Next year I will be a junior. I will have a very difficult course load with AP Calc BC, AP Physics C, AP chem, and AP lit, and government honors. Along with this, I play a sport competitively and I have to devote a lot of time to it. I have 2 more spaces in my schedule. Would it hurt me to take 2 study halls in these spots? (considering I am looking to apply to competitive colleges). And in my freshman and sophomore year, I have also gotten in some key hard classes so it’s not like there’s a ton of other important classes I would be missing out on. Thanks
Why not put off AP Chem or Physics until senior year?
What about your foreign language class?
Talk to your GC about how taking two study halls would impact your course rigor.
My first questions would be - where are you at with foreign language? Most competitive colleges want to see at least to level 3 if not 4 in a FL. Also, are the science classes double periods with labs? Do you have lunch separately, or does that count as a spot? And if this is your junior schedule, what are you planning to save for senior year?
I already completed Spanish 4. And my sciences are single periods. Lunch is seperate. Senior year I was going to take AP stats, AP Lang, AP bio, and maybe an AP history.
That’s a terrible sequence. You go from insane rigor (which colleges will consider hubris) to one step down in stem.
If you’re going to take AP stats senior year tie AP physics C then. First, it’ll be your strong quantitative class for senior year and second you’ll enjoy Physics C more after completing BC.
So, AP calc, chem, lit, plus government honors and one class, an elective that may be in the same broad field as what you think for a major (journalism or creative writing or a history elective if you’re thinking Humanities, a CS elective or a fun science class if you’re thinking science… ) and then one study hall.
But how wouldn’t it be much harder to take physics C after a gap year of not taking physics considering it builds off of physics 1?
It comes back quickly.Most people who take AP Bio take it 3 years after Bio 1. It’s not a valid reason.
That said, taking AP Physics C concurrently with calc is fine, but I do agree you should push either physics or chem to senior year.
I would suggest not taking 2 lab sciences at once but taking some other courses.
I would also suggest taking only one lab class a year. If I were an AO, I’d rather see you fill one of your free periods with a no-homework fine arts elective, culinary class, or something of interest than see two study halls on the transcript.
Use this time in HS to explore different interests. When else do you get to take Photography or Cooking or the like for free?
talk to your guidance counselor - your probably fine with 1 study hall but two study halls risks telling schools either you don’t have interests beyond core classes and/or you don’t balance your time enough to handle 6 classes.