<p>@Limesoda - For Harvard, Yale and Stanford: with only a single AP for which you did not earn a 5, no SAT II scores, an average ACT score (for these schools), relatively few honors classes, and unexceptional ECs, I think your chances are very low (less that 5%) unless your essays, recommendations, and interview are exceptional.</p>
<p>For the others - somewhat better. Most of them are still reaches. Do you have any backups or is this the full list of schools you intend to apply to?</p>
<p>Obviously your school is small, so as for the AP’s did you take all your school offers? If you did I think you’ve got a great chance. I’m in the same situation there if that is the case.</p>
<p>Your EC’s are a little weak, I agree with BldrDad there, so maybe (if you haven’t already) talk about something extremely important you did for one of them. The Vandy supplement requires that you do this anyway, so choose something about the EC’s you do have that is original. </p>
<p>Not having APs due to size of schools won’t count against you as long as you took everything that are offered by your school. I have to say that your ECs are VERY weak for Ivies, stanford, Northwestern</p>
<p>@paul2752 - I don’t agree, or else HYPS would be full of valedictorians from small schools with weak academics. They are not - most the kids attending those schools come from high schools with proven track records, or have found some way to showcase their ability academic outside of the school, not simply by doing the most rigorous curriculum their school offers. Ultimately, unless one has a hook, it’s necessary to prove that you have what it takes to thrive academically, or you are not getting in.</p>
<p>I meant this: Not having at least 6-7 AP tests/courses will make the applicant quite less competitive than other candidates but if the OP’s school offers very few AP courses, the admission office will consider(not much) such handicap.
Not that it won’t matter at all. The student still needs other things that will prove why he deserves to be accepted.</p>
<p>Yep, that’s the position I’m in. My school only offers 3 AP classes, and not all of them every year, but I’ve made up for it with other college-in-the-hs types of classes. It really is difficult when your school doesn’t have a huge class variety. Mine doesn’t have any kind of honors classes since it’s so small, but as far as I know colleges take this kind of situation into consideration when looking at rigor of your classes.</p>