<p>Hi. I will soon be a high school senior this fall year and I am not taking any AP classes like many of the "Ivy" prospects, and I was wondering if taking any of the AP classes was fundamental to be accepted to Yale? And is National Honor Society also as important? Please reply...</p>
<p>I just went to an admissions presentation last night, and while he never said that it was neccessary to take AP classes, he said that in terms of the transcript, they look very closely to see that you took the most difficult classes your school offered and did well in them (as most ivy's do). They care very little about AP scores on your application, but if your school offers AP or IB courses and you're not taking them, i imagine that it would look bad on your transcript.</p>
<p>What he said about APs... If your school has em, take em. NHS is complete ********. I don't think they really care, but it is nice to have an extra line on your resume.</p>
<p>If your school offers APs, you MUST take them. You don't have to take all of them, but you do have to take enough for your counselor to consider your transcript "most rigorous".</p>
<p>or at least have a counselor that will pretend you have the "most rigorous schedule"</p>
<p>It really sucks that in West Virginia you have to take 1 year of health and 1 year of PE to graduate. What a waste!</p>
<p>Taking AP is really hard here. We have block scheduling so you take 4 classes every semester. To take AP math (our only one is Calculus) you have to double up one year I think, and then senior year AP Calculus takes up two of your blocks. AP US History takes up two blocks as well. So does English, and any science. None are offered until senior year (except APUSH). So basically you could have 5 APs at the most, but that would be a really hard year plus you have other requirements you have to fit in somewhere.</p>
<p>My school does offer AP classes but I was careless and ignorant of not taking any, so my chances of being accepted are futile?</p>
<p>I would say it is highly unlikely to get into an Ivy league school without showing that you took the most rigorous schedule possible- never say impossible, but if I were you, I would look at other schools that would be a better match. Taking AP's usually prepares you for the academic rigor of schools such as Yale,etc. and it would be a rude awakening to hit one of the first tier schools without adequate prep. That being said, there are many high schools that offer no AP's, etc and those kids do get into great schools- its just that it is harder once you get there.
check with your guidance counselor and see if they have a list of schools that might be a better match.</p>
<p>How do you think schools like Yale or Harvard would view a freshmen applicant who has an AA degree from a good CC (earned during highschool) compared to students who took AP's or did IB?</p>
<p>to tell you the truth. I think AP/IB classes are harder than Community College Classes. But that's just me.</p>
<p>Possibly and probably hehe...
However, I was homeshooled through HS, so my options in that regard were a bit limited. I could have self studied for AP's though - hopefully they will view me and my dual enrollment courses as a student commited to making use of available educational opportunities.</p>