<p>I'm a junior in high school looking to apply to selective colleges. My list currently includes Princeton, Yale, Pomona, Tufts, Vanderbilt, UNC Chapel Hill, UC Berkeley, and UCLA, among others, and probably Columbia ED.
My question is, if I take six APs will that be enough to get in to any of these schools? I know that colleges look to see whether you've taken a challenging course load considering the offerings at your school, and that the number isn't the most important thing. My school doesn't really offer APs freshman and sophomore year (except for French and Spanish, and thats for the native speakers and the immersion kids), but this year I'm taking AP Spanish Language and APUSH. Next year I'm taking BC Calc, AP Psych, AP Chem, and AP Lit. While I was going to take AP Stats my junior year and AP Spanish Lit my senior year my parents intervened and refused to let me sign up for those. (They can be overly cautious; my sister and I still have to go to bed before 10:00 on school nights. Not that I don't appreciate the sleep.)
Is six APs enough if my school offers twenty total? I know I sound stressed but I'm worried that they won't think my courses are rigorous enough overall.
Thanks for any help!</p>
<p>My school offers about 25, and I’m taking 10 total. Many competitive applicants (Princeton, Penn, Cornell, JHU…) from my school only take 8. Considering that your school offers fewer APs than mine does, I’d say that it’s probably fine to only take 6. However, will those spaces in your schedule be filled with honors courses, or standard courses? If they’re honors, that’s fine, but if they’re standard, that may not work out so well.</p>