<p>that’s great to know! :)</p>
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<p>Colleges understand what each school offers. Top ones are looking for students who have exhausted what their average school offers. They expect self motivation, natural academic curiosity to push kids to take online classes, apply for free summer programs, take CC classes, enter competitions and go beyond the school in any way they can.</p>
<p>But at the very least, they will expect the hardest course load from an unhooked student at an average high school.</p>
<p>a student who can take 10 ap’s AND online classes AND cc classes has got to be a rare thing, though. seriously, we’re human beings, not robots. we have to spend time on developing ec’s with passion and depth and a huge time commitment, not to mention everything else in our lives (family, some semblance of a life outside of school.)</p>
<p>if someone was really taking 10 ap’s and all that other stuff…it seems like the colleges would fear the student is a frenzied, obsessive, school-aholic with little social skills.</p>
<p>my friend who is taking 4 ap’s right now starts her hw right after school and stays up until like 11 each night working on it. she barely does anything else with her time. doesn’t sound like a healthy lifestyle to me. so imagine that plus online classes plus cc classes? almost impossible if someone wants to develop his ec’s in depth and have at least some kind of life outside of studying. colleges are looking for well-rounded individuals, no? not just people who obsess over school.</p>
<p>They are a rare thing. The ivies plus their peers represent under 1% of the students in the Country. Yet there’s a lot of qualified competition for every seat.</p>
<p>not every person at an ivy or one of its peer has completed such a courseload. actually, a lot probably don’t. several friends of mine got into stanford and none had even taken all 10 ap’s at our school. they also didn’t do online classes or cc classes. </p>
<p>and yet you don’t address my argument:</p>
<p>"if someone was really taking 10 ap’s and all that other stuff…it seems like the colleges would fear the student is a frenzied, obsessive, school-aholic with little social skills.</p>
<p>my friend who is taking 4 ap’s right now starts her hw right after school and stays up until like 11 each night working on it. she barely does anything else with her time. doesn’t sound like a healthy lifestyle to me. so imagine that plus online classes plus cc classes? almost impossible if someone wants to develop his ec’s in depth and have at least some kind of life outside of studying. colleges are looking for well-rounded individuals, no? not just people who obsess over school."</p>
<p>I can’t speak for your school, but many take 1o plus APs and still have impressive ECs. 35% or so at top colleges went to rigorous private schools where every class is AP level. Many others went to rigorous top public schools where 40% of the class dukes it out to be in the 7% that gets admitted to ivies plus. </p>
<p>At mid tier ivies, 40% or so were val or sal of their class. That’s the vast majority from average high schools.</p>
<p>At top schools, over 40% have hooks. They are athletes, legacies, URMs, staff and development kids. You’re right–many in these group can get away with not having it all.</p>
<p>Maybe your school isn’t average if you have ‘several friends’ who got in with less than the most rigorous course load. That would indeed be unusual at a school offering only 10 APs. </p>
<p>But I think you’re missing the fact that the unhooked at top schools are indeed a group capable of taking 10 APs while having exceptional ECs. Whether they have a life is debatable, but the 40% hooked makes the student bodies look more normal.</p>
<p>If I could go back in time I would have changed my schedule significantly.</p>
<p>At my son’s school, it is possible to take 4 AP classes per year and still have a life. His school is not known for rigor so the only way for a student to challenge himself would be to take that courseload. I think he will graduate with 9 - 10 AP classes under his belt.</p>
<p>Sometimes a school’s schedule doesn’t allow for kids to take certain AP Classes -this can happen at smaller schools where there are time conflicts. A student who’s taking AP Cal that’s only offered at the same time that AP Physics is offered, has to make a choice.</p>
<p>Did that happen to you? If so, your counselor make a notation on your transcript that schedule conflicts prevented you from taking some AP classes.</p>
<p>IMO…the pressure a lot of kids are under is insane. I know some kids having to stay up past midnight every night to finish homework. I’m sorry, but that is just not right for 15-17 year olds. The push for AP classes is ridiculous. If AP courses are college level, then they should be taken in college. What’s the rush? Everyone has to keep it with the “Jones” and that bar keeps on being raised. Whatever happened to letting a kid be a kid?</p>
<p>That’s a whole different thread but I agree. All of my kids say they worked harder in HS than college. We’ve set up a system like the one the Japanese have always had–kill yourself in HS, get into choice college and you’re home free.</p>
<p>^ It must depend on the college; my kids and their friends report the opposite, much harder in college.</p>
<p>Or on the high school which I think is the case with my kids who are at very competitive colleges.</p>
<p>Whoops, I left myself open for that one! ;)</p>
<p>I guess we’ll need a poll: 
How many think we’ve set up the Japanese system?</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/before/recommended_high_school_preparation/on_aps_1.shtml[/url]”>http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/before/recommended_high_school_preparation/on_aps_1.shtml</a></p>
<p>I’ve read, the average number of APs taken by Stanford’s freshman class is like 5 or 4, not 10 APs.</p>
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<p>^yeah that’s what i posted earlier and what i really hope is true. i wonder if stanford is the only school out of HYPS that feels that way, though.</p>
<p>It’s true for MIT too but it’s not on your list.</p>
<p>yeah mit isn’t really for me…i’m really a humanities guy and dislike their core curriculum.</p>
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<p>Have you ever looked at the Newsweek list that ranks high schools by the average number of APs taken? 1.5 makes a high school tops.</p>
<p>This is to say that’s a useless stat. It includes all of the kids at top and bottom schools that have nothing called AP.</p>
<p>hmom5, that number came from Stanford.</p>