Hi all,
I’m currently a high school junior planning out my schedule for senior year. My school offers AP Physics C and AP Spanish 4 to seniors, but I want to avoid taking these classes. I’m looking to apply for schools such as Stanford, UC Berkeley, MIT, Cal Tech, Carnegie Mellon, etc. as a Computer Science major. I have a variety of extra-curriculars and things on my resume, such as National Honors Society, competitive AAA Ice Hockey, and other strong highlights.
Here are my previous AP/IB classes and projected senior schedule (All A’s except for a B+ in Spanish IBSL 1st semester):
9th: AP Compsci Principles (4), AP World History (4)
10th: AP Compsci A (5), AP Lang (4)
11th: Currently taking AP Physics 2, AP Calculus AB, AP US History, IBSL Compsci, IBSL Spanish 3, IBSL English 3
12th: AP Gov, AP Econ, AP Calc BC, AP Lit, IBHL Compsci, AP Physics C, AP Spanish 4
Instead of Physics C, I’m thinking about taking AP Statistics – I understand it isn’t as rigorous as Physics C, but I’m not proficient at physics, and I would struggle with AP Bio or Chem. I’m just finding a suitable class that I can replace Physics C with so I don’t have a free period. Instead of Spanish 4 I want to take an honors networking cyber security class that my high school offers.
What do you guys think? Will not taking Physics C and Spanish 4 severely hurt my chances of getting into these colleges? Thanks!
If you are afraid of physics, then why do you want to apply to MIT or Caltech, where physics is a required part of the general education requirements for all majors?
AP credit in statistics is unlikely to be useful for subject credit for a CS major, since any required statistics course is likely to be calculus-based.
Regarding Spanish, note that Stanford has a foreign language graduation requirement. A high enough AP or IB HL score may be accepted to fulfill it. Otherwise, you may have to take foreign language course(s) in college to fulfill it.
Top schools are going to expect to see high rigor.
IMO, you need a science class your senior year. For a CS major, I’d say AP physics C makes the most sense.
Your goals don’t align with your expected preparation.
If you’re truly aiming for Stanford, UCB, MIT, etc, ie., colleges with a sub 5% acceptance rate, you need to be able to handle AP Physics C and shouldn’t even be thinking of AP Stats (except as a fun elective).
Here’s a possible schedule:
Honors English, Calc BC, IBHL CS, AP Physics C, AP Gov/Econ and either Spanish 4 or Cybersecurity (keeping in mind Cybersecurity will be seen as a fun elective v. Spanish 4 which is seen as rigor in a core course).
Is California your home state?
As an ex Admissions Officer, I have to agree with the general consensus here. It seems like you want to take a lighter course load, hoping it won’t effect admissions-- it will. Highly competitive colleges will scrutinize your senior class selection very heavily and so I would recommend you take the classes with the highest rigor you can reasonably sustain while maintaining your sanity.
National Honor Society only requires a B average and some type of community service. It is not considered to be a high level award. At tippy top schools, your sport matters if you’re a recruited athlete, which you did not mention that you are.
Your coursework looks good for getting into a highly selective comp sci program - and I’m sure that by the time you’re applying, you will have made a list of schools with excellent comp sci, that aren’t the absolutely most selective schools in the country. I have a feeling that whether you take AP Physics C and AP Spanish or not, you will wind up at a school with a good comp sci program. But if you’re looking to get into a tippy-top school, yes, you DO need that AP Physics C in senior year, and to get out of a language requirement, you do need the AP Spanish.
Look at it this way - if you’re applying early action/early decision somewhere, just the fact of you enrolling in those classes gets you credit, since the schools aren’t going to see the grades. And if your regular admissions decisions are relevant, you only have to do well in the first semester. It won’t matter if you get B minuses second semester, and your AP scores won’t matter, except for placing out of college language. So take it for the easy boost to your applications that it is, and sign up for them both.
To be honest, you’re already behind in terms of rigor for MIT/Caltech/CMU SCS. You have to take AP Physics C to have any chance for those three schools, unless you come from a disadantaged background or school district.