Sophomore year- AP World History

College Admissions
#1

Hello. So i really hope to get into an ivy league school. Only problem is that I took every honors and AP class I could possibly take in high school so far (im about to be a senior) except for that one AP class available sophomore yr, AP world. I went to regular instead (my school didn’t have honors) for world history. I’ve asked people before if it will ruin my chances at an ivy and they say that “oh it’s just one AP class you didn’t take, you’ll be fine”. However, Im not sure if i will be fine because theirs other circumstances. Sophomore year, i transferred to a new school. As a freshman I had 7 honors classes. The new school offers less honors classes, but I took every honors class that was offered to me. This was only 3 honors classes. Also, my dad felt that AP classes as a sophomore would be too much for me and said that I should take AP as a junior and senior. So thats why i didnt take AP world that year. The problem is that not only did I not take AP world durring my sophomore year, but i also showed a down trend from freshman to sophomore year in terms of the level of classes that I took. But thats mainly because my new school doesnt have a lot of honors classes. My schedule looked like this:

Honors Literature
Honors Trig
Honors Chem
spanish 2 (school has no honors)
computer science (school has no honors)
World History (didnt take AP)

I went from 7 honors (from freshman yr) to 3, so my main question is that although I didnt take that one AP which isnt a big deal, will top colleges treat this as a big deal specifically for me conciddering that I could have taken AP world to make up for the down trend in my sophomore year. If i had AP world, that would make up for the missing honors classes (which my school didn’t offer) and also that would have made my sophomore year schedule harder than my freshman year schedule. Or will top colleges let it go because its just one ap class and for the other classes I had, honors wasnt available?

I am a straight A student with many AP classes and honors classes. I have great SAT scores and everything.So in terms of academics, am I good for the ivy’s? (Ignore EC’s, this is in terms of academics. )

Please Reply. It will really be appreciated as I am freaking out because I have been working really hard in high school to go to an ivy and I don’t know if this will significantly ruin my chances. Don’t tell me about EC’s. i know thats important and I have that covered. im just worried about the academics.

#2

Not taking an AP class will not make or break your application.

#3

Thank you for replying skieurope. I understand that 1 ap class will not make or break my application. However, considering that my sophomore year schedule is easier than my freshman yr schedule due to the fact that my new school doesnt offer many honors classes and taking ap world could have prevented my sophomore year schedule from being easier than my freshman yr schedule, do you think the down trend in the level of difficulty of my classes will make or break my application?

#4

@HugeOverachiever No. Colleges know that students sometimes change schools and they are aware that sometimes the schools place constraints on what courses can be taken when.

#5

ok so to clarify although not taking AP world allowed my sophomore yr schedule to be easier than my freshman one, it’s ok because its only 1 ap class and for the other classes my new high school did not offer me higher level classes. So therefore it’s ok.

#6

You already have like 5 threads about this. Chill out. Honors vs. regular is like nothing.

#7

hi, looked at your other threads to figure out your overall schedule, it seems that your taking many APs in your junior year.

you shouldn’t be looking at this from the perspective of colleges only. its also important to consider your own success in your junior year when planning out your sophomore year. taking AP World this year will teach you how to manage, and do well in an AP course.

Remember, you have to worry about SAT/ ACT junior year. also, you will be taking pre calc, which is generally considered the hardest math (in my school at least), harder than calc , stat, and multi-variable.
If your classmates take AP in soph, then they will have a better grasp on APs in general.
Its important to space out your problems so you aren’t overwhelmed. Personally, this sound like a great year to take your first AP.

#8

well, oops, looks like i can’t read. ignore that , that was some useless advice, sorry lol

#9

Taking an AP class although looks well on your transcript, it is there for college credit too which you may want or not want.

#10

ok so if i have challenging courses for all of my other classes, 1 ap isnt a big dea right

#11

sorry i meant to say big deal

#12

lol you are like a dog with a bone about that. Every single responder has told you - on this and your other thread- that it is not a big deal. Even if it was a big deal - which to repeat, it is NOT- it is water well and truly under the bridge. Go worry about the things you can control / change!

#13

well im happy to see this post b/c i am in he same boat! I came from 4 honor classes in my public school freshmen year and then transferred to top tier private school soph year and only took 2 honors. Honestly, colleges will know that you are restricted to take certain classes. But one word of my advice would be to look at your school profile and see what the school considers to be “hardest course load” b/c at the end of the day, thats what your aiming for. In my case, 5-6 AP is considered super heavy load, so I will make sure to take 3 AP junior year and 3 AP senior year.