<p>Next year (junior year) I'm taking:
AP Calc BC
AP Lang
AP Chem (double period in my school)
AP Psych
I wanted to take AP World too, but my parents refuse to let me take a fifth AP (I tried to sign up for it 'secretly', but my parents found out and got really mad.) They made me get my teacher to re-recommend me for Honors World :/ now I'm only taking those 4, honors world and a tech requirement I need to graduate.
Is this still a pretty-competitive schedule? Would I still have a chance at colleges like Tufts, UPenn, etc even with this schedule (assuming I get all A's in them). Looking on this site, I've seen kids taking 7 AP's with all 5's and all A's, which realllyyy makes me nervous...I don't want to be passed up because I didn't take a rigorous enough courseload.
Help?</p>
<p>How many APs do students at your school usually take Junior year? If its less than 4 - then your schedule is competitive. Things are looked at in the context of your student body/graduating class – not in the context of CC.</p>
<p>BTW, World over Psych all the way. </p>
<p>Most take three, but there are definitely people taking four AP’s and probably a few taking five. I’m really interested in Psych though, in an ideal world I could take World and Psych but having to choose I’d rather take the latter (History isn’t my favorite subject…)</p>
<p>What is “most”? </p>
<p>Majority of students in my class. So I would estimate that maybe 70% of the kids in my class are taking at least one AP next year. Out of those kids taking at least one AP, probably 40% are taking two AP’s, around 30% are taking 3 AP’s, and then 8% of my class is taking 4 while the crazy top 2% is taking 5.
I feel like I’m not making sense, sorry this is so confusing >_< I shouldn’t have said most, <strong>more accurately stated</strong> the average number of AP’s a student takes in junior year at my school is 2-3 classes.</p>
<p>Depends on what your classmates are doing since colleges like to look at your school and your performance relative to what is available at your school. If you want to go Penn without a hook, you might be competing with the crazy 2% assuming they are topping your class.</p>
<p>8% of your class taking four doesn’t constitute a majority – so I think you’re fine. </p>
<p>As a Canadian who’s school only offers 4 AP classes max, my chances will be alright as well?</p>
<p>That was mean of your parents to do. Regardless of what is required to look “competitive,” there is something to be said for the pursuit of knowledge. Despite the workload, AP world is a very fun and interesting course that I would recommend to anyone. Sure, you will probably cover a similar curriculum in honors, but AP classes, especially the ones that aren’t easy, tend to be far more academically engaging just due to the students who take the class. Anyone who would willingly take additional challenging courses should definitely appreciate the value of having interesting classmates. From freshman to junior year I took regents level English because I hated the subject. While I still think English class is ■■■■■■■■, I opted to take AP Lit this year just because I couldn’t stand the kind of kids in regular English anymore. While I pull my hair out every time I have to write an essay, I think the switch was a net gain over the hair I would have lost listening to morons in regents for a fourth year in a row. </p>
<p>So if you really are determined to take harder classes, stick up for yourself! It will be worth it. </p>
<p>I hope that AP Lang helps you, since the grammatically correct thread title should be “Are four AP classes too few.” I think you should be more concerned whether the integrity and character issues demonstrated by going behind your parents’ back are manifested elsewhere in the application process. </p>
<p>Thanks skieurope, I’ll change that right away 
I feel silly… I can’t help but add that if you’re going to be nitpicky about grammar, you should put “issues demonstrated by going behind your parent’s back ARE manifested” as opposed to “is.” To be honest though, I wouldn’t say I have integrity and character issues; I want to take another AP class, one that I will study for all by myself and will only impact me and my own GPA. It’s not right to try to sign up for it behind my parents’ backs, but come on, have you ALWAYS done what your parents said?</p>
<p>I’m currently a sophomore. My classes for junior year are: ap lang, apush, ap Spanish lit, and ap stat. Depending on your study skills and habits four Ap’s are excellent. I have seven classes a day so four AP’s are more than enough. If you can handle them do it! It’s a bold move and colleges will love it </p>
<p>@Darthelmet haha that’s very true, my AP classes this year are by far my favorites. They’re a lot more 'intellectually stimulating," I know that sounds pretentious but I really like how we relate our lessons to current events and go into such great detail, AP is such a different experience than any other honors class I’ve taken before >_< It’s hard to defy my parents, they barely let me do extracurricular activities (I almost had to sneak out to go to my science bowl competition) but I’m trying to calmly talk to them. Fingers crossed I can change their minds by next Wednesday!</p>
<p>@Genbaez I have seven classes a day too, it feels shorter though because of double period bio Hopefully colleges will not look down on me because I didn’t take the maximum number of AP classes junior year, I know Penn is a super-reach but hopefully I’ll still have a chance at Tufts ED D: Good luck in Spanish Lit next year, I hear that one’s a GPA killer :o</p>
<p>Can you swap AP world for psychology?</p>
<p>@texaspg I could, but I’ve heard that taking AP Psych counts as an actual credit in science-based majors, whereas AP World would only count as an elective. Have you heard anything about this? My rationale was that Psych might actually be ‘worth’ more if I were to become a science major in college and would look better on college apps. Plus, in general I’m very intrigued by human behavior/mental disorders, and I’m not extremely passionate about history. Not saying I absolutely hate history, but based off of pure interest I’m leaning towards taking psych if I can only pick one.</p>
<p>Psychology is labelled as a social science by colleges. </p>
<p>I am yet to see a college recommend students take psychology at high school level, for any major.</p>
<p>Tufts does not grant AP credit for Psych.</p>
<p>Ooh, that sucks 
I just found the Bulletin/PreMatriculation sheet on the Tufts website, but if I get a 4 or a 5 on the AP Psych exam it says I don’t have to enroll in Psychology I…not sure if that would actually do anything for me. I found something about the possibility to earn a credit in history, but which history are they talking about (world, APUSH, etc)?</p>
<p>You are assuming that you will get into Tufts which by no means is guaranteed. </p>
<p>Irrespective of whether you get credit or not, world history is considered to take up a lot of a student’s time while psychology does not. What does that tell you about the strength of the schedule?</p>