<p>I go to a small, private high school and there is only 1 AP class available at my school, Calculus. I will be taking that next year when I am a senior. However, for the rest of our classes we have Advanced College Credit (ACC) courses offered through a local university. The concept is similar to taking a dual-enrollment course, where the class counts toward high school graduation and the grade you get in the class is included into your college GPA as well. The credit from these classes transfers to a number of colleges and universities, but not all. </p>
<p>My question is this: Will taking ACC classes instead of APs lessen my chances of being accepted into my first choice schools of Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, and Southern Methodist University? I'm not as interested in whether they will accept the credit as I am interested in whether it will hinder my ability to be accepted.</p>
<p>I did fine with 0 APs, since my school doesn’t offer them. Granted, taking 100% of the APs at a school with a ton of them will be more impressive than taking 100% of them at a school with just one, but not having the laundry list of APs won’t count against you if you didn’t have the opportunity in the first place. Take the most advanced classes that are offered and you should do fine.</p>
<p>Yes. You will be rejected by Top Tier Schools if you do not have enough APs. However, if your private school is well-known for its academic rigor and your college application is fantastic, big schools might just accept you.</p>
<p>^Ignore this poster. Midmo hit the nail on the head. You can’t be expected to take APs if your school doesn’t offer them. Though I will say, colleges tend to appreciate self-studying when there aren’t APs available, but I suppose it’s a little late for that.</p>
<p>You are evaluated by admissions based upon the courses that are available to you. If your school only offers one AP class admissions will not expect to see a bunch of AP classes on your transcript.
When we took the tour/info session at both Penn and Brown the subject of AP classes came up. Both places stressed that it is not the quantity of AP classes on the transcript but rather the quality of grades in the most challenging course load available to the student. At Penn they mentioned that a typical incoming Penn student has taken on average 4 AP classes and that it is a misconception that you must have loads of AP classes on the transcript.</p>
<p>You can’t be expected to take what isn’t offered, but you need to prove to colleges that you can do their work. So the ACC classes would be best. :)</p>
<p>You won’t get rejected, but top colleges want you to explore every option. My school only offers 3-4 AP courses, so one girl decided to take classes at a local CC in substitution for AP classes. She got accepted into Harvard because she strove to take hard classes and challenged herself.</p>
<p>it does put you a disadvantage since ap classes are universally known for illustrating academic rigor. make sure you spell out to your prospective schools your situation and what you did to retain high academic rigor despite the circumstances.</p>
<p>It’s not your fault if your school doesn’t offer any more AP classes, so it sounds like you’re doing the best with the situation and the colleges should recognize that. Make sure they know your school only offers 1 AP.</p>