I’m currently a sophomore in HS.
Sophmore Schedule
AP World History
Pre-AP Chem
Pre-AP English II
AVID
Pre-AP Algebra II
Latin II
Football
Rough Draft Junior Schedule
AP US History
AP Chemistry
AP English III
On-Ramps PreCalc
AVID
Football
Free Class Spot
I have room for one extra class and I need a fine arts credit. I was thinking of an art class, but I still am deciding if I should just take Honor Art I (five extra quality points) or AP Art History (10 extra quality point). Do have a fascination for art but I don’t know if it is too much or should I just take the easy class and move on. Has anyone taken Art History in the past or currently are taking it? whats your experience?. What would you advise me to do? or should I take computer science (10 extra points) junior year and art senior year?
You should take Latin III actually if you’re planning to apply to a selective 4-year college, as most want to see three years (and many prefer 4).
AP art history may result in college credit but it’s a very hard class - save it for senior year.
I really would rather not take Latin III. I have 100% average but it is only because the teacher likes me. I barely know five words, which is unfortunate because I actually wanted to learn Latin. The teacher spent most of the time trying to get the class together rather than teaching the actual language. I want to take an art class and I am interested in coding and stuff like that. I see that colleges that I want to got to require 2 and urge more years, but I would rather take a class that would be productive for me than a free class period.
The issue is that most selective colleges expect level 3. That being said, if you’re okay with universities ranked 80-150, you’re good. Depending on your flagship, it may even suffice.
(Don’t confuse “minimum expected” and “what you need to be competitive”, though. Also, this varies by major - engineering will likely be more lenient, except at top schools like Cornell, UWash, UIUC, etc, where any reason is good to cut an applicant.)
True, adcoms can be a bit lenient re:language, maybe, for stem kids. But that’s when these kids’ course histories are chock full of rigorous math and science classes and they ran into schedule conflicts.
For top colleges, somewhere in there you need to fit in physics and calc, at high levels…plus stem related ECs.
If you need art to graduate, there’s your answer. Go easy on yourself, get a top grade.
But as MYOS is pointing out, top colleges have a high bar.