<p>Hello everybody!</p>
<p>I am going to apply to HYPS this spring but I have a small problem. I don't think I have taken enough AP classes. By the time I apply, I will have taken/be in the process taking/will take 5 APs out of the 10 AP classes my HS offers.</p>
<p>But what if I self-studied for a few AP tests on my own? </p>
<p>A)Would this look bad on applications?
B) Do you think I could do this?</p>
<p>i dont see how it would look bad??? ??? ?? and if you actually wanna get into 1 of those colleges you better be able to self study some APs</p>
<p>Self studying isn't bad, won't look bad, and (as long as you don't completely bomb that exam), it will show your college that you can and will work even harder than you have to to succeed...or something like that.</p>
<p>I wouldn't self-study personally. I always need a teacher there to help me. I am an individual thinker and all, but it is reassuring knowing that someone out there is there to help me if i ever get stuck. it's a mental problem.</p>
<p>anywayy if you think you can pull it off, go ahead. but don't take APs just for colleges. I know everyone does, and I do too, so I'm not going to be a hypocrite. but getting bad scores on them just hurts you, and people who go to even Ivies don't take that many APs.</p>
<p>If you're self-studying for the APs this year and won't have taken the exam by the time the colleges accept/reject you, you'll definitely want to include it somewhere in your application that you're self-studying them. Otherwise, the colleges won't see it in your transcript and won't [yet] have the grades on the AP exams to back it up.</p>
<p>To clarify: you should have no trouble learning the material on your own, but a teacher helps by giving you tons of practice, etc. If you do self study, do as many practice exams as possible under "real" exam conditions.</p>
<p>omfg colleges dont give a **** about you self-studying APs. go do something else with your time.</p>
<p>aa6590: someone told me that many HYPS applicants average/should average 10 APs during highschool. And even though I only have 10 AP classes total at my school and will have taken 5 AP classes, I don't feel that I have taken enough of them. So self-studying isn't so much an EC or an impressive stat to an adcom as much as it is that I am actually going to take the test and need to study for it!</p>
<p>take everything...all of them</p>
<p>NO!! DONT!!! i guarantee you all the people that have been accepted to HYPS do not do such things. </p>
<p>the thing is HYPS, isnt all about being THE ACADEMICALLY ELITE. as long as u establish yourself as one of the top students in your grade, you're done with academics and u can safely move onto the toher things that make an app stand out.</p>
<p>you do what you want. go study, get 5s on 12 APs. but then let me know whether or not you get into any of HYPS. its all in the ECs because most colleges dont give a snot about APs when u apply.</p>
<p>"aa6590: someone told me that many HYPS applicants average/should average 10 APs during highschool. And even though I only have 10 AP classes total at my school and will have taken 5 AP classes, I don't feel that I have taken enough of them. So self-studying isn't so much an EC or an impressive stat to an adcom as much as it is that I am actually going to take the test and need to study for it!"</p>
<p>Complete lies. Whomever is feeding you such misinformation obviously has it in for you.</p>
<p>(just kidding, but seriously...get a grip)</p>
<p>i think it all depends on how difficult your counselor ranks your courseload on the secondary school report.</p>
<p>no wait, I KNOW that's the only thing that ivies care about. how can they compare your courseload to everyone else's out there? what about schools that don't offer as many AP's? its that magic bubble mangggg</p>
<p>and self studying APs, lmaoooooo freak</p>
<p>i took 30 APs...got 5s on all of them, and was rejected by HYPSM, i was also rejected by Baylor and UT</p>
<p>Self-study only if you're interested in doing so or in the subject. Or if you have too much time on your hands...</p>
<p>@willigetin
wow , really?</p>
<p>So what is a good number of APs to take? </p>
<p>My problem is this: I didn't take any AP classes in Freshman or sophomore year (I was homeschooled). I took a college math class, but I don't think that counts as an AP class. </p>
<p>While I want more APs, there is this little voice in the back of my head that tells me taking 8 APs in Senior year after only taking one before is going to look like I am building my resume to try and impress adcoms. I am still a little confused. </p>
<p>(Note: my freshman and sophomore year, my homeschool curriculum was a self-taught program out of Texas Tech University. Entering my Junior year, I had a 4.0. so I learned and can teach myself extremely well. I don't know if this would help anyone formulate an opinion!)</p>
<p>OK, final question for this thread!!</p>
<p>Does this look dumb/resume padding/stupid/all of the above/__________?</p>
<p>Freshman year: No AP
Sophomore year: No AP
Junior Year: 1 AP
Senior Year: 7 APs</p>
<p>???????????????</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>No, that doesn't look bad at all. I mean, how many students take 80% of the AP courses offered to them? That, at least at my school, is a bit of rarity because a) the average student is lazy and b) scheduling sucks. I really think colleges will forgive you for not taking all 10 APs offered to you because, for one, that's hard to schedule even if you have 4 years to do it, and, for two, it's kind of a miracle that you were able to schedule that many in 2 years.</p>
<p>I don't think it matters as long as you get that "Most Rigorous Course Load Offered" from your counselor. Check with your counselor and see if he/she considers it to be the "Most Rigorous." If they don't, you might be able to appeal to them with the fact that this is really the "Most Rigorous Course Load Offered" because it might be damn near impossible to schedule a more rigorous one in the amount of time you were at your current school.</p>
<p>I don't think self-studying would help you at all, because a counselor has no way to prove or disprove this, and it's not technically part of your course load anyways.</p>
<p>I strongly disagree with the aforementioned notion that self-studying is ridiculous. What the hell is wrong with expanding your horizons outside of your offered curriculum? Do you people have no ambition to obtain any real knowledge if it doesn't show up on your precious application? And even if it weren't for the objective of diversifying your mind's bounds, would it not be feasible to self-study for the college credit, which could allow you to achieve multiple majors and minors or take part in an accelerated program to get your Bachelor's and Master's at the same time?</p>
<p>I say if you're going to self-study for the simple application boost, don't, because there's not one, and even if there were it is ethically unsound for the same reasons that it is ethically unsound to do community service for the application boost.</p>
<p>However, if you want to self-study for the pure love of ever-expansive knowledge, please, DO IT!</p>
<p>EDIT: Grammar question: Would it be "there was one" or "there were one?"</p>