Hi, so I’m looking to apply to Yale. If nothing strongly deviates from the current trajectory, Ill finish junior year with a 4.0 UW 5.08 W and 9/513 in my class.
For context, I go to one of the best public schools in NC. We are not lacking in AP courses and the like. I took 7 courses in Junior year, 4 of which were AP and the rest were honors. Last year I took 1 AP. Comparing myself to other people on this thread…it seems like 5 total by senior year is on the low side. For comparison - I’ll be taking 6 APs next year.
Is 4 APs in Junior year enough to possibly hurt? I would have taken more if my schedule worked out that way, but some logistical constraints may have screwed me. Im probably making a mountain out of a mole hill, but it cant hurt to ask.
Many, many schools have few AP options for fresh/sophs and/or limite the number of AP’s that they can take. Colleges know that.
Your GC can then mention that in his her/report.
This can backfire on you, too. Students always forget the hidden class - college apps and essays, which is a huge time suck. If you can write awesome essays, maintain your EC’s, ace your standardized tests, and keep/improve your GPA with 6 AP’s, fine and dandy. However, if any of those pieces suffer, you’ll do yourself no favors.
FWIW, I’m of the opinion that ant AP’s above 6-8 total will not make your application any stronger. For schools like Yale, there are soooooo many parts of the equation.
You are only being evaluated for course rigor in the context of your school. Don’t compare to others “on this thread”, look closer to home. I would only be concerned if the top applicants from your school took many more since that would suggest you haven’t taken advantage of the more challenging courses available to you. If this is still a concern, by all means, agree with skieurope that you can ask your GC to address this in your counselor letter.
Yale expects its students to have taken courses that are considered the most rigorous the school has to offer. This is a category, not an expectation that you take every AP class on offer at your school. If your guidance counselor can check off that box, as is likely, and if your grades and test scores are in line, you will get a look from the admissions committee. You then have to show that you can contribute to the community at Yale. What does NOT help is to take the largest possible number of hard classes – this is not an academic contest. Every year there are some students with absolutely stellar academic records who are turned down in favor of people with lesser academic accomplishments who did something more interesting. Needless to say, though, you can do everything right and the odds of getting in will still be heavily against you.
If your course load is not considered to fall in the most rigorous category for your school, then you are almost certainly not going to be a competitive applicant.
Agree that you should think twice about taking 6 AP’s next year. Not only does it make applications harder, it makes spring semester miserable. D2 wound up in 6 AP classes (not by choice) and had to cut college visits short in April because her teachers thought spring break homework was more important than letting students figure out where they would be spending their next 4 years.
Chiming in as a parent at a big Texas public school, and seconding the posters who point out that context matters for AP classes. @iam4uf1, my S is also a junior and is taking six APs this year, and there are probably 50 other students doing the same. Maybe another fifty are taking five APs. Because of the way his school weights classes for GPA, a student taking four APs wouldn’t even rank in the top ten percent. That’s not to try to frighten you or brag about my son, it’s just to provide a data point for context. If you were a student at my son’s school I’m guessing you’d be right in there with five or six APs this year because all your friends at the top of the class would be doing the same. Your class rank is very high. What kind of AP tally do the other top students have? Will your guidance counselor mark you down as taking the most rigorous course load? If most top students in your school have schedules similar to yours, you should not worry that you don’t have enough APs for Yale.
Also agree that you should be cautious about taking six APs next year, and again check the context of your peers. Are lots of your classmates taking such a rigorous schedule, or will you be one of a handful? Do you feel you have to take six APs or are they all courses you are really excited to take? Are you applying to many colleges or just a carefully curated small number? You don’t want to set yourself up for misery with too much homework while applying to a dozen or more colleges, so be sure you know what you’re getting into. If you haven’t already, you should speak with a guidance counselor or a trusted teacher about your senior year schedule. Someone who knows you, your abilities, and your school environment will be able to help you understand the best schedule for you.
Honestly, try doing fewer APs. Spend more time focusing on ECs.
For context - I applied to Yale with 15 APs and a perfect GPA and got waitlisted. Scores, grades, etc. aren’t everything.
If only I had known about this site last year…
I genuinely thought that taking as many APs as possible is what got people into Yale. Do yourself a favor and observe the trends of admitted students - they’re erratic, albeit, but you’ll notice that very few students took an insane amount of APs for the sake of padding their app. Maybe they took 4 APs in the subject they’re interested in, and devoted the rest of their time to an impressive extracurricular