<p>Please advise whether only 3 APs subjects + SAT is not good enough for applying Ivy League in early Grade 12 ?</p>
<p>My daughter is now taking AP World History (grade 10). She wonders to take 2 or 3 APs in Grade 11 (i.e. Calculus AB and US History but not certain to take Biology) for the reason of may not getting good result for all 3 APs in Grade 11 or just only 3 APs for applying universities in early Grade 12). </p>
<p>If she is not going to take AP Biology in Grade 11, she will take Physics H and will take AP Biology in Grade 12.</p>
<p>There is no AP requirement for admission into Ivy League schools. All the highly competitive schools, Ivy or non-Ivy, seek students who challenge themselves. In that regard, students should take the most challenging coursework offered in his or her school. That does not mean she needs to go overboard, but to challenge herself based upon what is available to her. You should check each schools website for further details.</p>
<p>ft2004: There is no magical formula for AP and Ivy. Have your daughter take the most challenging, interesting classes but do not overload her. BTW, my son took 13 APs. He was a National AP Scholar. He was waitlisted by two Ivies and rejected by a third.</p>
<p>Your daughter should take biology, chemistry, and physics some time in high school. She needs that honors physics course; the real question is whether she should take it in 11th grade or 12th grade. I see no harm in having her take it in 11th grade and postpone further AP courses until 12th grade.</p>
<p>AP U.S. History is a demanding course with a great deal of factual content. It’s very time-consuming for most students. AP Biology is similarly demanding. It may not be a good idea to schedule both of those courses in the same year. </p>
<p>Remember that colleges will see what courses your daughter has in progress in 12th grade when she applies. So taking AP Biology then seems just as good as taking it in 11th grade and taking the physics course in 12th.</p>
<p>Your daughter is lucky to have the opportunity to take AP US History in 11th grade. The content of the course provides excellent preparation for the SAT Subject Test in US History as well as the AP test. She may want to take that Subject Test at the end of the year.</p>
<p>It means that for admission to the super-selective schools IDEALLY every course she takes she should take at the highest level available to her. Some people will tell you that it is fine to take some courses at a lower level if she isn’t particularly good at that subject. Although challenging oneself as a high school student is good for many reasons, certainly no student should be made miserable by a schedule s/he cannot handle. That said, I can only speak of the kids I know personally, but those who were admitted to Ivies and the equivalent took everything at the highest available level. They did this because it was the appropriate level of challenge for them.</p>
You don’t use AP scores to supplement SAT scores. If your daughter wants to apply to schools in the Ivy League Sports Conference, have her take the SAT Reasoning Test (SAT I) and at least two SAT Subject Tests (SAT IIs). Different schools have different requirements for these (depending on major, they may want her to take certain subjects). Make sure you check their admissions pages online.</p>
<p>I know some who didn’t, including my own daughter. </p>
<p>But these were students in an IB diploma program, and perhaps that was sufficient indication of a rigorous curriculum. Still, some of them did not necessarily make the most rigorous choices every time either within the IB program or in their choices of electives outside the program. </p>
<p>It’s important for students to know their limits. In my experience, those who choose courses and extracurricular activities that challenge but don’t overwhelm them tend to do better than those who insist on doing absolutely everything at the most demanding level and then end up not doing anything well.</p>
<p>The kids I speak of also did everything well. That seems to be the gold standard for super-selective admissions. You know, the old question: Is it better to get a B in an AP class or an A in a regular class? The answer being it is better to get an A in an AP class. </p>
<p>I’m really not familiar with the ins and outs of IB programs and the selections that can be made therein, since our HS did not have the program while S was there. So I can’t comment.</p>
<p>Most demanding schedule at our HS, based on honors and AP curriculum:</p>
<p>10th grade: AP Euro. Virtually no kids take any other AP’s in 10th grade.</p>
<p>11th grade:
AP USH
AP English Language and Composition
Top kids will also be taking:
Honor Physics
AP or 4th Year Foreign Language (Middle school language counts as 1 year for HS language, most language offer a 4th year before AP)
Honors Pre Calc
English (in addition to AP Lang and Comp - which is a 1/2 year elective course. No other AP English options for 11th grade, but students can do independent honors projects as part of their English class)
Research Seminar
A few 11th graders will take AP Stats, Computer Science , Psych or a science…but we’re on a block schedule and most of the really top students in our HS are in research seminars as one elective, and AP Eng Lang and Comp is their other elective, so no “space” for any other courses </p>
<p>12th Grade: All AP</p>
<p>We are a high performing suburban school district with a number of kids getting into HYPMS, other Ivies and top LAC’s. Most of the kids getting into those schools will only have 3 AP’s at the end of 11th grade.</p>
<p>It really depends on the context of your school. Our school offers 24 APs, but the kids who get into Ivy’s certainly don’t take all of them. I’d guess on average they take about the same number as my older son (who was accepted at Harvard) which was 8 (or 9 if you count Physics C as two.) plus one post AP Course since he took Calc BC as a junior. He did not take AP English though received wisdom on these boards is that you have to take it. In our school the science kids will usually take 3 science APs, but may only take APUSH, while the more humanities oriented will take 3 History APs, but only 1 or 2 sciences. Some from both groups take English and a lot of kids take an AP Language since they start languages in middle school. If you go to a school that only offers 3 APs and no easy access to a community college, 3 APs may be enough. A few years ago MIT said on their admission blog that the average number of APs their accepted students had taken was 5.</p>
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