Is GPA more important or the rigor of the class?

[gotmilklol]

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Is GPA more important or the rigor of a class (AP, honors)?

Is getting a B in honors better than a A in regular?

 

[Brandqn]

redacted

 

[flip26]

For high school to college, rigor does matter, but ultimately the best plan is to take the toughest classes and make As, removing all doubt.

 

[PerpetualPupil]

Is GPA more important or the rigor of a class (AP, honors)?

Is getting a B in honors better than a A in regular?

From what I hear from the admissions interns working at a prestigious small New England college is that they want to know that you can "hack it" in college level material. I didn't have a stellar, through-the-roof GPA but I had solid grades in my hs's tougher courses (science APs, honors, etc.). I made it through the door and flew through the sciences here at my undergrad.

So, yeah, challenge yourself. Above all else though, make sure you are taking classes that you can derive some sort of enjoyment. For example, I don't think it would make much sense to load up on Arts courses just to pad the GPA when you have no interest in pottery or avante garde film. Know what I mean?

 

[Gallix23]

Is getting a B in honors better than a A in regular?

Yes, just as a B in AP is better than an A in honors. Rigor of classes does matter, but don't dwell on it.

You're asking for a lot of stress if you're going to load up on AP classes just to make your application look good, and a lot of times, a vicious cycle happens in which you have so much work from every class, that your grades in all of them slowly start to dwindle. Always remember, that a C in AP doesn't really top an A in Honors.

I would definitely recommend you take as many honors courses as you can though. I feel that in honors, it takes you away from all of the dead-beats who constantly are immature and disruptive, so you learn more. Also, usually the workload in honors is enough, but no overwhelming, so it's a nice balance of rigor without a ton of stress.

From what I hear from the admissions interns working at a prestigious small New England college is that they want to know that you can "hack it" in college level material. I didn't have a stellar, through-the-roof GPA but I had solid grades in my hs's tougher courses (science APs, honors, etc.). I made it through the door and flew through the sciences here at my undergrad.
mean?

You kinda have to be careful about those schools and how they accept people. An admissions person from Holy Cross (Interview based small school in NE, doesn't take SAT into consideration, etc.) compared to Northeastern University (gets over 34,000 applications every year, accepts only 2,800, you NEED to be competitive to have a shot) would tell you far different things about how you should get into school. Just because one small private school wants rigorous classes without a really high GPA, other bigger Universities want to see that 3.75.

Oh, and OP you should definitely log onto www.collegeboard.com and make an account. It's a very helpful website, and you can punch in all of the schools you are currently looking at and it'll tell you the scores, GPA, and class rank to shoot for.

 

[RySerr21]

Thats funny cuz i feel for like when applying for med school, its the exact opposite. They just want to see a high GPA. Obviously if you take rigorous courses AND do well in them, thats the best case scenario. But if your GPA is struggling and you need a boost......take an easier class. Its kinda sad that thats how it works, but you gotta play the game the best that you can. It kinda evens out in the sense that everyone applying will have had to have taken some pretty difficult courses (some of the pre reqs are pretty challenging), but youll see a wide range in teh difficulty of the other courses if someone was a biochem major compared to someone who is a sociology major. A 4.0 as a sociology major is still a 4.0.....and the med schools will eat it up. On the flip side, a 3.0 with a biochem major isnt going to get you anywhere, despite the excuse that "my classes are hard."

For example, brandqn, if you try to pull that excuse in college....you will be laughed at. "Well my GPA was 2.7 (which is a B- average) because in one semester i took organic chem, physics, bio, and calculus." The response from others will be "well why the *$&* did you take all of those classes in one semester? You aren't going to get extra points for making your schedule insanely hard. Now you just have a sh*tty GPA. "

So in that sense, high school was really easy.

 

[PerpetualPupil]

For example, brandqn, if you try to pull that excuse in college....you will be laughed at. "Well my GPA was 2.7 (which is a B- average) because in one semester i took organic chem, physics, bio, and calculus." The response from others will be "well why the *$&* did you take all of those classes in one semester? You aren't going to get extra points for making your schedule insanely hard. Now you just have a sh*tty GPA. "

So in that sense, high school was really easy.

In that case, I would agree with you there. You need to maximize your paper stats to get the foot in the door and there are certain benchmarks that need to be met, thats for sure.

At the med admissions level, I think when it comes down to 3.65 (heavy load...e.g. the semester from hell you listed above) vs. 3.9 (essential pre-reqs + underwater basket weaving, theory of wine tasting, and other assorted mickey mouse courses) the decision making process becomes a bit more involved.

Back on topic! One of the posters above made a good point about the admissions audience. Are you targeting large universities? Small colleges? You may need to figure that one out before you devise a course risk-benefits strategy. A 3.75 with fluff might be fine amongst the sea of applicants, but at smaller colleges with more time to 'interrogate' your application it might be a setback.

 

[MilkmanAl]

Definitely with ya on that one, Ryserr. GPA rules the day in the world of med school admission. Nobody cares that your B- in Astrophysics 2 is 3rd in the class. *grumble* 4.0 in Intro Psych blows that out of the water.

 

[xnfs93hy]

Definitely with ya on that one, Ryserr. GPA rules the day in the world of med school admission. Nobody cares that your B- in Astrophysics 2 is 3rd in the class. *grumble* 4.0 in Intro Psych blows that out of the water.

Really? Clearly is it best to get a 100 in any class but med schools SERIOUSLY do not care about the other things, such as honors level courses or grad level courses?

 

[tennisball80]

No body in med school cares about courses are hard or easy because there are too many applicants. A high GPA, that's what you need. Do what ever you can. Choose easy professor. Drop hard courses. Bribing.. sleeping with professors. Period. Only the results matter.

 

[gotmilklol]

No the thing is that i want to raise my GPA up to get into the 0+6 pharmacy program
so i was thinking of taking regular classes

 

[ButImLETired]

Well, things are being a bit oversimplified here. It's very true that a 4.0 beats a 3.4 in a challenging major/triple major/whatever any day. However, a 3.8 in astrophysics from a well-known science-heavy school (say MIT) will beat a 4.0 in anthropology or communications from a random state school. Hell, a 3.6 probably will too in that case. It really depends on how low vs. how high you're actually talking about, and where you got these grades. Moral of the story: don't count on getting special treatment cause you're working harder than that kid who's only taking the easy classes, cause you won't. But, if you really want to beat that kid to a pulp, take the challenging classes and get A's.

 

[DEAF]

Let's say I took regular classes as a sophomore due to the deaf program laws that I had to take regular classes to test my subject skills. (I just transferred to a mainstreamed school from deaf school at the freshman year)
Now, I'll take some honor classes (Algebra 2, Chemistry, and possibly English 3) for the Junior year. I would like to take AP Bio, AP Chemistry, and Honor Physics for senior year.
Do I look like I am very competitive? My current GPA is 3.7 (I am a sophomore)

 

[MilkmanAl]

Yeah, they definitely do take your courses into account, but not all that much. A really difficult major might buy you an extra tenth or two on your GPA, but that's about it.

 

[DEAF]

Yeah, they definitely do take your courses into account, but not all that much. A really difficult major might buy you an extra tenth or two on your GPA, but that's about it.

True, and I just want to prepare for college like improving my study skills (flash note is my best study skill, is it helpful for AP classes?)

 

[tennisball80]

Is GPA more important or the rigor of a class (AP, honors)?

Is getting a B in honors better than a A in regular?

Sorry, I was drinking some milk lol. Got milk lol.

At high school level, if you apply to 0-6 years pharmacy program, there will be many people having a high GPA with honors and APs. I would recommend taking APs and Honors.

And milk is good for you. I am sure you can handle APs and honors if you drink milk every morning.

 

[jvanewportnews]

Is GPA more important or the rigor of a class (AP, honors)?

Is getting a B in honors better than a A in regular?

Heyyy gotmilklol thanx for postin this question. I got a better idea of it now.

 

[gotmilklol]

ya no prob
=)

 

[Silverman780]

Is GPA more important or the rigor of a class (AP, honors)?

Is getting a B in honors better than a A in regular?

Yes and No depending on the class, and what your grades throughout the entirety of the tour de high school experience. The SAT or ACT can also make up for GPA a bit, a kid who is probably the next Stephen hawking in my class, has a grade point of 1.9 but he scored a 780 math and 640 reading on the SAT and OIT let him in. So it depends on where you are headed.

 

[Gallix23]

Yes and No depending on the class, and what your grades throughout the entirety of the tour de high school experience. The SAT or ACT can also make up for GPA a bit, a kid who is probably the next Stephen hawking in my class, has a grade point of 1.9 but he scored a 780 math and 640 reading on the SAT and OIT let him in. So it depends on where you are headed.

Well, unless he has some family problems or something preventing him from excelling in school, he'll have a really hard time getting into a lot of schools. Colleges will look at that and just see pure laziness, and then toss his application in the trash. SAT and ACT can bridge some small gaps, but a 1.9 GPA? That's insane.

 

[xnfs93hy]

Yes and No depending on the class, and what your grades throughout the entirety of the tour de high school experience. The SAT or ACT can also make up for GPA a bit, a kid who is probably the next Stephen hawking in my class, has a grade point of 1.9 but he scored a 780 math and 640 reading on the SAT and OIT let him in. So it depends on where you are headed.

1.9 and 780/800 math? I'm sitting here scratching my head thinking how this is possible...

 

[MilkmanAl]

I had a friend who did something similar. He just didn't care about school and didn't try then exploded with a 1450 - I think it was - on the SAT (the old one, of course). Everyone at my school was stunned except me since he was on the math team with me back in grade school. 😛