Hi, first-time poster here!
I’m currently a sophomore in high school, and I was planning out my courses for the next two years. For a bit of context, so far, I’ve taken all Honors whenever there was an option. Here’s what I’ve planned for the next two years:
Junior Year:
AP Chem
Physics H
AP Language
AP Calculus
French 4 H
AP Computer Science A
Study Hall (required)
Gym+Health (required)
Senior Year:
Advanced Physics (basically both Physics C courses)
AP Literature
Math
Advanced Comp Sci. (past CSA)
Study Hall (required)
Gym/Health (required)
APUSH/AS II H (I’m not sure which to take)
My issue now is that after this, I have an extra spot where I can basically put in any course since I would have already fulfilled all graduation requirements. I have a choice between taking a fourth year of French (AP course, so will be challenging) or an introductory Engineering elective. I want to take the engineering course, but I feel like it may be seen as a drop in rigor since it would be the only non-honors course I would have taken, not including areas where I didn’t have a choice, while AP French would show some degree of fluency in the language, and it would be my sixth year of French (including middle school). Additionally, if I take Engineering, I would be taking two elective courses, which might also seem weird, so which one would should I take?
Also, sorry for the long post!
French IV fulfills every college’s 4 year requirement. Unlike other subjects, in foreign language it’s the level completed that matters. If you want to take AP French, go ahead. If you want to take another course, that’s fine too.
No history courses junior year?
I would drop a science junior year and take a history class. It isn’t normally recommended to double up on a core area at the expense of another core area until you have satisfied college requirements as well as high school graduation requirements (usually 3 years for history).
I agree with a history, ideally APUSH, Junior year instead of two sciences. The schedule would be the exact same as my D’s with that change.
It would be best, IMO, to take Physics, presumably completing one of each of the three big sciences before moving on to AP.
I also agree with the AP French vs. elective advice above. You’ve met any school’s language expectation, so chose what you’d enjoy. My D will be taking AP Psych instead of AP French.
Thanks for the advice! Based on this, I’m probably going to take Engineering instead of French, since I really only considered this because I heard someone say that a lot of colleges require 4 years of French, but I didn’t really find much on whether this is referring to level 4 or 4 years of a language.
Also, the reason I’m not doing a history junior year is that my school only requires 3 years of history, and since I’ve never really liked history, I’m just going to do APUSH senior year. I was going to take APUSH junior year, but I wanted to take both AP physics and AP Chem, and the only way to do that would be to drop another course. I asked some of the current juniors, and it seems like doubling up on sciences, usually by dropping history or an elective, is done pretty often by competitive students in our school, so I think it should be doable, especially since I’m doing pretty well in Chem Honors right now.
I think AP Chem, Physics, AP CompSci, and AP Calc is EXTREMELY rigorous. Your year is going to be very STEM-heavy, and I don’t think any school is going to require 4 STEM classes in one year. Is Physics required for advanced physics?If so, you don’t need Physics H first. Did you already take a Chemistry course, or is this your first one? If so, you don’t need to take AP Chem and you can opt for just Physics H, if necessary. You can even push AP Comp Sci till senior year and use it to fill that extra spot.
https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search/columbia-university#
The above link shows the general requirements and recommendations for Columbia University. Click “Applying” and then “Academics & GPA.” I have no clue if you want to apply to Columbia, but I feel that the information is important regardless. Columbia requires 3 years of history but recommends 4. You don’t want to disadvantage yourself from top schools just because you don’t “like” history or social science. You want a schedule that allows you to be competitive across different college’s recommendations and requirements. There are some schools, like Columbia, that would prefer to see 4 years of history or social science (Econ, Gov, Psych are also options). Colleges don’t want to see you achieving the “bare minimum” of your graduation requirements. You can take 4 years of history and still have a STEM-heavy schedule. In doing so, you create a schedule that is competitve regardless of where you apply.
@h8annah Yeah, Physics Honors is required for the next level, and dropping AP Comp sci wouldn’t help in filling that spot since I’m going to be taking Comp Sci as my elective in my Senior year as well. Since you mentioned AP Psychology, would self-studying that count for another year of social science? I self-studied it last year and got a 5, so it would count or college credit in social studies.
self studying does not count at all for college admissions.
It only counts for college credit after you matriculate if you go to a college that gives credit for it and there is a need for it (free elective credits are not always useful)