Hello I asked this for my S about “the most rigorious courses offered at hs”. Are they based on how many AP offered in his hs compared to How many he took, or How many he took compared to how many other students in his hs took?
For example, there are 18 AP courses offered at his hs. He took 3 in junior year, 4 in senior; while most other students took only 2 in junior year, 3 in senior year. If what he took are all core courses in AP English, Math, Social Sciences and Sciences , the counsellor will find he took the most rigorious courses in the school.
Will Yale agree with the coursellor? because he only took 7 AP, with only 3 in Junior, compared to 18 AP offered in the school.
The Admissions Officers generally know the schools that applicants come from. The ones that they don’t know are described in the report provided by the Guidance Counselor. Rigor is not determined to the 8th decimal place; it’s a bit like pornography – you know it when you see it.
(I cut and pasted my post from that thread)
Not all APs are created and viewed alike. For example, it you are a STEM person applying to HYPSM and other tippy top colleges, you should take as many of these as are offered: AP Chemistry, AP Calculus BC, AP Physics C Mechanics, and AP Physics C E&M. It’s not the quantity, it is the quality. AP Environmental Science/Ecology, AP Statistics, AP Psychology, AP Physics I (or maybe it’s called B), and to some extent AP Calculus AB and AP Biology, although AP, are often viewed in a different tier. Classic liberal arts interests would likewise suggest you at least take an English, History, and Foreign language APs.
Your son’s high school guidance counselor must complete a Secondary School Report (SSR) on EVERY student applying to college. Yale, and other colleges, trust their high school colleagues and accept whatever rating your GC has given. See page 2, upper section, especially upper right hand section of ratings: http://ugadm.northwestern.edu/documents/UG_Admissions_SecondarySchoolReport.pdf
Rigor is determined by what box the GC clicks on their recommendation. They know what is considered rigorous for the student’s particular school and that is the only fair way to do it because there is no way to compare across schools with vary so drastically. In my D’s independent school, they have almost no AP courses and are moving toward completely eliminating them. Despite this, they are very competitive in Ivy League admissions. Any interpretation of rigor must come from the GC.