<p>Next week I'm choosing my courses for next school year (jr. year). I've been taking Spanish since 7th grade (in Spanish 5 now) and next year I have a choice of taking AP Spanish. However, I also have a choice of taking AP Physics B or beginning programming. In college I want to major in computer science/engineering. I feel that taking either AP Physics B or beginning program will be more beneficial for my future. Should I continue with Spanish and take AP Spanish or take one of the other two courses mentioned above? Which course would selective colleges (Carnegie Mellon, Columbia SEAS, Stanford, etc.) value more? Thanks for any advice you might have!</p>
<p>Although it is true that college value continued education of Spanish throughout high school, AP Physics is seen as a much more challenging course. Not only that, it’s somewhat relevant to your prospected major in college, so I’d say go with that.</p>
<p>In a way, taking the Spanish course would show your versatility as a person. Not only can you do engineering, but you can also speak Spanish is a major selling point, especially in CoE admissions, which tend to be predominantly Asian males, many of whom do not proceed too far in a language. Thus, that might be highly valuable in distinguishing yourself. Another important issue is can you get an A in Physics? This sounds like a vain concern, but it really is a problem. Many kids take AP physics with the mentality that it’ll be so beneficial, but they end up pulling a B out of the Course, which really hurts their chances, frankly. Rigor is a major component of every AdCom’s decisions, but getting good grades is much more important.</p>
<p>If you can, take Spanish and AP Physics, but you really need to evaluate your individual abilities and needs to decide which of the two to take. I would strongly advise against taking any non-AP’s for your Senior year if you can avoid it. They really want to see you challenging yourself, and AP’s are generally the way to go.</p>
<p>I can take AP Physics senior year and AP Spanish junior year or the other way around. So far my jr. year consists of the following classes:
AP Calc AB
AP Calc BC
AP Chem
Chemical Engineering (post-AP course)
P.E. (requirement)
AP US History
AP Language
AP Spanish (?)</p>
<p>I know I have a lot of APs next year. Is AP Physics a hard course? I already took honors physics. Thanks again for all your help!</p>
<p>I would urge you not to take Calc AB and BC at the same time. If anything, taking BC alone should be enough, or if you’d prefer, do the traditional AB-BC sequence, but you can’t take both exams in the same year, so don’t take both classes. You’re wasting your time.</p>
<p>AP Physics (at my school at least) is an exceedingly intensive course. Yes, it has many benefits, but I would suggest you pair it with Calc BC, to have the best experience. So that is contingent on the first paragraph.</p>
<p>6 AP’s is really not a lot. I took 7 both my junior and senior years. So you should be more than capable of handling six. This schedule looks more than ok, in my view, but you need to figure out what you’re doing with Calc first.</p>
<p>At my school if you take AB you have to take BC. I’m in the magnet program so its very math/science focused.</p>