<p>Hi guys I'm currently a sophmore studying in a Canadian high school that offers IB. I was in the pre-IB in my freshman year, but I decided to drop out of the program. Now, I am self studying AP and taking the tests through collegeboard. My courses in school are non-IB not AP, but i have learned all the AP content for maths and sciences, and I am going to take the exams this may. I was wondering whether not taking the most rigorous courses INSIDE my school is going to affect my admissions. </p>
<p>If you are talking about one of the top 50 colleges and universities, yes, it will affect your chances. If you are talking about a college ranked 100+, no it won’t.</p>
<p>Don’t know if this will help but I took a total of 10 AP classes from 10th to 12th grade and also did one or two during the summer. As I attend a remote and very small rural high school, only a few AP classes were offered. I had to look outside of my school and do many of these on line with a distance learning prep program. Of the 10 AP courses, 6 were earned outside of my actual physical school. I got into Stanford and there was no issue concerning how I went about accessing the courses. I was also accepted to Dartmouth. </p>
<p>Depends on how your school counselor ranks your curriculum. If there are 10 people who are applying from your school who are considered to have a harder curriculum than you and all of you apply to the same schools, yours will be at the bottom.</p>
<p>@Sinaj Congratulations on having acceptances to some great colleges. Your situation though is different from the OP. You did not have the resources within your school and you actively sought out ways to enhance your profile. The OP attends a HS with a rigouous offering and is choosing not to utilize it. Colleges will recognize the difference.</p>
<p>^exaxtly, I chose not to opt in because a lot of the IB HL courses weren’t what I was looking for, so I decided put my time into AP outside of school </p>
<p>@skieurope
I may be missing something, but what is wrong with taking AP courses, let’s say online, if you do not like the IB courses offered at your school? The private school or whichever medium the student uses is obviously certified by the board of education and therefore has the same curriculum. </p>
<p>Is there an issue particularly with studying APs outside of class, even if you do get a good grade on the test, as opposed to actually taking the test as a result of taking the class at your school</p>
<p>The OP asked how top 50 colleges will view just taking the test without taking the class. Emphasis here is on the top 50. Once you get below that, everything changes.</p>
<p>Top 50 colleges will want applicants to take the most rigorous curriculum available at their current school first and foremost. If a school does not offer a course, the colleges will not look unfavorably on the applicant. However the applicant could then strengthen his application through online or other distance learning.</p>
<p>Colleges will not care how many AP test you have taken beyond a certain level. They are very savvy to the tricks of self-studying to rack up AP’s and they are not impressed. This is not a game that whoever has the most AP’s wins. The college will not see your AP scores until after you send them in, and it’s pointless to send them in until you have been accepted. Since most applicants will not send in their scores until after they get accepted, colleges will not take into account the scores of those that do send them in to be equitable. Although you list AP scores on your application, colleges will want verification of the scores. You list your SAT scores and GPA on the application as well, but you still have to send in scores and transcripts.</p>
<p>These top schools are looking at the strength of your transcript and meaningful EC’s** and **strong essays that show how you would be a fit to their school. Period. End of story. There is no gaming the system. The AO’s have seen it all.</p>
<p>The question was phrased in a different way, IB is not offered at my school, I am more concerned more about the fact is self-studying APs is looked down upon compared to actually taking the class. Skieurope has answered my question.</p>