I will be a senior next year, and plan to apply to colleges as a computer science major. I’m hoping for top-tier colleges like MIT, CMU, Stanford, Caltech, Harvard; will also be applying to more attainable schools like UMass-Amherst, UVA, University of Michigan; and of course I have a few safeties in mind as well.
I have a ~4.5 GPA and 1550 SAT, and participate in numerous STEM-related activities like Science Olympiad, Computer Science Club, etc, and I’ve done well at debate for the past 4 years.
This year I’m taking:
AP English Lang
AP Physics 1
AP Calc BC
APUSH
AP Micro/Macro
Speech/Debate
Spanish 4
And I’ve already taken APCS A as well as APCS Principles.
And next year I plan to take:
AP English Lit
AP Physics C
Multivariable Calc
AP Comparative Govt.
AP Statistics
Engineering Math
???
As you can tell, I have an extra slot available, and I’ve been AGONIZING over what class will be the best to make me more competitive from an admissions standpoint. Getting college credit /placement is of no concern of mine.
My counselor says "schools like UVA look highly upon completing a foreign language to the AP level", and her recommendation is to take AP Spanish. I have no particular affinity for Spanish, but I think I'd do just fine in the class. But I am wondering if it would be better to take AP science courses since I want to major in CS.
I'm also considering AP Physics 2, since I have enjoyed Physics 1 this year and have been fairly good at it.
Personally I'm inclined to take AP Environmental Science, because I feel like its relatively interesting and also different than all my other curriculum, and I'd learn something new.
One thing though I've been wondering though is if I look like a "chicken" or something for not having taken AP Bio or AP Chemistry, the two hardest APs (from what I can tell). I am worried that APES will look like I took an easy class and represent laziness on my part. But I didn't enjoy Chemistry honors too much in 10th grade, and bio in 9th was OK but still not a deep passion of mine. I think I could get an A in both, but it'd be a lot of work and stress.
So as you can tell, I’m having a really hard time weighing, especially since I’m not sure if the underlying assumptions behind my weighing is correct. Will AP Spanish actually provide a competitive advantage for a prospective CS major? If not, will APES look just fine, or should I do AP Chem or Bio to show academic rigor? Or should I do AP Physics 2, which is in the middle in terms of difficulty?
“UMass-Amherst, UVA, University of Michigan;” are great schools for computer science. Personally I would take Michigan over Harvard for CS. In terms of the coworkers that I have worked with, this would be a no-brainer. At some point on CC a question came up regarding whether Harvard or U.Mass Amherst is better for computer science. I asked two very experienced hiring managers what they thought (separately, they don’t know each other), and both said without hesitation that they would hire a U.Mass graduate over a Harvard graduate in computer science.
Regarding your choice of another AP to take: I think that you already have a tough workload and I would be inclined to take whichever class you would find more interesting. I haven’t seen Spanish as being needed for a CS major, and to me AP ES would be way more interesting, and way more likely to be a subject that might cause you to think about a possible alternate major or minor somewhere down the line. I would think of this more as “which would actually be useful to me down the road and which is a subject that I actually want to learn something about” rather than “what will get me into a top university”.
One additional AP course will not boost admissions based on your current/projected course load. Since you are already taking Spanish 4, there is no reason to take AP Spanish, unless you want to. You are already projecting to have 6 AP/post-AP courses. Take a non-stressful fun class.
Also, make sure that you don’t overestimate your chances at some of your schools. Applying as an out of state student into CS at some of these schools can be as competitive (maybe more) than the “elite” schools on your list.
ACs are interested in your entire! Profile!!! What do you want to know more about? School is about learning and you have an opportunity to learn something that is interesting to you personally. Your profile is very good and there is little likelihood that you can hit an academic home run, sink a three point shot at the buzzer, catch a Hail Mary pads, sink a hole in one, etc. Never heard of an AP similarly glorified. Nobody says well darn, she took physics rather than calculus so we cant accept her. Stop the insignificant plotting and do something you would really enjoy. There is no point to a really good profile until you use it to learn for your heart and head.
I’m interested in AP Stats and feel it would be useful.
Engineering Math is a class that integrates calculus, physics, and some MATLAB coding to study math used in engineering. Teacher is great and content seems fun/interesting.
I enjoy history/social studies and am good at it, and so I’m definitely interested in Comp Gov next year.
Taking Econ presently. (LOVING IT by the way…if I wasn’t hooked into CS, I’d definitely major in it).
Our school requires 7 classes a year, if that’s what you’re asking.
Not sure what your fine arts question means…you mean as a requirement to graduate from the college? Even if that’s the case, I’m not too worried about getting credits in high school. If you mean require a year of fine arts in high school, I doubt it, but my county considers “Speech/Debate” – which I am currently taking – to meet our county’s fine arts requirement.
Right, as you can probably tell, I’m not fully informed and a lot of my conceptions about colleges are based on common perceptions, sayings, and generalizations…this summer I’m definitely going to look into things more and develop a better understanding. I hope nothing I said comes off as arrogant. I guess my overall point is I really want to get into top CS programs so I want to do whatever gives me the greatest “edge” from their point of view.
So based on this advice I’m considering taking APES or maybe even Advanced Programming (which is a super chill class, but would also show my interest in CS).
In California, for example, state schools require a year, in high school, of Visual or Performing Arts. Speech and Debate would not qualify. Ceramics, Painting, Drawing, Choir, Band, Orchestra, Theatre, all would.
A “super chill” class would be fine with your schedule Also keep in mind the hidden class your first semester - College Applications and Essays. Rising seniors always underestimate the time involved.
While true, the OP already stated that his/her graduation requirements are met, and did not indicate applying to UCs, so a-g requirements do not apply.
Your last class should be College Applications Class. Seriously. They will suck up so much time fall term. Take Study Hall!
Spring Term that study hall could be used for homework so you can take “Enjoy high school with my friends/go out for ice cream” after school.
Seriously. One more AP will do nothing nothing for your app. Please go read the ivy results threads with the kids that had 15 APs and perfect scores and got rejected while others with 4 APs and good scores got accepted. Colleges are not looking for academic drones they are looking for interesting, intellectually curious students.
My kid takes 5 academic classes a year plus a sport. The five classes are rigorous and appropriate to her interests and requirements. This schedule looks insane to me.,
Hmm so we don’t really have study hall, so I’m considering taking Advanced Programming, in which ~75% of the class time would be free time for me to work on other homework or college apps. Another nitpick of mine, though, is that my weighted GPA would go down since it’s a 4.0 instead of a 5.0, but since all of y’all are saying that another AP won’t matter…then I might just go with it.
Are you saying your school has no way for a senior with all requirements satisfied to take only 6 classes? Lots of seniors at our school just go home after 5th period.
It would preserve your 5.0 GPA and give you time to work on college apps in the fall and do something more interesting with your time. 6 AP/post AP classes is a full load. I don’t care what your “crowd” does.
Our school only has 6 periods and sends many kids to Ivy, Berkeley, MIT and so on. None of them took 7 AP classes in year.
It appears that mine is a minority opinion, but I’d recommend either AP Spanish Language or AP Physics 2.
I say this partly because of admissions, but more for the idea of taking full advantage of your HS learning opportunities and to best prepare for a rigorous college experience, which it seems you are destined to pursue.
To share an example close to home, my son’s senior year schedule consisted of seven AP’s: English Literature, Spanish Literature, US History, Calculus BC, US Government, Biology, and Physics C, which schedule most here would say was insanely rigorous and would advise against. But those were the courses he wanted to take, he did well in all of them, and he never regretted it. He was accepted by his first choice college and took an insanely difficult course load there too. Some people are just wired that way. I think you might be one of those people.
And while the conventional wisdom is on this forum is that colleges don’t care much about anything past 7-10 AP’s, my personal belief is that colleges very much want to snag those students “wired that way”, so long as they are also interesting, multidimensional people.
Also keep in mind the hidden class your first semester - College Applications and Essays. Rising seniors always underestimate the time involved.