<p>Is it possible to get into a top 20 LAC without taking AP classes?</p>
<p>Our public school does not have AP classes. DE on-line with community college.</p>
<p>Assuming GPA & SATs are in the 50% range of each LAC.</p>
<p>Do you think it is possible to get into a top ranked school?</p>
<p>Once in, do you think the student is able to keep pace?</p>
<p>Yeah it’s possible.</p>
<p>However, it would certainly be a good idea to get some high level education in during high school. That can be done at a community college or through self studying AP tests and taking the tests at a high school that does take it.</p>
<p>If a student is ranked top 1% in the school the student will get into a good school regardless of the curriculum. It would just be good to show some initiative.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>The student in question is doing community college course. She is in 11th grade. She’ll be meeting with her GC next week. I think she really needs a few AP. We have other schools in the region that offer it.</p>
<p>If your school offers no APs a student will not be penalized for not having any. However schools will nevertheless want to see that a student has challenged themselves - to get into top schools that may mean taking some initiative. Taking duel enrollment courses is certainly one way. There are AP courses offered on line (CTY and EPGY are the ones I am familiar with) if the CC classes aren’t challenging or interesting enough. But there’s nothing magical about APs.</p>
<p>Like mathmom says, students who go to schools that don’t offer AP courses are definitely not penalized for that. But the student needs to demonstrate that they did take the most challenging courses that were available to them, and it doesn’t hurt to go the extra mile by taking a community college course, online courses, or doing some kind of academic enrichment activity on the side. Schools want hard workers who are really prepared for the kind of work they will have to do at a top 20 LAC.</p>
<p>Longhaul:</p>
<p>If the 11th grader is taking community college courses, she could take the corresponding AP exams in May. It is not necessary to take the AP class beforehand. She will need to make sure that the materials she covers in her cc courses correspond to the AP curriculum (she can check the CB website and take a look at AP prep books). College adcoms will certainly take into account the fact that she is taking cc courses as a junior. I agree with mathmom that if the cc classes turn out not to be challenging enough, she could take online courses. Besides EPGY and CTY, I believe APEX also offers AP courses online as does The Virtual High School.</p>
<p>My son’s high school offers no AP courses. He’s happily attending Harvey Mudd College (a top 20 LAC for STEM studies). He’s working like a dog to keep up with his courseload, but that’s the norm for all HMC frosh.</p>
<p>The advice you’ve received from others on this thread is sound; I don’t really have anything to add.</p>
<p>Since the student will be coming in with no experience in AP level classes, it’s a good idea to keep in mind when looking at your LAC choices that the student may need a little extra help. Not that they aren’t smart enough, just that they may not have the experience and exposure that other students might have. So when looking, pay close attention to what kinds of support structures the college offers, beyond advising. Is there a writing center? A math center? Tutoring available (not just peer tutoring, but also professional or master tutors) and how much does it cost? Ask current students if they think profs are often in office hours. </p>
<p>They may not need the support, but it may also end up being very important.</p>
<p>Why would a community college student need to take an AP test? Wouldn’t he/she get college credit anyway? Or is the community college class high school duel enrollment? I guess if the community college class counts toward graduation, you can’t get college credit for it without the AP? Did I just answer my own question?</p>
<p>MDmom:</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s a matter of dual enrollment since credit is given for AP classes which, after all, are taken to fulfill high school requirements. Some colleges are suspicious of the quality of cc classes since they do not know the ccs; so AP scores are used to validate the cc classes. Some colleges will not give any credit for cc classes even when not taken to fulfill high school requirements but will give credit for high scores on APs (that’s the case with Harvard, which will not even give credit for its own courses taken in high school but has a fairly generous policy of accepting 4 AP scores of 5 for Advanced Standing). Not knowing what colleges an 11th grader will want to apply to, I would advise taking the AP exams to maximize both chances of admission and potential credit.</p>