<p>A girl at my schools has 4 AP classes and one honors class (AP lang., APUSH, APBio, AP Calc AB, and Spanish honors), while I only have AP lang, APush, and AP bio. I'm in precalculus (did not skip a math level), and I take a different language which doesn't offer any honors until AP (which I'll take next year). Is she going to have a really big edge over me? I know this sounds ridiculous, I'm just worried. Thanks :)</p>
<p>Mind you, I’m applying to really selective colleges!</p>
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Really big edge? Well, if your counselor checks off that you’ve taken the most rigorous courses available she has no edge. If the box is checked for her and not you, she has a sizeable edge.</p>
<p>Keep in mind at “really selective colleges” they consider multiple factors. Course difficulty is part of it, but they also look at scores, GPA, letters of rec, your essays, your ECs. I doubt you are absolutely identical to this other girl except for classes taken. Which means adcoms will use their judgement in weighing these differences. Of course if she’s better in all of them…</p>
<p>I’ll probably have better essays (I’m actually a person, while she does every little thing to ensure her acceptance into the likes of the ivy league) and letter of recs. EC’s are probably similar in impressiveness, I’d say.</p>
<p>It’s a shame that colleges won’t ever get to know us.</p>
<p>@mikemac</p>
<p>My advice: stop worrying about what other people do, and worry about what you do.</p>
<p>^Yeah, no kidding. The fact that your accomplishments are a function of someone else’s reflects poorly on your perspective. Kids I know who have gone to selective schools are the ones out front, not looking around or behind them.</p>
<p>Yeah that’s what I’d tell myself, but sometimes it’s hard to do so when your life consists entirely of competition. Thanks for the words of wisdom 
@middkid86</p>
<p>@jr2015br: I’m sorry your HS is like that. Mine was very collaborative and that was the type of college I eventually chose. Your nemesis won’t be in your life ever again in a few years. Just swim against the tide and slough off that competitive stuff.</p>
<p>So here is what you need to do… apply to the colleges that are truly the best fit for you. Make sure you have a good selection of matches and a couple of safeties in addition to the “really selective colleges”. Odds are good if you do your college selection process with your own criteria in mind, you won’t even have a lot of overlap with her. Unless you both apply just based on prestige/name brand – then you will be just as much of a ticket-punching cookie cutter striver as she is… So show your individuality by seeking interesting colleges outside the obvious Ivies and small handful of top universities.</p>
<p>intparent is exactly right. If you are picking schools for which you can EXPLAIN why they are the right fit (not just the standard answer “I want to go to an Ivy” – then it won’t matter about the other girl. Here is an example: my D was applying ED to an ivy as was a classmate of hers. Both top students. No one from their high school had ever been admitted to this Ivy, and there are only 60 seniors in their class. My D has a very distinct list of about 10 different reasons why this school was the best fit for her; the other student had a completely different list of reasons (maybe 2-3 were similar). Their approach to their applications was very different; their recommendations were different – and yet the courses they took were similar, their grades were similar. They both got in. Stop worrying about the “other girl” and focus on what your application is going to say about yourself – what does your transcript say about you? What do your course selections say about you? What do your extracurriculars say about you? How do all of these things cross over (think Venn diagram).</p>
<p>This is such great advice! Thank you ALL for your responses.
@T26E4 This is EXACTLY what I want in a college! Do you have recommendations?
@intparent and @momof2back2back : Great advice. I’m not looking at Ivy schools, really (there is only one that I feel I would belong), but rather some schools that I could really feel a sense of community at (this is really broad, there are specific aspects of course). </p>
<p>Thank you so much.</p>
<p>If you’re a top student, many universities have “honors colleges” and many liberal arts colleges pride themselves on their positive learning environments. Perhaps keep your ears attuned when these are mentioned. What area of the country are you open to considering?</p>
<p>I am sure you could get some good suggestions out here for schools if you wanted to give more details on your stats, academic interests, etc. Without that information we can’t help too much… I can suggest one school that is academically intense, but more collaborative than competitive, Harvey Mudd. So if you are going down a STEM path, consider it. The phrase I have heard there is that they are “competitive against the work, not against each other.” Which seems very true for my kid who is a freshman there. But STEM may not be your area of interest, so if you let us know more details about your search you may get some helpful recommendations.</p>
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<p>I also just noticed this comment. So… this is what your application is for. I believe the transcript is a pretty small part of what college look for (beyond making sure you meet their “minimum standard” for the “keep” pile of applications). Your job is to package yourself in your application so they DO get to know you. If you are strong at interviewing, you can also use that where possible.</p>
<p>I think you are realizing something that some students never catch onto. Colleges pretty much only know what you and your recommenders tell them. So you need to really think about what you want them to know about you, and do your best to make sure they get a strong, consistent picture of whatever that is. For example – one of my kids is an intellectual at heart, truly loves learning for the sake of knowing and understanding, and wanted/needed a college with a lot of other students like that. She was able to build an application that showed that – her ECs matched it and her essays as well. She carefully picked recommenders who would reinforce that idea. When her recommenders asked for information about her college search and future plans (both her GC and one teacher did), she gave them answers that were consistent with the message she wanted to convey to admissions. She got in everyplace she applied, which included some top colleges. Her GPA was only 3.7, and she didn’t have a hook except for high test scores. But I think her message was consistent and a good fit with the colleges where she applied.</p>
<p>You can’t really fake it and convey something that isn’t true (I mean, you could try, but it is much easier to mine the genuine strengths and desires you have for this process). But you can control the message to some extent and make sure the admissions committees do see what is unique and interesting about you.</p>
<p>Places that I’m considering are ALL of California, Texas, Washington, New York (City, not state), Atlanta, and Chicago.
I’m very much a person who needs genuine human relationship to feel normal, and a way that I can secure this is to be near my family. Family is nearby at all these locations.</p>
<p>I am, actually, interested in STEM! Specifically, I want to study a field that will later allow me to go into the field of oncology, whether it be being an actual oncologist and developing medicines, etc. </p>
<p>Another thing I’m looking for in a college is a super collaborative environment (as you discussed above).</p>
<p>Lastly, a crucial characteristic a school MUST have is a diverse student body. I don’t mean diverse in terms of ethnicity, but rather in terms of interests in the realms of academics, television, music, sports, philosophies. I’ve never experienced this and it is something that I’ve always wanted to be a part of.</p>
<p>That’s basically it! Of course, once I do look at school there will probably be more factors. For example, I don’t want a school with REALLY intense Greek Life (for obvious reasons reflected by my preferences above)</p>
<p>So… if you comment back, I’ll message you my “stats” and you could recommend somewhere lovely!</p>
<p>I can help recommend some places :)</p>
<p>When you PM me, please include your financial need.</p>