I’m currently a sophomore and I am taking AP Psychology with all honors classes, last semester I finished with straight A’s. The classes I am taking next year are
AP Spanish Lang
AP Physics 1
AP US History
and I am having trouble deciding between the AP Capstone program and AP Lang. They just introduced the capstone program for next year so it will be a new course. I want to be a lawyer and was wondering which one of these classes would help me more. I am also a three-sport athlete and I know that I can’t handle 5 AP classes junior year so I have to decide on one or the other. I have looked at course overviews for each one and both seem like they can be really helpful.Since I am planning on taking more than 4 AP classes I can receive the AP Scholar award, but I also want to take AP Lit senior year and I think taking AP Research and AP Lit will be too much. Which one seems like a better choice?
Take AP Lang. Do not worry about AP Scholar award. Colleges don’t care about that.
Agreed. Additionally, AP Lang will help you become a better writer which will come in handy when writing admissions essays.
Take AP Lang this year to become a better writer, and AP Research next year to prepare for college.
(Many selective colleges don’t offer credit for both AP Lang and AP Lit, so you may take a literature class in college anyway. Even if you don’t get credit for AP Research, the skills it teaches will be invaluable your first year in college.)
My daughter took AP Seminar this year—first half of AP Capstone. She learned an amazing amount. I would choose based upon the teacher at your school. The class is very broad and requires a teacher able to coach a student to find their own sources and conclusions rather than a teacher that depends upon students to absorb and repeat back “right” answers. I would think it would be excellent training for an aspiring lawyer if taught by the first kind of teacher.
@booper How do you know that colleges don’t care about AP scholar/AP capstone awards? IMO, they look at course work and rigor of classes. BTW - my sophomore D is taking/will take both the AP Lit, AP Lang and AP seminar/research classes before she graduates. I believe only 20 kids in her grade out of 500+ potential graduates will have the AP capstone designation.
The AP seminar/research classes are amazing and whether or not you get college “credit” in admissions and/or actual credits, the experience of research. writing, presentions, group work can only help the student in and beyond college.
I think we lose sight of what an “education” is all about…it’s much more than padding your admissions “resume”.
Colleges don’t care about the designation. They do care about rigor, which can come in many forms (ap, but also IB, DE, Aice… )
In addition, some kids pursuing the distinction forego core classes to pile up APs (like taking AP stats rather than precalculus, or APES rather than foreign language 3…)
The value of AP seminar/research is indeed beyond mere college credit. It’s in the preparation and experience. However AP English language really is a staple so while ideally both would be taken, if in reality only one can be taken, AP Lang should have priority.
Booper …hee hee… anyway You said it yourself. They care about the work and rigor. They care about the core classes first. If you took 1 more easy AP just to get a Scholar designation? They don’t care about the “awards”.
FYI - for AP Capstone you need 1 year of AP Seminar and 1 year of AP Research + 4 more APs and pass all the exams.
Again, what evidence do you have that AP Capstone is meaningless? Is IB Diploma also meaningless?
Look at colleges.
For example, at SUNY Binghamton you can see you get additional credit for getting the IB diploma (more than individual HL courses). This means that they value the Diploma more than just the individual classes would get.
Students in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program may receive up to 32 credits. To receive the full 32 credits, the following conditions must be met:
The IB Diploma must be completed with a score of 30 or more points; and
The student must complete at least three Higher Level exams with a score of 5 or higher.
Diploma holders who meet these conditions receive credit for their individual exam scores plus additional liberal arts elective credit to total 32 credits.
For AP, you just get credit per AP class.
Do you get credit at your colleges of interest for AP Capstone or AP Seminar?
I am not saying that these classes may not teach you valuable skills…i am saying that colleges look at your AP class grades for admissions, not your AP tests (as many are taken senior year after admittance) It is wonderful to get 5’s on all your AP tests… but taking another one just to get The AP Scholar designation isn’t worth it.