<p>My high school offers 25+ AP courses, but I will have only taken 5 APs by the end of high school. Would highly selective colleges look down upon me for this, am I at a big disadvantage?</p>
<p>Which 5 will you have taken?</p>
<p>gov’t, econ, english, world history, statistics, ermmm enviro science maybe?</p>
<p>oh and i might self-study some extra, but I don’t know if self-studied APs are considered in the same light as year-long AP courses</p>
<p>self-studied APs can definitely count for a lot. check out this thread:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/ap-tests-preparation/369861-self-studying-aps-improving-your-app.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/ap-tests-preparation/369861-self-studying-aps-improving-your-app.html</a></p>
<p>im personally not applying to ivies and top tier schools next year, but from what i hear you definitely want to have a lot of APs. people say that you should take “the hardest classes possible.” to me, that sounds like way too much unnecessary work just to get into a college, even if it’s harvard, but that’s just me. i’ll be graduating with only 4 APs (ones that I’m legitimately interested in) and am probably going to end up at UIUC, a very fine in-state public school. yeah, my school offers about 20 ish APs as well. id say that if you want ivy league, you should self study some tests.</p>
<p>my school won’t let me self-study though… so I think that would put me at an even bigger disadvantage…</p>
<p>sorry, my previous post was misleading. I don’t think there’s any way of getting around my school’s policy of NO self-studying.</p>
<p>yeah that sucks.</p>
<p>you could still have a shot. emphasize other parts of the application, i guess. but yes, you are at a disadvantage.</p>
<p>I would guess so. The educational opportunity was definitely there, and that will detract from your course rigor in relation to your surrounding environment. Just don’t worry too much about that and do the best with what you have.</p>
<p>I actually disagree from the self-studying part.</p>
<p>Sure, it can demonstrate X Y and Z, but it doesn’t guarantee any sort of random proficiency, and it’s also not something heavily attractive to colleges.</p>
<p>If anything, focus on other parts of your application–MORE EC, HIGHER SATs, ETC.</p>
<p>This is much more profitable, given that a lot of adcoms do NOT look very carefully at the AP scores you get.</p>
<p>^ “more EC” is not the answer. Deep involvement in an EC with high level of achievement is better. </p>
<p>Colleges do look at AP scores, among many other factors in an application. </p>
<p>Anyone can self-study an AP; don’t let your school stop you.</p>
<p>I am a strong applicant otherwise. Great GPA, pretty good ECs, probably a good SAT score.</p>
<p>okay the thing is, i took 1 AP in 10th grade (only AP available to sophomores), 4 APs in 11th grade, and I am spending 12th grade abroad so that means I won’t be able to take APs in a foreign school.<br>
Since I will be abroad in a school without APs in 12th grade, I will have only been able to take 5 APs total.
Does this still put me at a disadvantage?</p>
<p>tokenadult: My school actually didn’t let me register for self-studying AP exams. You have to take the course to take the exam, there are no exceptions. I know, it sucks.</p>
<p>i think that going abroad for senior year is both a really cool hook and also a very valid explanation to colleges as to why you couldn’t take more APs. you should have included this detail in your original post lol.</p>
<p>for example, if you’re traveling to spain, you will probably come out fluent in spanish. isn’t that a ton more beneficial than taking an AP Spanish exam?</p>
<p>lol, yeah I guess I should have included that detail. Yeah I would become fluent in a new language which would be beneficial. So I’m wrong in thinking I’ll have a big disadvantage in college admissions due to being abroad and not being able to take APs for 1 year of high school? I’ve just been hearing so many different things on this, some people are like “oh no you will never get into the colleges you want to go to” (selective ones, like top 10) and that scares me.</p>