<p>Once upon a time, my small NYC school had 7 APs. Now, because a teacher retired, we only have 5. In addition, of the 5 APs we have, we can only take a maximum of 2 per year provided that one of them is AP Calculus. So basically, if you wanted to take AP Language and Composition and AP Environmental science, you couldn't. AND you can only take APs starting junior year. I really wanna go to a competitive school private school and I have a 3.5 UW GPA and I am in fact taking one AP. I plan on taking that AP Calculus course and one more next year, but will this hurt my chance at admissions? How will my 3 APs compare to the rest of the country?</p>
<p>Calculus and one of the English ones would be among the two most important ones.</p>
<p>Which AP courses does the school offer, and how have A students in the courses done on the AP tests?</p>
<p>Colleges generally don’t hold it against you if your HS has such restrictions on APs, but I would advise that you need to make sure you take the maximum offered, do very well, and make sure the three you take are “core”. Don’t waste one of your three on AP Enviro. AP Calc, AP Lang, and one of the core AP Sciences or APUSH are going to be the three you want if you want to maximize the impact of your APs.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus We currently have AP Language and Compostion (I am enrolled), AP Literature and Composition, AP Environmental Science, AP Calculus AB and BC. Previously, we had World History and US History but as you know, they are no longer available. @MrMom62 I have a 97 in Language and Composition. But I feel like if I take AP Lit, it won’t show how advanced I am in various subject areas ya know? And I have always excelled in science and the APES teacher is writing my letter of rec. So I’m kinda torn lol</p>
<p>You can self-study for APs and then take the test. There are study books and practice tests. The tests are on set days (as you probably know) however you sign up for them through your school. In S’s case he did European History self-study last year and is doing Art History self-study tomorrow. Talk to someone and see if it is a possibility for next year if you are really committed to it. You can also organize a study group with other kids. S’s school will probably not have enough kids signed up for AP Stats so he is going to get a small study group and prepare for it together (outside of school).</p>
<p>Since your Social Science APs are gone, I can see the reason you’d take AP Enviro. I agree that would be better than taking AP Lit after having proven yourself in AP Lang.</p>
<p>I’ve never bought much into self-studying for APs - I think taking SAT IIs are more valuable than a bunch of self-reported APs. If you want to spice up your application while only having 3 APs, find an SAT II that could show broad knowledge not already demonstrated, like a foreign language, history, or a hard science.</p>
<p>Discuss your “school profile” with an adviser, to be sure that it’s clear you have taken the “most demanding available” courseload. Is your school private, or a public charter? How small is it? Does it have a Naviance site? You should be able to consult its acceptance histories. </p>
<p>@woogzmama It’s a small public school and my class just started using Naviance. We have weird classes and things. Like, we have a 3-D printing class, a class on Fairytales and Fantasy Literature, and Global Feminism. All of which would make me well rounded, but they aren’t that demanding. Oh and Do you know where I would find acceptance history on naviance?</p>
<p>There should be a page for acceptance histories, although a small school might not have a lot of usable information. My kids went to a private school (500+ students, about 125 per class), which did not provide figures for some colleges if only one or two kids had applied over past 5 years - there were privacy/confidentiality issues. You should have a college counselor or adviser at school who can show you the figures. Find out about its college admission records. Some specialty schools simply don’t offer many official AP courses, but they are respected for rigor or for curricular originality. They might make admission to large public universities, with fixed requirements, a little more problematic - that’s where your college adviser should come in. Some liberal arts colleges might embrace the idiosyncratic curriculum. </p>
<p>A small school that just started using naviance will likely not have any acceptance history available. Ask a guidance counselor.</p>
<p>I went to a very large high school that didn’t offer any AP classes in the 70’s. It now offers only about 6-8. Many students from this school go to top colleges. There is a college just a mile away, and the thought is if you want to take a college level class, go take one. There were a few kids every year who had completed all the math or science the high school offered, so they took the next level at the college.</p>
<p>Some schools just don’t see the need to offer an AP class when what they offer is challenging for the majority of their students. Other schools offer a bunch of AP courses but they really aren’t taught at a high level and most students score only a 2 or 3 on the exam.</p>
<p>@mathmomvt no, I mean that my grade just started using it. The school has used it for 3 years</p>
<p>In any case, ask a guidance counselor if they have historical data available. Our school has been using it for many years, but doesn’t have any, I think because the number of students applying to any one school is fairly small, so it would give away people’s scores. And it’s not a tiny school (about 200-250 per graduating class). Or it may just be that they don’t bother entering individuals’ results – my senior son’s Naviance page shows “unknown” for result under all his schools he applied to. All I know is if I try to look at the historical data it tells me there isn’t enough data available to plot it.</p>
<p>^^I’m thinking someone either hasn’t configured it right or has the setting set too high on hiding data. (Or someone never enters the data.) Our school is only slightly larger than yours and has 10-12 years worth of data, but very few top 100 schools come up as blocked for lack of data. (Certain small schools with particular test combinations are most likely to come up on ours.) I would talk to the schools GC and ask why you can’t see anything, unless it’s just a matter of which schools your son applied to. </p>