Class Selection (Senior year)

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

My boy has completed 7 APs by the end of Junior year:

       American His
       European His
       Human Gio
       Lang
       Macro
       Cal AB
       Bio

He is going to take 3 more APs in senior year:

      Lit
      Government
      Stat

      (Plus German, regular Physics, Journalism, Creative writing (.5), Sociology (.5))

He is targeting TOP 10 school, humanity/Social science fields. 3 APs in senior year is weak? Need more AP class(es)?

Any recommendation of AP class? (AP Psych, AP World His…)

BTW, his school offers total 23 APs)

2

10 AP is fine - course rigor will be in line with most applicants at top schools. 7-12 Is an oft-quoted metric. I think once you’re over 8, the marginal value is small, as long as a student continues to challenge him/herself.

More important is the quality of the courses. An AP science course, while not as important as for a STEM applicant, might help complete the portfolio (I’d recommend replacing Stats). But it’s completely dependent on the student’s interests, talent, prerequisites, etc.

3

See if he can take AP German (if offered, or indicate that they take the most advanced level at school and will take the AP exam?)
Applying for Humanities/Social Science usually means having 4 years in Social Science/history and English + Foreign Language to the highest level available, if possible AP.
AP World could add a bit more rigor – it depends if journalism is a course he’s been taking for a while and thus only Creative Writing/Sociology would be his “fun electives”, which shouldn’t be cut senior year. How many periods are there?
I would strongly recommend he look into NESCAC colleges, the Claremonts, etc.

4

MYOS1634 (& other members)

Thanks for your comment.

The school does not offer AP German.

His schedule will be (6 periods):

         German (1)
         Journalism (1)
         AP Stat (1)
         AP Physics 1 (0.5) + Creative writing (0.5)
         AP Govern (1)
         AP Lit (0.5) + Sociology (0.5)

He has a passion for writing- that’s why taking Journalism (3rd time) & Creative Writing (2nd time).

In order to take AP World, he must drop AP Physics 1 & Creative Writing.
He wants to complete 4 years of science.

But, I am not sure…for applying for Humanities/Social science, taking two science/math courses (AP Stat & AP Physics 1) are ok OR taking AP World instead of AP Physics 1 would be a better choice? (So 3 years of science instead of 4)

What do you think?