Hello! I am a rising senior who is trying to sign up for classes next year. I have the rest of my schedule settled, however, I am conflicted on choosing one last class. The natural choice for me would be to just sign up for a final year of language by taking the honors class offered at my school. However, I am now reconsidering. In all honesty, I strongly dislike my language class (french) and instead would like to take AP Studio Art, a class I have been eying since freshman year. Rigor-wise, I expect the classes to be about the same. I know people always say, “pursue your passions” and “do what makes you happy”, however, I am also aware that the harsh reality is that most “selective” colleges really want to see applicants reach the highest level of language offered, AKA take 4 years of the language.
So long story short, do universities really care if you take 4 years of a language? Could it make or break an application? And if they don’t care as long as you seem to replace it with a strong course, would replacing language with an art class be a bad choice?
No doubt, take the class you want! My son skipped an AP science class for AP Art History. He was already maxed in the sciences he cared about anyway. He had a GREAT time, even traveled to Europe with a school group. He’s now gainfully employed as an engineer and happy as a clam. Do what moves you!
You should do what interests you, especially since this is an AP class. I think top schools will like the fact you took an advanced class and did well in it. And if your school requires art, you’re killing two birds with one stone. I wanted to take a 4th year of my foreign language but my teacher was out subbing for another teacher(who was on maternity leave). Don’t worry about what these schools think because chances are, they want to see higher level courses on your schedule.
The OP may very well have fulfilled those requirements. My son for example was able to start in Calc III, Physics II and DE’d out of all Chemistry in his ME program (he took AP Chem, Organic and Biochemistry in HS), while still taking AP Lit and AP Art History as a Senior. The class he didn’t take was AP Bio. He didn’t like the instructor and it made no difference for Mechanical Engineering.
Absolutely take the AP Art - forgetting it’s rigor and a chance for you to maybe qualify for a college class/elective and save money - let’s look at what’s most important:
YOU WANT TO DO IT, YOU HAVE A PASSION FOR IT.
My daughter has a passion for cooking. It was Nutrition (a regular class, not even honors) or AP Physics. Those were her two choices.
It’s senior year - she deserved the one she wanted.
She got into a top LAC (Wash & Lee), other decent privates (American and Miami - both with merit aid), and top 50 state schools - UF and UGA - not to mention UGA’s Honors (very hard to get into) and South Carolina’s #1 Honors Program.
My point - taking what you want won’t hurt you - and frankly, most won’t realize of your personal struggle in choice - they’ll see even more rigor and think you stepped up!!!
Yes to AP art. My daughter took ceramics her last year of high school (that she had been eyeing since freshman year). She looks like a baker when she comes home from school on ceramics days! She will be studying engineering in college next year.
