<p>yeah, i know the rigor of one's courseload is the most important thing. but if i took "very demanding" courseload instead of "most demanding", will that pretty much mean an automatic rejection for me? i did take more demanding classes in the humanities during my freshman and sophomore year than all my peers. but in the math/science department, i've only taken honors. i'm guessing it's an automatic rejection if you took "very demanding" but i still want to apply... :-/</p>
<p>I'm looking at Brown, Cornell, Yale, Princeton . . .</p>
<p>how strongly will it be considered, would you say? </p>
<p>like i understand is someone took like 1/10 ap’s offered, that’d be pretty bad for top-tier schools. but 5/10 + all others honors…how much exactly would you predict that’ll hurt my chances if everything else about my app is solid?</p>
<p>It will be considered strongly. I’m guessing your rank couldn’t be very high. I think it would be highly unusual for an unhooked student from an unexceptional high school (not Andover) to get into an ivy without taking the full range of top classes.</p>
<p>Colleges don’t know how many AP classes people at your school take, except what they can infer from rank. Your rank is impressive and well within range. As long as your counselor marks “Most demanding” on your transcript (I couldn’t exactly tell from your post, but at my school, pretty much everyone top 15% gets marked most demanding) and your grades in the classes you did take are top-notch, you’ll be fine. There are kids at my school who eschewed extra APs in favor of a regular weighted Lit Mag elective because that’s where his interests lie, and I’m willing to bet that that–coupled with his impressive SATs–will look better to colleges than an A/B record in all AP/IB classes.</p>
<p>You would have a shot, IMO, at some schools at Cornell. The others would probably want you to be val or sal at such an uncompetitive school and certainly to have the ‘most rigorous’ box checked.</p>
<p>But it’s more complex. If you have outstanding scores and ECs, you’re low income, first gen, from an underrepresented state and worked 30 hours/wk during the school year…</p>
<p>@ glassesarechic: thank you! wow, so pretty much everyone in the top 15% gets marked “most demanding”? dear god, that’s a relief! i was worried that since there are like…those handful of kids who have taken more than 5, i’d automatically get marked “very demanding”. </p>
<p>what if–for some odd reason–my counselor did mark “very demanding”, but my rank is high? what will the colleges think then?</p>
<p>The colleges get enough info through your school profile to make their own determination. They will see what was available and what you took. Many profiles also do not average number of APs taken, so don’t believe everything you read on CC.</p>
<p>Different schools/counselors have different approaches for what constitutes ‘most rigorous’. When I worked in admissions we took or own look.</p>
<p>Your counselor should be willing to tell you where you fall in his opinion, it should not be a mystery or secret.</p>
<p>ok, so i guess it’s up to the colleges to decide if my courseload was rigorous enough. well, hopefully they do! but even if they don’t, i hope it doesn’t ruin all my chances if everything else is good. <em>crosses fingers</em></p>
<p>It really depends on school/teacher. A friend of mine got A in physics B and 3 in AP. He didn’t send AP score. The teacher gave almost everyone A as long as he/she didn’t miss 1/5 of classes. The test was a joke. Students knew questions/solution ahead. The teacher/students studied the solutions before the test. Not surprising, the highest score in AP is 3. Most were 2. Yes you can say the course is very demanding.</p>
<p>look at the “school info” on the common app - I think it’s the last item on the left bar. This is what your school will fill out and send to colleges.</p>
<p>In some of the recommendations my S’s GC filled out, they were asked to mark how may AP courses were offered in the school. So if the school offered 10 and you took 2, you should have some explanation, or how will you show rigor? Also, Admissions Officers have told me that if people take AP courses but not the exam, then it looks suspicious. If you took 7 AP’s and 6 exams that is ok, but if you took 7 APs but 1 AP exam, than adcomms want to know why?</p>
<p>The school profile is info on the school that gets sent out with the transcripts. They differ greatly from one school to another but usually list the classes offered, give grade distribution info, school SAT/ACT/GPA data, demographics, etc.</p>
<p>“So if the school offered 10 and you took 2, you should have some explanation, or how will you show rigor?”</p>
<p>Well, I took 5 out of either 9 or 10 offered at my school. So I think it shows a pretty good amount of rigor. But if it doesn’t, what would be a suitable ‘explanation’ to offer? What would be an appropriate way of explaining that I’m not passionate about learning math and science…I don’t ever want to lose my love of learning (and piling on 10 AP classes would probably make me start to feel like I’m just overwhelming myself with every rigorous course just for it to look good on transcripts, not because I genuinely and honestly am interested in the subject matter) or feel like I’m taking a class that I’m not engaged in at all. But I doubt those would be suitable explanations. :-/</p>
<p>Our hs has a little brochure that they send to colleges. It details enrollment, what courses are offered, percentages of students that take them, things like that. I think that is what is meant by the school profile. It gets sent with the GC recommendation.</p>
<p>Our hs has a little brochure that they send to colleges. It details enrollment, what courses are offered, percentages of students that take them, things like that. I think that is what is meant by the school profile. It gets sent with the GC recommendation.</p>