Class registration advice?? I'm struggling with choosing my courses for junior year.

Hi everyone, this is my first post on this site. I’m currently a sophomore in high school and right now we have to register for classes for junior year.

So far, I’m mostly a straight A student. I’m taking the most advanced classes for my year and my schedule right now currently consists of AP European History, Honors Pre-Calculus, Honors Lit/Comp 2, Honors Chemistry, French 3, and Cross Country/Track. I’ve only gotten one B over all three of my semesters of high school.

I feel pressured to keep this up for next year, though, because I want to graduate at the top of my class. Next year, I’m considering taking AP US History, AP Language and Composition, AP Biology, maybe AP Art History to fulfill a course requirement for the universities I’m interested in, possibly AP Stats or AP Calc AB (probably will go for the former if I don’t drop math, which I can do next year because we’re required to take only 3 years of math to graduate), and on top of that, Cross Country and Track. I’m worried, however, that I’ll get too burnt out from trying to keep up with all this load. I can’t decide which courses are beneficial to drop to a lower level or pursue AP. Nor can I decide whether I want to continue running, which I know will look good for colleges because it shows off one of the things I was dedicated to during high school.

And, for a little bit more context, I’m also interested in maybe pursuing a science-related career (not sure which, though) in the future. I’ve always liked science class the most because I like learning about how the world around us works.

I’ll list my pros and cons for each AP that I’m considering, from least sure to most sure.

AP Calc AB

  • Pros: I guess it will help me get ahead in college calculus classes? Plus it’s strongly recommended that I take 4 years of math (3 minimum) if I want to go to the colleges I want to, and this will satisfy that
  • Cons: A very rigorous and difficult course. The majority of students spend about 4+ hours a week studying for this class.

AP Art History

  • Pros: There’s a specific college requirement that requires you to take a visual/performing arts class, and this helps to satisfy that requirement. Also, I really like studying about art and it’d be interesting to learn about art from the past. It’s not that rigorous of a course, either.
  • Cons: Again, like I said with AP Stats, it might be an easy class, but I’m afraid of having to handle too much.

AP Stats

  • Pros: Easier than Calc AB. I can take math all 4 years and meet the college requirement. Plus, if I’m going for a science career, it will be useful because science and math are somewhat linked.
  • Cons: It might be an easy class, but I’m afraid it’ll be too much for me to handle on top of the other classes I want to take.

AP Lang

  • Pros: I’ve heard stories from the juniors at my school currently in this class and they said that it’s not that hard because most of the time they aren’t really doing a lot of work.
  • Cons: I don’t like English lol. I suck at writing essays (well, I write them pretty decently, but I hate them) and there could be a lot more expected from me than I think. English classes always tend to be the hardest for me to maintain an A in. Also, despite how easy it may seem, an AP is still an AP and I could very well not pass the exam.

AP U.S. History

  • Pros: I’m currently taking AP European History. The juniors I know in that class say it’s really similar to AP Euro in format but they put slightly more emphasis on memorization rather than writing when it comes to their assigned work because I think they expect you to be super familiar with the writing since it’s introduced and gone over more detail in AP Euro. Good for me, because I’m far better at memorizing stuff rather than having to write about it.
  • Cons: It might be a bit more than I expected. My other coursework along with my work in APUSH might stress me out too much. Like I mentioned earlier on, I don’t really like writing essays. But when it comes to AP History writing, I think it’s a bit easier than essays for English class because I have a clearer idea of what I’m going to write.

AP Biology

  • Pros: I like science. I’m hoping to pursue a science career, so this is necessary if I want to be a science major throughout college. Also, my current Honors Chemistry teacher is the AP Biology teacher (or one of two, I can’t remember) at our school, so I’m familiar with her.
  • Cons: Somewhat rigorous. There’s a lot of lab work and there’s a LOT more expected from you compared to Honors Biology or Honors Chemistry.

Also, would it be worth trying to continue running in high school? It eats up like 1-2 hours after school. At the same time, there’s only one other extracurricular that I’m currently involved in – a small creative writing club that my friends and I have created – and dropping Cross Country and Track would mean making myself look less competitive for colleges since there’s nothing I’m really dedicated to.

All science majors in college require calculus, so you may as well get a head start in high school. Note that high school AB is a slower gentler paced course than college calculus or high school BC (starting from precalculus).

Additionally, more selective colleges probably prefer to see a student who completes precalculus before 12th grade take calculus if available.