Hi, I’m currently a freshmen in HS. In my school, freshmen and sophomores are not allowed to take AP’s. My school offers 5 APs. But, the other catch is that you may only take one AP in junior year and one AP during senior year. Most student leavethe school taking 2/5 AP’s. Given my circumstances, how can I possibly get around this rule and still apply to selective colleges in four years ? Self study ?
dont worry about it.
colleges will NOT hold it against you if you cant take more AP classes because of the rules. .
Your GC sends in a copy of the School Profile, along with your transcript and LOR to each college you apply to and that Profile will inform admissions committees regarding how many AP’s are offered, # the number of AP classes seniors have taken in the past years, etc, etc.
Self study is not something colleges encourage. what they want to see is that you excelled in the hardest classes offered, and recieved glowing recommendation letters from both your teachers and college guidance counselor.
In order to have a good chance at highly selective schools, you need to take the most rigorous course load THAT YOUR HIGH SCHOOL OFFERS. In other words, the most rigorous course load that your high school allows you to take. Also you need to get very good grades in your classes.
Since your high school only allows you to take 2 APs in four years, you take 2 APs in four years. I would recommend that under the circumstances when the time comes you should take APs in subjects that you are very good at and that are somehow vaguely related to whatever your major is likely to be (such as a math or science class if you might be a STEM major).
Personally I think that what your high school is doing is a very good idea, and I wish more high schools would do the same thing.
Very interesting. I was actually considering transferring out of my high school because of the lack of AP’s and all the restrictions. But, I guess not. I see all of these students posting about taking 7+ AP’s and am slightly discouraged because I’m not offered the same. Thank you guys for the responses!
Yes I would agree with all the above posters. It’s what you are allowed to take the colleges will see and consider. If they offer honors classes in most or all of the subjects then you should try to take all honors. A kid I know going to a high school that also only allows AP to be take only from junior year and no more than two each year. Took only one AP each during his junior and senior year, still got accepted into Harvard.
My kids’ HS only allowed APs senior year, and you were limited to two. The better student of my two got in everyplace she applied, including UChicago, Swarthmore, Harvey Mudd, Carleton, and several other lower ranked schools with good merit aid. Colleges look at what you have available. Consider yourself lucky that you aren’t in a 4 year AP rat race, and use the time to (1) get great grades in the courses you are taking, and (2) drill into and become accomplished in ECs that are interesting to you.
Top colleges don’t even care if you take every AP offered. If you plan to go to law school, they don’t care if you took the Chem or Physics AP, for example. Take enough to have a rigorous schedule, but top colleges really want people who are interested and interesting. Taking the max possible number of APs shows neither.
You might want to read How To Be a High School Superstar by Cal Newport. It will give you some perspective on your situation.
So true @intparent! My son has 11 AP’s and has less AP’s than most of his peers. It’s crazy! DS opted to be a mentor for Debate Class and give up 3 course slots that could have been AP placements. Honestly, what would 3 more AP’s have done for him and I think what he has learned mentoring others is so much more useful. He only took so many AP’s because we have a lot of AP’s in Social Sciences/ELA which are easy for him. DD is taking more Dual Credit than AP’s and I have to worry that this hurts her when applying because our school is so caught up in that rat race. I wish we had more restrictions on AP’s. Some of these kids get no sleep and are completely stressed out over the AP/valedictorian race. Be thankful that your school has come to a place of reason on AP’s!