<p>Freshman year, I didn't take Freshman Honors Biology and instead stayed in Freshman Lab Science. </p>
<p>Sophomore year (this year) I took regular Biology, but didn't know I could have taken the Freshman Honors Biology class (which would not show up as "Freshman" on my transcript). Then I realized (3/4 of the way through the year) that chemistry does not require knowledge of biology. </p>
<p>I could have taken Honors Biology and Honors Chemistry this year. Instead I am taking regular Biology this year, then Honors Chemistry next year. (Then AP Chemistry and Physics senior year). </p>
<p>So my question is, will colleges like Yale, Cambridge, Stanford, etc. be okay with my course choices? This year I have AP Euro and Honors English, then junior and senior year I will have <em>ALL AP classes</em>. I am also self-studying for one AP per summer. </p>
<p>Is this bad? I'm unaware of the information colleges have access to, like the number of freshmen who take a certain class, what classes were offered and not taken, some kind of automatic course-load grader system (this is me being paranoid). </p>
<p>For those schools that use a counselor’s recommendation, will your counselor indicate that you took the most rigorous available course selection?</p>
<p>ucb got it right. You better go meet your counselor to see what’s her criteria to check that all important box. The reason it’s important is that the rigor of your curriculum is within the context of your high school. They don’t compare yours to Thomas Jefferson High since it’s just not fair. Now, all APs in junior and senior years? Probably you’re smart to handle the workload, but if your school is like my kids’, four each year is more than plenty. You need to have time for other things as well. (Well, actually, there’s a good thing about our HS: you can’t take more than 4 APs a year :))</p>
<p>If you have taken any regular-level science classes when honors and AP were available, your chance of getting into either Yale and Stanford is close to zilch. I think you have no idea of the competition for these schools! Plenty of students with perfect stats – vals with SAT 2400s or ACT 36s – get rejected every year. </p>
<p>If you instead consider schools with acceptance rates in the 20-35% range, then the admissions committee will be a little more understanding if you are less than superhuman. By all means, try your luck at the Yales and Stanfords when the time comes, but don’t make the rest of high school miserable for yourself in the hope of proving yourself at the last minute.</p>
<p>Will she check that if I take all APs junior and senior year? It would be intensely rigorous, but not as rigorous as if I had taken the honors courses offered in the earlier years. Is it literally “most rigorous” or just very rigorous?</p>