Hi everybody! I know it’s a while away (I’m hs class of 2020), but we are already planning courses for our senior year. Unfortunately, we only have 6 class periods available to fit all of our classes into. The required courses (ones that I either have to take or am set on taking) are:
AP Physics C
AP English Lit
Multi-variable Calc (at a local community college, but it's through my hs)
AP Govt and Econ
Now, I only have two more periods, but I want to take AP French, AP Environmental Science, and water polo. Ideally, I would do AP Environmental Science and water polo, but I know that many universities recommend 4 years of language. AP Environmental is not required and would not fulfill any requirements (it is an ‘easy’ AP) but it is a subject that I am good at and interested in. As for water polo, I am not very good at it. I probably will not even make varsity my senior year; I’m on JV now. I certainly am not looking to play in college, but I love the sport, I have friends who play, and I think I could get some good essays out of it. AP French I wouldn’t hate, but I am not passionate about it.
Anyways, which two would you suggest I take? Any feedback or suggestions would be awesome!
(BTW, grades aren’t really a problem and none of these will ruin my GPA or anything.)
Do you know what college you want to attend? I would say do what makes you happy and from your OP I would say that would be AP Environmental and Water Polo. You have to enjoy your high school years and don’t stress about taking all APs (especially since you’re taking so many already).
@ucfprincess Thank you so much! That is what I want to do if college wasn’t a consideration, and what I probably will do.
I am probably going to apply mostly to UC’s plus a few private schools (and maybe CSULB or something to be totally safe). MIT and CalTech are my dream schools, but are both probably reaches (I don’t have test scores or anything yet, but I haven’t done groundbreaking research, so…) UCB and UCSD are my more realistic dream schools.
None of these schools require (or recommend) 4 years of language, but I am just worried that I will be closing doors in case I ever do apply to a school with a four year requirement.
The “sports” essay lends itself to cliche, so if you’re mostly thinking of taking it for that reason and will be in JV, just take the sport out of class, not as one period.
So, I’d take AP French and APES, since the former will indicate high rigor and the second is a personal interest.
Thank you! I just mentioned the essay as an afterthought because I figured that would relate more to college. WP really would be more for fun and less for college admissions. (I do think I have a unique essay idea, but I’m probably overestimating myself.)
Oh, and I forgot to mention that I know the APES teacher pretty well, if that makes any difference.
Water polo sounds awesome! APES really depends on the teacher + class. I’m taking it this year and don’t like it because my classmates all took it for an easy AP + are very ignorant (i.e. climate change deniers, think coal is great despite learning about it’s harmful effects, etc). Talk to other people and see what the class is like at your school. 4 years of foreign language is always a plus to have, but not always necessary.
^they may think coal is great but… it’s 19th century’s energy. There’s a lot of “nostalgia” for that time period, because it’s one from country tales and an era that is gone. You don’t have nostalgia for something still present. As 19th century grew from coal, 20th century was oil. Perhaps when you’re 50 you’ll be nostalgic for cars with their oil-fueled engines that polluted the air with fine particles and killed hundreds of thousands of people, whereas your kids will think that was a barbaric time. What will the 21st century be? Europe, China, India (and the US - look at Texas and Caifornia) are all making bets they hope will pay off. So, don’t feel too put off that they feel coal is great. That’s not the point. (Just think of the 12th district in Hunger Games). APES should look at the harmful effects of a lot of energy sources, including nuclear energy, “fracking”, natural gas extraction, etc, etc. and at the new ways energy is created.
I suppose a class where students keep trying to prove they know better than the teacher must be very annoying.
AP French is a tough AP, like AP Calculus. APES is more like AP Stats, nice to have as an add-on but not “core” and not “tough”.
@MYOS1634 I get where you are coming from, the point is more like they disregard the information they signed up to learn. I’m not going to get into it too much, as this is about OP, not me. Anyways, every class is different, and that was just my experience. As was touched upon above, we look at different energy sources + their pros and cons. Ecology, Global Climates/biomes are some other topics learned about as well. It’s pretty eye opening in the way that we learn about natural systems that may not be touched upon in other classes, i.e. thermohaline circulation circulation, el niño/la niña, global wind patterns, etc. It’s very interdisciplinary as well, with concepts for chem and bio integrated into the class.
APES is considered to be an easier AP science but it is not necessarily a blow off class. As a friend of mine put it, there’s a lot of information to learn and memorize, but it doesn’t go into much depth in comparison to AP chemistry or AP bio. It really depends on the teacher you have.
Thank you everybody! According to one of my teammates: the APES teacher is really passionate and helpful, and she really does make the class interesting and engaging. There are around 5 students per class who actually care (or at least pretend to convincingly and don’t blow it off) and the rest are just there for an easy AP. According to her, though, they aren’t aggressively awful, and they don’t argue with the teacher or anything, they just don’t care.
The APES teacher doesn’t assign too many group projects, so I shouldn’t have to deal with the unmotivated students too much. It IS definitely an easier AP than AP French at our school, but hopefully my other, more difficult classes would balance it out somewhat if I were to take it.
@ufmomfriend For now, I’m putting down APES and AP French because the classes fill up quickly, but my counselor says I can change my mind depending on how classes go next year/junior year.
Sounds great. I only ask because we are in Florida and APES sometimes doesn’t have an equivalent for college general education requirements. And some majors may require 2 full years of foreign language. I don’t know where you are located, but if you have any idea what state or which universities you want to attend, it’s a good idea to check their online catalogs so you don’t end up with a throwaway AP class. Might as well get credit for all the hard work.
Sorry if I butted in, just my 2 cents.
It’s not 4 YEARS of a foreign language colleges want, it is that you get to the 4th LEVEL…many people take Spanish or French 1 in 8th grade and get to French 4 by Junior year.
Thanks for the advice! APES and AP French both get credit at the UCs, which are mainly what I’m looking at.
At our school, French 4 is like the non-honors equivalent of AP French, so I can go from French 3H to AP French. I started French this year (freshman year) so AP French would be the fourth year and the fourth level.
how can you go from French 1 to AP French in one year? Most schools consider that French 4 is a pre requisite for AP French, although at some schools I can consider how they could allow French 3H->AP French.
@MYOS1634 I can’t. I’m taking French I freshman year, French 2H sophomore year, French 3H junior year, and AP French senior year. I’m a freshman right now, but we have to do scheduling through our senior year (idk why they make us pick classes for our senior year now and not junior year). Sorry if that was unclear.