How many Aps?

Applying to College
1

My school pretty much only allows you to start taking Ap classes as a junior. This year (junior year) i took AP Psychology and AP human geography. I also took honors physics, honors italian, and honors gov and econ. My regular courses were precalc and british literature. Does this put me at a huge disadvantage when applying to very competitive colleges? I plan on applying to NYU stern, Carnegie Mellon, UCLA, USC, Cornell, UVA and a few others. Next year I am taking 5 ap classes (Calc, Micro, Environment,Italian and Computer Science) and one honors class (literature). Will taking a stacked senior course load make up for my somewhat light junior year course load? I mean, I have a 3.8 UW GPA but I am just unsure if my semi rigorous course load will hold me back.

Any advice will help.

Thanks

2

How many APs could you have taken this year? If you could have taken 6 and you took 2, yeah, it’ll hold you back because you haven’t taken the most rigorous course load. The senior year courses will look good, but any early round schools will not know if you can handle it because they won’t get your grades, only your schedule. But there’s nothing you can do about it now, move on.

3

@jamesjunkers yeah I could have taken 6, but only took 2. I just wasn’t as determined as a sophomore and didn’t really think much about my schedule. Now I regret it a lot haha

4

Try to get a 5 in the ones you do have and straight As in everything else. I think it will depend on the school and what you are applying for

5

@SaphireNY Yeah hopefully I get 5s, but these are my grades:

AP HUG: A
AP Psych: A
Honors Physics: B+
Honors Italian: A
Honors Gov and Econ: B+
Precalc: A
British literature: A

6

School looks at your schedule in the context of your school. If you take the most rigorous classes available in your school, you will be fine. Try to get 5’s in May!

7

Not all AP’s are viewed equally so you should take the highest level course you can manage. For example, AP Physics C and AP Chemistry are generally viewed as higher than AP Biology, AP Environmental Studies, and AP Psychology. Likewise, AP Calculus BC is higher than AP Calculus AB, and both are generally viewed as higher than AP Statistics.