<p>As a student, I feel like I have very strong stats (4.0 UW, 800/800/710 on SAT, 35 ACT, AIME qualifier, varsity sports, leadership positions, academic team national qualifier), but there is one weakness in that I didn't take the most rigorous possible schedule. </p>
<p>Here is my junior year schedule:
Honors English 11
US History
AP Chemistry
AP Calculus
AP Physics C
Advanced/Honors Spanish 4
AP Psychology</p>
<p>Notice that I did not take APUSH. The reason for this is that even though I was signed up for APUSH, I had to drop it down to regular US History because only 6 Honors/AP are allowed. Now, I could've dropped AP Psych for a study hall, but I actually like Psych and didn't want to take it Senior year as I already had enough classes scheduled out there already. </p>
<p>So, I took regular US History and studied for the AP exam on the side. I'm almost certain I got a 5 on it(consistently got 90%+ on practice MC tests, and I killed the Reagan essay on the actual exam[I like politics a lot]). Does the 5 on the AP test make up for not taking APUSH? </p>
<p>The other class I didn't take was "AP Literature", but in our school, Honors Classes and AP classes are worth the same on the GPA scale (5.0 as opposed to 4.0), so I'm not sure if that would even count against me. I liked my Honors 10 teacher, who also would be the Honors 11 teacher, which is why I took that class.</p>
<p>Would this hurt me?</p>
<p>Colleges would prefer you take the class and the test rather than just the test, but taking APUSH was never obligatory in the first place and you don’t need to “make up for” not taking it. </p>
<p>Honors > AP in most cases. It doesn’t matter how your school calculates GPA. (I mean, my school considers regular classes and AP classes the same.)</p>
<p>I don’t think it will hurt you with the rest of your schedule, but there is a section on the Common App Writing section called “Additional Information” to explain. My son put a couple line items for things like that – why he had a double-early release every other day was to attend his internship during the school day. You could put, “School does not allow more than 6 AP/Honors classes, so I took regular history but studied extra material for the AP exam and received a __.” Just a suggestion – I am not an expert.</p>
<p>Colleges would prefer you to take the class and take the AP test, but really, that schedule looks very rigorous. Since it is over and done, there is nothing you can do now. Don’t look back; just look forward. I’m sure you will have some great college options.</p>
<p>Here’s the crux of my question. Some say that top colleges consider it a must that you take the most rigorous possible schedule at your school.<br>
- Is this really true that these colleges are looking for if you ever took anything slightly less than the hardest class in any discipline, or are they really just looking at whether you took a challenging course load overall? How big is the penalty for not taking the most rigorous schedule? Is it the same penalty if you took my courseload vs. all regulars or is it a gradually increasing penalty? (I’d assume it’s the latter, but college admissions sure seems crazy now)
- If the answer to 1 is yes, do my 2 explanations (APUSH + Honors English 11) work or not? Or is the difference so insignificant that the colleges would still basically consider it the hardest possible schedule anyways? Note that I’m the only junior taking Physics C and one of four taking Calc BC, so does the “extra rigor” of those courses outweigh the slight downweight in history/English?</p>
<p>It is not a “must” but an expectation that you challenged yourself as much as possible given the structure and norms at your school.
You did take the most rigorous schedule available to you – maxed out on Honors/AP right?
And this should come out in your counselor recommendations - they can note that you took the most the school policy would allow you to take.
You have completed a very rigorous year, you should be proud of the schedule you did.</p>
<p>
That doesn’t mean they reject you if you miss a single class. Almost no one actually takes all the AP classes offered, unless they only offer three or something. If your school only allows you to take six AP classes, then that is the most rigorous possible schedule. A lot of schools have restrictions like this. </p>
<p>@halcyonheather that’s not true about honors vs AP. AP > honors because it is college level work. Most schools weight college level classes higher than honors classes.</p>
<p>I know. I meant the opposite of what I said. </p>
<p>No, it won’t make too big of a difference. </p>