What’s the GPA? What’s the desired spend ? Where are you and how flexible are you geographically.
What major ?
You start with what you have and go from there (test score etc).
You can start now so you can buikd an initial list and make visits to see if they might fit.
Also, depending on where you live, there are various shared state programs - in New England, the Midwest, West Coast which includes Utah and Colorado. The SE too.
These programs, if you can access one, offer large discounts. Some, like the SE and NE, might be major limited - like if your state doesn’t have that major.
What I would say is get that budget and we’ll likely find you schools of various sizes and environments to fit. Even LACs potentially.
My kids’ school does this too; honors and AP are weighted equally with an extra point on a 4-point scale (so an A is a 5.0 out of 4.0). Colleges might use their own scales, or they might just take each school’s scale in context. That’s what the school profile sheet is for (which the counselor sends) along with the counselor’s explanation of what individual transcripts mean in context.
Jumping in here with a related question. I keep reading this idea that AOs look at your student’s rigor in context of their school. If a school, for example, offers 16 AP classes, and a handful of DE classes, how many of these classes does a student need to take for their transcript to be considered rigorous in this particular school’s context? We have no idea how many AP classes the average student ends up taking at our school, so in turn, I am not actually sure if my student is taking what would be considered a rigors course load compared to her peers. The AP classes that her school offers is listed in their profile but that’s all that is listed. No policy or average for the students that attend there.
Speak with a school counselor. He/she would know. All students in the same school are compared to each other. That is why sometimes schools want the most rigorous schedule available (but I would not overdo it to avoid GPA hit and allow a student to live instead of being overstressed and overextended. )
Depends on whether it means that the student is choosing much more rigor than they chose in the past, or if AP courses happen to be the next ones in the sequence of (usually honors) courses that they were taking. For example, going from honors precalculus and foreign language 3 to AP calculus and AP foreign language (where level 4 is AP level at the high school) would just be normal sequencing. Similarly, going from regular biology, chemistry, or physics that is a prerequisite to AP biology, chemistry, or physics to the AP course would also be normal sequencing.
Also, some AP courses are not considered to be that difficult or high workload. If the five AP courses are statistics, environmental science, human geography, psychology, and economics (plus regular English), that may not be a particularly heavy schedule.
Make a hypothetical schedule with the student choosing the weighted options where available and then calculate weighted GPA using the desired weighting system assuming all A grades in the courses.
This answer to this question, assuming still on the guidance counselor recommendation, will be equally important (if not more), than the total number of AP’s taken. From experience, a student should not be penalized for a school’s lack of AP’s, but that does not always cut both ways. For example, schools offering 20 AP’s does not mean students should take 10+. They should take the most rigorous schedule they can handle and still get A’s. They should also consider what they are interested in as they reach junior year.
AP Art History
AP Biology
AP Calculus AB
AP Calculus BC
AP Chemistry
AP Chinese Language & Culture
AP Comparative Government & Politics
AP Computer Science A
AP Computer Science Principles
AP English Language and Composition
AP English Literature and Composition
AP Environmental Science
AP European History
AP French Language & Culture
AP German Language & Culture
AP Human Geography
AP Italian Language & Culture
AP Japanese Language and Culture
AP Latin
AP Macroeconomics
AP Microeconomics
AP Music Theory
AP Physics 1: Algebra-Based
AP Physics 2: Algebra-Based
AP Physics C: Electricity & Magnetism
AP Physics C: Mechanics
AP Psychology
AP Research
AP Seminar
AP Spanish Language & Culture
AP Spanish Literature & Culture
AP Statistics
AP Studio Art: 2-D Design
AP Studio Art: 3-D Design
AP Studio Art: Drawing
AP U.S. Government & Politics
AP U.S. History
AP World History
When you look down this list, do you feel putting AP in front of the class makes them all feel rigorous? I do not.
