<p>Post-high school, I hope to attend a top-20 ranked college post-high school.</p>
<p>I am aware that colleges at that level use transcripts for two things: GPA and course-list. Here is mine; is it good enough? If not, my senior year schedule can still be changed.</p>
<p>9th Grade:
Honors English
Honors Geometry
Honors Science
Honors US History
French 1
Band</p>
<p>10th Grade:
Honors English
Honors Algebra 2
Honors Biology
AP US History
French 2
Band</p>
<p>11th Grade:
AP English Language
Honors Pre-Calculus
AP Chemistry
AP World History
French 3
Band
Health (1 trimester; graduation requirement)</p>
<p>12th Grade:
AP English Literature
AP Calculus BC
AP Physics B (if not enough people take the course, it will be Honors Physics instead)
AP Microeconomics (1 trimester)
French 4
Band
US Govt and Citizenship (1 trimester; graduation requirement)
Life Fitness (1 trimester; graduation requirement)</p>
<p>My GPA average about 3.95-3.97 UW with this schedule. </p>
<p>How is this transcript for applying to a Top 20 institution? On par with accepted students?</p>
<ol>
<li>Just a good schedule isn’t enough to get you anywhere near having a good chance at schools as selective as the ones you want to go to. </li>
<li>Colleges judge you by what was available at your school, not what other applicants took at their better or worse schools.</li>
<li>You’ll have a better chance at any college if you find a reason for liking it other than its US News ranking.</li>
</ol>
<p>See if you can take some of the graduation requirement courses online/during the summer, and try to fit a couple more AP classes in your schedule (maybe 1 more in Sophomore/Senior year, and 2 more in Junior year). </p>
<p>If you get around a 3.9 to 4.0 GPA, that’ll have you set for the School-Portion of your application to a top 20 school.</p>
<p>In order to get in a top school though, you’ll also need to work hard like **** on extracurricular and things you’re passionate about. (i.e if you like science, try to place high at a fair like Intel or Siemens, if you like programming, win a couple of hackathons and make some apps, if you like writing, enter some contests/create a school magazine, etc).</p>
<p>Just saw that you were also self-studying 5 APs, that should be good enough.</p>
<p>Please note however, that no matter what your intentions are, that there will always be a negative-bias towards AP classes like Enviro, Psych, Stats (somewhat), and Econ, as many other students abuse them due to their perceived lessened work-load compared to other APs, so I would still consider adding at least one more AP for Junior year (Physics C mebbeh?).</p>
<p>Edit: I just read your post more closely and realized you’re not as young as I thought you were.</p>
<p>Try to take the AP Biology exam at some point if you still remember honors bio. If you’re already comfortable with the material, a month or so and a good review book are enough to get a 4 or 5. See if you can do the same thing for US government when you’re a senior.</p>
<p>Regarding self-studies…I decided to only self-study 4 classes for this May (2013): European History, Comparative Government and Politics, Environmental Science, Psychology. Those are going well; I expect at least a 4 on all of them.</p>
<p>My school does not offer AP Physics C, and from the look of the rumors being circulated at the school right now, it seems that AP Physics B will not even be offered so it will just be Honors Physics. </p>
<p>The only real change I could make at this time (as I am a senior next year) is changing band to AP Biology (they didn’t have AP Biology when I took biology as a sophomore). Dropping band would cause me to lose my section leader spot on extracurricular jazz band, and make me lose my vice president of band position on the cocurricular band council. Please advise?</p>
<p>My extracurricular/leadership basis is on par with people who get into the Top 20 schools. I just wanted to see if my coursework was as well.</p>
<p>I would not be able to take the AP Biology exam, because I wouldn’t be able to take it this year, and if I self-studied it next year, college applications would be completely over by May 2014. I could self-studied biology and take the SAT Subject for it in October, however. Advice?</p>