APs and "more selective" colleges

<p>DD, a junior, is interested in LACs. She's not really a candidate for top-20 schools. (Grades = freshman 3.6; sophomore 3.6 with moderate effort; she's gotten <em>much</em> more serious this year, so the GPA trend should be upward.) However, she will have only 1 or 2 AP courses, since she's not a math/science person and AP science at her HS is offered only as a second year, after completing a full year of college prep in the same subject. There have also been the inevitable schedule conflicts. She will have math through calculus or perhaps AP Stats; 5 years of Spanish, and a full schedule of academic courses in the highest non-AP track (small school/no honors offered). Good ECs, etc. Most of her schools of interest are SAT optional, so standardized test scores should not be a major factor.</p>

<p>I'd be interested in hearing about the admission experiences of students with similar records. We're trying to figure out what sort of selectivity range she should concentrate her search for matches in.</p>

<p>It sounds fine. Remember, colleges evaluate applicants in light of their high school's offerings, and it sounds like she's taking tough classes. According to Ben Jones, the average number of APs at MIT is only 4-5, and I assume that number is lower as you move out of the highly selective schools. Have you read Loren Pope's Colleges That Change Lives? It's an excellent book that examines undervalued LACs that provide equal (or superior) educations to their more selective counterparts.</p>