<p>this may sound bad, but i've only taken three honors/advanced classes total. my school is college prep but it doesn't seem like it has nearly the amount of advanced classes as the schools of the students on here do. in 9th grade i took 1/1 honors class. in 10th grade, i dropped honors math (it was too fast for me, i ended in the low B range and it wasn't high enough to continue) and i didn't get into honors chem (you needed an A in physics and i had a B)...so 0/2 soph year. however, soph year i did amazingalmost straight A+s, which made me eligible for every honors/advanced class except math (because i had already dropped it). unfortunately, i only got honors spanish and psych, even though i also signed up for honors english, honors history, and honors bio. i really pushed to get them on my schedule but the registrar told me they wouldn't fit. i did great junior year, too, all As/A+s other than maybe one A- and one B+ (in honors psych because there was an assignment i just couldn't do for a legitimate reason and it dragged down my grade :( ). my senior year schedule is a little better: three honors classes first semester, 2 (hopefully three or four if my schedule gets changed the way i want) second semester.</p>
<p>my school only offers 3 APs, and they're all senior year classes: stats, art history, lit. the thing is, i'm not a huge math personi'm only in precalc, and even though i do enjoy math for the most part, i didn't think there was a reason to add another more difficult math class PLUS there was no room. AP lit didn't fit. and art history is not my thing at all and i really didn't want it to take the place of something i genuinely am interested in. is it bad that i did that? </p>
<p>i just feel like i pale in comparison to everyone here. my top choice is occidental college, and i feel like i don't even have an actual shot, honestly. everyone here posts lists of APs and awards and i don't have any of those things. i feel like in comparison to applicants to any of the schools i'm applying to, i look ridiculous. even in comparison to people in my class who did get to take 4 or 5 honors classes junior year because they fit. </p>
<p>i don't know. is this really going to hinder my chances?</p>
<p>Just do well in what you take and it will be fine - Occidental will care more about GPA and Test scores than they will about the classes necessarily…The only downside to this is that they may have the chance to increase their ‘weighted GPA’ but I think you will still be alright.</p>
<p>I’m not too familiar with Occidental College so I can’t give you too in depth of an opinion. In my opinion, traditionally I think you will be at a slight disadvantage not having taken AP classes in your high school career. It is a private school so I don’t think it will matter as much as say if you applied to a UC school which In that case, I think not having any AP’s would definitely come back to haunt you. </p>
<p>How does the rest of your high school resume look? After school curriculars? Volunteer hours? GPA? etc. If your really good in other aspects, I think you could outweigh the costs of not having AP’s.</p>
<p>@studenttransfer my ECs are really weak, nothing special at all. i’m nowhere near the level of anyone here. a few clubs, dance team/spirit squad a few years, 200 service hours. that’s about it, unfortunately.</p>
<p>Occidential College is not a breeze to be accepted into. I think not having any APs under your belt will put you at a disadvantage.</p>
<p>Why do you want to go there, by the way? It sounds like you don’t have high-enough test scores and GPA to get an academic scholarship. So why go to a small, private liberal arts college with a $60K/year price tag? Taking out that much in loans is unrealistic and a very, very bad idea.</p>
<p>@tryandsucceed obviously it’s not easy to get into, and yeah, i guess so. i really want to go there because i love everything about it. i love the size, great location (i really wanted to be in a major city, preferably warm), gorgeous campus, that they have all the majors i’m interested in, and, according to us news, they meet 100% need. pretty sure that includes loans, but i’m extremely low income and i wanted to go to a school with good aid. </p>
<p>my GPA isn’t incredible, but it’s not low at all. i had a 3.53 freshman year, 4.1x soph year, and 4.1x junior year (higher than soph, but can’t remember exactly). my school is strange because even for regular classes, A+s count for 4.33…so my unweighted is hard to figure out. i’ve only gotten one B in the past two years. right now i have a 3.99 weighted, and it’s not that much lower unweighted because, like i said, i haven’t taken many weighted classes. i got a 30 on my first ACT without studying, so i’m actually studying this time and taking it again in september. according to naviance, occidental’s average score is 29 and their high was 31. i guess that may have changed this past admissions year, but doesn’t that put me in range? and i know taking out of ton of loans wouldn’t be a great idea; it’s not like i’d be taking out the entire COA each year. i would never do anything close to that…i’ve read the horror stories. </p>