<p>Would only taking a few AP courses put me at a disadvantage for applying to Harvard? </p>
<p>At my school, there are only three AP courses offered. One in 11th grade, AP U.S. History, and two in 12th grade, AP English and AP Calculus.</p>
<p>Now, I am only a sophomore, but it isn't long until scheduling for next year, and it's (obviously) never too early to start thinking about college.</p>
<p>I hear about and see all of these people who are taking 6+ AP courses in just their senior year alone, and I feel weird with only having two available AP courses my senior year. My school offers many "honors" courses, which are weighted (half as much as AP courses), but it just doesn't seem as impressive as an AP course. Also, the majority of students at my school take honors classes, so being "honors" doesn't really mean much.</p>
<p>I'd appreciate any help! Thanks everybody!</p>
<p>I don’t think the amount of AP’s your school offers matters. This is a factor that is out of your control, and the admissions committees understand that not every school can afford to have every single AP (or IB) offered. However, what you should be doing is taking all of the hardest classes you can (pretty much all honors). So I would take all of the honors courses that you can and all of the AP’s (two in your case) that you can with the two years that you have left, that way you can show other colleges (as well as Harvard) that you have the motivation and drive to take and complete hard classes…despite your school’s lack of AP courses.</p>
<p>Hope that helped somewhat.</p>
<p>Thanks for the help/advice!</p>
<p>Going along with that, are colleges able to see the courses that my school offered? Like, would colleges be aware that I am taking that hardest courses available?</p>
<p>As long as you take the most rigorous schedule you can and do well, it won’t put you at a disadvantage. Realize though you can still take AP tests without AP classes, if you know your good at say, chemistry, you could take the most advanced chem course your school does offer, get a AP chem review book, self study,take a practice test, and if you do well, then take the exam. Taking AP test without the courses would show admisssions that you’ve taken advantage of all your schools options and then some. Granted, only take the test if your reasonably sure you’ll pass it.</p>
<p>Admissions will know your taking the most challenging courses available from your guidance counselor.</p>
<p>You are evaluated in the context of your environment. Take the most rigorous classload available to you and pursue CC/online classes if you can.</p>
<p>Not to sound stupid, but what is “CC?” </p>
<p>I plan on talking to my guidance counselor in the near future about some alternative options.</p>
<p>But, as far as taking AP tests (for chemistry, say, if I took honors chemistry my junior or senior year) without taking a legitimate class for it, and only using an AP book, would it be worth it? If I only scored a 4, or even a 3 at worst, would it still benefit me to have taken the AP test?</p>
<p>Once again, thanks for all the help everybody! It is much appreciated.</p>
<p>You can’t go wrong with taking the AP test, even if your school doesn’t have the AP class to cover it. If you can show schools that you had enough commitment to take (and pass) the AP when your school didn’t offer the course, it will reflect very positively in your application. However, in the chance that you receive a score below a 4, you’re not <em>required</em> to submit that exam score. So really, there is nothing to lose. (I would try to get a 4 or better on it though)</p>
<p>“CC” can mean two things on this forum:</p>
<p>-College Confidential (this forum)
-Community College</p>
<p>Glasses was talking about taking community college classes while still in high school, which isn’t really a bad idea.</p>
<p>I concur with the advice to self-study and take a couple of APs. It shows ambition and willingness to go beyond the constraints of your school. Human Geography would be a good one, Env Studies is supposed to be an easy self study, and if you take HS Calculus, then you could sit for Calc AB. But you would need to do these no later than your JR year if they are to be visible on your application.</p>
<p>Again, thank you all for all of this advice!</p>
<p>So, as far as the APs go, should I self-study my senior year, or just my junior year? Possbile APs that I could take my junior year would be (only two of these) Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, or Physics…? If self-studying, which Physics would you recommend? Also, which of those four sciences would be the easiest in my situation? I plan on taking two (honors) of those sciences each for my junior and senior years.</p>
<p>And incase it is important, I plan on majoring in a science in college, and might go pre-med.</p>