This is a student transferred from China to America in 2015 as a HS freshman. Because of the English level, my counselor suggested me not to try AP classes at first. So far I have taken AP Chem, APUSH, and AP BIO. All those classes have a grade over 95.
I personally want to be a doctor, therefore I used to deem other AP classes as unnecessary to my major. I am also a 1st-gen student whose parents could not help me in terms of AP classes. But recently I have discovered a term called “rigor of schedule”, and found that many other people stuff their time with various APs even though some of them were not relevant to their intended majors. Next year is my senior year, I plan to take AP BC, AP STAT, AP Lan, AP CS Principle, and AP Phy.C
For my other classes, I decide to take Art classes for the first time in life. Since 10th grade, I have had 4 artworks selected for awards and different art shows despite that I don’t receive any art education before coming to America. For my third language, I took Spanish I in 10th grade and Spanish 3 in 11th grade because I thought it was too easy.
Should I take more AP classes? My dream school is JHU and intended major is pre-med or neuroscience. If senior-year APs are not helpful, what things can I do to make up for my schedule rigor?
I would not jump to AP BC if you haven’t taken AP AB. Don’t think AP CS principle is beneficial, Would also not jump to AP PHY C if you haven’t taken AP PHY 1. Does your school offer AP GOV? that can be useful because the credit can be used toward your core requirements at most colleges so it will be one less college class you have to take. Try talking to your school counselor, they will know what is considered a rigorous schedule for your school.
Disagree with @Boilermom, DD took AP Calc BC without doing AB, and it wasn’t an issue. JHU will expect a rigorous schedule and a high GPA to go along with it to be considered for admission.
So far my GPA is 96.98. At the beginning of my senior year, it is expected to be above 96.5
Does senior-year GPA be helpful?
All your grades through the first semester of senior year will be evaluated, except for and early action/decision programs.
You don’t need to pile up APs. You do need to show that you’re more than “able in one subject”.
-
ask your math teacher whether your High school has an ‘AB then BC’ system or if it has an ‘AB or BC’ system. If the former, you must take AB before you take BC. If the latter, you can take BC right away since AB content is taught too, at an accelerated (college) pace.
You can only take BC if your school has the second type but you won’t be dinged for taking AB as long as you take Calculus. -
you don’t need AP stats
-
if you want to be premed, you should take AP Physics1 and/or 2, not C (which is Physics for engineers).
So, you’d have
AP Lang
Spanish 4H
Art
Ap Calculus (ab or bc)
AP Physics1/2
AP Cs Principles
A social science honors or AP gov
Since I deem my schedule as not that rigorous, do I need to apply for JHU’s RD according to you?
Top universities want a TOTAL of 6-8 AP’s. You’re fine for any university in terms of rigor.
4 v.5 APs won’t make a difference.
For these top universities, what makes the big difference once you’ve met the basics will be your ECs and essays.
Your art will be very important.
However, if you are serious about premed, broaden your range of universities. You need to be at a supportive university. Your odds of going to JHU Med may actually be better if you don’t attend JHU for undergraduate and chose a college where there aren’t as many premeds (the first reader/algorithm that cuts applicants doesn’t even know where you went to college.)
There isn’t a minimum (or even a “best”) number of AP. It’s about rigor at your high school. Not all hs offer AP or many. Some make kids wait to jr or sr year. And we don’t know what you’ve taken so far, besides AP chem, USH, and bio (and any scores,) so we can’t comment on rigor. If the other courses were too easy or too many non-core, that’s a different issue than AP.
A top school like JHU isn’t just looking for a count of AP, but the sense (and challenge) in what they are. And the right balance in the cores.
In the list MYOS suggested, you really don’t need AP CS. But an AP history or govt would be good.
As for Early vs RD, again that depends on your hs. Will you get top recommendations by the Early deadline or ? Will you have enough work done (and success) for that or will these teachers say they’ve only known you in class a short while? You’ll want an LoR from a rigorous math or sci teacher, in addition to one challenging humanities.
Before I get any further, please take my advice with a grain of salt because I’m only a senior in high school so my advice might not be 100% sound! Just take what seems reasonable to you, I guess! 
My point of view is that AP classes generally can’t hurt you. Even if people say that “all colleges need are 6-8 AP’s”, I think it really depends on the context of your school and how much they offer you. If all the other students in your high school are generally more taking more than 8 AP’s (which is generally the case among the competitive students at my high school- 10 is the usual number, with some kids going to 12 or higher), then I think it would be best to aim for 4-5 in senior year.
Then again, it is important not to overload yourself. At least in my case, I piled on a lot of AP classes my senior year and my GPA went down quite a bit. However, we are different people, so our situations will probably be different. I just wanted to let you know that senior grades do matter (especially your first semester ones- even for Early Decision/Action), so choose wisely!
At the end of the day though, you know your own capabilities! If you think you can handle all of those AP classes and come out unscathed, then I would say go for it! However, if you are a bit nervous (and if you are, you are understandably so because AP Physics C and AP Calc BC are both two of the hardest AP’s, relatively speaking), I would really recommend talking to your school counselor! Otherwise, if you are worried about the load, I would think about which class seems the least exciting to you (it wouldn’t hurt to do some research on what you would be learning in each course), and perhaps think about dropping that one? Having a genuine interest in a course topic (even it it’s not what you’re majoring in) will definitely help you do better in the class!
I hope that this was helpful! And good luck on your college journey Just work hard, take on what you can handle, and enjoy the process
Math APs will be easy. And since Phy C is highly quantified, it should be relatively easy for me as well. I need to focus on those APs that are content-based and require memorization.
That sounds like you’re figuring it out! Great! Also, I’ve heard that AP Comp Sci Principles is a relatively easy AP (at least at my school!).
And also, I forgot to answer your original question about whether or not 5 APs will impress colleges. Again, I’m not 100% sure, but I would say that it will definitely impress JHU and other colleges considering your background. Then again, if you are looking for more ways to boost your credentials, looking for research or intern opportunities in an area that you’re really interested in may help as well.