<p>Hi, I'm a current junior taking 3 AP's and doing well in all three of them (Biology, English Language, and US History). In addition, I am in Pre-Calculus and Spanish IV. I'm very involved in my school in a variety of clubs, sports, theater groups, musical groups, etc. I keep very busy, but was able to effectively balance my EC's and tough schedule this year. </p>
<p>Next year I want to take: </p>
<p>AP Calc AB
AP Lit
AP Euro
Physics
AP Gov
AP Spanish
Honors Economics </p>
<p>Is 5 AP's too much for a heavily involved senior? What do you suggest dropping? Any feedback would be much appreciated. </p>
<p>For a “heavily involved senior” I’d say it is. If you were just going to school, doing some stuff over the weekend with an easy part time job, I’d say yes. But if you’re playing sports every weekday, volunteering weekdays/weekends, have a part time job, are leader of a club or involved in a couple time-consuming ones (like say FCCLA or Science Olympiad) I’d say no.
It’s your senior year. I know people who I’d never imagine having senioritis getting it pretty hard core. Even if you do well in your classes, by the time May rolls around and you have 5 AP exams that you’ve needed to study for and do well on, it will probably hit you hard.
You don’t want to risk not doing well. You probably think you won’t, but if your college is so competitive that one C+ will blemish your transcript, taking 5 AP’s is a risk. Top colleges DO actually withdraw your acceptance if they see you’re not doing as well as you were.
An extension of #2: it’s senior year and grades shouldn’t be your biggest issue. It should be writing the best essays you can, finalizing your recommendations and list of schools you want to apply to, figuring out financial aid, and maybe a few extra boosts and tweaks to your application. If you’re aiming high, that should take up A LOT of your time. You DON’T want to procrastinate on that, or be too busy getting an A in 5 AP’s when doing 3 would suffice. I’m just saying, it’s senior year and you have new priorities. </p>
<p>Depending on your major, I’d get rid of one or two. If it were me, I’d get rid of Euro and/or Gov, but that’s just me. Math, English, and a foreign language are IMO more important and will help you a lot more in the future no matter your major.</p>
<p>I took the same 3 APs as a junior and did fine. I’m taking 6 as a senior and it’s also okay. The only hard part is taking all the AP exams at the end of the year (I’m in the middle of it now). Having 2 on one day stinks, and it’s happening twice haha</p>
<p>I’m a senior here taking 5 APs and really wishing I hadn’t. I was accepted early action to MIT and early decision to Carnegie Mellon so it’s not like I’m a slacker-- just that I was extremely motivated at the beginning of the year and now I’m not and keeping up with all these classes is super annoying (Don’t get me wrong, I got straight A+s all high school and now I have all As, A-s, and one B which is pretty tame as far as senioritis goes). I wish I’d taken an open. Senior year has the potential to be the most relaxing year of your high school career because FINALLY college apps are out of the way. </p>
<p>This is also coming from someone who has stuff after school pretty much constantly (robotics, theater, bunch of time consuming stuff) and if I didn’t have so much stuff after school it’d probably be much better. But if you have extracurriculars going on I’d say DO YOURSELF A FAVOR and get rid of JUST ONE of those classes, maybe one that doesn’t really matter as much to you. If I could go back in time, I wouldn’t take AP Euro this year. </p>
<p>Also to all the people saying “People on here take more APs than that, you’ll be fine”: people on here do take more than 5 APs, and people on here are also CRAZY haha. People at school thought I was weird last year for taking 3 AP exams. The best way to impress college is by being you and enjoying life and doing cool stuff along the way, not by stressing yourself and making yourself sad</p>
<p>I think you’re right, yayitsme123. AP Spanish is widely regarded as the hardest class in my high school and the workload is insane and I’m not particularly the strongest Spanish student in the world to begin with-I know colleges love four years of a foreign language, but I just don’t think I can do it (I’m also not applying to Ivy League schools either) </p>
<p>Senior taking 8 AP’s here (played sports too (varsity), owned an international business, had time for a girlfriend, etc. etc. etc.). There’s not much of a time constraint tbh. </p>
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<p>You’ll be fine. Keep the classes, get the AP credit to skip grade lowering gen eds in undergrad to maximize law school chances. </p>