Course RigorAnswered
I am currently a junior in high school and have 6 APs this year, I was a little relaxed throughout my first 2 years and only took a few honors. By the time I graduate senior year, I should have completed 13 APs, 6 honors, and 1 college course but I will finish with a 99 GPA (my school doesn't do 4.0). Does Calc 3 as a senior look good for college or should I take another AP? Am I in a good spot academically or did I ruin my chances? (If I want to get into an Ivy)
Earn karma by helping others:
3 answers
For future reference (I'm assuming your GPA is out of 100), the max scale is helpful when discussing non-4.0 scales.
At any rate, you certainly haven't ruined your chances. The courses you take are important, but there are many other aspects to your application.
That said, your guidance counselor will submit a list of offered courses to school's when you apply, and that is how they judge your course rigor. For that reason, if there was a lot of opportunities you didn't take advantage of, this won't help your application.
I would not worry about it too much, however. Colleges like to see growth (after all, freshmen are just glorified middle school kids at heart), and it is excellent that you have taken steps to increase your course rigor this year. As long as you maintain your GPA, I think colleges will get the point that you in some way grew in the way you value academics.
As for Calc 3 vs. "another AP," depends on your intended major and preference. If STEM-based, I would personally go with Calc 3 (and frankly reaching past Calc 2 by junior year is a feat in and of itself). For humanities, I wouldn't worry about it and instead go for an AP that suits my desired major.
If you plan to go in undecided, I definitely think Calc 3 has a significant shock factor (especially if you lean STEM).
Last part: each Ivy operates slightly differently, and they aren't all equally competitive. If the goal is -an- Ivy, then definitely you are fine (Cornell and Dartmouth are currently highest acceptance rates I believe).
Hope my answer helps!
As you might already know most applications to Ivys are self-selecting meaning that most candidates who apply already know where they stand with regards to gpa, course rigor and test scores. The rule of the thumb is if you are in the 99th percentile, you have lots of company applying to Ivy league schools, especially if you attend a public high school. But keep in mind that at each of the 8 Ivys you might be considering, only 5.26% get admitted on average which means that there are thousands of applicants who have perfect GPAs and Test Scores that get flat out rejected. (I don't remember the stats but I think 8000 rejects at Harvard had perfect GPAs last cycle).
If you are are not a ALDC candidate (Legacy, Recruited Athlete, Development/Deans list candidate or Child of employee) and do not attend a elite Private day school or Boarding school, then you have to re-evaluate what that means for you. I added Private/Boarding school because a disproportionate amount of applicants come from top Private schools like Exeter, Andover, versus top public schools. Such applicants have a 20X great chance of getting admitted regardless of GPA/CourseRigor/Test Scores if they attended one of these schools.
At Harvard only 5.6% of applicants were ALDCs yet they filled nearly 36% of the available seats in the class or about 710 cohorts. The other 64% were filled by non-ALDCs including those with special hooks like race (black, Latinx, indigenous), low income, or part of a marginalized group or first generation. So according to the Harvard Class of 2025 just those making up the race hooks took 40% of the seats. So there isn't a lot of room left for simply "smart kids" who are have no hooks or not ALDCs or not attending top private schools
Therefore to stand out, it really doesn't matter if you take Calc 3, Calc 4 or Calc 5. right? It doesn't matter if you have 13 APs or 15 APs, or perfect 100.00/100.00 GPA. The only way you get on the radar at an Ivy if you are not part of a unique applicant pool is to have the following (4) things:
-An impressive spike activity or 2 - So you need have some kind of special talent or skill or experience.
-You have to have the very best essays they have ever read
-Whomever advocates for you has to be the most compelling and convincing support and ally to your future potential
-And lastly if you do your research can point out that you can fill a gap in something that is essential to their priorities. For example, if their Chamber Orchestra is missing a Bassoon or Oboist, they will be happy to consider you if you meet all the other thresholds.
Very few people are going to give this info straight up unadulterated so don't up-vote answers just because you they are thing you want to hear versus advise that is sanguine and germane to your goals.
13 APs is excellent! I myself will finish with 11 AP/Honors courses which is pretty competitive for good schools anyway, and for an Ivy, 13 APs is stellar. If your standardized test and extracurriculars are as good as your coursework, I think you're in a really good spot. You're looking really great.
Your chance of acceptance
Your chancing factors
Community Guidelines
To keep this community safe and supportive:
- Be kind and respectful!
- Keep posts relevant to college admissions and high school.
- Don’t ask “chance-me” questions. Use CollegeVine’s chancing instead!