A lot of ivy league schools and top 20 schools I’m looking into are liberal arts colleges. I’m a heavy STEM person and have taken several AP stem courses(Stats, Calc, Chem, Environ Sci, Comp Sci) but I haven’t taken any AP humanities courses like APUSH or AP English. I starting to develop an interest in politics now but I have nothing on my transcript to show that side of me.
Does anyone know if liberal arts schools–particularly Yale, Brown, and Pomona-- look for AP humanities courses. Else is there any way to make up for the past 3 years in which I haven’t taken these types of classes?
***I’m a junior this year so much time until college apps
What are you planning to take senior year? Adding one or two AP Humanities classes might behoove you. AP Lang, with the right teacher, should help you improve your writing. Some teachers will include some college admissions essay writing in their class.
They may not look specifically for AP/IB classes in those areas, but yes, most of the top schools recommend 3-4 years of history, English, a foreign language, etc.
You’ll have to check the requirements at each school to see if you meet the criteria. Section C5 of the Common Data Set contains useful information. For example, Swarthmore’s CDS says this:
Swarthmore does not require a specific high school curriculum. It is recommended that students pursue four years of English and at least three years each of mathematics, the sciences, and history and social studies; the study of one or two foreign languages; and coursework in art and music.
The top tier colleges will want to see the guidance counselor check the box on the recommendation saying you have taken the most rigorous course-load available at your HS (which doesn’t mean taking every AP class – there is often some latitude in this). Ask if your prior, current, and projected HS schedules will be sufficient to get that most rigorous box checked.
Absolutely, it’s the nature of the competition that your missing AP humanities wil be, well, missed. But you have a bigger issue here- you should know what they do ask for. The most viable candidates will have stretched in a rounded, academic way.
And, don’t apply to Brown (or any school offering this) without understanding the goals of the Open Curriculum. How did you choose these targets?
There are other top colleges that word it even more vaguely than Swat. But savvy is to cover all the bases.
Maybe the OP wants access to excellent programs in fields such as math, physics, chemistry, biology and geosciences along with the top social sciences and humanities programs that liberal arts colleges offer, @bopper.
I like the ambiance of those schools. I thought Brown’s open curriculum was really neat since you can pretty much design your own path. Many liberal arts schools are undergrad focused and I like the well-rounded education.
Be aware that designing your own path doesn’t mean only stem, if that’s your primary interest. Imo, you need the rigor in humanities, as well. Can you get in both APUSH and AP English next year? And if you want to express some interest in poli sci, it would be good to have some related EC or vol experience.
I’m going to assume you don’t particularly enjoy the humanities classes, or you’d have taken more by now. So I’d suggest that you might want to at least visit a couple of more tech focused colleges.
First question is always whether you’re in shooting range for those schools, to begin with. You’d need to check your gpa/scores against what they show (we usually suggest at least being near their 75th percentile.) Your AP test results need to be high, you need the right ECs- and the rest of how you match what any target looks for. It means researching the colleges to the right degree.
You’ve named 3 schools with high competition. Other kids will apply with it all, including rigor in the humanities. Get a look at the Common App and any supplements. Make sure you run the Net Price Calculators, (if applicable,) and can afford your targets.
Then, triage, to see what you could do to fix any gaps. But understand that you have many college choices out there that could fit your interests and your own profile. You could look at the NYS Guaranteed Transfer program. Be sure you’re building the right list of targets. It may not be Top 20. It may be that 20-40 range. Or not. We don’t know your details.
Weren’t you signed up for APUSH at the beginning of junior year? Did you get bumped or drop it by choice? Can your GC make an exception to get you into APUSH (or AP Euro or another core history? ) Can you get a summer or online course or DE? But you need to stand back and rationally explore. Talk to your GC.
Moving schools does complicate some kids’ lives. But you do what you can.
Could you get a dual enrollment US history class (not necessarily a survey class, a seminar on, say, Reconstruction, would also work) and a philosophy class (shows rigor in the Humanities)? Either during the year or during the summer (and not at the same time if over the summer)?
Do you like humanities and were unlucky with class choices or did you dislike them and made the choice not to take rigorous Humanities classes till now and a new realization of your college goals?
I’m a current Biology/Music double major at Middlebury College (one of the top LACs) and in my high school years I did not really take many humanities APs (I took APUSH I think and maybe one more?) and was heavily STEM focused as well, but then again my school didn’t really have many APs to start out with… As long as you are good at what you do in STEM, I don’t think that your lack of AP humanities courses should push you back at all!
I would just warn you that I think many liberal arts schools require distribution requirements that belong in the humanities departments (history, philosophy, literature, etc) but just one of each (this is all based on my school), so it isn’t too bad as long as you do just one per semester like I did!