Will top Colleges like MIT and HYPS care if I start taking AP’s Junior-Senior year

[RookieCollegeMom]

What I don’t think anyone has mentioned yet is that you need to have safeties on your list when you create it!

Congrats on your excellent stats, but as you look around on College Confidential, you will learn that many top student 4.0 with high test scores don’t get into MIT, HYPS, etc. There are just too many qualified students for the number of spots. Example:

Rejected by 12/13 colleges, 1550, 4.0, & 20 college classes [including college junior level math]

College classes: Calc. series (4 classes, 3 on trimester system, 1 on semester, through vector calculus) Differential equations Introductory Linear Algebra Intro to mathematical reasoning Linear Algebra (abstract vector space proof edition) Euclidean and non-euclidean geometry Mathematics with applications in the natural sciences (applied math course, goes over common modeling techniques, differential equations, markov chains, etc.) Abstract Algebra (groups, rings, fields, cosets, field extensions, etc.) 2 English composition courses 1 macroeconomics course 1 Shakespeare class 2 CS classes 2 US history classes 1 comparative politics class AP classes: Just AP Human Geography, 9th grade. My school doesn’t have many AP classes, and in that one the teacher covered less than half the material they were supposed to, even making exceptions for COVID. Got a 4 on that AP test. SAT 1550, 800 math, 750 english, 1 try. Been to multiple national and international competitions (VEX Worlds, Nat…

And MIT and HYPS don’t look at just GPA, number of APs, and test scores. What are your extra curriculars, do you have a job and/or volunteer position, won national awards, etc.?

Please look beyond MIT and HYPS. Have a balanced list and and focus on fit - and affordability is a key component of fit!