<p>I've noticed that all secondary school reports ask the guidance counselor to rank the rigor of the applicant's courseload. My GC assured me that my courses would definitely be considered "most demanding" when compared to other students in my school. But most of my classmates aren't exactly "aiming high," so none of them have taken a courseload that could strictly be called more rigorous than mine, even though I could have taken another AP or two. </p>
<p>As a result, there seem to be two different "rankings" of a student's courseload:
1) rigor with respect to other students' courseloads
2) rigor with respect to the hardest theoretical courseload at a school. </p>
<p>There also seem to be two different "judges" of a student's courseload:
1) the guidance counselor, who wants to defend the applicant and prefers ranking #1 (in my opinion, at least)
2) the adcom, which looks at the "big picture" and would probably prefer ranking #2 (or so I'd think...maybe an admissions officer could clarify this?)</p>
<p>All of this seems terribly confusing. Before this year, I never would've thought that people would take courses just to make themselves look impressive. My school offers 7 AP classes, and I was only allowed to take one of them (Chem) before senior year. I'm taking three more this year, as well as two honors classes, and two electives (gasp!). I actually *have * to take one of those electives, though, because my school has an art requirement. Ironically, the class in question - computer graphics - is actually harder for me than any AP class (which I have all A's in for the first quarter), because I'm not very good at visual arts. I've really enjoyed challenging myself in that class, and have probably learned more (in terms of skills, NOT facts) than I would've in AP Bio or whatever. The classes I'm in are all genuinely interesting to me...we don't have AP Physics, so I'd rather take Physics 2 Honors and self-study the AP than take AP Spanish (I've already taken four years of a language I dislike...is that enough? I want to learn Japanese in college, so it's not like the AP test would count for anything). </p>
<p>Off-topic rambling aside, I'd like to know if adcoms honestly take that "most demanding" option seriously. GCs are obviously trying to get their students accepted, so it seems to be of little value. On the other hand, colleges only have so much time to spend per applicant...</p>
<p>I don't think it's possible to make an apples to apples to comparison from kid to kid or school to school. </p>
<p>For example, what about the kid who WANTS to take an AP course but it won't fit in his schedule? He has to settle for honors. So, technically, he's not taking the most demanding. How should GC's report that? </p>
<p>One would hope he's labeled "most demanding" because its the most demanding load <em>available</em> even though it's not the most demanding offered. But, who knows. I think the GCs are rather subjective. It's just one of those variables in life.</p>
<p>The adcoms want to what you did with the opportunities you had at your own school. Thus, course rigor depends on what is offered at your school and it is not compared with the other students from your school. If you go to a school that offers many AP classes and you only took a couple, then its not too rigorous. On the other hand, if you go to a school that only offers 4 AP courses and you took 3-4 of them, it would a rigorous curriculum.</p>
<p>The guidance counselors at the high schools that I am familiar with (here in Arizona) evaluate "academic rigor" with respect to the overall course offerings at their schools -- the O's "hardest theoretical course load." They do take into account general school requirements (for example, if a class in fine arts or theology is required for all) and scheduling restrictions particular to that school (for example, if students can only take one AP class before their junior year). They do NOT compare one student's course load to another's.</p>
<p>Adcoms are helped by the school profile which gives a comparison in terms of results for the school on standard tests like SAT I, SAT II, AP, relative to grades given, and such. You may be able to get a copy. It typically lags one year, so you would get the one that includes last year's senior's results from your HS. We got a copy last year when D was applying.</p>
<p>High school profiles are in the public domain. Any student or parent who wants a copy should just ask for it. And I recommend that you do. I have seen high school profiles that omit very important information. For example, one school in my area does not indicate that it offers honors courses on the Profile and while the transcript contains a letter (not "H") next to courses taken at the Honors level, there is no key that explains that X means Honors. I've seen other HS Profiles that fail to note that some courses are college-level courses for which SUNY credits are offered. All college-bound students and parents should be familiar with what their HS Profiles are saying.</p>
<p>totally agree with hudsonvalley; In addition, if your school requires certain qualifications/testing/pre-requisites to go into AP courses, it should be on that profile....unfortunately, it often is not.</p>
<p>Thanks for your input, guys. I just picked up a copy of my school's profile for the class of 2008 from the guidance department. Between the school report form and the profile, it's interesting to see the amount of info that adcoms have to work with.</p>
<p>I think they rely on the school profile and on GCs to tell them what "rigorous" means at that particular school. My school, for example, offers many APs, but it wouldn't be possible to take more than 5 or so of them total because of the way the school tracks students.</p>