<p>So, I go to a fairly small public school, and due to our small size and the rigor of our honors classes, we only offer about 9 or 10 AP classes, 6 of which you can only take as a senior. As a freshman, I've taken five honors classes, and next year I plan on taking 5 honors classes again as well as the only AP that will be available to me. But will the lack of AP classes hurt my chances of admission to top colleges? Should I self-study a few? Also, will taking standard level Spanish course (as I'd never taken a real Spanish class before) instead of honors/AP hurt in the long run?</p>
<p>Thanks! :)</p>
<p>You will only be expected to challenge yourself according to what’s offered at your school. Your guidance counselor will be asked to comment if your courses are the most rigorous offered. So it isn’t necessary to self-study APs to be admitted to a top college.</p>
<p>Schools have very different policies regarding AP tests. Some hardly accept any tests for advanced placement; others will give students quite a lot of advanced placement credit, letting students finish earlier or have more time for other coursework. You may want to research schools you are considering to see how they treat AP credit to see if it’s worth it self-studying for any tests.</p>
<p>“Only” 9 or 10 AP courses? If they are in the more “core” academic subjects (English, calculus, histories, sciences, foreign languages), then there should be plenty to challenge you. If there are in the “less rigorous” ones like human geography, environmental science, statistics, and psychology, or students taking AP tests tend to have a high failure rate, then there may be more reason for concern.</p>
<p>If said honors classes are as rigorous as you say then taking their corresponding AP test might not be such a bad idea. That is as long as you feel confident enough to cover the AP material your class doesn’t get to.</p>
<p>It shouldn’t hurt your chances, just so long as your counselor explains your school’s situation AND you utilize all those honors and AP classes as much as you can.</p>
<p>Phew! I was starting to worry, after seeing posts with people talking about taking mostly APs as freshmen and sophomores. Thanks for the advice! :)</p>