Is this considered below average?

Applying to College
1

<p>I'm a Junior (only a few more days until I'm a senior :) ) and this year I only took 1 AP class and that was AP US History.</p>

<p>I took one honors class in addition to the AP class as well - Honors English. our school doesn't offer AP English Language so Honors English is the highest english you can take junior year.</p>

<p>In freshman and soph years I have always taken honors history and honors english and have always scored high in them. I have however been on the "regular" science track. I am on the 1 year accelerated math track, but our school doesn't offer honors math until you get to AP Calc.</p>

<p>So, in total (F, S, and Jun. year) I have taken 5 honors courses and 1 AP class.</p>

<p>Next year however I am taking 6 APs and 1 honors course to try and make up for my lack of APs Junior year.</p>

<p>Will my lack of APs hurt me?</p>

2

<p>I only have one AP this year and that is AP Calc AB. I don't know if this is below average though.</p>

3

<p>colleges take into account how many classes you had the opportunity to take. if you couldn't take more than one junior year, then taking one is just fine.</p>

4

<p>well, theoretically it is possible to deck out your schedule in entirely AP and one honors class junior year but you have to be super accelerated... you have to be in AP Calc, 4th year Latin AP, AP Bio, and you could finish up with a few AP electives like Comp. science and Art History.</p>

<p>this means that you must have started Algebra in 7th grade, foreign language in 7th grade, and must have taken Bio and Chem before 11th grade (I had to take Chemistry this year because I decided to take phys. scie. in 10th grade, dumb mistake)</p>

<p>However, I think the average college bound student at our school only takes 1 AP Junior year...</p>

5

<p>also, i will be loading up on my senior year to be able to make up for my "weak" junior year... </p>

<p>Junior year I took:</p>

<p>AP US History
Honors English
Trig/Pre-cal
Chemistry I
Latin III
2 credit filler elective</p>

<p>Senior year i'm taking:</p>

<p>AP Gov't
AP Literature
AP Calculus AB
AP Chemistry (for some reason I really liked chem class)
AP Latin: Virgil
AP Computer Science
Honors Physics</p>

<p>Do you think my awesome senior year schedule will make up for my weak junior year schedule?</p>

6

<p>I will be taking AP Cal BC, AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Physics C, US History, US gov' and Eng 11 next year...
weird and hard schedule.</p>

7

<p>i think it's fine....i does depend on how many courses they offer though</p>

8

<p>well according to the school guide they offer 16 AP classes but a few usually get scratched because not enough kids sign up for them so it's more like 12 APs are offered...</p>

9

<p>"Average" is such a strange word in the world of colleges.</p>

<p>Average on each SAT section is around 550 or so... yet most people here seem to consider that a score worth commiting suicide over.</p>

10

<p>I was talking to two friends and their kids, by the time they graduate from HS, will have taken 9-12 AP classes. My DD will have taken no more than 6. All the kids go to very good public schools in the NYC suburbs--but their schools offer more AP courses and a more direct route to get into them. </p>

<p>You want to look good compared to kids in your school. So if 2 AP by the time you graduate is very impressive in your school, that's great. My friends' kids, on the other hand, have a pretty long row to hoe, with 12 APs ahead of them!</p>

11

<p>I went back and looked at some of your old posts to see what colleges you're considering. You seem to have a pretty evenly distributed list, selectivity-wise (this is just from a glance, so correct me if I'm wrong and you're applying to a lot of reaches or something).</p>

<p>Just_Browsing is right- CC will skew your perception of normalcy. Your application will be very strong, and obsessing over minor flaws like a weaker junior-year AP schedule would seem crazy to a lot of other college applicants.</p>

<p>(Obviously I don't know you at all, so the following is based on the info in this thread and my own inferences and may be totally irrelevant...)</p>

<p>However, if we're talking about top LACs (like Trinity) and top 25 national universities (like Cornell), your school will tell them how many APs were "offered" to you (in your language track, etc) and how many you took. Your guidance counselor will then indicate whether you took the hardest courseload available to you, or whether yours was lighter than that of some of your classmates. Colleges will see that you are not one of the "super accelerated" students at your school, but simply very advanced, which may (and probably will) be totally okay.</p>

<p>What I'm worried about is your ability to handle that courseload, and keep up well with your classmates. You'll probably have kids in all your AP classes who will probably have experience with juggling more than one AP. It's hard! College adcoms may feel the same, and ask, Why did she jump from 1 AP to six APs?</p>

<p>When top-tier adcoms look at your application, they want to see that you have taken the toughest courseload available to you and excelled in those classes. If you struggle under the six-AP load next semester and your GPA comes down, even 3 or 4 points, some adcoms may read your transcript like this: when she was taking easier classes, she did well. Then she tried to bite off harder work, and it was more than she could chew. Does she know her own abilities well? Does she have a good work ethic? Will she be able to handle the hard work at a top-tier school? Did she force herself to take on the six APs, knowing the risk, to try to "make up" for her weak junior year when it came time to apply to Cornell? (That last one is not necessarily a good thing.)</p>

<p>Basically, that "awesome senior schedule" may not seem so awesome or simply great when compared with your weaker junior year, and especially not if your GPA comes down with those more advanced classes. Please know I am in awe of your workload and really applaud your conscientiousness and intelligence. I'm only repeating what Michele Hernandez and others have said on this subject.</p>

12

<p>thanks for the response magnolia, but let's just say i completely kill the first semester of my senior year and end up doing just as well in those classes as I've been doing in prior years, which basically means a B in Calculus and Latin and a B+ or A in everything else, won't that look good? </p>

<p>i'm not worried about doing well, i know i can. </p>

<p>i just thought it would be good to show schools that I am capable of the toughest schedule possible...</p>

<p>also who is michelle hernandez?</p>

13

<p>My school offers AP:
french
comp sci
spanish
stats
music theory
calc
english lit
us history
european hist.
biology
physics
gov.
chem
env sci.
art history </p>

<p>Don't worry too much, OP, if you're planning to take that much APs in senior year. I'm registered to take 3 APs for Jr. year.</p>

14

<p>It will look great! I know you're totally capable of those grades. Don't worry about it. I was in a similar situation- my school just started offering APs (only 2) this year, both of which I took, and I signed up for four in senior year. It took a lot of meetings and reassuring people that I could do it and they didn't need to obsess over my stress level to get my schedule the way I wanted it, but I'm all signed up now. So good luck to both of us!</p>

<p>Michele Hernandez wrote A is for Admission, which has some great (albeit harsh) tips on this and every topic related to college admissions.</p>

15

<p>buuuuuuuuuuuuuump</p>

16

<p>you guys r all lucky...</p>

<p>none..no honors classes..</p>

<p>except in Freshman yr..at a different school i took adv. classes(English 9A and Global 9A) but those dont count really...everyone has to take them in 9th and 10th grade the only optional adv classes start in 10th in science and math(i didnt go after freshman yr there tho)</p>

<p>no im at a small school w/ 0 aps/honors</p>

17

<p>i think they give you slack though since your school has no APs</p>