Do colleges look compare your class rigor/course load to students within your school, or to all of the applicants?
The reason I am asking is because I am concerned that my lack of AP courses compared to other applicants within my school will impact my admission chances. I have taken 8 AP courses throughout high school, but a lot of people I know have taken 9-10. This is mostly because I am not taking AP Calc my senior year, so it knocked me down one ap class. My school also offers around 29 AP courses, so I’m worried that it will look like I did not take advantage of all of the AP courses available. Will the fact that I took less AP classes than other applicants within my schools look bad?
It isn’t the number as much as the quality of APs, that matters for assessment of rigor. Your guidance counselor can hopefully shed light on what is rigorous in your school. Year after year, in our HS, rigor over rank/number of APs is what matters . The school weights honors same as AP so that may be a unique issue—but every yr kids who loaded up with easier AP/honors to go for the easy As are surprised at less than ideal admission results.