<p>I'm signed up for four ap classes next year ( ap us history, ap gov, ap calc ab, and ap environmental) but i'm worried that ap environmental might look bad on my transcript? I need straight A's next year to boost my gpa so I wanted to take ap environmental ( an easier course than ap bio). Does GPA matter more than course load and is my next year course load rigorous enough? I'm not planning on majoring in premed or anything in the science field so would colleges actually distinguish me taking ap bio or ap environmental? If it helps I do plan on taking ap bio senior year!</p>
<p>I don’t know that it’s “looked down upon” but one of my teachers kids took it and got a 5 on it, and she said not a single school she looked at would accept the credit. I noticed when I was applying to schools and looking at scores for what would be accepted (whether it was a 3 or a 4 to count as “passing”), I noticed that a lot of the schools I looked at didn’t even list enviro on their lists of scored needed to recieve credit. But, the class was not even OFFERED at my high school, so it’s not like I was looking for it, so maybe I just absent mindedly skimmed over it at one point, but I definitely remember my teacher talking about how very little schools accepted the credit. Check out the colleges your looking into applying for and see if they take it. It is still an AP course, so that means SOMEONE has to take it.</p>
<p>Taking any AP class will never be looked down upon! I’d recommend taking the exam also even if the credit isn’t accepted. Wouldn’t it look better to take APES rather than take some trash computer class? YES! Your course load is definitely rigorous enough, and if you plan on taking AP Bio next year this shouldn’t even be a thought! :)</p>
<p>It really depends more on the colleges to which you are applying. If Ivy-level, then yeah, your schedule is kinda light. (APES, Gov and Calc AB are all considered AP Lites, in that they cover only one quarter/semester of college material, in contrast to other AP’s which cover a year’s worth material, e.g, Calc BC.) Suggest taking AP Bio along with APES since ES is nothing but a subset of Bio. It’ll make ES an easy 5, and you’ll ace the free response enviro question on the AP Bio test.)</p>
<p>I got into Swarthmore with a similar schedule (Calc AB, Lit, Environmental, and Psych). I ended up getting a 5 on APES even though I didn’t know anything and I get credit for it from Swarthmore so I don’t think it’s too bad a class to take.</p>
<p>I’d say you shouldn’t take APES if it’s going to replace a common science like Bio or Chem.
I agree with BlueBayou; you should take both APES and Bio.</p>
<p>if I am mainly looking into non-Ivy but still top tier schools ( Northwestern, Georgetown, NYU Stern) and lower ranked Ivys like Barnard is my course load rigorous enough?</p>
<p>Northwestern is almost as competitive as the Ivies, so yeah, too lite. Take Bio. Barnard is a special case.</p>
<p>are you taking some sort of honors physics this year? you are a junior right? might be a little rough on your schedule, but if you can fit it in without having to drop some sort of other important class, such as an art or english or your other ap classes, don’t bother taking two. from what I have seen, an AP never hurts, it may not help all that much, but it is an ap, so if your not sacrificing something else, it can do no harm and potentially some good.
Biology (and I know a lot of CC users are going to dispute me on this…but…oh well) is kind of the grandest of the AP’s. Of course, taking ap chem and physics will in fact be equally impressive, but BIO combines all areas of science at the ap level including Environmental. Taking that will display an adequate effort in the science dept. :)</p>
<p>Sorry that was rambling, but I hope that helps! :)</p>
<p>Seriously I think you are fine. I’m a totally unhooked candidate and got into many “top-tier” schools. I was even a finalist for a full ride at Swarthmore and my schedule was “light.” I only went through Calc AB, I only took 3 years of a language, and my only science senior year was APES.</p>
<p>but I have to raise my GPA this year ( I got 4 or 3 b+s/bs last year) so I would rather take AP environmental and get As in all of my classes since AP bio would demand more work… but would gpa overall weigh more than course load? And how is Barnard a special case? And to raiderade, I saw your other post on getting special EC but how did you manage to get those special opportunities?
Oh note: I’m asian so I’m expecting it to be harder for me:/</p>
<p>it’s not so much looked down upon as not looked as highly upon. but if you’re taking ap envirsci simply as an easy A… well, not much honor in that.</p>
<p>Hey, strategy is strategy. My schedule wasn’t technically “light” since I had 4 APs but none of them except calc were real and even that was AB. I knew full well that I wanted to embrace senioritis so I got great grades first semester and then quit studying and doing work and then got all low As and a B in freshmen french. Was that hard to achieve? No. Would I get rescinded? Also no. Sounds like a win win to me?</p>
<p>OP, if you’re not planning a science major, no need to take AP bio- But, you will have al three lab sciences, right? Bio, chem, physics? AP calc will make plenty of adcoms happy.</p>
<p>Barnard isn’t ivy it’s one of the sister schools.
At my school AP bio is rough. It is one of the most infamous science classes at my school. An AP class even if it’s considered light is still AP and will be considered rigorous. You clearly are challenging yourself, not taking every AP in your school won’t kill your chances at any school. Take the easier one especially since you’re not going into science.</p>
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<p>thanks everyone for your input! okay guys so my final decision is this… take ap environmental next year instead of risking AP bio (my junior year) get a 5 on the test and straight A’s to boost my gpa… and then take ap bio for my science class next year along with 3 other APs (AP lit, AP Calc BC, and AP human geo) AND maybe another science AP but i doubt it lol. Side note: does anyone know if self-studying sat II bio goes along with ap environmental?</p>