<p>To get into HYPS or a school of about the same reverence one must take the hardest classes and kill themselves with APs and honors.</p>
<p>its not certain truth for everyone, but that just happens to be the case for most people who want to go to one of those schools</p>
<p>Supposedly if you don't take the "most rigorous" course load from your high school, they don't love you as much.</p>
<p>But the admissions processes are so unpredictable that nothing is certain, I suppose.</p>
<p>Myth.</p>
<p>I got into MIT, which I realize is not HYPS, but I definitely did not take the hardest courseload available at my school. The kid who did got rejected. Another guy also did not take the absolute hardest courseload and got in.</p>
<p>But it's worth mentioning that we did challenge ourselves and took plenty of APs/honors...just not every single (non-foreign language) AP/honors available.</p>
<p>Amazing squirrels, mind sharing the numbers of APs and honors offered compared to the number you took? Thanks</p>
<p>8 honors offered, I took 2 (I skipped honors foreign language into AP, and 4 of the 8 honors were foreign language)...so like 2/4?</p>
<p>16 APs offered, I took 5; 4 of the 16 are foreign language (one of which I did take), 1 is Art Studio, and 1 is Calc AB (I took BC)...so it's more like I took 5/11.</p>
<p>I also took a ton of advanced math classes at a local college.</p>
<p>The guy who was rejected took like 12-14 AP/honors or some ridiculous number like that.</p>
<p>[Edit: Just counted. He took 14.]</p>
<p>I've heard from some admissions folks that they want you to challenge yourself but they don't require masochistic schedules. i think you should take ap classes in classes you enjoy and are truly interested in. if you think you truly will not do well in a certain ap class, take honors. but if you think you can handle it then take the ap class. but i think they really like when you zero in on a certain passion and don't take classes just because they will increase your GPA. i know i hate biology and i could have taken AP biology and done very well but i didn't because i hate the subject. i really like physics but i'm not very good at it so i took physics honors rather than AP. i turned out pretty well.</p>
<p>OP, you already knwo the answer.</p>
<p>Lol FellowCCViewer, we already have different answers so your assumption is pretty arrogant.</p>
<p>MIT's definitive statement on this issue: </p>
<p>MIT</a> Admissions | Blog Entry: "Many Ways To Define "The Best""</p>
<p>to put it simply, no. the people I have known who have gotten into Yale EA and MIT EA definitely did not take the hardest courseload available. the Yale EA took like 4 or 5 APs out of the 12 or something that our school offers, and the MIT EA took 6. they had other things going for them though, like excellence in track or great research.</p>
<p>I'll go with #3. Good answer.</p>