I’m a junior and our school’s AP Art class is meant to be taken for 2 years. Some people finish it in one year, but it’s time consuming to do 24 pieces in a single year, so most people take it junior and senior year. I planned to take it for two years so that it could be fun and a chill class. However, since then I’ve decided I would also like to TA senior year. I already have 5 other classes, so the only way it would fit in my schedule would be to do something about AP Art–either finish it in one year (and suffer while taking 4 other ap classes), or just don’t submit a portfolio and not take the class next year.
Does it look bad if I take AP Studio Art and don’t submit a portfolio to be graded for an AP score? I’m not planning to pursue art after high school, so would it be better to TA for a teacher who could write me a letter of rec?
Actually, colleges don’t care whether you take the AP test or not. The AP test is only interesting to you, if you plan on using the credit AND to attend a college where the credit “counts”. (Hint: the more selective you aim for, the less likely it is that your AP score will count as a college credit.)
So, there’s no consequence to taking AP studio art and not submitting a portfolio if you don’t intend on getting credit for it.
What would your senior year schedule be?
TA-ing is considered only a bit above study hall in terms of rigor, but for a senior applying to college, it’s a very good idea to have one “light” period that’s not a study hall (study hall is a big no-no unless you use it for early release to go do something like a dual enrollment class or an internship or a job, or if you have 5 APs or another type of “impossible” schedule.)
Hm. I’ve heard conflicting responses from a lot of people about whether taking the AP test for any class matters or if it looks suspicious not to take the test. Which is kind of confusing
My senior schedule would be: AP Calculus BC, AP Physics 2, AP Literature, AP Gov’t/Econ, and Speech and Debate
I’ve also heard from a college prep counselor that it looks bad if you take fewer APs senior year than junior year because they notice that you’re deciding to take it easy senior year…
My schedule this year: AP Calculus AB, AP Physics 1, AP English Lang, APUSH, AP Art, Speech and Debate
My school doesn’t have any study hall option but seniors are allowed to take only 5 classes.
xxbunny, you can look up my posts if you want to have a better idea of how qualified I am to discuss this :). Let’s say that this is not a matter of interpretation and it doesn’t depend on colleges. Taking the test doesn’t matter to adcoms. It matters to you and it may matter to your high school (since many high schools require AP tests from AP class takers due to funding or ranking issues). But colleges don’t care. What they want to see is that you challenged yourself by taking rigorous courses when available. There’s one exception to this: you attend a low-performing school where pretty much everyone gets 1’s and 2s on their AP, you know you can get a 3, 4 or even 5, so you take the test to prove that not only were you part of the very small number of kids at that school who could handle an AP class but you scored above most other students. If you attend a “regular” high school where taking an AP class isnt something incredible (and it sounds like that’s your situation), then yeah, no need to take the test.
One problem with your current schedule is that there’s no foreign language. Selective colleges want to see 4 years of English, Social Science, and Science, Math up to calculus, and a foreign language where you’ve achieved level 4 or AP preferably (Level3 at a minimum). In addition, they prefer it if you have taken bio, chem, AND physics, with one science AP if you intend to major in a STEM field. For instance, you don’t need to take AP Physics 1 and 2 if you’ve had all three of bio, chem, and physics, and you could take AP Chem or AP Bio instead of AP Physics 2 to demonstrate versatility, or take AP Physics C to show College of Engineering readiness (Physics C is a nice complement to Calc BC IF you want on a STEM major - not necessary otherwise as it is exceedingly difficult.) In addition to all this, adcoms like to see a bit of personality - they don’t like the “everything but the kitchen sink” approach to APs, they want you to clearly CHOOSE classes you like, which you do with Speech&Debate.
So, really, the only missing class from your junior and senior year schedules are Level 3-4 in a foreign language. Have you already taken the AP in a foreign language, or scored 700+ on a foreign language subject test?
“taking fewer APs senior year”: yes and no. It depends how many you took junior year! If you took 3 junior year, taking 3 senior year would be a good idea. If you took 5 Aps junior year, taking 4 APs senior year is absolutely acceptable. Adcoms know that senior year, with the application season, is very hard on seniors. They want you to challenge yourself but they don’t like hubris, ie.," I am the king of the world and I’ll do this thing which no other senior before me has ever done and I’ll take 10 Aps in one year, get all-A’s, letter in a sport, be a first chair in symphony orchestra, and get all my applications out on time". Remain humble and know thyself and all that jazz, you know?
thanks for all of that info!
and that about ap tests makes a lot of sense.
as for foreign language, no worries–i already have 4 years of japanese credit. our school has it as a college class, so each semester is worth 1 year in credits. i’m also taking a sat/ap chinese class outside of school and have been in a credit-counting chinese class for 2 years (this is the 3rd) so i have like 7 years of foreign language credit haha
as for physics, i haven’t completely decided whether i’m going to take ap physics or ap chem. I took honors chem freshman year and loved it, but what people at my school say is that ap chem is like a repeat of honors chem and the teacher isn’t very good. i’m leaning towards physics because i’ll probably learn more from it, but yeah. not sure yet.
our school doesn’t have physics c
Colleges will certainly not care if you don’t take an AP exam as a senior; by that point, you’ve already received your admissions decision. Once you know what college you will be attending, you can make your decision on whether or not to take an AP exam based upon whether or not the college offers credit. IMO, it’s pointless to spend the money to take the exam if the college will not grant credit, unless of course, your HS requires the exam to be taken. Also, FWIW, few private liberal arts schools and almost no art schools give credit for Studio Art.
How admissions will view students not taking the AP exam when the student is a freshman/soph/junior, is a totally different question. For a core academic course, there are, IMO, few legitimate reasons not to take the exam. For Studio Art, however, I doubt colleges will care that you did not submit a portfolio.
AP Studio Art is very demanding. I am sure that no LAC requires 24 pieces in a semester. It makes no sense that so few would give elective credit for that class.
