since you have several questions, I will try to be brief.

1. I think you'll find that your A and C will average out to a B and not affect your grade really at all. I'm assuming that this was just two separate classes. If this is the case, 8 credits worth of a 3.0 average will have a pretty negligible impact on your GPA even if you end up with a 3.8-3.9 throughout the rest of your college career. Admissions committees won't care about the rigor here, since many other applicants will have similar advanced standing classes as a high schooler.

2. The admissions committee won't really view this favorably or unfavorably, since you in effect don't have grades for these classes. You passed them, and that's what they'll see. Again, the effect that two isolated A's has on your GPA is pretty negligible. It is more important to be a good student and get good grades in general.

3. The admissions committee will factor in the 'rigor of your undergraduate coursework' which is a fancy way of saying no, they won't care that you took a more difficult courseload. Two reasons for this: they don't have a way to compare your 'more difficult' coursework to another student's 'more difficult' coursework, and most people take something moderately rigorous as an undergrad anyway.

None of this is to say that an admissions committee won't be encouraged to view your application in a positive light due to your early accomplishments. It will look good that you went out and tried to educate yourself to a high degree early on. But there won't be any sort of quantitative effect to it - the admissions committee is not likely to say, "This person did AP and SPATS so let's bump his GPA by 0.1." Rather, they will be saying, "This person went and sought out academic opportunities early on, which is one facet of what we're looking for in a student."

 

[Dreaming big]

I. The year before I graduated from HS, I took 2 Special Program for Academically Talented Students (SPATS). I made an A and a C at the college that I ended up for my undegraduate.
II. In high school, I took many AP Exams, and I scored a 5 on the Calculus Exam, and therefore, this is equivalent to two A-grades for college: An A in Calculus I and an A in Calculus II.
III. In college, I took some AP courses. I scored As and Bs in them.

Here are my questions:
1. Would (I) hurt me, since in my college transcript, I would think that this included with my entire undergraduate coursework, and it would bring down my GPA? Or would the admissions council be impressed that I was in SPATS to begin with?
2. I didn't take Calculus I or Calculus II in college, since I scored a 5 on my AP Exam. By not taking these courses in college, I denied myself two A-grades that could have boosted my GPA. How does the Admissions Councel view this? They had better view this favorably in my opinion!
3. Would the admissions councel also factor in the fact that some times, I took the more advanced courses as opposed to the non-honors coursework?

You took AP exams in college?

 

[zut212]

You took AP exams in college?

I took the AP Honors coursework for English, Calculus, Chemistry, and other courses.

I regret it now! It is coming back to bite me.