Is AP Physics 1, AP Bio, APES, AP Music Theory, AP Lang, and honors precalc manageable for junior year? I took 3 honors and 2 APs last semester and got all As, but this time some honors are APs. I am most worried about music theory.
This sounds like a heavy load. AP Bio & Physics are a lot of memorization, AP Music Theory is challenging esp if you haven’t taken any Music Theory before. Everything s relative though - and you are probably the best judge of whether you can successfully handle this schedule. If school is still in session, I would take advantage of the opportunity to speak to some of the teachers about your plans.
Depending on the colleges you are targeting, doubling or tripling upon science at the expense of another core subject (in this case 2 - foreign language and social sciences), is rarely a good decision.
I have 2.5 credits of social studies already, and I plan on taking micro/macro and human geography senior year, so I will have 4.5 credits. I was thinking of switching micro/macro to junior year, but it is an easier class so I don’t know if it would be rigorous enough. Furthermore, I want to go into stem, but I’m not sure what field yet, so these science classes might help me decide what colleges to look at as stem is very broad. Also, I have taken 3 years of Spanish and I am taking Russian over the summer (as it is not offered at my school) so I’m not worried about that. Is it ok if my classes aren’t as balanced as long as I get all my credits in?
From a workload perspective, it would be better to move a science to senior year and econ to junior year,as an example.
No college is going to analyze rigor by year; they will look at the aggregate.
I’m assuming you are not targeting any colleges that ask for 4 years then. Because in FL, 3+1≠4; they want it in the same language.
I had a horrible experience with Spanish, so there is no way I am taking that again. Also, I was hoping to minor in Russian and do a program in Russia next summer so I thought it would be best to take that? I would have taken it at my school earlier, but it was not offered and I only found a class for it in my area now. Would that compensate? I am not looking at any Florida schools, mostly California ones and they say 3 years.
Foreign languages - many colleges want “2 or more years” - heavy on the MORE. Stanford wants 3+, Harvard wants 4(+). As @skieurope noted…3+1 doesn’t equal 4 in this instance.
@Aug2019 I don’t know how I could take 4 years of another language, such as Mandarin, in the next 2 years. I don’t want to fill my summers with another language class (bad experience).
If they don’t ask for 4, then it’s fine. It’s when you start talking about Harvard/Yale/etc. that it becomes a problem, but then they reject 95% of applicants anyway. 
OP - I didn’t mean to suggest that you should try to cram 4 years of a new language in…but that a fourth year of Spanish would serve you better than one year of a new language (Russian).
“FL” referred to foreign language, not Florida.
You could possibly take Span 4 or AP online, if the problem is your school. But we don’t know enough about you or your record to say much except that 3 AP sciences is overload for many kids. And APES is no special tip.
Nor do we know which CA colleges. Big differences among them.
Ah oops sorry about the abbreviation.
I took Spanish 2 online and it was a very bad experience and it set me up for a really hard year in Spanish 3. I barely got an A and only because my teacher was the ONLY one who allowed retakes, even then my test average was very low. There is no way I would take another year.
I was looking at USC, UCLA, UCSB, UCSD, UC Irvine, Stanford, Tulane, and UChicago. They all have 2 or 3 year requirements for a language. Honestly, I was not going to take Russian until college, so doing any language at all right now is extra. My brother got into top schools with 3 years of a foreign language. That was not my worry when I posted this thread!
As for the sciences for next year which is my main concern as they are quite time-consuming. @lookingforward I also heard APES is easy and I am very interested so that should be fine. I took honors biology this year and I had a very solid A, so AP Bio should be alright. APES and AP Bio have a lot of overlap too! I don’t want to push AP Bio to senior year as I am taking AP Chem and it would be overkill, also APES is my easy class so I would not like to move it either. AP Music Theory with these is what I’m worried about, especially with an hour of physics homework every night! Yet, I cannot move AP Physics as I plan to take AP Physics C. AP Music Theory will help me immensely for college guitar auditions, so I cannot move that either. I don’t know what to do.
Get a tutor and gut out the fourth year of Spanish. Take a social studies class and skip one of the sciences. You can be a STEM major without taking every scrap of AP science offered, especially at the cost of the other things colleges want to see.
Adcoms know APES is an easy class. It’s not even considered a lab science. Leaning back won’t cut it for schools like Stanford, Chicago, or UCB/UCLA, USC. Too much fierce competition. Nor will it be good if they catch wind of this attitude that you had an issue and just refuse any further Spanish. (Sure, it happens, but Stanford and Chicago will look for the intellectual curiosity. That includes an open mind and determination.)
So a music major? How good are you? Did you find music ECs? And what else for activities? The top colleges will expect depth and breadth in activities- not just school clubs or any old titles.
You’re only trickling out info to us, a drop at a time. What grades and stats? What rigor? Those colleges will be looking at your full app, the transcript, not just gpa and scores.
I am not suggesting you tell us this info. But you need to stop and take a deeper look at what these colleges look for, the whole of it. Ad then self assess.
I disagree about social science, take what you love. If you want to learn physics and biology take both. Lots
of kids here do a schedule such as you suggest, and its for sure not harder than say any college year with a science core. AP classes are just not that hard and I also disagree that AP physics is a lot of memorization. Its much more about how to use the correct formula to solve a problem, its more math than biology or chemistry. If you want to learn biology and physics take those. The one to consider dropping for a social science is the environmental science class, its worthless, apparently but if you are truly interested in environmental science, be sure to take AP chemistry as its important, maybe you already have that class under your belt?
You can always drop music theory, its a don’t care, unless you are a musician, and plan to talk about your deep interest in music, as part of your story for getting into college, then maybe music theory makes sense, but otherwise, you could choose another writing class, instead of music theory. I don’t know that you need to follow an exact path to get into any school, although some schools will want a formula 4 social science classes. If you can write well, they will not care that much. Some science classes teach force writing skills too.
Also you may not be a “fit” at colleges that require 4 boring social science classes to get in.
Think about that, you love science, apparently. Apply to schools that value your passion and your talents.
@intparent My family can’t really afford a tutor and I would rather not be struggling in a class I do not enjoy. I don’t have a passion for it, and knowing myself I won’t be committed and it will not go well. 
Thank you though!
Colleges want kids who can face up to a challenge. It’s pretty tough to get a college degree (or succeed in the workplace) without doing some things you don’t want to do. You won’t have a passion for every single thing you do in life.
@lookingforward I am interested in environmental science and I am actually doing research on potential solutions for ocean acidification. APES is an easy class though so it doesn’t show rigor. Is it still work taking?
Believe me, I have done a lot of research of what colleges look for, however, I do want to still stay true to myself. I will not take any class or join an extracurricular just for the college apps. If they don’t like me, that’s okay because I did what’s best for me and grew as a person.
I want to major in Astrophysics and minor in Russian. I am applying to USC for Classical Guitar though as I would like to continue music, so I will just see how it pans out from there (I viewed a master class there, it was great!). I think I am decent at it and it is unique. I am doing jazz band this year for guitar as well at my school. My extracurriculars are the strongest part of my application. I’ve created a variety of computer science classes, STEM lead of teen center, creating astronomy event, diplomats program, chosen for international stem program, speech, lacrosse, etc. These are all things that I enjoy and would not do anything less.
My lowest part of my app are my stats, I am working to bring it up. I had depression 1st semester of sophomore year, I was going through a lot and did not focus on school at all, I got quite a couple B’s. I heard I shouldn’t mention mental illnesses on my application because of the stigma around it which is sad that it isn’t seen as a real illness (it is). I have a 3.8uw/4.3w (I am working on it). I am still top 5% of my class though. I am taking the most rigorous classes available. 2 of my sophomore classes were actually with top juniors/seniors. My APUSH writing was compared with all the people in AP lang (yikes!). I had to work very hard. This is my concern about classes, especially with test prep happening too, I don’t know how much is too much, but you need that rigor.
Test scores I took a baseline ACT test and got a 30. At the time I did not finish algebra 2 yet, so the math section should be a lot higher now (was my weakest, rest was good). Junior year I have to spend a lot of time studying for standardized tests to really bring up my score (takes time from classes).
@intparent I understand that. I don’t want to take ap lang, but I have to and I will grow from it. Spanish is, like all languages, useful. However, since I want to go into a field concerning space, where Russian and Mandarin are the most useful, it’s not something I want to waste my energy on. I have zero interest in continuing with Spanish and I know I will forget it as soon as the class is over. I don’t want to spend my time doing things “just to look good” that will not help me in the future. If I can’t apply to NYU because of it, that’s fine. I understand what you’re saying though. I did not want to study for APUSH, but you bet sacrificed 5 hours a day for 2 months leading up to the ap test to study. I have a strong work ethic, but only for things I find will help me grow if that makes sense. I won’t have a passion for everything, but at least it will aid me in being a better person, and taking Spanish 4 doesn’t seem very useful to me. Sorry.
I feel you, I took up to Spanish 3 in sophomore year and then noped out of ap span 4 this year. I do agree that APES is an easy class though, and if you’re taking AP Bio, you’ll be covering apes in that anyway. In my opinion, you should drop APES and take a social studies instead.