Hi everyone. My d25 attends a school that doesn’t offer AP classes. I’m wondering how much that will impact her chances. This site has been very helpful to me, and I’m wondering what you all think.
Thanks.
If you believe the colleges, not at all.
You can’t be expected to take what isn’t offered.
Good luck.
I think it depends on the type of school. Private, competitive prep school where all classes have high rigor? No big deal. Small, rural school where rigor is lower than in other areas? You’ll likely need a high test score to accompany good grades at selective colleges. Also, a student who has taken a few AP courses (or courses with similar rigor) are better prepared for college courses.
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I think that this depends upon the type of high school your daughter attends, and the type of university/college she is applying to.
However, our family has two examples that suggest that it really doesn’t matter much, if at all. Universities cannot expect you to take classes that do not exist in your high school.
I would not worry about it. Your daughter should take the classes that are appropriate for her, look for universities or colleges that are a good fit and are affordable, and make sure to apply to safeties.
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If aiming for elite colleges, take the most rigorous program offered by the HS. Students aren’t expected to take coursework not offered in the HS.
FWIW our public HS dropped AP classes over a decade ago (they do offer college level courses, but not AP) and there has been no impact on college admissions.
As an aside, try not to worry about things outside of your control.
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There are a few types of schools that don’t offer the AP curriculum:
Schools that offer their own high-level curriculum. This category includes some notable independent and boarding schools.
Schools that only offer alternative programs, like IB or CIE.
Schools that are under-resourced or don’t have enough scale to offer AP classes.
The assessment of a student’s profile will be based on how they did with the curriculum available to them. I do wonder about the kids from under-resourced districts, however, and how colleges think about their foundational readiness for the rigor of college work. Test scores can help, as another poster mentioned. Of course, many colleges want socio-economic diversity and will build programs and supports.
Anyway, AP is not the sole yardstick for rigor or intellectual talent. Colleges know that, and the regional admissions reps know the high schools in their territories.
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I’m in the camp of not worrying about this at all!
My D’s college friend came from an under resourced school with no AP or honors classes. She was admitted to the same honors program as D (who came from a private STEM focused HS), graduated college with honors, and is currently in med school.
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I think caltech addressed this issue for rural schools. Just fyi. Maybe your high school does not fit their example …
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