<p>what is considered rigorous to top schools?</p>
<p>It’s in the context of your school. If your school offers 10 AP classes, you should have taken some of them, for instance.</p>
<p>Basically what #2 said. If your school offers AP Chem and AP Bio, then you best be taking both or as many AP courses you can take without going overboard and doing poorly in them.</p>
<p>And if your school doesn’t offer APs, it means whatever is the most challenging offered - whether it be IB, Honors, classes through a local college, etc.</p>