Help on improving my acceptance %, with a plot twist.Answered
I'm currently in 10th grade, studying in an average school at the top of my class. I have been looking at my CollegeVine stats and it is telling me to work on Honors and AP classes. However, I am an exception because I will be completing an exchange through Rotary International for the duration of my 11th grade year (Aug. 2022-Sept. 2023). Other sources recommend I take 10-14 AP classes for Ivies while CollegeVine states between 5-8. 6 would be the absolute maximum I could take in my senior year as my school doesn't offer them [AP classes] for 10th graders and I have a maximum of 8 classes per semester. I am working towards taking the SAT in May 2022, and by the looks of it, will score high. Depending on my preliminary score, I will retake the test 1-2 more times during Senior Year. My extracurriculars are also expanding. Any suggestions or help would be appreciated.
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3 answers
There is no single ‘right’ amount of APs for top schools— I’ve been in communities like these for a long time, and I’ve seen students with 0 APs get accepted to a HYPSM and students with 9 get rejected.
Taking a heavy course load in senior year will help, and taking several APs will help boost your application. If it’s possible you could look at taking AP or IB classes during your exchange, or self studying to take some AP tests either this year or next— even with out having taken the AP course, you could probably still sign up for testing in 10th grade and self study.
Good luck!
In general, 8-12+ APs is a good number for schools like Harvard. That said, as long as you're taking the most rigorous courses available to you and doing well in them, that will be great. If you're particularly worried about only being able to take a maximum of 6 APs, you could consider trying to supplement your course schedule with some dual enrollment classes. If this is not possible, you could always take online classes or self-study some AP exams, but these methods are generally not quite as effective. That said, the 6 APs you can take plus the more challenging courses you'll take in your exchange does sound like it would basically put you in range anyway.
If you want a more accurate Chancing Engine read-out, I'd recommend estimating the difficulty level of the courses you'll take during your exchange and inputting a few AP and honors classes accordingly.
For advice on extracurriculars, I'd recommend checking out our video on building a strong extracurricular list here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30evWEhB21E. In general, a spike (an area in which you've achieved significant things) plus at least a few activities related to your intended college major will be quite helpful. Dedicating significant time to your activities, attaining leadership positions, and taking the initiative to start your own clubs, projects, or other organizations will also look very good.
Best of luck!
I would say try to take the maximum amount of AP classes you can, it's ok if you can't take more. You could also talk about your situation on why you weren't able to take any more AP classes. If you also want to do more AP classes, you could also just self-study them and give the exam, this is usually very difficult but if you are dedicated then you would do well.
As for raising your acceptance %, I would say try to do activities you are passionate about, maybe you are really into drawing you could enter in some drawing competitions. Maybe your real passion is in STEM you could maybe try to do some STEM courses on sites like edx.org or Coursera for learning more about science or technology. Then you could use what you have learned to maybe do an engineering project. Which could be difficult to start, but when you are finished it would be really rewarding.
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