<p>I am a senior & am aspiring to go to an ivy league (particularly Columbia). This year I am taking 5 classes (3 APs) so I was wondering if taking 6 classes would look better to get in or if I should take a class at my local community college (I was thinking about psych so I could take the AP psych test).</p>
<p>The only problem with my community college is that the professor that teaches Psychology gives grades out haphazardly, resulting in a lot of people getting Bs and Cs (I am a 4.0 student - I've never gotten a B).</p>
<p>Aside from school (I've taken 5 APs & 4 honors altogether), I also do dance, volunteer as a french/english tutor, volunteer at a local library, work as a ballet teacher, am on a dance team, am president of a language honor society, am on a dance team, and can speak 4 languages (self-studied). I also got a 2270 on my SAT (800 in writing, 720 math, 750 reading). So is it necessary for me to take a community college course to beef up my transcript? Because I feel like I'm nothing compared with people who take 5 APs in their senior year alone.</p>
<p>First of all, if 3 AP’s is the most your school offers, don’t feel bad that you’re not taking 5. Admissions officers judge the difficulty of your coursework in the context of your high school, meaning that, as long as no one else is taking more AP’s than you, 3 AP’s is just fine.</p>
<p>As for the CC classes, that’s entirely up to you. If you think it would screw up your GPA, don’t do it. But otherwise, I think it’s a great idea that would show extra initiative outside the high school classroom. Also, see if you can take classes online; that’s an option for most kids living in suburban or urban areas in the United States.</p>
<p>Good luck! Feel free to send me a private message if you have any further inquiries. :D</p>
<p>Check with the school to find out their policy on community college courses taken and pretty much everything else you asked. </p>
<p>I don’t think you are considering taking one of these for dual credit, as it sounds as if you are looking for something to replace AP, but I found that the dual credit classes my daughter took will transfer as full credit at public schools but Dartmouth (and probably others but that was the only one we asked) won’t accept them as dual credit. They will only accept dual credit classes taken at a regular university. </p>
<p>They will take them as high school credit, so it might not matter at all in your case -</p>
<p>I’m just saying that schools tend to vary on their policies so it would probably be best to get it straight from the horses mouth as to exactly how they would credit those classes. They might even note that you are taking the initiative to seek out and research more challenging options, on your own…good luck!</p>
<p>my school offers around 12 APs (4 languages, 3 sciences, 2 literature, 1 computer, 2 history). So at 5 APs, I’m taking just under half of those. Is that considered good?</p>
<p>The reason i am planning on taking the class at the community college would be as a substitute to taking an ap psych class at school (since it’s not offered). Then I would probably take the AP Psych test in may. </p>
<p>but besides that, do my extracurriculars & everything else look good enough for top schools like columbia?</p>
<p>Good enough? Yes. Good enough to guarantee acceptance? No. Still, self-studying for four languages is very impressive and hard to come by in an applicant. Also, it’s cool that you’re a ballet teacher, although I’m not sure how common that is.</p>
<p>If you write great essays and have good teacher recommendations, you’ll have an above-average shot at Columbia. But please don’t bank on acceptance there; an Ivy League school is never a guarantee unless you’re a qualified recruited athlete or qualified kid of a multi-millionaire donor.</p>
<p>That being said, I still think you have a good shot. Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>thanks to everyone. i just want to know if I actually have a chance at top schools like columbia (i’m applying to harvard, yale, columbia, georgetown, & either upenn or wash u) or if i should just not apply to those & instead focus more on the UC system (i live in california)</p>
<p>With a 2270 on the SAT and a 4.0 GPA, it would be very foolish not to apply to Columbia if you love the school. :)</p>
<p>That being said, you should certainly apply to some safeties and matches because, well, dreams don’t always come true. Besides, all the UCs are great schools.</p>