4 vs 5 AP classes in senior year

Applying to College
1

<p>I'm debating whether to take 4 AP classes, 1 honors, and 1 regular one, or 5 APs and 1 honors next year.
Pros: -College admissions- GPA, impressive schedule, etc. (This is really the only one, but It's pretty important to me as I am aiming high- Ivy League, Stanford, MIT are some of my reaches)</p>

<p>Cons: -I'm already a very high performer at school, so 1 more AP class probably won't matter much in applying [correct me if I'm wrong], especially since only 1st semester is important, and my school doesn't rank except in 4% increments, so it won't affect rank either.
-I don't care about college credit that much, as I already have more AP credits than most schools I'm looking at will accept.
-I won't get a State AP Scholar award even if i take the extra AP class, so that's also irrelevant.</p>

<p>The classes I'm definitely taking: </p>

<p>AP Biology (Not very worried about this, I studied for the AP test freshman year and though I canceled my score, I now realize I probably would have gotten a 4, and I remember a lot of the material)</p>

<p>AP European History (Though I'm not really a history person, the teacher is really easy at my school- almost everyone gets an A, the tests are easy, and there is almost no workload - 15 minutes a night or less, except when essays are due - only 1 a semester)</p>

<p>AP Physics C (Mechanics 1st semester, E&M second semester)- (I already took Physics B, and am very good at math, so I am not worried about this class)</p>

<p>English Honors (Senior English course, AP Lit is not offered... the teacher for this is pretty easy, so not too worried about this either)</p>

<p>AP Spanish Literature (Somewhat worried about this one, I'm not a languages person really, but I did fine in AP Spanish Language I know 4 years of a language is good)</p>

<p>The sixth class, the one I'm debating over, is AP Government (one semester is US, one semester is Comparative, but for some stupid reason you have to take both or neither). In replacement of that, I would take Astronomy one semester (a class I want to take for fun and would not be hard, but it is not honors/AP), and something like Graphic Design, Photography, or P.E. the other semester.</p>

<p>Any advice?</p>

2

<p>AP Gov is a really easy AP test, for what it’s worth. Honestly just do what you want to do, 1 AP class won’t make or break your application.</p>

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<p>I know gov is an easy test, but at my school the teacher for it is pretty hard.</p>

4

<p>You have a rigorous schedule, go ahead and jack around a little in PE.</p>

5

<p>I notice that you don’t have a Math course down for next year, why is that?</p>

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<p>My daughter took 4 APs this year and all required a lot of homework. Like, some days, hours of work. Between that and her part time job, she was averaging 4 or 5 hours of sleep per night. Make sure the homework requirements are as little as you think they are.</p>

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<p>Math is online. The workload isn’t that significant (did it this year with 5 APs, though they were mostly easier APs than next year) and I usually do it on the weekends.</p>

<p>@LeftyLou, I know for a fact I won’t have any problems in the science courses and Euro as I have had all three of those teachers before. Plus, science comes easier to me than other subjects. I know that Spanish Literature and Art History will be where I will have to put in a lot of time.</p>

<p>Thanks for answering my thread everyone.</p>

8

<p>If you want to take astronomy and PE, go for it. It sounds like your schedule is probably already at the ‘most rigorous’ level, so take something that you really will enjoy; I don’t think one extra AP class will make a difference for you.</p>

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<p>your schedule is already really rigorous. one AP class isn’t going to make that much of a difference honestly. just do classes some for fun.</p>

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<p>4 vs 5? lol, i took 7 - stats, phys b, calc ab, govt, microecon, Lit, and Mandarin. im not gonna lie, it wasnt easy, but i still had a great time my senior year participating in dances and sports and stuff.</p>

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<p>Scheduling issues won’t permit me, or anyone at my school, to take more than 5. I was going to take lit next year instead of honors but it conflicts with bio so I just took the lit ap test.</p>

12

<p>To be honest, a difference of 1 AP won’t matter. Take the AP if you’re interested in it, and can handle it.</p>

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<p>What math class are you taking online?</p>