Are 7 AP classes enough for top 20 universities??

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

I’m a junior, and I’m so worried about my college admission after few months
Currently, I only take one AP class (AP Micro) and 5 honor classes (I will explain reason and my situation below)
I am going to take 6 AP classes next year which are

Calc AB (but I am thinking to change to BC after taking first 5 weeks),
Physics 1 (there is only physics 1 in my school)
Chemistry
Statistics
Human Geography
Macroeconomics

And here is my transcription for my three years in high school

9th (1st semester)
Geometry - A
Spanish 1 - A
PE - A
English 1 - C
Physical Science - A
World History - B
Journalism/Speech - A

Transferred to bigger school

9th (2nd)
English 9 - C
Health/Life Skills - A
H Geometry - A
Spanish 1 - A
World History - B
Studio Production - B

10th
US History - B
Biology - A
English 10 - C
Spanish 2 - A
H Algebra 2/Trig - A
Seminar 1A/2A - A (Seminar is like Study Hall with helping teachers, but actually it is graded)
Advanced Piano - A (semester class)
Digital Photography and Design - A (semester class)

11th
Comparative Religion - B (semester class)
Economics - A (semester class)
English - B
Am. Government - A (semester class)
H Spanish 3 - A
H Chemistry - A
Beg. Piano/Adv. Piano - A
H Pre-Calculs - A
AP Microevonomics - B (but I’m trying to make A)

And here is my situation and reason that I only have taken one ap classes
Well, I am not American, and I moved to US when I was 14 in 2013, April
Right after I arrived here, I went to private school (this school has K~12th) and attended in 8th grade for about month
After summer vacation I spent my first semester of freshmen and moved to other school because this private school really didn’t have anything for education; there is only one class for each grade, and of course there are no honors or ap classes

My second school is also private school and I am still going to this school
I started my second semester of freshmen year in January, 2014 and now I am in junior year
This school has 23 ap classes and some honor classes

But, as you see my grade, I am foreigner and not good at English, so my English and Social Studies grades are lower than other subject
I had never written formal essay before I came to this school, so I really struggled a lot about essay writing which is the biggest credit for English class
And I just want to say I didn’t know anything about how American school system goes, and my old private school was just so terrible for studying.
I struggled so much in my second semester in new school, and it seemed to be better in sohphomore than freshmen, but I was bullied and had trouble with friend even I thought about transferring again. I cried, fought with my parents, and I’d thought about suiciding many days. Now I just put my mind and having peaceful days in junior year.

My school is really strict to manage courses that require ability and responsibility for taking honor and ap classes
There are some required courses before I take AP courses,
For example, I have to take neuroanatomy before AP Psych, Calculus before AP Cal BC (that is the reason that I cannot take BC even I am thinking math major in college),

My teacher hadn’t allowed me to take AP Social Studies in 9th, 10th, and 11th grade
I asked taking AP Human Geography which is the easiest AP classes in starting junior, but department chair of Social Studies refused it.
Fortunately, I made A in regular econ, and my econ teacher knows me how I had worked hard, so now I am taking AP Micro in my 2nd semester

For about AP Science, I took Physical Science (LOL) in first semeter of freshment year in old school
So when I transferred, counselor said that Biology is a year course and I could not take this class
That’s why I took Biology in sophomore and I am taking Chemistry right now
And I asked for taking AP Bio or Enviro when I started junior year, but department chair of science refused it because I hadn’t taken Chemistry

Of course I cannot take AP Lang or Lit
I could take AP Stat, but I same reason, department chair of math refused it even I made A in this class

I just explained grade and my struggles in school
This is complicated and really long, but it seems like making excuses for bad grades lol

And again I would like to ask “Are 7 AP classes are enough to go to top college?”

Thank you for reading my long discussion

2

STOP thinking in terms of “top 20” colleges- there are hundreds of great colleges out there.

You are making a BIG mistake in NOT taking a 4th year of English and foreign language next year.
And attempting to take 6 AP classes after taking only 1 this year will be disastrous for you. Your GPA will suffer and that will negatively impact your applications.

Ditch the Statistics and Human Geography AP classes- College admissions officers KNOW they are the easy AP classes and will not be “impressed” .

As the admissions office at Stanford has repeatedly said-
We want to be clear that this is not a case of “whoever has the most APs wins.”

read what they want to see
http://admission.stanford.edu/basics/selection/prepare.html

College admissions officers want to see quality classes , not AP classes that are ONLY taken becsue they are AP classes.

. If you want to improve your chances then take 4 years of English , AP Spanish, a computer science class, a music class or something else that may interest you.

3

^agree

The leap from 1 AP to 6 APs is huge. I wouldn’t do that. Also why wouldn’t you take AP Spanish since you have an A in honors Spanish?

4

I just forgot to mention English class,
so I am taking English 11, and next year 12th English will be seminar or AP Lit
I’m not going to take AP Lit, so I will choose two of seminar-Western Lit, Crime Lit, Journalism, Southern Lit, Modern Poetry

Also I am taking Piano classes since sophomore for my interest of music, and I am not interested in computer science, also to take AP computer science, it requires to take 2D design or 3D design first.
AP Spanish is same, I have to take Spanish 4 before I take AP Spanish, that means I cannot not take AP Spansih before I graduate

5

You can still take spanish 4 and not take AP. Your goal is to pass, not get an AP packed schedule.

6

Spanish is kind of stress to me
I am making A in Honors Spanish 3, but my actual writing and reading skills are not really good
I usually make B or C on Test and A or B on quiz and my homework grade is covering my messy test or quiz grades

Or how do you think to take spanish subject test instead of taking spanish 4 or ap spanish??

7

Don’t take a subject test if you’re not prepared for it. If you don’t want to take Spanish, take science research instead.

8

choose between AP Chem and Physics, then add Spanish 4 and your piano class.
DONT take 2 Science AP classes in addition to AP Cals.
That is just asking for way too much homework.
your total schedule should be
1 AP Science, AP Calc, AP Macro, Spanish 4, Seminar English classes, Piano classes.

=6 classes which give you a well rounded , broad based schedule that will not overwhelm you and one in which you have the ability to do WELL in.

What you ARENT taking in consideration is the whole college application process- writing essays[ VERY important] , filling out college applications, filling out financial aid applications, asking your prior teachers to write letters of recommendations, making sure they send them in, etc, etc. all of that HAS to happen the first semester of your Sr year and is like JUST having to do a part time job, on TOP of all your classes.
So dont overload your schedule by taking an more or harder classes because you will need the additional TIME to apply to colleges.

9

The issue, you know, is the C’s and B’s. Did you get tutoring? In cores, you’ve only done consistently well in math, sci, and Span. Now you’re talking about 6 AP in senior year, which may be crazy. You haven’t mentioned ECs. Nor ACT or SAT scores.

As you know, your school offers 23 AP and so far you have one, Micro (which seems to be one semester, often is.) Many schools set weird restrictions on who can take AP (some kids get around this by taking summer school to make up some pre-req.) It’s not surprising they held you to honors, considering the Cs and Bs. But where they offer 23, as said, HG and stats are just not the depth “top 20” colleges look for. Mico/Macro suit kids headed for an econ major in college, but those kids usually take these as extras, not their main AP.

You need to go to a few of those target schools’ web sites and see what they want, what sorts of stretch and success they value. You would know this is more than the number of AP. And, that all-around rigor and grades matters. If you are ambitious, I seriously think you need a plan B, a college where you can thrive, do well, then ideas for taking that college record to a top grad school.

Talk to your GC for some college suggestions.

10

I understand,
I will drop one of AP Physics or Chemistry because I also worried how I can make good grade doing 2 science APs
I was going to take piano, so I will take in my mind
Also, I will take H Span 4, actually I really liked spanish last year but I hate this year because I hate teacher in this year (she does nothing about teaching, next year will be better)
I will drop HG, but I want AP Macro, because I really like that class and teacher is it ok??
then how about Stat?? I am interesting in major in Math or Stat, then do I keep taking this class??

only AP social studies that I can do next year is AP Euro and AP Gov then how do you think about it??
Well, I am not friend with history, but I think Euro can be depth in college level, I am just saying

Thank you for answering my stupid questions
I have kind of complex of number of taking ap classes
because my friends are taking at least 10 ap classes, so I thought I should take many ap classes as possible as I can take
I just look at up some admission page of top college pages and I realized they not only want GPAs, they want image of student that matches to their college

Finally, my weighted GPA is 3.73 out of 4.5, I think this is low compared to general, so this is one of my reason that I want to take many aps so it can bring my GPA goes up

+) my ACT score is 28 and I am going to take again in June and September

Thank you so much!!!

11

First of all, let me congratulate you for all of your hard work. Adapting to a new country and new language is not easy and you have done very well in many classes.

I would encourage you to take courses that are appropriate to your level of preparation where you can do well and not feel the pressure to take lots of AP courses. Continue to work on your English skills - good job bringing that C up to a B! Do NOT feel like you must take many AP classes. Here’s a good reason - many colleges are going to consider your unweighted GPA or they will recalculate your weighted GPA according to their own methods. You should be focusing on doing your very best to raise your unweighted GPA. I’m not saying you should take the easiest courses available. Continue to challenge yourself. But packing your schedule with AP courses probably will be counterproductive with respect to your unweighted GPA.

Have you taken the SAT or ACT yet? That will also require some preparation time.

There are many great colleges that will take students with a B+ average. If you are a first generation college student and a member of an underrepresented group that will also help your admissions profile.

You might want to look for a book by Loren Pope called Colleges that Change Lives for some ideas about possible schools that might be a good fit. Are you or your parents citizens yet or do you plan to obtain citizenship?

Good luck!

12

You are asking the wrong question. What you should be asking is, “Is my English good enough for me to go to a top 20 college?”. And I think from the way you have written here and the grades you have reported, that the answer is no. There is no shame in that. You are obviously bright and hard working and it is very difficult to compete with top native English speakers when you have not had much time to learn English. I would stop obsessing over the exact number of AP classes and college rankings and choose classes which will be best for your interests. You should also try to work hard on your English skills.

And please do not worry about your college admission. There are many paths to success in this country and most successful people in this country did not attend a “top 20” college.

13

" I am interesting in major in Math or Stat, then do I keep taking this class?"
NO .
One math class at a time is just fine in HS .
Take calc.
you will have more rigorous Math classes in college that stats will not prepare you for.

“one of my reason that I want to take many aps so it can bring my GPA goes up”
your GPA wont go up IF you get C’s in harder AP classes. And the chances are it will .
Your are not ready to take so many AP classes AND do well in them.

14

Colleges look at unweighted GPA. So, you want a balanced lust if classes where you’ll do well. Honors if they’re offered, and perhaps 2-3AP classes.
English seminars ; Spanish 4; calculus (ab is fine, no difference with bc for admissions, but if you get into bC be aware the pace picks up considerably); AP physics 1; AP micro, AP gov ; (both likely count as a half class); One fun class of your choice , that doesn’t require too much work, like Home economics, personal finance, current events…
I second buying the book Colleges that change lives… Read it carefully and give it to your parents, or vice versa.

15

As someone who went through a very similar experience as an immigrant student starting out from HS in the US, I can certainly empathize with you and your situation.

Your struggles with English is understandable and it will not improve overnight, but only gradually if you put constant efforts to improve. The best way to improve your writing is obviously if you keep writing. The best way to do this is to find a tutor (a teacher, a friend who is a good writer, or even a private tutor if your family can afford it) to read and critique over your writing samples. This is what I did. In college (I went to a large public U), one retired professor took an interest in me and asked if I wanted to improve my writing as I was preparing to go to grad school. Of course I gratefully accepted his offer. What he asked me to do was to read one article from any good publications (Times magazine, NY Times, Newsweek, etc.) and write a brief summary (1-2 paragraphs) in your own words about what the article was about. Then, write a short essay on whether you agree or disagree with the article (with Intro, body (providing evidence to argue for or against your view) and conclusion). We met weekly and continued our weekly session for 6 months and it greatly improved my writing skills (though my writing is still not even remotely as good as my own kids). To improve your speaking ability, you have to do the same thing, which is to speak with a native friend/classmates as much as possible. If you are shy (I think most immigrant students are initially due to language barrier), you have to make an effort to initiate and engage in conversations. This will not only improve your verbal skills but also make you more comfortable when you talk to people for the first time.

All of the advices you have gotten here are really good and you should take these advices and choose your senior classes very carefully. I would not take AP Euro or AP Gov since these two classes (at least from my own kids experience) involve a lot of writing (which can be good for you but not when you are trying to improve your GPA). I completely agree with everything the post #10, but this is probably the best advice in my humble opinion:

“I would encourage you to take courses that are appropriate to your level of preparation where you can do well and not feel the pressure to take lots of AP courses.”

I know it can sound harsh, but I also want to be honest about your chances for the top 20 colleges. With your grade and your current level of English, it will be very hard to get into any of these (or even top 30) schools. Open your mind about other schools. If you live in a state that has a very good public university (such as NY, CA, MD, TX, etc.), you should apply to those. You can still apply to the top 20 (you never know right?) but keep your expectations low and focus more on colleges that match to your GPA and SAT/ACT scores. As I said, I went to a large public U and went on to grad school (also public) and I am doing alright (I think).

Sorry for the long post but I am rooting for you, and know that there are hundreds of fantastic colleges out there that will give you a good education to succeed in life. Good luck!

16

@jhebra17 I took exactly seven AP classes (even though my school offered more). I know other students at MIT or other top universities who took zero. So “number of AP classes” doesn’t seem to be the biggest deciding factor.

I agree with other posters about your English proficiency - while I commend your abilities and improvements (English is a tough language!), top US universities generally expect good proficiency in English, and limited English skills can be an obstacle in terms of doing well there. That said, continue to work on your English by having conversations with native speakers and reading lots of books and magazines, and it will improve over time.

The good news is that you don’t need to go to a top 20 university to get a degree or live a successful life, as other posters mentioned.