I’m a senior and I was mostly undecided on what to major in but I only recently decided I want to do biomedical or mechanical engineering. I’m taking AP Calc AB right now, and I’m doing pretty good in it (I have an A). However, this is the only AP class I’ve taken in all of high school as I used to assume AP classes were godlike levels of difficulty and only a few people took them (only few people in my school seem to take ap classes my high school’s ranking and standards are pretty…low) . My school does offer more AP classes like AP Lang, AP Lit, APUSH, and more but back then I didn’t think those would help me towards a career related to math or science. I took all honors math, science, and history classes though but I have Level 1 English classes sophomore-senior year. Seeing all the people on this forum taking like 5 AP classes in a year is lowering my morale u_u. Will admission officers be turned off by the fact that I only have 1 AP class in all of high school considering the rest of my record??? It’s too late to add any more AP classes to my schedule, and I’m afraid my record will seem too mediocre for any schools with decent engineering programs
really depends on what kind of school you’re aiming for. if you’re not trying to get into any top school you should be fine imo
It’s a bit late now to worry about it, tbh. You won’t be getting into top colleges with only one AP if more were avaiable, but if you were looking at top colleges, then you no doubt would have known that. It is good that you took honors classes. Look at colleges in which your grades and test scores put you well above the 50th and ideally into the 75th percentile.
There are other options, if you are motivated and don’t mind delaying entry to a four year college. Start at community college and do well. Or take a gap year and do productive things with that extra time.
Remember that different HS’s offer different amounts of AP courses. You will be evaluated on what you have taken in YOUR HS vs. what others in your HS do. So if there are 22 AP classes and you took one, or if there are 5 and you took one, those are very different scenarios.
However, consider how prepared you are when you go to college. If others have taken AP Chem and/or AP Physics, they may be more prepared.
Also know that if a college is ABET Accredited, (Engineering Acreddited), then you will be in good shape no matter how “prestigious” it is.
So make sure to apply to a variety of schools that match up with your GPA and SAT/ACT scores.
Don’t worry over things it is too late to change. But yes, it will hurt you for the top tier colleges who want to see that you took the most rigorous schedule available. For many colleges you will be just fine.