Prioritization for AP Computer Science admission

Unfortunately, sometimes we run into a numbers game with admission to our classes. For example, in 2014, over 100 students applied to take AP CS and we only had space for 96. So, I had to come up with a way of prioritizing who would get into the class and who wouldn't. It's a lousy thing to have to do, but it's the nature of the beast.

If you are considering taking the AP CS class at some point during your time at Gunn, please note that priority will be given in the following order:

1. Students who have earned grades of B or higher in BOTH of the intro CS classes (Functional Programming and Object-Oriented Programming) and have grades of B or higher in mathematics. (Students with grades of B in the intro CS classes are encouraged to wait one year before taking the AP CS class. That year of math seems to matter a lot.)
2. Rising seniors who want to jump to the AP CS class and have appropriate math background, defined as a grade of A- or higher in Analysis.
3. Rising seniors who have taken the intro CS classes and are earning less than an A- in their math classes.
4. Rising sophomores and juniors who have earned straight As on the honors track in mathematics and want to make the jump to AP CS without taking the intro classes.
5. Rising sophomores and juniors who have taken the intro CS classes but earned less than B+ grades. (These students tend to be better off waiting one year. I have no research on this, but I've seen enough to form an opinion.)
6. Students who have earned Bs on the honors track in mathematics and want to make the jump to AP CS without taking the intro classes. (Not recommended.)

Ignore this list at your peril. :-(