I’ve been taking all AP or honors courses available to me since freshman year. Currently I am a junior with 4 AP and 3 Honors (and gym). I would like to take 4 AP and a few honors next year, but I would really like to take culinary next year. I would like to try for ivy league, and I have the scores (soon) and grades and everything. Would taking culinary affect my changes to getting into an ivy league school?
What does your guidance counselor say? If you will be using the common app, you want them to check the box “most rigorous” for your schedule. Apart from that, understand that admission to Ivy League schools is very difficult. You also should research other top schools. I like using the College Board BigFuture web site: https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org
No, assuming that your overall schedule is marked as “most demanding.” There is no expectation that every single course needs to be most demanding.
Is culinary a single class or is it a multi-class “stream”? Regardless -
Ivy League schools are statistically almost impossible to get into if you aren’t a recruited athlete, a national prize-winner, or a legacy with ultra-high stats, so there’s absolutely no point adjusting your own wishes in an attempt to please the Ivies. Learning culinary skills is enormously worthwhile and will last a lifetime. Do it!
You might want to consider the fact that Cornell has a School of Hospitality which sends grads not only into the global hospitality industry, but also into finance, real estate, etc. Having experience of some sort with hospitality is virtually a requirement to gain admission. I would think that adding culinary to an already demanding HS schedule would serve as such an experience.
In short, Cornell Hospitality might be an intriguing back door into the Ivy League.