What exactly do colleges view as a rigorous course load? As a junior, I’m currently taking 2 AP classes and 2 Dual Enrollment classes (that I plan to take the AP exam for), along with 2 core classes, 2 honors classes and an internship. Is that considered rigorous enough for top colleges like the ivies? If not, how important is that for the application process anyway?
Course rigor is all relative. The colleges will look at how many AP classes your school offers. It is impossible to tell how rigorous 4 AP’s (an example) is. If your school only offers 4 AP’s, then that means you pushed yourself to the limit. However, if your school offers 20 APs and you took only 4, that means you did not press yourself hard enough academically. Also, sometimes they also look at what your peers are taking. If all your peers and you are taking roughly the same classes, then you should be fine.
But if you are taking a significantly easier course load than your peers, then colleges will begin to question your academics and GPA.
Obviously, for the Ivies, you want to (to the best of your ability) be taking the hardest courses AND getting good grades in all or most of them.
Finally, to answer your last question, I think course rigor matters, but if it doesn’t stand out as extremely rigorous (comparatively) or extremely simple (also comparatively), then I think your GPA will matter more.
Top colleges? “Rigorous enough”? I think “rigorous enough” is judged against the most rigorous course of study that’s available at your school.
My school makes it that only you can only take 4 AP class a year. Only one student is taking four, and a few are taking three, but no one other than me (that I know of) is also taking dual enrollment.
There are two things here. One is that the college would like to see that you can handle college-level coursework. Good grades in IB, AP or Dual Enrollment courses show them that. However, as JustoneDad says, the other is how your guidance counselor is going to rate your courseload relative to what it is possible for your to take at your school. For example, if a student has taken all honors classes and no AP, IB, or DE classes, but his high school does not offer any opportunities higher than honors… he won’t be penalized automatically for not having APs. He’s taken the most demanding courses available to him.
In your case, you’re not taking all the APs available but you are taking DE classes. Ask you guidance counselor whether she considers that “very rigorous” or “most rigorous”. She will be checking a box to that effect on her common app report, and that’s what the colleges are going to look at the most. (They will also be given a school profile that states how many AP courses, etc are available at your school, and how many kids take them.)
Oh I see, thanks for the helpful replies! My counselor definitely thinks I have a rigorous course load, but I was afraid since I didn’t take all the available AP’s it would look bad. I’m good in all the other areas, so I didn’t want that to ruin my chances.
I do have a follow up question, however. Will colleges be able to see if the AP classes available overlapped in timing? That is the main reason I didn’t take more. For example, if AP Biology and AP USH were both offered only once the entire year during the same period.
No, but if that is an issue, the GC can talk about it in his/her recommendation.