<p>i’m a HS senior and i’ve only taken 3 APs (1 last year & 2 this year).
if i don’t have 4 or more AP classes, does it look bad on my application?</p>
<p>my GPA = 94.3/100
& my composite SAT score = 2010 (720 math, 660, writing, 630 reading)</p>
<p>i’m afraid that it’ll look bad if i don’t have a lot of AP classes.</p>
<p>what do you think?</p>
<p>I think it all depends on what your school offers. The admissions office will know what's available at your school, and thus be able to determine how challenging of a workload you were willing to take on.</p>
<p>If you're not pursuing the most challenging load available it'll look bad. There's always a huge balancing act there, but if top students at your school are routinely taking more APs than you it will hurt.</p>
<p>how will Brown know what other students in my school are taking?</p>
<p>this year, i'm taking:</p>
<p>AP Chem
AP English
Hon. Calc
Hon. Business & Organization
Human Anatomy & Physiology</p>
<p>last year, i took:</p>
<p>Hon. Trig/Analyt. (my schools version of Pre-Calc)
Hon. English 3
Hon. Physics
Choir
AP History
Hon. French 5</p>
<p>like if i'm not in an AP class, i'm in an Honors class except for electives (Human Anatomy, Choir, Business, etc.)</p>
<p>Your school sends a school profile along with your transcript. So colleges know what courses are offered, and they know the rigor of the program based on that. The most selective schools, among which, of course, Brown is, look for the most rigorous program when they are assessing applications. I am not sure, but I should think that Honors classes might be subjective. That is, they might depend on each individual school's program. Whereas the AP is a standardized curriculum. If your school only offers 4 APs and the rest are Honors, and you have taken all the APs you can, with the rest Honors, it seems that you are taking the most rigorous program available to you. But if you only take 4 APs and there are many more available, and you opted to take the Honors instead of the APs, it might not look so rigorous.</p>
<p>what if someone only plans on taking three ap's in their highschool life because they dedicate their time to other things like being a total band geek like me :) im a junior and i dont want to go to a crappy school just cuz i dont have time to study all day for ap tests. plus, i dont agree with the system.</p>
<p>They specifically have admissions counselors divided by regions (and high schools) adn have been collecting data on schools for some time. They'll know what your school offers and what people take. We have a **** ton of information about every high school in the country.</p>
<p>It will hurt if most top students at your school are taking tougher schedules and have taken tougher schedules in the past.</p>
<p>But no one here can tell you any admissions info for sure. You just have to apply and see. Strength of schedule is important in this process, however.</p>
<p>Jeulscadey-- you'll be compared to former top students from your school, basically. If they handled it and you didn't it will be seen as your achievements are tempered by the fact that it was "easier" for you.</p>
<p>It's hard to be objective about it. Balance is important, but so is achievement. I took 10 APs, was captain of the band, first trumpet in jazz, wind, and symphonic, and sometimes rep when they needed help as well as the pit band for the school musical while doing top science research.</p>
<p>I actually had an incredibly easy Sr. year.</p>
<p>It's all about what people have done and what they are doing at your school right now. If you're clearly one of the top and do the things the top students at your school are doing then you'll have a far better chance than if you're not doing as much.</p>
<p>wow. my school doesnt have all thoes fancy things like other schools though. the highest anyone can get besides being a teacher in the music department is being a drum major in the marching band, which i am.</p>
<p>the students in my school are divided in two groups
(despite how racist it sounds its true) the asain really smart take every ap they can become president of key club because it looks good on college aps and the hispanic steal things when others aren't looking dont really care about school do drugs and party on the weekend and tag up the school.</p>
<p>im not in either catagories so its like im ahead of some, but way behind others</p>
<p>hold on.</p>
<p>you're telling me that i have to take EVERY SINGLE AP CLASS OFFERED AT MY SCHOOL???
So within 4 years, i must take:</p>
<p>AP Chem
AP Bio
AP Physics
AP English (both types)
AP Spanish
AP French
AP Italian
AP U.S. History
AP World History
AP Computer Science
AP Art
AP Calc (AB & BC)
AP Physcology
&
AP Music Theory</p>
<p>even if i don't care about or like half of those subjects?</p>
<p>are you freaking serious?</p>
<p>plus all the extracurriculars i have?</p>
<p>i have to run an entire radio station!</p>
<p>No. If you're not an artist, why the heck would you take AP Art? Lol.
And I know very few people who take AP Spanish, French, and Italian.</p>
<p>Think about it, lol.</p>
<p>Just take the most rigorous courseload that you can handle.</p>
<p>I have a question about my courses though...
I have always taken the toughest courses in the major subjects (band is my elective). Except for science. I took honors courses (straight A's) until this year (I am taking APES)... this won't be too much of a detriment will it?</p>
<p>Basically AP is higher than honors. So if your school offers AP Calculus but you are taking Honors Calculus obviously Honors looks better. If you fill up with honors when other top students are all taking AP's then your strength of schedule looks weaker than theirs. It doesn't mean shove as many AP courses into your schedule as possible. It means if you could have put an AP in your schedule but took a cop out course (cop out meaning something like "office assistant" which they offer at my school) instead it'll make you look bad.</p>
<p>^sorry I mean obviously *AP looks better than honors. Brain fart.</p>
<p>How do colleges know what other students in my school are taking?
I'm confused.
How could they judge me against other students if the schedules & work loads of those students are not specified on my school's profile?</p>
<p>we have no rank.
we only get percentiles.</p>
<p>& AP Calc in my school take up 2 periods.
there's no way that i can fit it into my schedule.</p>
<p>i'm doing Pre-Med so i'd rather have</p>
<p>Hon. Calc & Human Anatomy </p>
<p>than</p>
<p>AP Chem
AP Calc
AP Bio.</p>
<p>that's what i hate about college admissions. they don't even know what people personally have to go through in their lives & they measure the hard work of teenagers using 2 BS capital letters.</p>
<p>i'm supposed to stress myself to death & take AP Chem, AP Bio (which is more environmental anyway), AP Calc (which is 2 PERIODS LONG in a 9 period day with mandatory gym & lunch & english), & AP English.</p>
<p>i took AP U.S. History last year & it was extremely easy.
:|</p>
<p>do you think that Brown won't even look twice at my application if my transcript is not full of AP classes? The Honors classes HOLD NO WEIGHT? Nor do extracurriculars? it does not matter how hard Honors classes were in our school? it only matters that i did better than my peers (of whom AREN'T EVEN APPLYING TO THE SAME SCHOOL).</p>
<p>...wow.</p>
<p>there's like 60 people max. in our Honors/AP circuit at school.
i'm taking 2 APs; i have 3 in total.</p>
<p>60 out of 585+ kids in our grade.</p>
<p>& i'm nothing without those AP classes?</p>
<p>You're freaking out but basically:
1) You'd be in a better position as a pre-med student taking AP Calc, AP Chem, and AP Bio.
2) If kids at your school are taking on that challenge and doing as well as you are or better or even a little worse, they're going to be looked at more favorably.
3) Your school's profile will contain information which will help Brown determine what a hard schedule looks like at your school.
4) If they're offering two AP sciences and you take neither and you're looking to do pre-med adn you're not in an AP science or an AP math it's going to look bad generally.
5)AP Bio may have more environmental than Anatomy, but is far from "mostly environmental".
6) Many people manage that many APs and extracurriculars and have lives. If they can pull it off and you can't is that not one of the better indicators that they're more ready to take on Brown's challenge than you are?
7) It doesn't matter your peers are not applying to Brown. We're looking for the best students, period. If there are a solid handful of better students at your own school, and that can even be determined by your weaker schedule, then we're not going to think you're a top student relative to everyone in the country. It will be seen that you did not step up to the challenge of rising to the top even in your own school, how can we know you're in the top of the country?</p>
<p>All of this, actually, is complete common sense. None of us are admissions counselors so we can't tell you what will or won't happen, but I will tell you that not taking one of the strongest possible schedules at your school will be a huge hurt to your application at any top school, not just Brown.</p>
<p>Welcome to the world of selective college admissions. You may not like it, but this is the reality. </p>
<p>If you love science and want to be pre med, then you need to take the appropriate AP classes. Do you think pre-med courses in college are easy? There's no easier schedule in college. You took AP English and AP History, but are not taking the science and math APs (except Chemistry)? </p>
<p>Your guidance counselor fills out a form where s/he checks off if you've "taken the most challenging schedule the school offers." Brown is looking for students who take the most challenging schedule. </p>
<p>There is nothing wrong with your schedule (I guess there are 2 of you, jovial jai and jeulscadey with this issue) -- you can get into a really good college taking a mix of honors and APs. It probably won't be an Ivy. There are dozens -- hundreds, even -- excellent colleges out there that are not Ivies. </p>
<p>And frankly, when I consider your aversion to AP classes in the light of an average of 94 and an SAT of 2010 -- you definitely need to look at schools below the Ivy level. Apply to one Ivy as a super reach, but be realistic.</p>
<p>a 94 gpa isn't bad, is it?</p>
<p>A 94 GPA is great. Is it good enough for the Ivies? Depends. Weighted or unweighted? What's your rank? What's the grading policy at your school? Did you take the most difficult classes offered? Does it include gym and art, or just the core academic classes?</p>
<p>we don't have rank anymore.</p>
<p>so i should switch into AP Bio?</p>
<p>& modestmelody, i don't why you're surprised that i'm freaking out.</p>
<p>you are all basically saying that b/c i've taken mostly Honors & not enough APs, my grades & GPA are bs & i can't get into my first choice school.</p>
<p>so please give me a reason to NOT freak out. :|</p>