do colleges see classes offered at your HS?

<p>My HS offers weak courses, so my question is whether or not adcoms will be given a list of courses offered at my HS so that they could see I take the hardest courses offered at my High school.</p>

<p>As far as I know the school report simply asks for the number of AP classes offered at a High School.
But if your school regularly sends students to a particular college/university, chances are good that an adcom there knows the course offerings.</p>

<p>well my HS rarely sends anybody to a top tier college and those are the ones i'm pursuing.</p>

<p>Ask your guidance counselor to see your school's profile, which they send to colleges with the counselor recommendation. My school's profile lists every course available to us, as well as average SAT scores, averages AP scores, and how many students enroll at which colleges every year.</p>

<p>I think they usually include your school's profile regardless of asking, but I could be wrong... either way, that would help you out, or you could attach a note to the application explaining that your school doesn't offer many classes (although this may backfire, as you could possibly take classes at a community college or university with dual enrollment, self study, etc.).</p>

<p>i admit to some level of ignorance, but how is a freshman high school student suppose to know so much about dual enrollment or taking courses at a CC. I have heard a little about taking courses at a CC, but i also heard it is costly and I can't really afford it. I have actually never heard of dual enrollment. My school really doesn't mention this stuff, and I've only heard about courses at a CC near the end of my junior year when my relatives mentioned it.</p>

<p>Taking courses at CC is free in my area and i thought it was that way everywhere..</p>

<p>Yes, a school report is sent so they see what classes you have taken in context of what is available.</p>

<p>hmm, what would I do if classes I took in my high school offers dual credit at a local CC. Should I still consider myself enrolled in the CC? or how else should i handle those credits.</p>

<p>The counselor usually says something about how your classes look compared to what the school has, I think. On some applications I've seen the GC part has like a questionaire with a questions about how hard the classes this student took are and then the answers range from "hardest possible" to "easiest possible." I think that there will probably be something about your course level in your application from your GC rec or school profile but you should check to be sure if you don't know.</p>

<p>If you go to a private school, colleges usually can easily check online.</p>

<p>well the problem is that I go to a bad public school that likes to hide the fact that its weak. We have banners saying we are a top 10 model school in the USA based on some magazine rating. supposely we implemented a wierd occupation system that doesn't really work anyways. </p>

<p>I am just afraid our school report will try to make itself look better than it really is.... which is only 2 AP classes offered + scheduling conflict + only like 10% of the students go to a 4 year institution.</p>

<p>I don't see how they can lie about how many APs they have. I mean they could, but that would be wrong. If only 10% of students go on to college, then they aren't going to want to make an applicant look worse, they will want to make them look really good. Only collges will see the profile they send with the applications, actually only the admissions person. Not the public. So they don't have as much incentive to lie as they would on, say, a letter to all the parents of students entering your school. </p>

<p>You GC recommendation should include something about how you challenged yourself based on what the school has to offer too. I mean they only have so much to write about when they don't really know you like most larger public school GCs, and your courses/grades/activities are one thing they do know, even if they have no idea who you really are.</p>

<p>hmm I do hope the school report would say that. My fear is that they won't include any information that would harm the schools image (so maybe not even include number of APs offered?).</p>

<p>I guess the only way I could know is ask the counselor for the school profile she is sending in.</p>

<p>By all means, go and ask to see it/ask your GC's opinion about how you think colleges will view your schedule. You might not get anything of value, but you can try if you're unsure. Just, you know, be polite in the phrasing, not like "Our school sucks so much so I want to make sure colleges know it sucks" ;) </p>

<p>If colleges ask to see the course list they have to say how many APs they have or outright lie. However if you are shown it and it does not include that information there may be another way to note this to admissions yourself (although like someone else said, if it is a school where students from your school have gone before, they may have already obtained this info). If you interview you could tell them this information (again don't make it sound like you're whining about your school or sounding unspirited. Just say that there are only two AP classes if you have the chance to talk about your schedule or something). You could also email the admissions officer yourself with your concerns, if they have a regional one or you find out who is assigned your application. again not in a whining way (i'm not saying you sound this way, just a warning to avoid it) just an informative one. You just don't want to sound conceited because that would probably create an unfavorable impression.</p>

<p>When I became a senior, my high school decided to drop AP Govt because it could not afford to continue offering it. Even though the course had been offered the previous years I was there, students aren't allowed to take it until they become a senior. I was pretty upset about this change, especially because I planned to major in Govt/Political Science. </p>

<p>I was planning on attending a UC, which allows you to check the course list for your high school online. Unfortunately, this list included the AP Govt course even though it was no longer available. This was probably a bad decision, but I ended up making a note of this fact in the last section of the UC application where it asked if there was anything else I had to say or something like that. </p>

<p>Maybe you could do the same if the schools you are applying to don't do interviews?</p>

<p>hmmm I might ask my counselor to include it on the part she sends in. hopefully that would work</p>