AP courses???

[Groovydad]

My dd is currently a freshman in hs. She took some pre AP courses this year and struggled to get b's in those courses. Question is would it be better to get an A in a regular course or getting a B in the pre AP/AP classes?

[CheckWriter]

Depends where she wants to go to school and how good a ball player she is.

If she wants to go to an Ivy or NESCAC, she needs to take lots of AP classes and get A's in all of them and ace the SAT (and/or ACT) no matter how good a ball player she is.

Otherwise, everything is relative.

As usual, JMO.

[Trophy Hunter]

I interpret "ace the SAT" as getting all the answers correct = scoring 2400. That isn't even remotely true for athletes at a single Ivy or NESCAC school.

[hit4power]

My DD is headed for an academically strong school. The HS college counselors were adamant that she take as much AP/Honors coursework as she could fit in her schedule b/c the top colleges want to see kids take on as much academic challenge as the HS offers even if it means less than straight A's. (Mine is struggling to hold a B in AP Calc) Obviously, if a kid can't make B's that's a different issue - no one should be taking courses that are so far over their head they can't pass with a decent grade.

If your DD doesn't take the more challenging academic load, the question will get asked by the admissions committee - Why not? The assumption will be she wasn't willing or able to handle that level of academic challenge and that will be a red flag for the top academic schools.

And from what I've seen, TrophyHunter is correct. Kids get into the NESCAC's and Ivies all the time with less than all A's and a 2400. But they do have academic track records that demonstrate they are prepared for that level of coursework and that they know how to balance a heavy academic load with athletics.

[CheckWriter]

I consider "acing" at least 2000, maybe 2100.

http://www.universitylanguage.com/blog/23/average-sat-scores/

A former DD travel ball team mate that went to Amherst - 2250. I consider that acing.

The NESCACs and Ivys (may be others) do little to no "relaxing" of their academic requirements. The athletics becomes a differentiator as to who gets in and who doesn't among similar academic qualifications.

DW just informed that acing means a perfect score. Guess I was off on my terminology.

[DDG]

Talk to your kid's counselor. Reality is, the more successful they are academically (including taking and doing well in AP and/or IB classes), the more options they will have when it comes to schools. Initially, most look at total GPA. I would plan your strategy based on that.

Regarding the Ivy League discussions - Speaking from very recent personal experience, a 4.3 GPA and 1950 SAT will work. It helps if you have the advantage of having a "sponsor" such as a softball head coach helping. They will not lower their standards of admittance. However, they do look at what other characteristics a kid brings to campus.

[catcherdad]

As stated, the question on AP classes depends upon the school and your goals for a college. Most schools have a band of gpas and ACT/SAT for athletes. For many schools, you just need to take the regular classes and get As and Bs. NOTE: a player with a very low GPA or ACT/SAT could have trouble getting into most 4 year colleges. In some cases, the coach is simply afraid the player will not be able to do the work. In other cases, it falls under the threshold minimum. Some elite colleges like Georgia Tech look for players with high GPAs early in the recruiting process.

If you are interested in Ivy schools, google "ivy athetic index" and you will find the bands of those schools. Any extracurricular activity can be a plus, and athletics are definitely a big plus, but you still have to have very strong grades and strong ACTs/SATs. There is a little more room with elite pitchers. But when they turn down 90% of applicants, softball can give a student a much better chance of admission at those schools. That is true at many D2 and D3 schools.

Another consideration for Ap classes is the weight your school gives to advanced classes. One of my dd was at a private high school and the only gave a .1 boost for AP classes so if you could get a 97 in the regular class but 85 in the Ap class, you are better off in the regular class when it comes to average and class rank. But my younger dd was in a public school with a .2 multiplier and she took as many AP classes as possible.

I would talk to your counsellor and find out the track record of athletes admission to college. I did that sophomore year and learned a lot of great information. Once you have college coaches interested in your dd, they will tell you what standardized score you need to get an offer. They are pretty up front about that. If the player has not take the tests, it can put a lot of pressure on them. I recommend taking them early in the junior year and doing a bunch of practice tests before you go into the real test.

[ICMTM]

I was talking to a friend of mine last night. She is an adviser for high school kids getting into college in her county. I asked her the same question in terms of regular college admittance as well as in terms of scholarship athletes. She said basically a kid who struggles in AP pulls more weight when it comes to getting admitted to a school than a kid who takes average classes and gets A's. She also said different schools place different emphasis on things so there's no concrete answer, but generally a C in AP is looked at in a positive light when compared to a normal class in the same subject.

She also said that it's her experience that colleges have a certain amount of exceptions when it comes to admissions, and a coach that has limited scholarships to offer often times isn't going to ask for the exception, but to move on to the next kid. Being admitted to the school is important! It's too much of a hassle to get around the admissions piece.

What I took away from this was basically AP is not a must as kids can and do get admitted to college without it. However having AP classes helps a lot! She also said that colleges want to see that a kid is challenging themselves. She basically said if the kid isn't good at a certain subject don't sign them up for the AP version of the course.

I hope that helps the discussion.

[Daddylawman]

Just sticking my 2 cents in here.

First, it's true that the elite academic schools can't offer spots to unqualified candidates, but the coaches all know exactly what numbers a recruit needs for the coach to get her in. Whether they choose to share that is another story. Fortunately for my DD, one coach came out and said "minimum 650 on every section of the SAT or 32 on the ACT" just to be considered. That let us both know where she stood.

Here's the part folks are missing on...your high school's GPA doesn't mean exactly what you think it does. Schools don't look at your GPA, they look at your grades and they look at the course, they also look at your high school's profile - a rating system colleges have set up for themselves. Then they put it into their own algorithm to find what they say your GPA is. This is true at almost every decent school and applies to athletes and non-athletes. Basically, every school you apply to can evaluate you as having a different GPA.

Ultimately, if you are looking at an academically elite school you MUST take a challenging course load. If you can't handle that in high school, you won't make it at those colleges.

[ontheblack]

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Schools don't look at your GPA, they look at your grades and they look at the course, [i]they also look at your high school's profile[/i][b][/b] - a rating system colleges have set up for themselves. Then they put it into their own algorithm to find what they say your GPA is. This is true at almost every decent school and applies to athletes and non-athletes. Basically, every school you apply to can evaluate you as having a different GPA

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Not to question the law, but do others believe this to be true? My kid is in a school where a low B in many of classes would be an easy A in neighboring HS.