Took Online AP Classes to prove rigor. Now that I learned they don't matter, am I screwed?

Applying to College
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I personally only took 1 AP in school my sophomore year and 3 APs in school Junior year due to a) scheduling conflicts - I couldn’t take AP Psych/APES in school because there was no space and couldn’t take AP Stats in school because no space in my schedule b) me not wanting to take AP Lang/Euro . The overall difficulty of my courses (AP Calc BC, APUSH, AP Bio) could not warrant taking another difficult course like Lang. I could only afford to take APES or Psych because Lang would push me over the edge. However the school did not let me take either.

Therefore, I decided to take AP Stats in sophomore year online and APES and AP Psych my Junior year online, but I am now realizing that colleges don’t care. Personally, I am hoping for T15 schools like Duke/Johns Hopkins, and frankly my in-school rigor is just no match for their expectations. I have invested a lot into strong extracurriculars, like published [research],patents, camping in olympiad. It would hurt to see my chances diminish because of this.

By the way, my counselor specifically recommended that I take it through UC Scout, and “guaranteed” that colleges don’t judge it any differently

Kids in the top 10% in my school normally take 4 AP classes as Juniors and 2 AP classes as sophomores. However lots get B’s here and there. I so far got straight A’s.

Our school doesn’t rank, but I assume every kid applying to T15 colleges like Duke) from our HS took at least 2 more APs than me, not including senior year

It is worth mentioning that I took 5 dual enrollment psych classes.

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Know that the colleges you are listing are reaches for everyone. Do not lose sleep at this point over these course issues.

Your high school transcript will show an excellent record of what you have accomplished and should show any DEs. It sounds like they do not include these external AP courses, but you will have a place to list those and you can self report all scores.

Focus on creating a balanced list of colleges that include colleges your family can afford and that you would be happy attending including colleges with 80% to 50% acceptance rates. There are great merit opportunities within those choices.

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Thank you so much. Personally, my high school does not report DEs and only reports in school classes. So I have to send two additional transcripts (DE/UC Scout Transcript)

I think DE will register will with T15 adcoms, but UC Scout is a huge concern for me.

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What comes to mind in reading your post is the “applying sideways” blog on the MIT admissions web site. The point is that the way to get into a highly ranked highly selective university is to do what is right for you, and do it very well.

It sounds as if this is exactly what you did.

However, you also need to make sure that you apply to at least two safeties.

I do not know whether this hints as psychology as a possible major. If it does, psychology is a major that often leads to some form of graduate school. You do not need to attend a “top 15” university or a “top 15 LAC” to get accepted to highly ranked graduate programs. You also do not need to attend a highly ranked university at any point to do very well in life.

I think that you are fine as long as you pay attention to your budget and make sure to find very good safeties to apply to – which is advice I would give to anyone.

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Actually, I am interested in Urban Studies and its links with psychology. I camped in USESO (earth science olympiad) and got patents/published research into the field of environmental/urban studies and its intersection with psychology

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This year’s admission cycle has been a brutal wake-up call for a lot of parents & students who thought that they had done everything ‘right’- ticked all the boxes- and were sure to get at least something they liked…and then they didn’t.

When you are in a school with a lot of students who go to fancy-name colleges it can feel as getting into a comparable school is everything- and that not to get into one of those schools is a failure. Anything you can do to start chipping away at that mindset will help you more than you can imagine.

The idea that you are screwed is both wrong and unhelpful. You have your application, your classmates have theirs. Neither you nor they are ever likely to know which elements helped your app at college a,b,c or d- and which didn’t.

Read this: Applying Sideways | MIT Admissions

It sounds as if you have already done a lot of that. Give yourself credit for that!

Then, go do some more research. Duke and JHU are strikingly different college experiences, and my money is that if you are a great fit for one of them, the other won’t be a great fit for you. The more you figure out about what sort of college is the best fit for you the better your odds of success will be- because you will convey that ‘fit’ in the whole arc of your application.

Finally, be realistic: if a school accepts 10% of their applicants, 90% are rejected- and most of the rejected ones are just as qualified as the accepted ones. As you figure out what things (besides bragging rights- which will never again matter to you as much as it will in April of your senior year*) are important to you in your college experience, look for schools at a range of selectivity levels that have those characteristics. With college admissions getting absurdly more difficult at the name brand schools (even just from my first collegekid to the last, selectivity has changed), it is just plain foolish not to have realistic plans B, C, and D in place.

*do yourself a huge favor and don’t tell anybody at school where you are applying, and every time you identify a new possible safety or match school, talk it up with friends for a few days. So, one day you tell them “guys, I just found out that X school has this amazing program where you get to do Y thing! I’m thinking that might be a great fit for me, because…”. And a couple weeks later “wow, did you all know that school M has the highest rated Z program? remember how great that was when we did it last year? I could go for that” etc. Iow, keep them guessing /don’t pin your colors to the mast. It will keep expectations low, and help you build the case to yourself for your options.

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Are you a junior? If so, you have time to change your senior schedule. Rigor matters every year but senior year in particular matters: if you really want your best shot, take the hardest classes you qualify for. Colleges like the ones you mention want students who like challenge, not hide from it, so you might as well make the most of your last year. If the idea of taking the hardest classes makes you worry a lot and it will be too much stress, then please don’t do it. But then understand that Johns Hopkins and Duke and the like are not going to be good fits for you! Why would you want to be somewhere you could be miserable? Expand your list and look for places that suit you, not just places you have heard of because they are on some list as T15.

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Understood. I am going to take 4 APs (AP Physics, AP Chem, AP Gov/Macro and AP Literature + the only honor available Senior year and Multivariable/Lin Alg, but I have to reiterate that idk if these online AP classes will make a difference. Will I be disadvantaged due to scheduling conflicts? BTW, why does senior year in particular matter for rigor?

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Why, may I ask, are you taking APs online??? I thought you are evaluated solely on the basis of what courses are available to you (ie in-person classes at your high school). Online is no substitute for deep learning with live human beings!

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Well, if you read my original post, I had scheduling conflicts with certain AP courses I wanted to take (APES/AP Psych/AP Stats). There was no space in those classes for me. I also didn’t want to take AP Lang because a) I took the community college equivalent b) number of APs do not decide rigor - type matters - I was taking Calc BC, Bio and APUSH my Junior year, three of the hardest - I cannot fit Lang without killing myself, its like taking bio and chem together. So I decided to take my desired AP courses online. However they do not appear on my HS transcript. My GC recommended that I do that, since they did not have space to take me into APES and AP Psych this year

If my online courses are taken into account by AOs, I would have taken more than enough AP Courses. However, if they are not, my schedule looks rather weak.

1 AP Sophomore 3 AP Junior In School
2 AP Sophomore 5 AP Junior In School + UC Scout
I also took 5 dual enrollment psych courses

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I don’t see how you would be expected to take more than your school schedule permits. Online AP is just watching videos, no grades?

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Oh no, seperate transcript from the school. There is proctored tests too

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I’m just not sure what the purpose of online AP is? Is it to get more college placement? I don’t think it would make the application markedly stronger. Wouldn’t it be a better use of time to demonstrate passion/success in an extracurricular endeavor? There are only so many hours in the day… Just my 2 cents…

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You are already down this path at this point and none of us have a crystal ball. No school is going to look negatively at the fact you took online courses during Covid and when you had scheduling conflicts. The bigger concern is the DE courses are not really DE if they are not on your HS transcript, so make sure you highlight those in your common app. It is a little trickier. My D21 had one like that.

There are kids self studying for AP tests and the general consensus is the top schools do not care for that process.

Is your home school allowing you to take the AP tests from your online courses at the school?

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Many schools mention on their websites that the level of rigor needs to continue senior year. Presumably they say it because they consider it important.
Will you be taking AP phys, AP chem, AP lit at your regular high school, or online? What about your math class, will that be online? I agree with others you need to focus on what your school offers and takethe APs there. If there are scheduling conflicts your counselor can explain.
Will you be taking the Official AP tests this year, from the online APcourses?

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You can have your GC address the scheduling conflicts regarding the AP classes so I do not see an issue with having been taken on-line. Yes, the schools like to see you utilize all your HS course resources but you do have a valid reason for taking on-line AP classes. I do not think this will be a problem. Best of luck.

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OP, you are most definitely not screwed. Further, I would disagree with your initial premise that AP courses taken outside of your high school “don’t matter” because my two kids (one Duke 2024, second Duke 2026, both completely unhooked) both used AP courses taken outside of HS as a key part of their successful application strategies. It can definitely be done.

Assuming your AP exam scores end up being favorable, you’ll obviously be able to list the scores on your Common App. As you’ve mentioned, you can also have your UC Scout transcript (assuming the grades are good) sent directly to colleges you end up applying to, or (cheaper option) ask your HS guidance counselor to scan any outside transcripts in and submit them with your HS’s own transcript submission. Both my kids convinced their guidance counselor to do this.

I would also disagree with the idea that the total number of AP classes (at least beyond a certain point) is going to be a determinative factor in admissions, at least at Duke. My youngest only had five scores in total to submit by the end junior year, and one of those was a score of 3. The relative strength of your ECs and meaningful community involvement are going to matter much more than the sheer number of AP courses you took at your HS relative to other applicants from your school.

Best of luck!

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Agreed, I think you reach a point of diminishing returns, after which you really need to demonstrate what else you bring to the table besides stats (at least for the top schools)…

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@Amy_C , it might help us give advice going forward if you clarify :

So, did you start in APBC, APUSH and APBio at your school junior year, then decide not to take them , and instead took APES and AP psych online? Or are you completing BC, APUSH, Bio at your school plus taking the two AP online?

For senior year, The APPhys, Chem etc: Will those be all be at your school? If not, is it because your school does not offer them?

Again , trying to clarify given your interest in T15 type schools.

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And who teaches the online AP, and at what level of rigor? How will this be documented? You really should not have to take courses online-kind of defeats the whole purpose of education (especially now that Covid is becoming manageable)…