Are these classes enough?Answered
I'm only a freshman, but I've mapped out all the classes I'll be taking over the next 3 years. I'm hoping to be accepted into a UC, and all my grades are above 94%. However, my school offers very few honors classes, and there is only 1 AP class to take in sophomore year. Right now, I'm on track to be taking 5 APs in junior and senior years, but only one AP class and one Honors class sophomore year. I'm currently taking 2 advanced classes, but since they don't have a title and are only listed as advanced, will they benefit my college chances at all?
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3 answers
All colleges look at applicants based upon your school, so you will be compared to your classmates rather than people from other schools, and colleges are also aware of how many APs are offered at your school; this means that it wouldn't necessarily matter if your school offers less APs or restricts the number of APs per year. What the colleges are looking for is if you are taking advantage of the classes that are offered. Hence, if your school only allows 1 AP class in sophomore year, then it is all good if you choose to take it. - also consider checking out your high school's acceptance rate to UCs (for example, my high school has an 88% acceptance to the UCs last year - https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/admissions-source-school) and asking around what courses those that were accepted had - to have a more contextual answer.
5 APs in junior and senior year is alright if you are able to handle it. I have a friend who was admitted to UC Berkeley last year with business, and she only took 1 AP in sophomore year and a total of 4 APs junior and senior year with only some honors courses (our school allows maximum 10 APs junior and senior year to give context). In comparison to other students, she had a lot of less APs but she had a very solid extra-curricular list and had straight As all four years. She also ended up getting into some Ivy-League schools, too. Therefore, I would say that APs do help but it is only if you believe you are able to handle the coursework: a higher GPA with some APs courses is considerably more important than a lot of APs and a lower GPA. LMAO literally everyone always tells us that the number of APs does not matter but we never truly believe it until you really start applying and getting acceptances xD
For your advance classes, specifically for the UCs, I recommend you to check out the a-g list if your high school is in CA (https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist). This is important because some courses labeled as "advanced" may not count as advanced in the UC system. If they are not shown to be honors classes in the UC system, it would not benefit your college chances by much. Good luck!
I think that the advanced classes won't do much except help you prepare for your AP classes. My school only offers 5 AP classes in total, and you can only take 2 in your junior year and not any time before that. I'm saying I don't know much on how bigger schools with better options are, but I can say from my point of view taking all of these classes you're talking about will for sure up your chances of being accepted. :)
Do anything you want but remember to perform very well in them. Try to show consistency in whatever you do. That's what colleges really like.
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