Hello!
I am currently a sophomore in High School. In two weeks we’ll be deciding on our officials schedules and I’ve been feeling very conflicted. I am qualified for 3 AP courses, 1 Dual Enrollment and 1 Honors. Should I take AP US History, AP Literature, AP Psychology, DE Chemistry and Honors German? Or should I drop one of the AP classes? Will it be too much to handle? My friends have been telling me to drop AP History but I’m skeptical because I want to go for law or psychology in college.
Could someone help me decide? I am very indecisive.
Overall, if you want to go into law or psychology, I strongly suggest taking AP classes in history, psychology, and english. In terms of difficulty, you have to understand that these are AP classes. Although they do not compare to the difficulty of college-level courses (despite what your high school teachers may say), it does not mean they are easy. Expect a heavier workload. But it is all based on how much you believe you can handle. It not only depends on how much you enjoy your courses, but also on how hard you work, and the number of outside school activities you do. Do you play a sport? Are you a member/leadership of clubs? Do you have a job? All of these factor in. No one can give you a straight answer for what courses you should take. The only one that decides your limit is yourself.
Otherwise, do you have more information? As in, do you follow a normal 7-course schedule? You only noted 5. I’m also confused by what you meant by “I am qualified.” Do you mean to say that is what you believe you can handle, or literally all you can handle?
I will just recommend for now based on my own typical HS 7-course schedule.
JUNIOR YEAR
Core classes:
- English - AP Language & Composition. AP Lit was a senior class at my HS due to its notoriety for having a hard exam and being a hard class overall. I can confirm. AP Lang is much more suitable for juniors.
- Science - Physics. I don’t know what you mean by DE Chem. My school did not offer such a dual enrollment class, we only had dual enrollment math courses such as Multivariable Calculus & Linear Algebra. Physics, whether as an HN or AP class was a stable core class for juniors. Either is fine depending on how much you enjoy science.
- Math - Are you not taking a math course? It depends on your own math track, but AP BC Calculus or AP AB Calculus are normal junior year courses for accelerated-math tracks. Otherwise, Pre-calc is standard as well.
- History - APUSH. Yes, for your specific major, especially if you enjoy history. I do not personally enjoy US history in comparison to government, so I opted out of APUSH and in for AP Gov in senior year. Just understand that will have the best time in classes with subjects you enjoy. You don’t need to think in the box of “my future career path.” Colleges do not consider this when weighed against your GPA, extracurriculars, and essays.
Electives:
5. AP Psychology is a great decision. I did it junior year as well and it is one of the easier AP exams.
6. Language - German HN sounds fine. Continuing with a foreign language all four years is a great decision.
7. AP Chemistry - It differs in this. Some opt to take AP Biology in junior year, and then AP Chemistry in senior, but I did the opposite. Since you noted DE Chemistry, I included AP Chemistry.
You shoud be taking roughly 5 AP or College courses Junior year if you’re shooting for elite colleges.
^No, elite colleges expect 3 or 4 AP OR DE OR AICE classes junior year… and after 6-8 the law of diminishing returns applies. Taking 5 junior year and 1-2 senior year would look like a significant decrease in rigor. You’re better off choosing widely rather than piling up AP’s.
Anyway:
you must have a math class.
Law is not a college major. It’s a professional school, after you graduate from college. You can major in anything as long as it requires a lot of reading and writing such as Philosophy, English, Political Science, International relations, History, Classics, Foreign Languages and Cultures…
Due to your interests in being prelaw, I’d keep APUSH, AP Lit, and Honors German. If you want a lighter schedule you may want to look into Chemistry Honors instead of DE Chemistry, unless you’re quite good at science and don’t mind. AP Psychology is an easy elective that you could take jr year or senior year due to your interest in this field.
Where are you thinking of going to college? That makes a huge difference. What are your grades now? High school is stressful and the last thing you want to do is overschedule yourself. You need to allot time for your EC’s, sports, test prep and fun. You need to set a goal of getting no lower than a B in your AP classes, otherwise you should dial it back and take some at the honors or college prep level. I’m not advocating for you not to push yourself, I’m advocating for you to be realistic about how you feel with a heavy courseload. My son took 3 AP’s junior year along with 2 honors and a college prep class. He also played travel baseball and 2 varsity sports (winter, spring). It was a lot and he did well, but he had a lot more B’s than A’s. In hindsight, given how time challenged he was, he probably would have had a higher GPA and class rank if he had lightened the load a little bit. Only you know how much you can juggle. Remember, there is no merit in being completely miserable.
Also, check with kids in your school to see which AP’s are the most intense. Not all AP’s are created equal. While another poster indicated AP Psych was an easy elective, that is not the case at our school. The teacher that teaches it makes it exceptionally challenging so that ALL of his students will score high on the exam.
I would be careful with DE Chemistry because that class will start your college transcript and GPA.