6 APs in junior year OR 4 APs with intern opportunity?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

Hello!
I was wondering if guys could check if one of the two schedules I have planned out is feasible:

APUSH
AP Language and Composition
AP Biology
AP Environmental Science
AP Psychology
AP Seminar
Algebra II (math is a weak point but I’ve been taking accelerated courses in other disciplines and excelling in those so maybe that sort of balances that weakness out)

OR

APUSH
AP Language and Composition
AP Biology
AP Psychology
Algebra II
PRACT NURSING I
PRACT NURSING II

I’ve had this planned these two since the beginning the summer and I’ve constantly been readjusting it so that last thing that I planned was to have a second opinion.

I know which are the soft APs and tougher ones; but I’m wondering if colleges will look at the rigor of the second schedule and think ‘Oh, not very rigorous’, but in all honesty I’ve been DYING to take these nursing classes; they have an opportunity for a post graduate 9-month internship over the summer as well as a chance to take the NCLEX-PN which would be a great addition to a nursing school application. If I wait senior year, the nursing internship and college may collide. The second schedule also has the classes that would prep me well for the path I’m interested in.

The first schedule has more of the stuff I’m interested in and I wouldn’t mind learning at accelerated paces. I don’t care about the GPA fluff (pff, they’re going to convert it to unweighted anyway) but regardless of the fact that APES is a soft science for instance, most people have grown to be more passionate about environment and long story short, I want to come out more educated and grown in the class as well.

I have some extracurriculars I’m in:
Future Medical Professionals
Muslim Youth Club (MIST- Muslim InterScholastic Tournament)
Poetry Club
(hoping to fit in one activity outside of school - finger crossed for either a sport or a shadowing a nurse!)

Volunteer:
I’m getting a volunteer position in the hospital soon and I’M SUPER EXCITED ;u;

Forgive me for the long-windness ^^;
Constructive criticism and hard honesty is more than appreciated ^u^

2

Not sure if everyone will agree with me, but I would definitely do the internship opportunities. Why does a college care about someone who takes AP Seminar and AP Environmental Science over a chance to get a head start at the idea of nursing.

3

I would do intern opportunities as well. Interns can be very fun, look good for colleges, and give you needed/wanted experience for the future, while benefiting you personally. You do not take 6 APs to be competitive, and 4 is more than enough.

Good luck!

Have a good day!

4

I’d do the internship.
However, if you’ve not taken Spanish 3 or 4, ID take that rather tha n AP psychology, and take AP Psych senior year.

5

Alright, thank you n.n
I’m tad worried about rigor; I happen to live close enough to VCU, and I heard that it’s ranked as one of the best nursing programs in the US and it is EXTREMELY competitive, only allowing about 30~ applicants a year so with all that I’m not quite feeling cozy.

Would it be better to start taking some community college courses? I’m worried about getting an associates degree and then having to become a ‘transfer student’ mainly because they seem have less of an acceptance rate o,o

The only other three questions I have are: 1) Do they weigh community college courses like AP courses into highschool GPA or do they keep high school and college separate?

2) Would picking up a new language benefit me in anyway? I’m in Spanish 3 currently; I fell in love with at first, but ever since I moved schools and a change of curriculum, it feels more like a burden now. Debating between Japanese and Arabic.
3) Cookie cutter question: what makes an extracurricular ‘unique’? (and do any of my curriculars stand out?)

6

For dual enrollment courses each high school has its own way of doing things. At my daughter’s high school unless it is considered a developmental course (mostly math classes below college algebra or English classes below a freshman composition class) the grades are averaged in with her high school classes and count the same as an AP class. You might also want to ask your high school if they know your grade was a numerical A plus grade but colleges only give an A if they give you an A plus for gpa weight at the high school (probably not but I have no idea).

Also for dual enrollment taking two full years does not automatically give you an associates degree. For instance for my daughter she will have 61 credits after two years of full time dual enrollment but she will not have an associates. The associate’s only needs 1 math class but she needed two math classes at minimum to graduate high school. She had no need or interest in taking a literature class but chose to take more business classes. She has been accepted as a freshman to 6 colleges.

You (or even your parents) can call admissions at VCU and see what they recommend. For languages do you live in an area where either Japanese or Arabic would be useful in nursing or would another year of Spanish be more useful?

Since you seem very passionate about nursing I think your second schedule sounds like it shows that passion and will be very enjoyable for you.

7

I would definitely choose the internships. 4 APs is still a very competitive amount in my opinion - and the 4 that you would be in are very well regarded in my experience in terms of rigor. The fact that you did such an immersive internship would probably be looked upon much more favorably than just another student with a ton of APs - this is an experience that not many high school students have for their resumes!

8

6 APs is crazy dude, 4 is a rigorous amount provided that your teachers are doing what they’re supposed to lol, I definitely think that you should do the second schedule, it sounds a lot more enjoyable and better suited to your interests than resume-padding with the 6 APs. also the internship opportunity sounds really cool, i wish i had something like that offered at my school

9

@velvetmoonlight : what did you decide

10

I dropped it down to 4 APs
(AP Physics 1, APES, AP Psychology, AP Literature)
Taking Algebra II so that I get to Pre-Calculus, since it’s required for AP Physics 1. I dropped the Pract Nursing classes though ^^;
So it looks like this:
AP Physics 1
AP Psychology
AP Lit
APES
US History HN
Spanish 4
Pre Cal

I considered people’s thoughts on the thread, but ultimately dropped Pract Nursing due to high expectations from family, admittedly ^^;
“why be a nurse, when you can be a doctor/lawyer?”

Since I’m from a low-income family, some offers I’ve been getting to explore nursing at prestigious colleges are literally beyond my reach…
$3,000 to study nursing at Yale is a literal dream, but its also too much money for us ;-;

And as aforementioned, my parents want me to rethink nursing so I might end up exploring something else, whatever that is. Plus, healthcare is pretty broad, and I wouldn’t mind research or something highly analytical as a career.

I’m still looking to find some good extracurriculars this year.
I do have Future Medical Professionals and that’s the one thing I’ve stayed strong in.
I was planning to add honor societies that I enjoyed and would excel at (English and Science) in junior year, but honestly nothing really comes to mind.
If only opportunity was willing to hit me in the face…that’d make me happier than a kitten in a yarn factory x3

(URM, low income, first-gen college, and top that off, I really don’t know how to survive the college process…odds are truly not in my favor >.<)

I appreciate the check-in, @MYOS1634

I’ll be roaming for advice c:

11

Actually, if you’re a low income family, run the NPC on Yale and Penn. They’re likely to offer the best deals, whether for nursing or something else. Same thing for top LACs like Bowdoin or Middlebury or Vassar - AFAIK they don’t have nursing but they do have fantastic financial aid.

Nursing at Penn tends to lead to leadership positions and nursing is VERY competitive.
(I know that among top LACs nursing isn’t commonly offered, but I know St Olaf does and they “meet need”.)
You could turn it around to them: Why spend 12 years in college and amass 100,000’s in debt, when you can make 75K after 4 years of college? And if you continue, which most nurses from top schools do, you can top 100K as a Nurse Practitioner and be in the 180K range for Certified Nurse Aneasthesiologists.
It all depends whether you want a patient-centered or diagnosis-centered focus.

APES and AP Psych are two “light” APs, so I would strongly recommend you take AP Bio and AP Lang; APUSH if you can handle the reading/writing, as it’s a “core” AP; and either APES or AP Psych.
If you’re going to be premed, it really helps to have either AP Bio or Ap chem (or both, as many of your competition for A’s will have had). For nursing, AP Bio and AP Psych. AP Lang for any path.

12

My intent on taking APES was actually for the Advanced Studies Diploma, I wanted to take both APES and AP Physics this year (so that I take all the 4 sciences), and then AP Bio, AP Chem …albeit a bit heavy for senior year, my intent was to keep the knowledge fresh in my head as soon as I entered college.

I mean, I think I could bypass the fourth science by swapping out APES for Human A + P, but to be entirely honest, my school has been ambiguous about that and I’d rather not risk switching it out w/o at least asking my counselor (imagining myself not graduating on time is…not a comfy thought >n<)

By AP Lit, I meant AP Lang, I’m sorry. Lit’s senior year.
I might change my schedule once more with my counselor, keeping what you’ve said in mind. I’ve said it a lot, but thank you! Your knowledge is really helping me out ^u^