<p>My total AP's will be 3 out of the 10 my school offers, how much does this hurt me? (Hardly anyone takes over 4, and if they do, they do badly).</p>
<p>That practically destroys your chances in my opinion. Cornell wants students who challenge themselves. If you took 3 APs and your school offered 4, that would be good. Three out of 10 is horrible and that’s not generally what Cornell looks for, no matter what your GPA is, because they have applicants with the same GPA AND took a more rigorous course load. Plus the reality is, a Cornell class will be harder than an AP class; pretty much no comparison for the most part between an AP class and a Cornell class. So if you can’t handle that in high school and perform, there is no reason to think that can happen in college. Perhaps if you can get your guidance counselor to explain something about how APs work in your school and how they advise students, Cornell might accept that, but the reality is you had the opportunity to challenge yourself and chose not to. I think course load is actually very telling and if you weren’t willing to put yourself out there in high school and take advantage of the APs your school offered, I really don’t think Cornell is a fit for you. And even if “hardly anyone” doesn’t take more than 4 at your school, keep in mind Cornell isn’t looking for your average student in an applicant, but those rare few at your school who do take 7 or 8 or 10 APs when they are taking an applicant seriously. Furthermore, if you are going to do badly on an AP exam, you will almost certainly do worse in a Cornell class. Let’s say you were to get into Cornell, you aren’t all of a sudden a drastically different student/person; why would taking 4 classes at Cornell that are almost certainly all above an AP high school class all of a sudden be different than taking 3 APs your entire high school career…Just some things to think about…</p>
<p>Don’t mean to be harsh, but this is the reality in my opinion for someone who wants to seriously apply to Cornell. Cornell is definitely in my opinion about working hard and earning your results of you are looking to take advantage of the Cornell educational experience, otherwise it’s seriously not worth the money and you should go somewhere cheaper.</p>
<p>VERY well said mikeyc765!</p>
<p>mikeyc’s opinion is WAY too harsh. </p>
<p>don’t worry - i have friends here at cornell who took probably 1 - 2 APs while their schools offered 5+ APs. i also have friends here who didn’t take ANY APs. think of it this way - most of the colleges at Cornell care about FIT. if your school offers 10 APs - but all of them are in the sciences and you’re a DEA prospective major, why would you take 10 APs that deal with science instead of taking more design/art-oriented classes? </p>
<p>you’re taking 3 AP courses. i think that’s fine. if that’s the norm at your school, then that’s great! you’re challenging yourself in and of itself by taking those AP courses. yeah, you’re gonna meet those crazy kids who took 11+ APs in high school (i’m guilty of that) - but that was what was expected at THEIR respective schools. that’s NOT the norm here at cornell (unless you talk to engineers…)</p>
<p>so - will you be at a disadvantage? the answer depends on what your ECs are and what your targeted major is. are you planning on being a hotelie? bc good hospitality experience such as working in hotels/restaurants/etc is WAY more important than having 20 APs. are you planning on going into animal science? then having 2-3 APs that specialize in sciences and working on a farm/for a vet > every single AP that your school offers. but are you planning to be an engineer? then you NEED APs - you need AP Calc (BC preferably), Bio, Chem, Physics (C preferably), etc - basically, take the APs that are RELEVANT to your prospective major. don’t just take them because you want to impress Cornell (or any other university). after all - in order for the APs to help, you need to do well on the AP itself AND in the AP course offered at your school.</p>
<p>plus, cornell gets a write-up on your school. it’s sent by your guidance counselor. so they’ll know what the norm is at your school and/or region.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’ll be too big a deal if your extracurrics or other stuff make up for it. My friends have gotten accepted ED to Cornell this year and some of them i mean, yes, what mikey said is true, but APs aren’t everything. As long as you showed that you challenged yourself in other areas, it won’t be too horrible.</p>
<p>I also think it matters exactly which 10 APs are offered at tigerton’s school. For example, at my school, there are something like 20 APs offered, but many of them are fifth or sixth year language courses (which we started in junior high) in different languages. As a result, taking AP Spanish language, AP Spanish literature, AP German, AP French, AP Chinese, and AP Japanese would not be viable for a single student. Surely Cornell would forgive a student for not taking five languages? </p>
<p>If tigerton’s school offers several language APs or something, then maybe 3/10 isn’t so bad? That might be why “hardly anyone” takes more than 4.</p>
<p>Let me think. AP Calc AB, Stat, Bio, Chem, USH, Euro, Psych, Human Geo, Environmental, Eng III, Eng IV, Art History. Wow, 13! I am taking Stat, Calc, and Chem. Not so good. My science for grade 12 is physics hon.</p>
<p>Haha, don’t grade yourself on a CC standard, as we’re all too much of overachievers for our own good. I myself have taken 10 AP’s by the end of my Junior year (and I had a friend who have taken a total of 18 AP’s by the end of his grade school career…), in the process I have lost many friends (our academic environment is extremely cutthroat) and turned into an insomniac. For me, it’s not worth it. So please take it from me, just relax and enjoy, rather than dread, the challenges that comes your way. If you only want to take 3 AP courses, then don’t let others scare you into believing that life’s over if you don’t take more AP’s.</p>
<p>It won’t really hurt you, in my opinion.</p>
<p>Firstly, as cc102 said, Cornell looks a lot for fit. You have to have relatively good scores and GPA, and then you’re qualified. After that, they just want to make sure you’d be the right person for Cornell.</p>
<p>Also, colleges do look a lot in the context of your school. If most people only take 3/4 out of 10 APs, then it’ll show, and they may know that (esp. from previous applicants from your school). As long as you’re doing pretty well in regards to the rest of the school, you have as good of a chance as the rest of us.</p>
<p>I would say 5-10 take 4, and maybe 1 or 2 people take more than 5. I wish I could take more, but my bad choices in grade 9 and grade 10 kind of shut me out. At least I have a 4.0 GPA, plus ranked in the top 3%. Also, my electives are probably better than many others. I am glad I won’t be dead though, thanks for the responses.</p>
<p>hm i mean i know some kids who get into ivy’s with 3 APs…but they were impressive in everything else…i mean apply, and who knows, i mean some kids get in with lower standards than kids who are “perfect”</p>
<p>Okay can someone tell me if i’m okay for cornell?
My school offers 20 AP classes and im taking:
0 freshman
1 Sophomore
3 Junior
4 Senior
2 Self Study (before ED)
Is that enough?</p>
<p>You guys are stressing far too much about this subject. I completed a total of 9 AP classes in high school, out of the 16 that were offered, and I only started taking them in junior year. In the end, most of my classmates here at Cornell have much less AP credit than me. As long as you took a fairly challenging course load in comparison to those in your school, it’s fine.</p>
<p>do try to take as many as possible though, you dont know how amazing it is to be a semester or two ahead of your peers</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>it does get frustrating, after a while, when you’re in a major that has a very clear track, and you can’t get into classes bc they’re reserved for “juniors and seniors only” and you need to take that class because you can’t take any other classes. professors are usually willing to make exceptions if you talk to them early, but if it’s a 25 person class, they can’t hold a spot open for you just bc you ask when there are other students who need to take that class before they graduate.</p>
<p>my high school offered 29 APs. i took 5. got in ED</p>
<p>it doesnt matter. there is no magical number of AP classes that you need to take in order to be admitted</p>