At my school, we cannot take AP classes before junior year. The only honors class offered for freshman is biology, which I took, and for sophomores, english and chem, which I took. There are also honors math classes but I am sooo bad at math so I never even considered taking them. I was on the “above grade level” track before jumping to AP Stat senior year.
Junior Year:
AP Bio
APUSH
AP Lang
German 3 (started freshman year, only goes up to 4 Honors)
Analysis
(required electives…)
Senior Year:
AP Lit
AP Stat
AP Environmental
AP Gov
German 4 Honors
(required electives)
I was just wondering if my schedule would be seen as “difficult” by colleges or GCs. I did not even bother to ask my school GC because she is very generally confused by the entire college process (she put Columbia as a match for me…!). Does it look bad to go from AP Biology to AP Environmental? Science and math are not at all my strong points, but I’ve always done OK in hard sciences (B in AP Bio). That being said, there was no way that I saw myself being able to take AP Physics or Chem and still retain my sanity, especially considering that those are not subjects that I would like to devote the majority of my time to. If it is any help, I would like to double major in English and Political Science. Thanks so much!! 
Ask your GC whether that schedule will qualify as “most rigorous.” I’m guessing it will.
Your GC may be clueless, but she’s the one who has to fill out the form that asks if your program was “most rigorous,” so she really is the person to ask.
IMO, that schedule is very rigorous. But it also depends on what other students in your school are taking.
Yes, you’d get ‘post rigorous’. Taking AP bio or calculus isn’t necessary for that designation - taking carefully chosen classes in your broadcast field of interest that are the most advanced your school offers qualifies.
It would be good if required electives were strong in humanities, art, and social science.
Post #2 is spot on. Post #5 seems to imply that there are some specific criteria to determine rigor - that’s incorrect, see Post #2.
^Strictly speaking, it’s dependent upon the high school, but once the student has reached a certain level, it’s most rigorous (/should be). For instance, whatever choices hey may for Sl and HL, all IBD students are automatically considered “most rigorous” by adcoms. A guidance counselor who thinks Columbia can be a “match” for anyone rather than “reach for everyone” doesn’t work for a school where sending students to the Ivy League is a yearly ocurence; she wouldn’t ignore that 5 strong APs with 7 total (when elite schools want 6-8, ie., perfect) + foreign language up to level 4, is “most rigorous” even by top schools’ standard.
The variability affects students attending lower performing schools, where few if any take AP’s and where there’s only one precalculus section because most never reach that level. So, if the student has 2 Ap’s and precalculus, they’d be considered “most rigorous” even though at many schools it wouldn’t be considered so.