I live in a very rural area and attend a small consolidated school. I have a 4.0 GPA, am at the top of my class, and on my only time taking the ACT, I made a 31. We do not have any honors or AP classes, and instead kids are able to move up a grade in math and science. I did this, and I am now done with all my math and science credits. There is only one math class at my school that I have not taken, and it’s college algebra which is offered for credit at a community college. Last year I was informed that I did not need to take the first semester, Intermediate Algebra, due to my test scores. My family and I decided that I did not need to take the class at my school since it would be wasteful to pay for two semesters and only need one. However, upon researching college applications, I have become worried that both this and not having any opportunities to take honors or AP classes may hurt my chances to get into good colleges. I am however involved in many activities, which may be beneficial. Will not having these opportunities hurt me in the long run?
If APs & honors weren’t available, they can’t really hold it against u that u didnt take any. Relax. You sound like a student a lot of colleges will be eager to have.
Colleges and universities will recognize that you made the most of what you had in high school, and will not judge you because you didn’t do something that you literally could not do. Like the previous poster said, relax. Focus on the applications to come.
Colleges look at your rigor in the context of what your school offers. If you’ve taken the most rigorous loads possible (which it sounds like you have) then they wont hold it against you that your school doesn’t offer APs or honors.
That’s what I’m working towards. I’m taking it again in October.
you will surely get into an ivy with your described background
I hope you take @theofrelord’s comments with a skeptical mind. No one “will surely” get into an Ivy…
Yeah, that’s a pretty naive comment by @theofrelord . To say anyone would for sure get in to an Ivy with such little info about the applicant is wrong. The OP has taken advantage of everything in their school which is good but a 31 on the ACT does not guarantee anything. You won’t be penalized in any means for not having access to AP and etc. but that will mean more emphasis on you grades and test scores instead. Also OP didn’t mention really anything about EC so you really can’t decide without that.
If there’s a community college, try to take a math class there. Although you’re not expected to take classes your school doesn’t offer, you’re expected to have such a thirst for learning that the meager offerings aren’t sufficient and so you’ve done everything possible to complete what your school offers.
What math have you taken? It’s be best if you could take calculus 1 (even in the spring) if push completed pre-calculus and your high school doesn’t offer more. Or, if our school only offers two years of Spanish, you could take college Spanish 2+3. Etc…
Whatever you can do.
Can you complete this for all classes taken :
English =
Math =
Science =
Social science /history =
Foreign language =
Art =
Electives =
@MYOS1634 we don’t have pre-calculus or Calculus. The highest math we offer that’s not for college credit is Algebra II, and I took it last year. I am planning on taking my semester of college algebra, but I don’t know for sure if it will be this year, over the summer, or next year.
Tty to take college algebra this year, and then calculus.
It sounds like your school’s offerings are *really * limited if they don’t offer pre-calculus - which is required from public schools in most states as many public flagships now require one year beyond algebra 2.
Do you live in Kansas, Arizona, or Oklahoma (states where the cuts to public school budgets are well known and would this not seem so strange to universities as most applicants from that state would be affected)?
Can you complete the mission of completed classes (you can add 'planned’too if you wish)
@MYOS1634 I live in Oklahoma. Our school was already struggling before the budget cuts but now it’s even worse. We don’t have a janitor and our class sizes have gotten larger since it’s hard to hire more teachers.
Wow, I didn’t know there was no pre-calc offered. Try to take that, and calculus if possible, at a community college if you have any nearby.
@thatrunnerkid would not having any form of calculus in high school make it harder to take a college class in it?
The introductory calculus course at whatever college you go to should have no prerequisites in calculus - it should be geared toward people who have never taken calc before. You should therefore not be at a disadvantage in that you haven’t taken calc before.
Some of the other people in an intro calculus class in college might already have taken calc, and you might be at a little bit of a disadvantage in terms of grading since those people will have a little head start on you, but that won’t have any impact on you actually learning. And if you study hard and smart, then you should be able to get a good grade too.
Use the community college as much as is possible . Not just for math, but for the other fields I listed above.
You’ll be expected to graduate with
- 4 years of English (honors and AP could be replaced with two or three dual enrollment classes.) This may be the most important class you take as reading and writing a lot, at analytical level, is not only required for college, but necessary for college success.
- math through pre-calculus; calculus is preferable for stem fields.
- level 3-4 in one foreign language (or up to level 3 at community college)
- 4 years of social science including us history
- 4 years of science (1 each of biology, chemistry, physics, plus one more, either an elective like CS or environmental science, or one of the three but at an advanced level.)
- one class in art (recommended)
- electives
No, you don’t need to have taken calculus in high school, but if you plan on going into stem it helps because a good number if students in calculus 1 took it in highschool. If you want to major in business and take calculus 1 AR the community college, sometimes your university will waive that requirement (most business majors must take one semester each of calculus and statistics.) However it’s imperative oubtake pre-calculus or college algebra as it’s the minimum required at most good colleges. Plus one class senior year (at the cc?).
I agree…try to take pre-calc at least and/or calc at your CC if you possibly can.
Not taking it won’t be counted against you if your HS doesn’t have it, but most students at top colleges do take it.
There are also online college classes if none are available locally.
I just did some research on the community college closest to my high school and it appears that they don’t have Pre-Calculus. They do have Calculus with Analytic Geometry, so I’m not sure if that would be difficult to take with no previous calculus classes. There is “Elementary Calculus” at another community college nearby, but I’m not sure how that would work with my school being farther away. I will try to look into taking classes there over the summer to possibly get a head start.
All of these suggestions are good but in general admissions is familiar with the challenges of rural schools and will not have the same expectations as from a kid attending a suburban school with 25 AP classes.