<p>When colleges say they look at "course rigor," are they specifically referring to AP courses or do they just want four years of math, four years of language etc? The school I attend has VERY strict standards for getting into AP classes (93+ on your transcript in the class), so literally one bad grade in freshman/sophomore year will close a lot of AP courses off. Would having a lack of AP's be less terrible if say, I had weak grades freshman year that were brought up by junior year?</p>
<p>The thing is that even if all this is true there is nothing you can do about it now. All you can do is “go to war with the army you have”. You have to do your best with what you’ve got and try not to worry about what X or Y or Z thinks about it. If they think you’re a schmuck, you don’t want to go there anyways.</p>
<p>It is always a plus to bring your grades up each year regardless of whether or not you are taking AP courses. As for being shut out of AP courses because of excessively strict standards, this is something you may or may not wish to address (or have your guidance counselor address) when the time comes. Some schools in the NYC metro area that I am familiar with not only limit AP classes to those with an A or A- grade in the pre-req, but have students take screening tests as well. AP isn’t happy about this but it happens anyway. Anyway, if you work hard to get the best grades you can in the most challenging courses you are permitted to take you have done all you can that. That and make sure you take all five academic cores each year in high school and no one should be complaining about how rigorous your curriculum is.</p>