<p>I just realized that my entire application could be screwed (but im only a junior so i think i have time to fix it).
Of the 19 honors and AP classes offered to me, im only on track to complete 11 of them. That probably sounds weird so let me clarify- if my school had Honors spanish in 9th grade, but i didn't take it, it would be considered in the gap (11 to 19). And not until next year will i take an advanced spanish course (AP). I also didnt take two years of honors math (two more in the gap), and three years of an advanced science. I was in regular classes instead of the accelerated ones. But i have taken 4 AP's that were not offered at my school- i independent studied them- does that help?</p>
<p>Is this going to seriously hurt my application to UPenn (maybe wharton), northwestern, NYU- Stern, and whatever else?
I dont like to fret so early in my college search, but with my strong EC's and SAT's i was really hoping to go to Penn/Wharton (ED)
I would appreciate any advice, thanks.</p>
<p>if I understand the problem completely, it seems that you didn't take the hardest courses available when you were a freshman. This shouldn't be too big of a deal, as long as you have taken hard enough courses where your GC can check the "most rigorous possible" box.</p>
<p>the GC is responsible for telling the adcom how difficult your courseload is compared to the rest of the kids in your year. If your school offers 18 AP's, and you take 3, you would get a lower ranking that someone in a school who offers 2 AP's and they take them both. I'd like to think that the majority of the people on this website are taking the hardest courses, etc. because by being on this website, there is an assumed vested interest in your own education. </p>
<p>The adcoms will look at your courseload, but only to make sure that you satisfy the basic minimum requirements (sometimes pre-calc, foreign language, etc.)</p>
<p>so what if two kids are from the same school and the guidance counselor checks off "most rigorous" for both but one has harder classes than the other? do the adcoms compare students from the same school class by class sort of, or do they just look at that ranking? also, id imagine most rigorous is check off in sisutations when it isnt exactly the MOST rigorous POSSIBLE...maybe?</p>
<p>from what i've generally read, (esp the JHU college thread...) colleges don't single out students from the same schools and individually compare them. In reality, this practice would probably take a while to do anyway if everyone submitted a paper application. Then again, I bet they input it all into a program or a spreadsheet and I guess CTRL F isn't that hard in a spreadsheet...</p>