Exactly. My high school didn’t have AP classes, the curriculum was the bare minimum for state requirements, and the grading system allowed for 5 valedictorians

Exactly. My high school didn’t have AP classes, the curriculum was the bare minimum for state requirements, and the grading system allowed for 5 valedictorians all with perfect 4.0s in my graduating class of 50. While I was one of them, the only thing that really made me stand out in college applications was my essays and good ACT scores. In fact, I had never even heard of AP classes and didn’t know what they were until I started applying to colleges.