by catcherdad » Tue May 22, 2012 5:30 pm
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.