<p>Hey, I'm a Junior in high school right now and I go to an extremely competitive private high school. 99% of the graduates go to college. Needless to say, it is extremely difficult to get into AP courses here. I was able to get into AP US History, which I'm taking right now and acing, but I missed the signups for AP English Lang. and AP Chem by just a few days. Seeing as APUSH is the only AP I'm taking I decided to take matters into my own hands. I found a website that offers online AP courses and signed up for AP US Gov and Politics, and am trying to convince my mom to sign me up for two more. </p>
<p>My plan is to take 6 online. That, plus APUSH and the four school AP's I plan to take next year will be 11 AP's (BTW my school only offers about eight AP courses). So my question is: should I even bother with online AP courses? Will colleges see that I didn't take them at my school and not consider them important (even though they are certified by the College Board and all that)? </p>
<p>If anyone can give any insight that would be awesome. Thanks!</p>
<p>If you're taking the courses as a "college course" with an official transcript, you should be careful. Whatever you get, even an F, must be reported and will stick with you forever. Where ever that you choose to go, you will need to send your official transcript for college.</p>
<p>That being said, I'm sure colleges recognize that some schools do not have the availability of numerous AP courses. The online courses will help you supplement your transcript and will definitely not be completely disregarded. In all likelihood, it will be seen as an interest in pursuing knowledge beyond what your high school can offer you. Plus, they could transfer if they are endorsed and certified by your future college.</p>
<p>They arn't college courses, they are just AP high school courses. </p>
<p>And how will I explain me taking an AP course online that WAS offered at my school? Will they think I was trying to take some sort of easy way out or something?</p>
<p>If you feel it may be looked at oddly---explain it in Additional Circumstances or in some other form. I'm sure they'd understand if class size is limited.</p>
<p>^ No, contrary to what you might think, many colleges DO recognize the possibility of a limited number of AP courses and a shortage of seats/unavailability to the AP-hungry student. Think about it. With thousands of high school students applying to college, colleges must discern between which high school offer more AP's than others to equalize and put into perspective a "rigorous course". Mainly, this is what standardized testing is for. An A where you live may not be equal to an A in a poorly funded school district with easy classes. This is also what certain measures like a school's API is for (which is why you take tests for the school). This allows colleges to know how your school compares to others. </p>
<p>So, in short, colleges definitely will generally give you the benefit of the doubt due to the diversity of high schools out there.</p>
<p>Will colleges even realize that you took an online course? I've taken quite a few of them, but on my transcript, they are marked with a course # and a letter "V" (I assume to represent "virtual"). Is that the universal symbol or will they not even notice that those classes were taken online?</p>
<p>Some courses have a P or F system (most of these are not recognized/certified by colleges as transferable). I'm not sure about your V grade though. But yes, colleges will definitely see your online course.</p>