One of the biggest misconceptions about how to get into a top college is that students need to take as many Advanced Placement (AP) classes as possible in high school.
I’m a college admissions expert, and when families write me five-figure checks for college preparation, they expect me to tell their teenagers to do more: Take more AP classes and outperform everyone academically.
Instead, I tell them to look at their teenager’s schedule, find the scariest advanced class — the one that terrifies them most — and drop it or switch to the regular version.
Students and parents sometimes struggle with that advice
Here’s what I’ve learned after teaching at Harvard Summer School and helping students from 20 countries get into their dream schools in the US: To truly stand out to college admissions officers at top-tier schools, your teen needs a compelling story about how they will make the world a better place.
Maxing out AP courses doesn’t give them time to have a real impact on their community.
As just one example, four students I’ve recently worked with who applied to Yale were accepted. None took the maximum AP course load their high schools offered.
When you max out your course load, you’re scheduling yourself for survival. You can handle it, but only as long as you never get sick, if teachers don’t pile up exams, and as long as nothing unexpected happens. You’re banking on nothing going wrong in life.
But something always happens. When you’re running at maximum capacity with no margin, one bad week can derail everything.
Your teen being the best in class is not important anymore
For example, one of my students developed a wildfire prediction app using satellite data. Instead of taking every possible AP to prove he was smart, he took enough APs to stay in the top 10% of his class, then used his remaining time to interview families who lost homes to wildfires and work with the local fire department to make his app useful to firefighters.
That human element — the interviews, the real-world application, the community impact — is what made his application compelling to Yale. Not the number of APs on his transcript.
Another student’s mother called me in anguish. Her son had been offered the opportunity to become a Senate page for an entire semester, which was perfect for his interests in government. But accepting would cost him his valedictorian status; he simply wouldn’t have time to get perfect grades.
“He’s worked so hard to be No. 1,” she said. “Isn’t there a big difference between being first in the class and being twelfth?”
I told her the truth: There is only a small advantage to being the No. 1 student compared to being in the top 10%. Both demonstrate you can handle college-level work. Her son took the Senate page position. He lost valedictorian status by a lot. He’s now studying at Yale. His school’s actual valedictorian was rejected.
My practical advice for parents
Make sure your teen’s schedule is based on what they think they can handle. They then identify the class that scares them most and replace it with either an easier version or a study hall.
If their scariest class is AP Biology and they need a biology credit, take regular biology instead. If it’s an elective, replace it with the easiest possible class.
This creates the margin students need to discover who they are and create meaningful impact in their local community. These are the things that can make students stand out from every other valedictorian.
The healthiest, happiest high school students are more competitive for selective colleges than their stressed-out, overscheduled peers. Not despite taking fewer AP classes, but because of it.
Steve Gardner teaches Leadership and Impact at Harvard Summer School and is the founder of The Ivy League Challenge.
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