<p>I have read that colleges will expect applicants who are HS juniors to have exhausted the available AP credits in their high school. What if I’m not interested in all of them, though? For example, I’m not planning to take AP Bio, Lit, or Euro even if I stay for all four years. I would rather take CC classes in fields that I’m interested in but not covered at HS, e.g. optics, philosophy, Chinese, etc. If I take plenty CC classes to compensate for having not completely run out of possible credits at HS, will admissions officers still take issue?</p>
<p>Duel-credit courses at community colleges often look just as impressive or even more so than AP classes. Do what interests you, but if you are planning on applying to top-tier schools, also take difficult classes.</p>
<p>The three AP classes that you named are rather diverse (science, English and history). This makes me wonder why you are choosing not to take them. Do you simply not like the teachers, or do you greatly prefer math classes or is there some other explanation?</p>
<p>Failing to take advanced core subjects in high school is a likely red flag for adcoms. An easy example is someone who only takes two years of a foreign language. Don’t substitute a general science class in place of AP Bio, even if you are taking rigorous classes at CC.</p>
<p>I agree with tropicalslushies’ basic premise that the key aspect is the overall rigor of your course work. However, don’t avoid difficult subjects and expect adcoms not to notice.</p>
<p>rmldad - There are definitely other alternatives to AP Bio for sciences – I plan on taking AP Chem as well as Physics B and C. However, AP Bio is also available to me, I just don’t have interest in taking it. Same with the other APs that I listed, the difference being that there is no alternative for AP Euro or AP Lit aside from taking CC classes.</p>
<p>This is what I meant – would admissions officers see this as bad, even though I’m choosing not to take the AP because of my interests rather than to avoid difficult classes?</p>
<p>I think that as long as you take AP classes that coincide with whatever it is plan to major in once in college admission officers will understand. Besides what’s the point of taking an AP if you’re not gonna use it in college don’t put yourself through that. Plus you shouldn’t get caught up in trying to take as many APs as possible and as a result your grades in other non-AP classes suffer, but worry about your whole picture to the admissions officer not just this one minor issue.</p>
<p>If you are taking a rigorous history or literature class at CC, then I would assume it would be viewed as equivalent to the AP. However, I would suggest that it might appear odd to skip available AP classes and reasons for doing so should be given somewhere in the application.</p>
<p>@mebledsoe - I have been told by adcoms at highly selective shools that they frown upon students shying away from rigorous courses with the explanation that they won’t use the course material in their major. I agree that other grades should not suffer as a result of taking challenging AP classes but HYP are looking for students who can master a variety of subject matter.</p>
<p>In my reply I’ll focus only on your last comment.</p>
<p>In general admissions will measure your academic achievements relative to what your high school offers. If your high school offers few high-level courses (such as APs) then your approach of taking CC courses will most likely help your application. But in fact from your post it appears that your high school has a broad range of advanced course offerings. That you choose to take CC courses instead is not likely to make sense to someone reviewing your transcript. First, you’re not taking advantage of what your high school has to offer. (Admissions reps are usually familiar with high schools in their region). And second, CCs are typically not the best venues for high end courses.</p>
<p>My opinion is that your approach is atypical and that it will not help your application.</p>
<p>It all depends on where you want to go to college.</p>
<p>If you want to attend an instate public school which will give you credit for your CC classes, it won’t matter what you take.</p>
<p>If you apply to a private school which does not consider the CC credits but looks for your GC to flag your classes as the hardest classes available at your school, what will the GC say about the classes? </p>
<p>If your school offers 30 APs and the best students usually can complete 15, what would your transcript have?</p>
<p>It is not relevant what you took or did not take. It is more relevant how you compare to the best students in your school if the college gets their transcript and yours.</p>
<p>Each case is individual - a HS might offer 30 AP classes, but scheduling might make it difficult to take many of them, either because the schedules overlap with each other, or because they conflict with other interests. It’s all about context, and how your CG will complete your school report. Your set of classes might be a bit less rigorous than the student who took 4 more AP classes, but maybe that student wasn’t active in the school band and chorus - maybe you’re the more interesting applicant because of your music background. </p>
<p>Taking classes at the local CC is also making use of what is available to you, and Adcoms are likely to be aware of that. If the classes you take at the CC are rigorous, they might even consider that you took the extra step of seeking outside the wall of your HS to make better use of resources made available to you. They are looking at a whole package.</p>
<p>In terms of the initial post, regarding early admission (after 11th grade), again, they’re going to look at the context of what the specific classes are, vs what the student is likely to take. A student planning to major in English doesn’t need to take AP Biology, just because it’s available.</p>