What if you only take one AP course in you Junior year, Will it look "horrible" for colleges?

Applying to College
1

First, I’m going to tell you the reason for me only taking one AP during my Junior year…

Since Pre-K to 10th, I attended a school where I was taught in Spanish. Right after I began 10th grade, I received an email saying that the most prestigious school in my country (a private, International School) was offering a full-ride “Merit and Need-Based Scholarship.” It sounded pretty interesting to me, so I applied, and to be honest, I wasn’t expecting to be the “lucky, chosen one…” A month after I applied, I got the first call back, they required me to go to the school to take a test. Two months later, I had to go to that school again to take three more tests. Three months later (Feb. 2017) my mom called me telling she had received a “special call,” and yes, I was granted the scholarship in that school… I don’t know how many people had applied, but I ended up being the “lucky, chosen one.”

Before, I’ve never heard of SAT, ACT or AP courses. I’ve never been to a school where everything was taught in English. I didn’t know a single person from that school. Obviously, I came from a VERY DIFFERENT socio-economic background. I had to leave everything behind (my friends, my school, my old teachers, even my own language). I was scared of this change, but this was my opportunity to get ahead. I kept repeating to myself “what today looks like a sacrifice, tomorrow will be the greatest achievement of your life.”

Okay, now, because of this new and strange environment for me, I decided to take a single AP (which was AP Spanish and Culture) during my Junior (and first) year in that school. I took that AP because I’d never had an AP before since in my former school neither AP nor Honors programs did exist. After I year in that school, I’ve familiarized more with the American curriculum, and next year I’m taking AP Calculus, AP Stats, and AP Computer Science.

I’m worried that Universities could think that I’m not enough because I didn’t take the risk of taking at least two or three AP courses during my Junior year.

By the way, my current GPA is 4.8 (weighted), and my other school it was a solid 4.0 (unweighted)

So, please… Tell me what you think about this… Thank you very much!

2

The highly selective colleges will take into account the context of an applicant’s transcript. So explaining the reasons for taking so few AP classes will help your candidacy. What college admissions officers admire is the willingness to challenge oneself and to make use of the opportunities available. You seem to have a good reason for taking so few AP classes and so you should make them clear in your application ( in the “Additional Information” section of Common App and also your high school counselor should also mention it in their recommendation letter).

3

how can you have weighted GPA 4.8 when you only have 1 AP class? What give you 5.0 if UW A is 4.0?

4

Thanks!

5

You have a very good reason. Just explain it briefly in “Additional information” on the commonapp and make sure your guidance counselor explains it too. Anyway you’ll have both transcripts so it’ll be clear you switched schools, school systems, and languages.