Can summer pre-college classes make up for lack of AP classes?

A recent Dean of Admissions at Princeton said specifically that academic summer courses do not impress them. That’s first hand, not “I heard”. To a follow up question “even if it’s because the student has a real interest in the subject?” the response was “it won’t hurt you, but it won’t help you”. The same Dean said "we don’t care whatyou do in the summer- we care that you do something’.

Don’t over obsess about APs. You have a strong story- and you are in the kind of school where the GC/CC knows you well enough to say ’ @CrisPapr04 made the tough transition from the LD program to the Mainstream program. S/he really put her/his back into it, and the performance in grades 10 & 11 reflects that effort. Unfortunately for @CrisPapr04, we use Grade 9 marks to select for APs, so s/he was ineligible for those courses. However, s/he has taken the most rigorous courses available to her/him, and has excelled in them.’

Put your focus on what you can do this summer that links to a real interest.

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