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This also applies to high school in my experience. I had a lower GPA but took AP classes, my friends who took easy classes got into better schools.

mathattack 4y ago
Same though I’d say that the group who optimized for grades over challenging themselves in high school didn’t fare so well. Same in college actually. I don’t have much law school data but it seems like the folks afraid of competition when they’re young don’t grow into it when they get older.
gnicholas 4y ago
At least with AP classes you get a GPA bump that affects the raw numerical calculation. That way, you can come out ahead if you get A- or better in the AP class. I recall that for some schools/purposes, they just looked at your GPA without weighting, but for most purposes they gave credit for weighted grades. This also applied to class rank, but for me all of this was a couple decades ago.
schoolornot 4y ago
AP classes served only to keep the hoodlums out when I took them. I still don't understand what the point is of them. Not one of them were anything like a real college course. If someone wants to shortcut some credits, I recommend memorizing some flash cards and taking a DSST/CLEP exam.
- oneoff786 4y ago
  My AP classes were phenomenal and honestly much better than my undergrad courses which would have had a hundred students in them and met much less frequently. They also cut a year from my undergrad.
yieldcrv 4y ago
I bombed my AP tests after a year of stress, what a waste of time and a consequential amount of money at the time Whereas the community college classes I also took in high school were like 8 weeks long, and - like the rest of college - you really only needed to do the midterm and the final and you get the same credit AP test score transfers credit across the country while being unnecessarily stressful and long courses. community college credits cannot be guaranteed to transfer and have more utility locally or in an adjacent school system, while being shorter semester long courses. Dollar costs are adjacent.
- tssva 4y ago
  If your costs for community college and an AP test were adjacent your local community college must be a bargain. AP test currently costs $97 while the local community college is $185.50 per credit hour. Our local school system actually pays for the 1st 4 AP tests a student takes so the difference is even greater.
- MertsA 4y ago
  >AP test score transfers credit across the country while being unnecessarily stressful and long courses. community college credits cannot be guaranteed to transfer and have more utility locally or in an adjacent school system, while being shorter semester long courses. Dollar costs are adjacent. That really changes if you get a degree though and AP classes are not necessarily guaranteed to meet whatever requirements some degree program specifies. Personally I had an AP CompSci class that I scored a 5 on but it counted for absolutely nothing for my CompSci degree yet the classes I took at the local Community College transferred to state college and satisfied their prerequisites. The actual college courses were easier than AP to boot. If you get an AA degree at the community college then you're probably better off transferring to another college with the degree than with AP class credits at least in my experience. I lived in a state that offered free dual enrollment so I was able to cut a bunch of core classes at the high school and get most of an AA at the same time.
caminante 4y ago
You just sparked a therapy thread about the dubious ROI of AP programs! :-)
grogenaut 4y ago
I went to a good uni in the same city as my high school. The admissions officers told me they knew my (mediocre) grades (all tough classes) were fine cause they were familiar with my high school and this helped me get in with lower than average grades. My test scores were generally good as well. This was repeated by the other two schools. Why did I get to talk to the admissions officers? I played sports. Even D3 schools had a former admissions officer or dedicated one who gave the coaches reads on everyone pre-admission. I got these reads from them. Even Carnegie was familiar with my highschool (5 states away from MO), I just didn't get in there as I didn't have time to re-take the basic SAT Math as I had forgotten more geometry from freshman year than I needed to get to their high bar. I did nail the SAT2 math though. Many schools took that or the ACT which I did better on. I think it depends on the size of your college/uni and how many other kids from your school go there. I do remember being pissed watching one of my friends go up and get national honor society honors for their senior year because they finally passed their third try at freshman Algebra and had really high marks overall their senior year, where I was pulling a class high 89% in Stats but my gpa was not high enough. Seems to have worked out going to engineering though which definitely did not grade inflate when I was there.
- TeMPOraL 4y ago
  > Why did I get to talk to the admissions officers? I played sports. Even D3 schools had a former admissions officer or dedicated one who gave the coaches reads on everyone pre-admission. I got these reads from them. How come sports have such important role in the US school system? Between this and all the scholarships I hear or read about, I feel that sports are effectively a "cheat code" for academic success - why learn anything when you can play all day and still get into the best universities because of athletic accomplishments?
  - Retric 4y ago
    A big part of this is collages have plenty of candidates with good grades and test scores it’s hard to differentiate at the high end. Writing a successful novel is a bigger boost than sports, but sports are easier.
  - 4y ago
MertsA 4y ago
I went to high school in Florida so we had dual enrollment available at the local community college for free and it counted as high school credit as well as college credit. Quite frankly the actual college class was way less work, an easier grade for all of my classes, less uncertainty about if the credit would actually transfer to whatever degree program, etc. AP classes always seemed like a scam in that regard, especially with the option to take a summer class or a class outside of high school hours to free up a period for an extra elective at the high school.

mathattack 4y ago

Same though I’d say that the group who optimized for grades over challenging themselves in high school didn’t fare so well. Same in college actually. I don’t have much law school data but it seems like the folks afraid of competition when they’re young don’t grow into it when they get older.

gnicholas 4y ago

At least with AP classes you get a GPA bump that affects the raw numerical calculation. That way, you can come out ahead if you get A- or better in the AP class. I recall that for some schools/purposes, they just looked at your GPA without weighting, but for most purposes they gave credit for weighted grades. This also applied to class rank, but for me all of this was a couple decades ago.

schoolornot 4y ago

AP classes served only to keep the hoodlums out when I took them. I still don't understand what the point is of them. Not one of them were anything like a real college course. If someone wants to shortcut some credits, I recommend memorizing some flash cards and taking a DSST/CLEP exam.

oneoff786 4y ago
My AP classes were phenomenal and honestly much better than my undergrad courses which would have had a hundred students in them and met much less frequently. They also cut a year from my undergrad.

yieldcrv 4y ago

I bombed my AP tests after a year of stress, what a waste of time and a consequential amount of money at the time Whereas the community college classes I also took in high school were like 8 weeks long, and - like the rest of college - you really only needed to do the midterm and the final and you get the same credit AP test score transfers credit across the country while being unnecessarily stressful and long courses. community college credits cannot be guaranteed to transfer and have more utility locally or in an adjacent school system, while being shorter semester long courses. Dollar costs are adjacent.

tssva 4y ago
If your costs for community college and an AP test were adjacent your local community college must be a bargain. AP test currently costs $97 while the local community college is $185.50 per credit hour. Our local school system actually pays for the 1st 4 AP tests a student takes so the difference is even greater.
MertsA 4y ago
>AP test score transfers credit across the country while being unnecessarily stressful and long courses. community college credits cannot be guaranteed to transfer and have more utility locally or in an adjacent school system, while being shorter semester long courses. Dollar costs are adjacent. That really changes if you get a degree though and AP classes are not necessarily guaranteed to meet whatever requirements some degree program specifies. Personally I had an AP CompSci class that I scored a 5 on but it counted for absolutely nothing for my CompSci degree yet the classes I took at the local Community College transferred to state college and satisfied their prerequisites. The actual college courses were easier than AP to boot. If you get an AA degree at the community college then you're probably better off transferring to another college with the degree than with AP class credits at least in my experience. I lived in a state that offered free dual enrollment so I was able to cut a bunch of core classes at the high school and get most of an AA at the same time.

caminante 4y ago

You just sparked a therapy thread about the dubious ROI of AP programs! :-)

grogenaut 4y ago

I went to a good uni in the same city as my high school. The admissions officers told me they knew my (mediocre) grades (all tough classes) were fine cause they were familiar with my high school and this helped me get in with lower than average grades. My test scores were generally good as well. This was repeated by the other two schools. Why did I get to talk to the admissions officers? I played sports. Even D3 schools had a former admissions officer or dedicated one who gave the coaches reads on everyone pre-admission. I got these reads from them. Even Carnegie was familiar with my highschool (5 states away from MO), I just didn't get in there as I didn't have time to re-take the basic SAT Math as I had forgotten more geometry from freshman year than I needed to get to their high bar. I did nail the SAT2 math though. Many schools took that or the ACT which I did better on. I think it depends on the size of your college/uni and how many other kids from your school go there. I do remember being pissed watching one of my friends go up and get national honor society honors for their senior year because they finally passed their third try at freshman Algebra and had really high marks overall their senior year, where I was pulling a class high 89% in Stats but my gpa was not high enough. Seems to have worked out going to engineering though which definitely did not grade inflate when I was there.

TeMPOraL 4y ago
> Why did I get to talk to the admissions officers? I played sports. Even D3 schools had a former admissions officer or dedicated one who gave the coaches reads on everyone pre-admission. I got these reads from them. How come sports have such important role in the US school system? Between this and all the scholarships I hear or read about, I feel that sports are effectively a "cheat code" for academic success - why learn anything when you can play all day and still get into the best universities because of athletic accomplishments?
- Retric 4y ago
  A big part of this is collages have plenty of candidates with good grades and test scores it’s hard to differentiate at the high end. Writing a successful novel is a bigger boost than sports, but sports are easier.
- 4y ago

MertsA 4y ago

I went to high school in Florida so we had dual enrollment available at the local community college for free and it counted as high school credit as well as college credit. Quite frankly the actual college class was way less work, an easier grade for all of my classes, less uncertainty about if the credit would actually transfer to whatever degree program, etc. AP classes always seemed like a scam in that regard, especially with the option to take a summer class or a class outside of high school hours to free up a period for an extra elective at the high school.