I asked my GC on how rigorous my courseload was so far and she said it was very demanding. When I look on the secondary school report, it had 5 options on rating course rigor (most demanding, very demanding, demanding, average, and below average). If she checks off very demanding is that bad? She most likely would do that because I am not taking any IB course and are relying on just honors/AP courses. I should finish my high school career with 11 AP courses, 18 honors courses and 3 college courses (sociology, college algebra, intro to business). My school offers 30 AP classes, many IB classes and dual enrollment. But the thing is that I am doing 6 APs my junior year and 5 APs my senior year, and I am wondering if those are worth my time since colleges don’t see senior year things.
If I don’t intend to major in STEM, are colleges ok with me just taking AP humanities and not AP STEM?
My Stats:
Top 17% of my class
GPA: 4.0/4.33
only 1 national award
4 top-tier extracurriculars. Most of my Ec’s can’t be verified by contacting the school and my counselor doesn’t know I am doing them. What can I do?
What colleges should I consider based on the stats I have?
I do not think that you have a problem here. I think that you will be fine.
However, what do you mean by “top school”? If you want to attend a very good university, you are solidly in very good shape.
You should understand how good any “top 100” university is in the US (or equivalent outside the US). You can get a very strong education at any “top 100” and mostly even “top 200” university in the US. Your professors will be strong and the top 10% of the students will be just as strong as the top students at any school anywhere. It is common for the strongest students to attend a “top 100” university or even not “top 100” university for their bachelor’s degree and then go on to an Ivy League or equivalent (MIT, Stanford, …) university for graduate school. Graduates from MIT, Stanford, and other top schools routinely graduate and find themselves working alongside graduates from their local public university and no one cares where anyone got their degree.
One person I know very well attended a university that is barely not in the top 100 in the US for their bachelor’s degree, and then went to an Ivy League university for their master’s. One daughter went to a university that is not in the top 100 in the US for their bachelor’s, and will be starting a DVM very soon at a university that is ranked in the top 5 DVM programs in the world. You do not need to attend even a “top 100” university to do very well in life.
If you want to attend Harvard, MIT, Stanford, or a similar university for undergraduate studies, I would be more worried about “top 17%”. However, top 17% puts you solidly on track for a very good university (just not Harvard or MIT), so I would not worry about this either.
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What type of national award? For example, AP with whatever isn’t that important. Your record is your record and if you’ve take 11 APs, it’s rigorous. Your weighted GPA seems low if you get .5 for Honors and 1 for AP which is somewhat low. It’s best to have a blend of APs and with 11 I assume you have STEM - but you know what, your record is your record and i’m sure it’s great.
Your ECs will be written about/described by you. They won’t be verified.
I don’t think where your counselor writes your rigor will impact you - and you are guessing - and the 2nd category might be the highest they use anyway. Just based on your APs you have rigor.
What colleges should you consider? You didn’t provide enough info - small, medium, large. Urban, suburban, major, etc. Nor did you provide an SAT/ACT.
But at Arizona, with a 4.0, you’d get $35K in scholarship out of $38K tuition. Alabama…similar. Other state schools like South Carolina and Miami Ohio - you’d do well. These all have wonderful honors colleges too to give you a smaller feel if you want that.
Do you want midsize - like an Emory, Miami, Elon, Sryacuse - those could all work - especially the last two. The first two might be a stretch based on class rank.
Do you want an LAC - you might get into a top one - a Vassar or Bates if you ED - class rank may be tough here but may not be… But if you seek money, you might look at the Colleges that Change Lives.
From location to school type, you’ve shared nothing - so hard to guide you other than to say, as @DadTwoGirls said, you don’t have a problem. At all!!
What APs did you take last year?
What APs will you take this year?
11 APs+3 Dual Enrollment would be judged most rigorous even if your school offers IB - colleges would be able to see that.
Top 17% however means you’ll need to focus on LACs and universities outside Top 30 + flagships’ honors programs (the top ones in the country are ASU Barrett, USC Columbia, Penn State Schreyer, Michigan LSA, and UT Plan II).
This is not a correct assumption. Your first semester classes and grades will be considered. Even if you apply EA or ED, the classes you are taking senior year will be part of your application.
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You should take AP (or other advanced classes) because those are the right level for you and your high school education. Don’t take AP physics because you think it will help you get into college, take it because that’s the right physics level for you, to challenge you, to teach to your level, to move at your pace.
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Will you be going test optional or do you have SAT/ACT scores?
Your course load is rigorous, no worries there. Of course, your actual AP scores will be a differentiating factor.
If you are comfortable managing, I suggest you take ONE natural sciences AP, and AP AB Calc.
Even if you will not head in this direction, very many degrees do incorporate some level of statistics/analysis, or involve some sort of lab. Top colleges will see it as an advantage if you have demonstrated that you can handle such core courses as well.
Ask your high school counselor if your schedule will be considered most rigorous. Senior year courses are very much in that equation. Also, It’s not just the number of APs, but which ones.