<p>My school has only ~750 students, and as a result they only offer 6 AP classes. By the time I graduate, however, I'll have taken 5 of those 6 (I am in no way interested in Art History), along with 7 (out of eight possible, because of my courses) Honors classes. Am I at a disadvantage because I'll graduate with 5 APs rather than 8 or 9 like a lot of the people on here?</p>
<p>No, your school profile should state that there are only 6 AP classes offered. As a result, it won’t be held against you.</p>
<p>Alright, so you wouldn’t recommend self-studying a bunch of AP tests?</p>
<p>Usually colleges look to see if you have the box checked on HS transcript that says you took the most rigorous course load possible. They only want to see you took most challenging coursework possible at your school.</p>
<p>Well as a freshman I got screwed out of Honors Geometry (I had a 97 in Algebra I in the eighth grade, so I have absolutely no idea what happened), and like I previously stated I just don’t want to take Art History as it has absolutely no bearing on what I want to potentially major in (Business/Engineering). So will I technically not qualify for the “most rigorous course load possible”?</p>
<p>I don’t think so. I think that potential colleges will be able to see the classes your school offers and that you took the most challenging possible. For example, my school offers 8 AP classes, and they are ONLY available to 11th/12th graders. By the time I graduate, I’ll have taken 4 AP classes total. I know a lot of students are given the opportunity to take AP classes as freshmen/sophomores, but I couldn’t. However, I’ve taken 5 Honors classes this year (in addition to my one AP class), since that’s the best I can do with what I’m given.
Colleges can’t really punish you for something that you can’t control. :D</p>
<p>I have the exact same situation. The only AP you can even take as a sophomore is AP Calculus AB, and that’s only if you took Honors Algebra II/Trig as a freshman.</p>
<p>In my school, they make no exceptions. Earliest you can take AP Calc AB is junior year; I was going to double up on math this year and take that, but I struggled a lot with Honors Pre-Calculus, so I’m likely just going with regular Calc next year (but that’s just me :P). If it worries you, consider speaking with your guidance counselor, but from what I’ve heard through some of my teachers, you should be fine.</p>
<p>Sometimes I feel the same since my school offers 3 but im taking two, and self studying the third, because there was a scheduling conflict. What scares me is all the kids who get in the top schools have ten APs with 4-5s.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about it. My son is also at a very small private school, less than 400 in the HS, and they don’t offer a lot of APs either. Every year at least a half a dozen kids out of a class of 95 or so get into IVYs and loads more into really competitive top notch schools. Just make sure you include a school profile in all of your applications and communications. I don’t know if it’s worth the effort to self-prepare for APs…but you might want to ask some teachers what the gap is between the curriculum they are teaching and the AP curriculum. My son sat for AP US History and AP Lit last week without being in an “official” AP class. His teachers offered a brief (two week/1-2 a week) review class to fill the gaps in their curriculum and he feels like he was well prepared for both.</p>
<p>It always seemed like it’s different cases for different schools: some private high schools actually come up with more rigorous curriculums that they believe are more challenging, more appropriate than what CollegeBoard has to offer, while there are other high schools that just don’t invest in AP classes, don’t have the resources or staff to maintain AP classes, or simply never had enough student interest/enrollment in those classes.</p>
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<p>True, scmom, but I don’t know if colleges will forgive Cs on standardized tests on a student’s transcript even if that student has taken the most rigorous curriculum available at a failing high school. </p>
<p>It comes down to the fact that you need to have some kind of evidence to show that you’re academically ready to attend the college you’re applying to, whether that is through APs, high subject test scores, high SAT score, or high GPA in a rigorous curriculum. A lack of APs from high schools that have a limited offering is absolutely understandable, but what you lost is one (among many) option to prove to the admission office your academic competence.</p>
<p>xrCalico23, are 5 AP credits not enough to demonstrate “academic competence”? I ask that seriously, as I believe my test scores will be quite high (> 95 percentile) and my GPA is literally perfect.</p>
<p>That was a response to a discussion on APs, not any direct comment on your “academic competence”, which I’m sure is brilliant ;)</p>
<p>Haha I know that, I was asking if the APs themselves demonstrated academic competence in the area of APs I guess? Haha I don’t know I probably don’t make much sense.</p>
<p>APs are supposed to be equivalent to college freshman level courses. However, many of them are less intense than actual college freshman level courses (even those at non-selective community colleges and minimally selective regional state universities), in that they cover only a semester (or even less) worth of material over a whole year in high school. Examples include calculus AB, statistics, psychology, US government, human geography, environmental science, computer science A.</p>
<p>APs are not actually required to be a well prepared college freshman ready to take college level courses. One just needs a strong enough background in high school level course work to not need any remedial courses in college. AP credit may allow for additional elective courses later in college by fulfilling some freshman level requirements, or enough of it may help graduate early or avoid needing an extra semester to graduate.</p>