<p>I agree. Beyond the admissions course requirements for the most selective programs she’s applying to, which she should cover with the most rigorous courses she can handle–honors or AP–she should take elective classes she enjoys. My daughter took four years of orchestra and three years of visual arts classes (in addition to AP-- calc, physics B, chem, lit, etc) and had no trouble being accepted to all the engineering programs she applied to. In her case it didn’t have a negative affect on her class rank percent, and only slightly affected her numerical rank.</p>