I’m currently fixing up my schedule, and I’m wondering if anyone could offer me advice on my AP rigor.
My AP schedule for the next two years is as follows:
Junior Year:
AP Lang
AP Psych
APUSH
Senior Year:
AP Lit
AP Econ
AP Gov
AP Stats
My language (Spanish III and IV) classes for the next two years are honors. My science classes for both years (physics I and II) are not honors, as the only level higher than that is AP Physics. As for math, I’ll be taking a business calc class through my state’s flagship university at a local campus. That would only be for junior year, as my math class for senior year is AP Stats.
I’ve noticed that, other than my AP stats class senior year, I don’t have any classes that show strong rigor in STEM. Admittedly, I don’t really like science and math and I don’t see myself going into a STEM field in the future.
However, I also want to be competitive when applying for college next year, or when applying for merit scholarships. It’s possible for me to take AP Chem junior year and AP Physics senior year. Should I add more AP STEM classes to my schedule?
Many great colleges will be fine with the rigor you already have! When you say “competitive”, how competitive do you mean/what particular colleges are on your list?
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I’ve been looking at a lot of northeastern, out-of-state public schools like UMass-Amherst. I also have been looking at schools in the Midwest like UIUC, Wisco, IU, and Purdue. On top of that, I have my dream schools of Northwestern, Georgetown, UMich, and Columbia.
Ok, well with those dream schools in mind, if you want to have your best shot, then take the hardest APs your school offers, which sounds like it may mean AP chem and AP physics for the sciences, and do well in them. And, if your school offers AP calculus , consider that instead of Business calc, which may or may not be considered as rigorous as AP. Also, talk to your counselor about the top schools you are considering and ask what courses other kids at your school have taken (who have been successful in admissions at similar-tier schools).
While it’s true that you don’t have rigorous science and math classes, if you don’t like these subjects, and would not do well in them at the AP level, you should take them at the high school level, as required by your school and in order to fulfill the 4 yrs of science, 4 yrs of math required. It is what it is.
I think that you’ll get into the OOS flagships you’ve mentioned. Those top 20 dream schools? You’ve got to have very high academic achievement plus very high extracurricular achievement to get into those. If you are not great at math and science, you won’t get the grades in those APs to get you into those, so you’re better off putting your energies into what you’re good at, which from your screen name and class choices, I suspect are classes/subjects/ECs that are not STEM based.
My recommendation is for you to ask the upperclassmen at your school who the great teachers are for the various AP subjects, and try to get into those classes. Do they have a great AP Econ teacher? Great AP Euro teacher? Take the ones who have the best teachers. That will give you the best experience your school can offer you.