I'm not offered honors or AP courses, but can I still get into a good college????

Question

I'm in the 4th and last semester of my f-man. yr. in HS. My GPA is 3.6 at the moment on a FOUR point scale. Could I get into a good university. By the way, I've never really been interested in Ivy League schools so I'm not inquiring about them. I'm just asking, would I be able to get into college with a 3.6/4 GPA, NO HONORS/AP CLASSES (Except French 4 Jr. Year and AP Fr. Sr. Yr.), ONLY HIGH COLLEGE PREP CLASSES. I've been worried about this because it seems as if though a bunch (not the majority) of students in the class of 2010 and my high school are in at least one honors class. But because I can no longer move up into honors courses this late in the year OR next year (I know, my high school's screwed up.), I just REALLLLYYYY want to know if I can still get into a good college based on my GPA (not including sayyy.... the 4-6 clubs/teams I'm in).

Colleges like.......

1. Boston Univ.

2. UDEL

3. Ithaca

4. Iona

5. Marist

6. Hofstra

7. TCNJ

And yes, I live on the East Coast (NJ)

Answer 1

I'll assume your SAT scores end up being okay.

I'll bet you'll get into Iona and Marist with no problem at all. I don't know TCNJ, so I can't speak of that school. You may get into Hofstra. You might get into U Del. You might not make it into BU.

One of the things you can start to do now, if you'd like, is narrow your focus of interest in terms of extracurriculars. So many good students to a lot of activities - colleges now tend to be interested in what makes you unique. So if you have a special talent, or you do something that's of special interest to you, see if you can start to focus a bit on that now. If you are in 4-6 clubs, that's great, but try to really get into at least one of them. If you're really into art, for example, try to start pursuing that interest - kick it up a notch. If you're into sports, try to focus in on that. Not that you need to drop all your activities - not at all - but if you can focus your interests a bit, that can help.

Answer 2

Yes, but to a point. Colleges like to see that you challenged yourself in school, and AP's are good markers off that -- the curriculum is relatively uniform, unlike honors courses whose curriculum and difficulty may vary. Once you get to an average of, say, 2 or 3 AP's a year when you're an upperclassman, it doesn't really matter to colleges very much if you take more unless you're ridiculous and take, say, 5 or 6 a year. Moreover, some colleges require officially or unofficially that you take certain AP's to get into a school (Ex., AP math and physics for engineering or AP Studio Art for painting). This is often true for the top-ranking colleges.

Answer 3

You can DEFINITELY go to a good school without AP or Honors courses--

and that four-point scale doesn't mean anything -- any other scale than that scale is always converted by admissions committees anyways - though they take into consideration the difficulty of courses to account for that sort of adjustment...


but don't worry about it. i didnt take any honors or AP and had a 3.3 after HS and got into a good school (SAT scores will help you out a lot, too).

AP is overrated anyways. Half my classmates had earned college credits from AP but had to retake those courses because they didn't learn enough in AP to move onto the second-level courses in those areas. So don't sweat it.

Just do your best and do whatever you are supposed to do and you'll get into a good school.

Answer 4

I am very surprised that any high school in the US today does not offer any kind of honors programs. Even in middle schools here in Nashville, our students can take advanced courses, etc. At any rate, you can make that clear on your college application forms, and in your letters of introduction. Since your GPA is high, your SAT/ACT scores should reflect your abilities as well. I would not worry about what your high school did not offer you - you seemed to have held your own and I don't see why any school would not welcome you. Keep in mind - it's not always about the grade and average. What have you contributed in your community? Have you done any volunteer work? What else can you offer the university or college that you want to attend? What kind of work have you done? Fundraisers? Community services? Hospitals? Political? Any special training? Sports? Arts? Schools are interested in the whole student. Not just the ability to perform academically. They want to make sure you are going to be happy when you attend their schools. Write to some of these and ask what they are about - find out what their thoughts are about your concerns. Good luck to you.....

Answer 5

I'd say you still have a good shot, but I'd try and boost your gpa up even more. A 3.6 is great, but the closer you can get to 4.0, the better. If you can possibly take some AP classes, I would. Also, keep in mind that you don't have to take the class to take the exam. Taking AP Calc, AP Chem, AP US History, AP French, and AP English were some of the best decisions I ever made. Calc got me out of college math. Chem got me out of science. French helped me towards my major (French and International Relations), and the other two gave me credits. It's a good idea to take some if you can. Good luck!

Answer 6

I'm guessing yes, you can get into at least one of these schools without taking honors classes. Work on getting your GPA up, prep hard for the PSATs, and SATs (or ACT). Visit the schools in your junior year to let them know you're interested. Keep up the club/team work and do some community service.

Answer 7

Oh yeah. Colleges look at how many AP and Honors courses are available, so don't worry about. And with a 3.6, Hofstra and TCNJ shouldn't be a problem, but Boston could be hard. You can probably get in there, too, if you work hard.

Good Luck!

Answer 8

If you keep it up and get SAT scores above 1300 (verbal and math) then you should be able to get into good schools. In the Northeast, you can probably get into Boston College, Lehigh, University of MD, Penn State, Ohio State, Babson.

Answer 9

Ithaca is a possibility, but some colleges ask the school's guidance counselor how challenging your classes are compared to the rest of your class.

Answer 10

Depending on your SAT scores you should be able to get into Ithaca no problem.