I think I’d drop a pre calc and sun in AP calc even if it means dropping AP stats. Two pre calcs don’t make sense to me, I’ve never seen it, it’s usually an either or.
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I share the concern of other posters that AP Precalc may appear to be repeating a course. If you were my child I would advise you to find something else to take, either at the high school or at a local community college. (At our HS, seniors are allowed to take a free period at the end of the day, which makes it easier to attend a class at CC. I don’t know if it works that way at your HS.)
Does your high school offer economics? I don’t see an economics course on your list.
Also I see that you have “DE Sociology, DE Public Speaking” on your senior course list. Any other DE courses available?
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We’re allowed free periods with permission from the superintendent, but they’re inconsistent and you can’t choose when they happen. We also use an A/B day schedule, and the periods can be different on the different days.
We don’t have any economics courses. The only other DE classes we offer are Business which is my third choice if sociology or public speaking doesn’t work with my schedule, and psychology which I’m not allowed to take since I took AP Psychology. Would it be a good idea to email the admissions teams at some of the colleges I’m interested in to gain their perspective or will that just hurt my chances?
It’s a fair question to ask BM - stats or AP Calc.
Don’t ask about repeating pre-calc. That’s either a grade make up or grade grub.
It makes zero sense.
You will likely not be penalized ever based on what your school offers - and you shouldn’t need four years of science for this list.
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Just to confirm (and to make sure I’m not missing anything), you are currently planning to take these five classes in senior year, is that correct? (I’m looking at the ones marked with asterisk in your list.) Do you have only 5 academic periods?
- AP Lit
- AP Precalc
- AP Stat
- DE Sociology
- DE Public Speaking
What additional senior course options do you have, other than the ones already mentioned (AP Calc, DE Business)?
We have 8. At least one is guaranteed to be a study hall because of the number of APs and DEs. Aside from that, we have art and music electives, intro to business, intro to engineering, intro to hospitality and tourism, and YA Lit. I’m trying to avoid those because they aren’t weighted and will bring my gpa down. They also typically don’t let seniors do the intro classes as they are meant for freshman and some sophomores.
Keep in mind most colleges will recalculate your gpa since high schools weigh differently so it’s hard to compare (ours adds .5 for honors, .5 for AP, nothing for DE). Uwgpa is more important.
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I would take what’s of interest, not what will impact your GPA. You have 3 APs but you really need to lose pre calc - that’s going to hurt you. Your GPA is baked through Junior year (that’s what they’ll make your decision on) and they told hold against you that you take a fun class. Mine took nutrition - got into more selective schools than BM.
And public speaking - is there anything with a little more academic meat? Well since you can take others…
A science or social science would help too.
I don’t understand how you go from pre calc to pre calc. It makes no sense. It’s basically saying - I didn’t do well and need to take it again.
If you’re not ready for Calc AB, then don’t - but don’t retake PreCalc - even at the AP level.
Good luck.
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@AustenNut I generally trust your categories on likelihood of admission but wonder why you rank Bryn Mawr as low probability?
Their overall acceptance rate is about 30 percent and their out of state acceptance rate is 40 percent. OP has a super high UW gpa and projected test score in mid range. Why so low on your projection of admission? Just curious.
And OP later mentioned she would ED. Even without that it seams like a target to me. And definitely a target with the ED bump.
Just my thoughts but genuinely wondering why you thought differently?
Good luck OP!
Here are a few schools to consider which you might not think of otherwise:
Smith College - excellent for political science & international studies. They meet financial need totally with institutional funds. No loans are included in the financial package.
Union College - excellent for political science & international studies, including a Political Science sponsored term in Washington, DC which includes a 30 hour internship and2 courses, one of which focuses on US international policy. Enrollment is somewhat more male than female, which would make you a priority applicant for them. Female applicants I’ve known have been offered very good financial packages.
Babson College - a school you wouldn’t likely consider because it is known as a business school. However, they have a heavy concentration on liberal arts and a major in the International Business Environment, which is excellent preparation for law school. If you’re going into law with a focus on international relations, you need to know about business because business is not a separate world. It’s intrinsic to everything else. Babson is committed to meeting 100% of financial need. It is more heavily male than female, so you would be a priority applicant for them. Although it is more heavily male, it is in a consortium with Wellesley, a women’s liberal arts college just across town & easily connected by a shuttle. Cross registration privileges give you access to a wide range of liberal arts courses at Wellesley.
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Their ED rate is 36.6% so below the overall rate.
My concern is rigor although that boxed isn’t checked in CDS and rank is listed above GPA. The math seems bothersome although people will get in with Pre Calc or Pre Calc/Stats.
They do “recommend” 4 English, 4 math, 4 Science, 4 language and 4 social sciences although I’m sure not everyone has 4, especially of the last three.
I think where this student wins is the first gen.
But then I always worry - will they meet the need? And because BM is need sensitive, if the student needs too much $$, that can be held against their admissions chance.
So I do lean on the side of acceptance (marginally so) but we don’t know the student’s need. That could impact admissions as well as the NPC doesn’t come out right - usually because people didn’t put in entries properly.
I think acceptance is 50/50….a true target. I agree first gen helps. This student has 6AP and 2 DE. I think that is absolutely solid rigor for Bryn Mawr.
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I think it’s the math rigor i’m struggling with - I’d rather the student just take stats than pre-calc again - although i’d rather her take Calc or AB vs. Stats !!
She hasn’t shared a budget but as long as she finds something affordable (she mentioned Salisbury at $25K), if that works worst case, then she’s good.
Hopefully the SAT comes in where she thinks - because 84%+ submit - so that will be another - factor, depending on how she actually comes in.
In that sense, it might be too early to predict…
Sure, though it’s not as though I have this down to an absolute science 
.
For fall 2023, BM had a 31% acceptance rate and up to 85% submitted a test (61% SAT and 24% ACT). With such a large percentage of students submitting a test, I interpret that as “test preferred” for BM. A 1300 was at the 25th percentile for BM, so 75% of enrolled students scored higher. (Source for admissions data.)
When looking at the rigor of the coursework with AP psych frequently considered an “easier” AP, with the DE courses of sociology and public speaking (again, “easier” reputations), lack of calculus, and AP environmental (again, reputation) with no physics having been taken (though in the list OP gave later, it does not appear as though it was an option at her school, so it shouldn’t be held against her by the colleges), the rigor did not appear to be at the highest level. Now, if this is the highest level that is available at her school and the counselor indicates that, then that could change things. But with my initial look, that was my impression.
Additionally, OP did not mention any AP scores. OP could have received straight 5s, but I frequently find that students who did not share their scores without being asked frequently were not receiving all 4s and 5s on their APs.
When put together, it gave me the sense that OP’s odds might be a bit lower than that of the typical BM applicant, so I put it in low probability (this was before OP indicated she planned to ED there). As I said earlier, low probability is not impossibility, and BM is not such a low probability school as many “reach” schools that some students select. But my best guess at the time was that category. If OP plans to ED there, then I think her odds improve significantly, making it at least a lower probability and maybe a toss-up school. (Per this aggregator, there’s a 58% ED acceptance rate as compared to 28% for RD for an overall 31% rate.)
So, this was my rationale, even if was a faulty one.
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These are the APs my school offers if it helps at all: US Gov, APUSH, AP Psych, AP Lang, AP Lit, AP Precalc, AP Stat, AP Calc AB, AP Environmental, AP Bio, AP Comp Sci Principles. Meaning, the only ones I won’t have taken by graduation are Calc (most likely) and Bio (started this year in bio but switched to environmental because of scheduling conflicts, plus I hate all things bio)
So far I’ve gotten a 5 on US Gov, 3 on World History (studied), and 3 on Comp Sci Principles.
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No physics of any kind at all?
Taking precalculus twice may not be a good look from a college admission reader standpoint.
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