What Do Colleges Look at First on Your Application?

[Beantbeantbeant]

I’m thankful we don’t do all this shit in England, just get an A or a B in 3 A levels then you’re in to any uni you want

[potshead]

My high school doesn't even have AP courses, just these different types of levels varied from; University Level (Acedemic), College Level (Applied), and Open courses.

[MysteryGaming]

This is exactly my point. I have an extremely intelligent friend and he wants to be an engineer of some sort and wants to get into some pretty good schools. He’s refused to take AP and even mostly honors classes his entire high school career, he always brags to me about his gpa being like a 3.8 or a 3.9 while mine has been up and down throughout the years but is currently sitting at a 3.4 (covid killed me man) but I have taken AP classes every year, and if I couldn’t take AP I was in honors. I also felt like I got a lot more out of school in general.

[tobytoby]

First thing they want to know is the state of your parents bank account.

[ariachermansky]

Hello
Someone who took only one AP course here
Had a GPA of 4.0 in high-school
Still got accepted to every college I applied for same as my friend who took violin courses, multiple AP courses, sports, etc.
Depends on the college

[nqrcissus]

In England - at my school we don't get to choose what class difficulty we get to take, if your behavior, attendance or grades weren't good enough last year you have to take foundation classes where you can't score higher than a C

[nrvlyth]

What if it’s not an AP class though? I’m a freshmen taking TAG Advanced Algebra 2 and I have an 84. Should I go to on level Alegbra 2 to get an A? Or is the Advanced title worth the B?

update, now i have a 95 🤩🤩🤩
I appreciate all the advice !

[lukraniom]

What sucks about college is that when I was in high school, I was in some of the darkest days and I was barely able to pass, and now that I’m doing better and feeling more motivated to get a degree, I have to cross out so many even medium level schools just because of what I did as a kid. 19 ACT not even taken the SAT, multiple F’s on my grades, and that’s why even now as I’m 19 2 years graduated, I’m already wrapped up for my life just because of how I did in high school.

[RuleBritannia_-drwx]

My college doesn’t do it that way. SAT’s and grades don’t matter as much. Optomize the HELL out of personality stuff and extra circulars. I had a SHIT SAT score and decent grades and NO high flying courses. But I was an Eagle Scout and a DAMN good writer. And now I’m a sophomore doing great!

[guccipucci]

Welp, time for an exponential increase in anxiety about my grades and the insanely hard classes I’m taking…

[brookewilliams]

POV: your high school doesn’t offer any advanced classes

[Rose-qgzo]

I believe in my school we don't get a choice. They only put certain kids in AP or advanced for there level classes never been in one. But I did choose to take a total of 4 college credit classes. So, those will most likely help; I hope.

[milo_babyy]

thanks for these tips man im a senior rn and im stressing for college

[EvanPilb]

Here in Australia ur grade in our Atar system gets boosted depending on how hard the subject uve picked is.
(Or decreased if its easy)

[madidiaveli]

Um… I COULD take AP calculus next year but…. I don’t want to LOL. People at my school have cried because of that class and it’s mentally draining for them. Honestly, do what’s best for you 💯 Don’t try to force yourself to take an AP class just because of this video if it takes a toll on you. I’m in AP U.S. History rn and it’s not too hard for me. But I do see that other people in my class be struggling. It’s honestly up to the person and what fits right for them.

[sorryoutlandish]

This is entirely dependent on what college you’re going to. Some colleges don’t give a shit if you took a bunch of APs if you did nothing outside of that. I didn’t start taking a lot of APs until senior year (I only took AP Calc, AP stats, AP micro, and AP psych) and I got accepted into all but one school I applied to. Don’t take APs just because it’s the harder class. If you believe you won’t thrive in that class, DONT TAKE IT. My best advice is to BALANCE, BALANCE, BALANCE your resume. Have activities that you did outside of school, write really damn good essays. I had an average SAT (only an 1130, never retook it) and only 4 APs on my transcript but still got accepted into UCI due to my balanced resume.

[AppleP]

My school looks at letters not levels, levels just meant that you don’t need that class for your GE

[Defense]

Well I care about my essay, I'd never snitch on him

[roosterdope]

They 100% worry about how much they can charge nothing else

[lizziemackinnon]

as someone who goes to one of the top universities in canada studying neuroscience please for the love of god don’t do this to yourself

in my grade 12 year i dropped a couple advanced level courses due to some personal stuff i was going through and it did not stop me from being accepted into the school

i know many people from all over the world who were not top of their class in highschool and were not massive over achievers and are still in the exact same place i am.

as someone with goals of one day being a doctor i remember how much fear people instilled into me and made me worry that no matter what i did i would never be good enough for the goal i was pursuing

ever since middle school i took the highest level versions of everything i could. i learned a second language, took advanced EVERYTHING, spent halloween, new years, my birthday studying my ass off to be at the top of my class because that’s what everyone told me i needed. but getting to university has made me realize that i didn’t need to do that to be here and be successful.

please don’t become a slave to your career too young. work hard but please explore all the opportunities available to you because that will be more valuable than any ap class

❤️