It is almost the end of my junior year of high school. After sophomore year, I transferred from my old high school to a boarding school for advanced students. I wasn’t allowed to take any AP classes because I had just entered the school. I take all honors classes and have a 4.1, and most say that they have the same workload as AP classes in normal schools. And to be fair, I do have a lot of extracurriculars (volunteering, tutoring, etc.). Do I still have a chance to get into a selective school without any AP’s in my junior year? Is there a point in taking them in senior year?
If you can explain to colleges of your situation, I am sure they will be understanding. Do not worry about things that you cannot change (AP rules) and start focusing on making your overall applications more competitive for your college. Yes, take them senior year because colleges like to see that you are still challenging yourself.
I wish you the best of luck!
Take a large amount of them senior year. Senior year is just as important, and should be your most challenging course load (or equal to junior year if you took hard classes). You could also try some classes at a community college over the summer, because they are college level classes so they should be similar to AP.
Depends on your situation and how well you did in your junior year.
Sounds like you only want to take them to get into a selective college, not for learning’s sake. Pity.
Maybe you should be asking a GC at that boarding school for advanced students?
I’d imagine you have a good guidance counselor there who can discuss this with you. When you discuss this I would ask the GC to include the fact that you were not eligible to take APs in your junior year as part of his/her recommendation.
Sorry, by asking if I should take AP classes next year, I meant to ask if the stress is worth it. This year has been really tough on me, even with only honors courses. I don’t want to push myself to the breaking point, you know?
You don’t need to take 5 AP classes your senior year to get into a selective school. My question is though, what do you consider “selective”?
Yes, I was wondering that too. Are you using the term in the sense used by the US News rankings? In which case “selective” is the middle category of five (most selective, more selective, selective, less selective. least selective)? If so, then the answer to your question is yes. If you are using “selective” as a shorthand for the top tier of most selective colleges and universities then the answer is more complicated.
I mean this in all sincerity when I say that if you are this stressed out in high school, it won’t be any easier in a selective college. Taking 3-4 APs in senior year is nothing in comparison, so please consider this.
If the honors classes have a similar curriculum to APs at other schools, is it possible you could still take the AP exams to demonstrate your proficiency in the subjects?
You can take mostly-all honors courses junior year and explain in the future why you have no AP courses.
You could take the AP exams in May in the subjects you took as honors, that would demonstrate rigor of curriculum (unless your boarding school is well-known).
I would suggest taking two AP classes, including one in which you feel very well- prepared, if your school offers them. But your school may be one of the boarding schools that don’t offer AP classes because the classes are so very advanced by junior/senior year that it’s kind of pointless.
At our kids’ school, believe it or not, S says that AP Psych is only a bit harder than College Psych; AP English is “easier” than Coll English (bc of the great teacher and bc you put in the same amount of work but get a higher GPA multiplier); and other APs are brutal (e.g., Physics). So it depends. One qualifier, tho – only take APs in subjects you are passionate about. This said, you are probably wise to consider your own stress level and the fact that we all have our limits. Think about what you can realistically handle and then push yourself a bit – without pushing yourself over the edge. 