College chances ruined by haphazard course selection?Answered
I’m a first-gen student, and did not know that certain courses have prerequisites back when I was entering 9th grade. I’m now a sophomore, but have only recently realized my mistake. Our school allows the majority of AP courses to be taken only in 11th and 12th grades, but two AP courses could have been available to me, which I did not take.
AP Human Geography: I didn’t know this course was even available.
AP Computer Science: There is a prerequisite course that I can take any year in order to take AP Comp Sci the following year, but I’m worried that I can’t take this even if I wanted to, considering that I’ll have to take difficult AP courses the next two years to make up for my course-choices.
These are the first AP courses available for all freshmen and sophomores, but I haven’t taken either one. The next two years will be extremely busy and I have missed exposure to AP courses that would have been valuable for gauging other AP classes.
Additionally, I didn’t take the most rigorous courses last year. I didn’t take any honors classes, and although I am taking all honors classes available now, I’m upset that I could’ve done really well last year with honors classes, since we were fully virtual and notes were allowed on major tests.
I understand that these decisions are irreversible, but I am wondering if this will affect college admissions in anyway. I have a current GPA of 3.97, but since this is only from easy courses last year, I don’t feel that this is valuable at all. Please let me know what I can expect as a result of these decisions.
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1 answer
It's in the past. Don't worry about it. What you can do is self-study for an AP exam (though late at this point) or take a class at a local community college or university. Your GPA is quite good and colleges consider the course offerings at your school when making decisions (you can also discuss this in the additional info section of your application).
In summary, don't sweat it. There are other ways to take challenging courses. Focus on your extracurriculars and the things that will go on the other parts of your college application.
Your chance of acceptance
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True that, it is hard to account for but good recommendation letters and essays can also give you a boost. Aside from what @helpful said you can try your best to form good relationships with your teachers so when the time comes they can write you a good rec letter.