<p>I know colleges look at classes you take while considering what was offered, but at my high school I take the hardest classes available and I am afraid that it does not look very impressive.
My senior class schedule looks like this
French IV
Dual Credit English
Dual Credit Trig/College Algebra
Honors Government
Honors Physics
Some generic business class I added so I wouldn't have a study hall
Honors Anatomy
I'm mainly concerned that my school doesn't even offer precalc when most of the people who will be applying to the same colleges as me have already taken calculus. My school only offered one AP (English Lang & Comp that I took last year and got a 5 on) and even the honors classes aren't remotely challenging because everyone is allowed to take them regardless of their gpa so the pace is slow and it isn't very different from a regular class. I've been supplementing most subjects with websites like khan academy or youtube videos just so I won't be too behind once I get to college. There is a post secondary program since there is a community college in my city, but I don't have transportation to take advantage of that. I am also worried because my intended major is Economics or Stats and my school doesn't offer either as a class. I have good test scores and a 4.0 gpa, but I just feel like colleges will always go with someone who performed at a competitive, challenging high school.</p>
<p>In short: No.
You have honors classes and dual enrollment, so you’re fine as long as your counselor checks the “most rigorous” box on your application.</p>
<p>My school only offered 2 APs; I took both of them plus an additional one online. I took all the dual-credit and honors courses available to me (like you, I found many of the honors classes to be slow-paced). I definitely felt like, even though I was doing everything I possibly could, it wasn’t enough. And maybe some colleges did look down on me when comparing me to a kid who took 25 APs or whatever. But I took the most rigorous courseload available, and as long as you do that (which it sounds like you are) then colleges have to just compare you to what opportunities are available at your school.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about it. Admissions officers will look at your course rigor through the lens of what is offered by your school -measured by your Guidance Counselor’s judgement of your course load and the college’s profile of your high school. </p>
<p>Find out who has been accepted from your school to selective colleges. IF those who have, took extra measures to beef up their courses, and that seems to be the rule, you may want to do the same.</p>
<p>Not if you have completed the most challenging curriculum offered at your school. Colleges often don’t cross compare but will look at each student holistically and individually. </p>
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<p>This is probably the best way. Does your school use Naviance? that’s a great tool to use and it shows the average gpa & ACT/SAT of the kids that were accepted to a certain school AT your HS.</p>
<p>I’ve taken the hardest courses available and no one from my school has really gone to any of the schools I’m thinking about. We don’t use naviance, I think we use parchment.</p>