Hey everyone. First time poster here. I’m wondering what you guys think about my junior schedule and which way i should go. For background, i am in a California public school. Was an intermatiomal student but moved here for my sophomore year. I hope to apply to top 50 universities, and have a decent gpa of 4.3 (I take 2 ap classes in school) as well as an A on AP Calc BC in a nationally ranked private online school. Alright, here it goes…
Schedule 1
AP Composition
AP US History
AP Chemistry
AP Environmental Science
AP Spanish or AP computer science A or AP Stats
At the private school:
University level multivariable calculus
University level linear algebra
I like math alot and am fairly confident a willing to work hard in it. Although, my class rank is 1 out of about 600 in public school (and some are certainly going to take 6 ap classes next year so if i have this schedule i will lose that position). Also i might lose an ap class (or universoty class) in the previous schedule to balance my workload
Schedule 2
AP Composition
AP US History
AP Chemistry
AP Environmental science
AP Stats
AP Spanish or AP Physics C (probably not lol)
At private school:
Leadership
Obviously, this option would not involve university level math that, but it helps me retain my class rank with subjects I am still interested in (and a large workload still)
So what do you guys think? I know that this is a somewhat complex question. I would geniuinely appreciate your feedback and can answer any clarifying questioms as needed.
Thanks!
Wow! These are very tough schedules! Fellow Class of 2020 member here.
The truth is is that you do not need all these APs. Yes, if you take all of these and do very well in them, it will look very, very good, but it is very challenging to handle all of this work. That’s why I recommend neither of these schedules. Honestly, in junior year, 4 or 5 is more than enough, even for very talented students. So, here is what I recommend.
There are quite a lot of people who double up AP Sciences in high school, specifically senior year. However, I think you should wait to do this in senior year. Try taking an AP Science first in junior year, see if you can handle, and if you want, go for two in senior year. While I am merely a sophomore and don’t know a lot about junior and senior APs myself, I heard there’s a lot of work in them. Unless you plan on majoring in environmental science, geosystems, anything environment related, I recommend AP Chem over AP Environmental Science and would advise you save that for senior year. Also, definitely do not take AP Physics C alongside AP Environmental Science and Chemistry. It will be beyond stressful.
Because you really like math, I would advise keeping AP Statistics, especially because you got an A in AP Calc BC! Congrats on that! That is really challenging to do! AP Comp Sci A, like you suggested in Option 1 is also not a bad choice as a math course.
I’m sorry if this isn’t very detailed, especially because I don’t have much experience with these courses, but I hope this helped in some way! Best of luck to you!
Have a good day!
Schedule 2. It’s not worth it taking so many extra hard classes imo as it will affect your grades and prevent you from focusing on your ECs. It really depends on your teachers but APUSH, AP Spanish, and AP Chem are notorious for being hard classes. AP Composition can also be a very tough and heavy class.
Jr. year I took AP Chem, AP Spanish, AP Economics, Multivariable Calc (+ the other required classes at my school) and thought that was okay. A lot of students who had the AP Calc BC, AP Chem, AP Physics C had so much work although only really smart kids chose that. Is there an option to take a different history besides APUSH? Take the easiest AP history at you school that you can 
Although APUSH can be very easy if you have a nice teacher.
I would take schedule one but not APES or AP Stats. Those are blow off classes that no colleges is impressed with.
Have you already taken a physics course of any level?
Wow! Thanks for all the responses!
@anthonytheboy ill definetly keep comp sci a in mind as I do code sporadically. Based on your ideas, i should probably remove ap enviro science. What do you think about taking 4 or 5 ap classes and taking one university course and focusing on my EC’s?
@LushLillies unfortunately APUSH is my only option but i take APWH right now and have heard APUSH is relatively easier (however that might just be based on increased experience of kids as they progress to APUSH.) How did you find AP spanish with respect to other classes in terms of workload/difficulty? Also, with your schedule how well were you able to focus on your EC’s? Thanks so much for your response!
@snowfairy137 i thought the same now in light of these comments, do you suggest taking out ap enviro and stats and take a university math course instead?
@evergreen5 i learned alot of the traditional physics curroliculum before highschool (interest i guess) … so no classes but i am thinking of taking ap physics C in senior year
@saadisworld I think 4 APs is more than enough. If you’re really into taking 5, I won’t talk you out of it, but I think it’s your best interest to take 4 as it will save you time and stress. Focusing on ECs is always a good thing if you have a good GPA. Definitely do what you want to do no matter what others tell you!
Best of luck and have a good day!
Yeah, if it doesn’t screw with your everyday schedule too much.
@saadisworld AP Spanish was a difficult class at my school (we had pop tests for listening and reading nearly every class), but the AP test was incredibly easy (I am not a native speaker either). I think it really varies by the school; AP Spanish for me was a low work but hard to get an A class.
With my jr schedule, I was able to do all of my ECs and take on even more leadership positions. But it really depends on your school. A certain hard class can ruin things…for example, Calc BC is one of the hardest classes at my school, and it really made things difficult sophomore year. Even though I took way more harder classes by name jr year, sophomore year was harder for me than junior year.
Since you are not in Texas, class rank is not the gigantic factor it is in Texas.
So the common parts are:
AP Composition
AP US History
AP Chemistry
AP Environmental science
So your choice seems to be some subset of the following:
AP Spanish
AP CS A (have you taken AP CS principles, or is it available?)
AP Statistics
AP physics C
multivariable calculus (can you take it as a nearby college?)
linear algebra (can you take it at a nearby college?)
leadership