<p>I am debating whether I should switch to take AP English Literature. I am not particularly interested in literature, though I have read several of the course's texts. It would be my 5th AP (out of 6 classes). In total it would mean taking 9 APs in all of high school instead of 8. Will it hurt my chances of admission to schools like Boston College, William and Mary, Wake Forest, and Chapel Hill (in state)? I have a 4.0 unweighted. The AP classes I will be taking senior year are Calc BC, French, Gov. and Comp Sci. Thoughts?</p>
<p>Any advice from people who have taken Lit?</p>
<p>The teacher can make or break the class, so you would have a better perspective on the class at your school than anyone here. Except for Calc, your schedule is not that demanding, so it would not put too much strain on your time.</p>
<p>That said, you also have that hidden class in the fall: college apps and essays, which will be a time suck. I don’t believe the colleges you have listed will care one way or the other if you take AP Lit.</p>
<p>If your alternative is English 4 H, I would stick with AP Lit. If you have fun elective options (e.g. creative writing, detectives in fiction, 20th c. drama), I might go that route. Your call.</p>
<p>I think you should take it. According to my chemistry teacher (and English teacher ofc) Lit is one of the most important AP’s you can take in high school aside from calc depending on your major. </p>
<p>I asked the same question on here: <a href=“AP Lit or CP English senior year? - Applying to College - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1627795-ap-lit-or-cp-english-senior-year.html</a></p>
<p>and it seemed like AP Lit was a good course to take but not a necessity for people already enrolled in many other AP classes. Unless you completely hate English, it’s a great thing to have on your transcript and I’m sure colleges would prefer to see a B in lit over an A in regular.</p>
<p>I haven’t taken lit yet because I’m an incoming senior but all the seniors at my school loved the class because the teacher was really chill. The class wasn’t a ton of work and they all did good on the AP test. Not sure how much that helps you </p>
<p>Thank you very much! I will think it over but it sounds like a good idea. I don’t love reading in particular (I do enjoy writing), so I think it would probably fit me best. The only thing that I am worried about is being a Senior in January and February absolutely hating my schedule because I wished I hadn’t taken on this course load. </p>
<p>I believe there’s an unpublished assumption at selective colleges that well qualified applicants will have taken both AP Language and AP Literature if offered by their high schools.</p>
<p>@sherpa: one of my friends got into 6 ivies and some other highly selective schools (ORM in competitive school district) without taking AP Lit(even though it was offered)…</p>
<p>@sherpa That is not true. Language and Lit test the same skills essentially. If a student takes one, there is no reason to take the other unless they truly just love English.</p>
<p>afaik Lit and Lang are quite different - lang is rhetoric and essentially non-fiction study of the mechanics of rhetoric via considerations of audience/tone/etc while lit is literary analysis and focuses on use of literary techniques such as symbolism and more interpretive matters</p>
<p>After taking Lang and hearing about Lit, I think I would agree with you, @foolish. Do you think it would be a good idea to take the class?</p>
<p>Lit and Lang are quite different as foolish has mentioned. That said, many of the tippy-top schools upon which many of us on CC are fixated, give credit for one or the other, but not both. I’m not a big fan of taking AP classes for which I will not get credit.</p>
<p>OP mentioned in another thread that s/he took AP Lang this year. As I mentioned upthread, unless the alternative is a generic senior English course, taking AP Lit is not necessary; the schedule is already rigorous enough (assuming the GC concurs with me, and will check most rigorous on the SSR).</p>
<p>While the same skills are used in both tests, there is a good reason to take two. Many colleges may give exclusive credit to one or the other. UA also gives credit for intro english classes depending on the scores of the Lit and Lang tests, for example. Getting a 5 in one will give you more credit, but you can also get a 4 on both and get the same.</p>