What schedule should be more impressive: Junior or Senior?

thisismymingzi
Fri, 12 Aug 2011 03:25:07 +0000

“Hm I don’t know. I know plenty of people who haven’t taken any/barely any APs who got into top schools. But I don’t know if it was considered a bad thing.”

There are exceptions regarding course load and acceptances, but those are exceptions. Most admissions officers emphasize academics and look at the difficulty of your transcript first before others. That doesn’t mean they don’t take your other credentials into account since they do judge you holistically, but if you’re going to be slacking off at the beginning of your senior year compared to your junior year, something else in your application better make up for it.

I don’t think colleges will outright reject you because of your comparatively “lighter” course load, but it’s still nice to play on the safe side in unknown territory, right?

But good luck! (And I must say, I envy you for making that decision. :P)

EDIT: Ah, I completely forgot to answer the overarching question, my bad.

I don’t think either schedule has to be “more impressive” than the other, but just make sure colleges think you’re challenging yourself. They’re going to be familiar with your school and the courses they offered, and if they see you didn’t take the most rigorous curriculum, they’re going to be wondering.

But of course, going back to my earlier statements, there are exceptions, but better safe than sorry. :)