<p>I know a white, nonlegacy guy. He got into a couple topish publics and privates (UM is one, ftw) with straight As in no honors/AP classes</p>
<p>This is more common than some people would think. Often, it’s as a transfer student after a break in school, a military stint perhaps, followed by an extremely successful attempt at a community college or state school.</p>
<p>I took one AP in high school. I was accepted to two different top ten schools.</p>
<p>Don’t sell yourself short. If you expect to get into a quality school, TAKE honors. I dropped out of honors in high school( well, i got kicked out for attitude problems/lack of care ). Competition is fierce, and you are not doing that much more work. If I were you, I’d have my parents complain that you aren’t in honors classes in the rest of your subjects. That could make or break you from going to a tier 1 school. It really is a deciding factor if you decide to go out of state, as institutions require out of state candidates to a higher standard. My recommendation: get into all honors classes and start your high school strong. Nothing is harder than raising your GPA up after you tanked a class with a B/C. Don’t forget to live a little too, you’re only 14-15. Also, challenge yourself; why take some class you can fall asleep the entire sem in and ace. Just my 2 cents.</p>
<p>I read that the reason you’re expected to take the most rigurous classes available is that colleges want to know if you’re the type of person that will push himself the most s/he can with what s/he has.</p>
<p>^ I don’t think you’ll have any chance at a top 25 school with 1 or 0 honors unless you go to a magnet/private school that’s advanced and doesn’t offer honors/AP.</p>
<p>To be honest, you’re insane if you don’t take Honors and AP. You will be better respected for making a couple B’s and having a rigorous course load than getting straight A’s in regular classes. Colleges get a list of classes that were available to you, along with a list of classes you took. When they see that you did not take the hardest classes available, your application immediately carries a lot less weight. And no, there is no way in heck anyone in-state in UNC and UVa would get in without honors and AP. I have a friend that is in-state in North Carolina, has taken honors and several APs, and is still concerned about accepted. They have a 99 acceptance difficulty ranking for a reason.</p>
<p>But say you go to a premier college prep school, where they do offer honors classes in 5/8 of the classes andthey offer around 14 APs, but 8 are the most you can take one year? It’s a college prep school and it’s suppose to be hard at the regular level, but it does offer honors and APs.</p>
<p>I think you should schedule a meeting with your GC!</p>
<p>Why do I need to schedule a meeting with my GC?</p>