<p>My high school offers no AP classes. Very few schools in my area, if any at all, offer the IB program.The highest math class offered is pre-cal, and we are only offered 2 years of foreign language. The clubs that are offered to the students at my school are mediocre at best, hardly ever meet outside of the school day, and have never won ANY kind of awards.My question is how are any students from my school/area suppose to compete with other applicants to top tier schools? It seems that even if a student had a 4.0 and great ACT or SAT score they wouldn't have a shot up against applicants from other schools.</p>
<p>Top schools are constantly searching for “diamonds in the rough”. Who are these kids? Kids who perhaps, attend a school district like yours but swim against the tide. For example, they find they finish their district’s math offerings as a sophomore and attend higher math classes at the local community college. They aren’t joiners but they take action on what interests them. They truly hunger for knowledge and action. </p>
<p>The top schools search high and low for these types of kids. </p>
<p>Now the question for you: are **you **one of these?</p>
<p>My son self-studied for 4 APs last year, 3 of which were not offered at his school (Calc BC and the two Physics Cs). He had his counselor order them and took the tests at his school. He also created his own volunteer-service website to bring non-profits together with student volunteers.</p>
<p>You don’t always have to take the “pre-packaged plan,” there are plenty of ways for you to define your own path. The less opportunities you have locally, the greater any of your self-designed accomplishments will look by contrast.</p>