I go to a private boarding school, very well regarded, but after looking through the Chances section I’ve noticed a lot of things that I haven’t had the opportunity to do/achieve (e.g. honor roll, class rank, NHS, honors courses). Would this be detrimental in my application, or do you think colleges would consider the fact that my school doesn’t offer these things?
Depends what sort of college you want. If your a good student most schools won’t care necessarily since your school doesn’t have them. If your talking about applying to the Ivy League or something it may matter. If you school doesn’t have honor classes then colleges will look at the comparative rigor of your schedule and of course individual grades. Does your school have a fixed track for all students of something where you don’t have different levels (like regular/college prep, accelerated, and honors classes)? Develop yourself in the best light in context of your school and I’m sure you do fine applying to colleges.
Thanks for your response! I am a good student (4.0 average) and if we had an honor roll I would most likely be on it. The idea of boarding school is that honors classes aren’t necessary because everything is at a higher/college prep level, but the only extra academic distinction we can get is AP classes, and occasionally skipping a level (in math or language usually). My only issue is that there aren’t a ton of APs in areas I’m interested in pursuing (humanities and music), and I don’t want to overextend myself by taking irrelevent APs just for college apps. Do you think that could pose a problem? I do plan to emphasize my academic focus/direction in my application, so hopefully my slightly lopsided record won’t be an issue.
It depends on what’s offered at your school. You will not be negatively affected in any way be your school’s lack of those programs.
– School Honor Rolls are largely useless, even for not very selective colleges.
– Class Rank is something colleges do like to have, but if your GPA is buttressed by good test scores, you won’t have a problem here.
– NHS is simply an indicator that you have been involved outside of schools. In itself, NHS is not incredibly useful because (a) many applicants have it, and (b) it does not say much about your character / where your interests lie. In particular, NHS tends to favor students who hold superfluous “leadership” positions and those who have many volunteering hours, whether or not the student cared about what he or she was actually doing.
– With regards to Honors Courses, you’re expected to challenge yourself in high school and take the most rigorous classes whether or not they are given any distinction. Regarding what you said about APs:
- You should not be neglecting APs in math or science unless you know you cannot handle or extremely dislike the material.
- You said that you are interested in humanity-based APs, but your school does not offer them. If your school does not offer these, you should take up the material on your own. Not only will this help your college application, but it will also help you ascertain which subject areas you do find interesting. You can also try to complete independent “projects” related to these subjects. For example, my school doesn’t offer AP Music Theory, but I wanted to learn how to compose music. I taught myself Theory and now compose in my spare time.
It depends on what’s offered at your school. You will not be negatively affected in any way be your school’s lack of those programs.
– School Honor Rolls are largely useless, even for not very selective colleges.
– Class Rank is something colleges do like to have, but if your GPA is buttressed by good test scores, you won’t have a problem here.
– NHS is simply an indicator that you have been involved outside of schools. In itself, NHS is not incredibly useful because (a) many applicants have it, and (b) it does not say much about your character / where your interests lie. In particular, NHS tends to favor students who hold superfluous “leadership” positions and those who have many volunteering hours, whether or not the student cared about what he or she was actually doing.
– With regards to Honors Courses, you’re expected to challenge yourself in high school and take the most rigorous classes whether or not they are given any distinction. Regarding what you said about APs:
- You should not be neglecting APs in math or science unless you know you cannot handle or extremely dislike the material.
- You said that you are interested in humanity-based APs, but your school does not offer them. If your school does not offer these, you should take up the material on your own. Not only will this help your college application, but it will also help you ascertain which subject areas you do find interesting. You can also try to complete independent “projects” related to these subjects. For example, my school doesn’t offer AP Music Theory, but I wanted to learn how to compose music. I taught myself Theory and now compose in my spare time.
I wouldn’t self study APs unless your classes are super easy and you have a lot of free time, but I’d at least take the few APs your school has. If you like Humanities and Music APs you might like are Human Geography, the History APs, Macro, Micro, maybe even US or Compartive Goverment. Also as said above Music Theory. You may also like AP Language or Lit as you tend to read a lot of relevant diverse things and it sort of fits in with the humanities.