<p>I am a junior right now, and I need to sign up for next year's classes soon. Here is what I am thinking:</p>
<p>AP Biology
Spanish 3 Honors
CC French 101-102
AP Language
AP Government
Teacher's Assistant
CC Calculus 2-3</p>
<p>(CC = local community college)</p>
<p>I would really like to get that down to six classes since that's a pretty heavy load. If I picked the class I want to get rid of, it would be the math. This year I am in AP Calc, and so I will have five math credits at the end of this year. Doing the college math next year would give me seven math credits in high school. I do not want to go into anything math related - my main interests are foreign language and biology. However, I'm wondering if it would be stupid to give up the possibility of that much math, since I think colleges tend to look at math and science as the most important subjects. How important/significant would taking or not taking this class be, in relation to college admission and scholarships? Thank you!</p>
<p>I think that finishing the math track with AP Calc and using your senior year to take classes that are rigorous yet more appealing to your major is just fine. </p>
<p>Don’t be pressured into taking a 7th credit math course just college admissions. I’m not sure which university weighs science and math more than English, but most schools would consider them equal. In fact, since you’re not majoring in math, go ahead and remove the math course… you’ll be fine. </p>
<p>You’re taking AP Bio (an interest) and displaying two different foreign languages on your transcript (also an interest). You will be accepted to a university that thinks you will add to the area of your interest, and you definitely seem to be doing just that. Don’t stress yourself out by taking fluff courses. </p>
<p>You’re taking spanish and french? To be honest, I think the french won’t help you much if you are only taking it to appeal to colleges. If you are taking the class because you are interested in it, then keep it. Otherwise, you can use that studing time to focus more on math. </p>
<p>And is teacher’s assistant really necessary? If there is a class you want to take out, it would be that.</p>
<p>Other than that, I think it is a challenging senior year schedule and will look good on your college resume. However, if you are not confident on your ability to be successful in all of these classes, don’t try to over schedule yourself, because a C or below won’t look great on your resume.</p>
<p>I think taking the class for only a few weeks to gauge it would be too complicated for scheduling, because I won’t be able to take it on my high school campus, and I am not sure when the college will offer it.</p>
<p>Also, I’m taking French because I am interested in it. Teacher’s assistant may be able to go, but I have it in there because I enjoy it and it can provide down time to work on other classes. </p>
<p>The only colleges that are likely to place more emphasis on math and science are techology institutes and engineering schools. Do you plan to apply to MIT, Georgia Tech, Carnegie Mellon, RPI or another such school? </p>
<p>A biology major will require math, but I’d say your AP Calc has prepared you to meet those challenges (Calc I and possibly II plus Statistics) in college. I don’t see why you would want to drop French or Spanish or AP Bio if those are major academic interests of yours. Forget Calc 2/3 for the moment and try to enjoy, at least a little bit, your senior year.</p>