<p>So here's the dl. I'm a senior taking 5 ap's this year. I took 3 last year. I've also taken as many honors classes as possible. My school offers 17 AP classes. However, you can only take 1 ap as a freshman (not offered while I was a frosh. Only open to frosh), 1 as a sophomore (assuming you are a music lover and want to take music theory), and then unlimited junior and senior year (practically, the most you can take is 5, because no guidance counselor will let you take more). 4 AP classes offered are effectively nonacademic ap classes (not to say they aren't difficult or important, just not academic). They include, Compsci, music theory 1 and 2, & studio art. So the running total of "available" AP classes is down to 12. Furthermore, our class only offers AP Calc BC to kids who are considered "exceptional", but the program changed and I was left behind in the confusion, forced to be where I am, AP calc AB (technically 1 year above what I'm at, where it should be 2). The total is now 11. Is this how I should go about explaining things? If not, how do I best explain that I have effectively taken as difficult a course as is humanly possible at my school?</p>
<p>You don’t explain about the rigor of your courses, your GC does in the SSR. If you feel you need to, talk to your GC about how they determine which box to check.</p>
<p>I don’t think anyone would doubt that taking 8 AP courses in high school is as “rigorous” an academic program as possible. You have nothing to worry about. In cases where you don’t take many AP classes because your school does not offer them, the admissions officer will know this but I would think they might ask themselves what opportunities did this student create for themselves when they exhausted the opportunities at their high school.</p>
<p>Your guidance counselor will be asked if you took the most rigorous curriculum available in your school, and it sounds like he or she should say yes.</p>
<p>If you are taking rigorous courses because of intellectual seriousness (and not merely a means-to-an-end re. admissions), then why not look at the most rigorous undergraduate colleges, eg. Swarthmore, U. Chicago?</p>