Classes for next year-- help?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>First a quick word about me. I like taking hard classes, and I'm relatively smart, but I'm one of the busiest guys at the school with Football, Skiing, Boy Scouts, etc... Because of that, I try to stay away from all the classes heavy in reading and writing (APUS was a killer this year, and that's why I took summer school English too).</p>

<p>Now that summer has begun and I've had some time to think about it, I am having doubts about my class submissions for next year. I am taking American Lit. right now over the summer, and my requests on the sheet for next year that I turned in were:</p>

<p>Hon. Pre-Calc
AP Statistics
AP Physics B
AP Gov
Band
German 300
Keyboarding (1st)
Adv. Conditioning Football (2nd)
Symphony Orchestra Winds</p>

<p>I have decided that I want to major in Finance and get some of the basic courses out of the way, so that's why I'm trying to take all the math. The problem is, with these courses, I may be a little overloaded next year. I have heard that Gov. is the easiest AP exam, and in my school's class there is a lot of busy work (outlining and such) that take up a bunch of time. I have talked to friends who have taken the normal (1-semester) government class and self-studied for the AP exam and done pretty well. Also, do I really need to take an AP science course my junior year if I don't plan on going into a science field? Would the colleges I plan on applying to (Penn, Georgetown, Columbia, BC, U of M) have a problem with me just taking honors physics? If I drop down into honors physics and get put into the normal gov class, I think I will be able to fit in another tough course that I am more interested in and that may be more valuable to me, like AP Economics. That would not leave enough room for keyboarding, which is a valuable and required class, so I may need to do that next summer or even online during the school year. What do you think of all this? Sorry about all the questions.</p>

<p>Thanks everyone.</p>

2

<p>You are going to be a junior? If so, I'd say to stick it out taking the hardest classes you can do well in. Maybe add in AP Econ while dropping down to regular gov or something like that, but junior year is your last full year to impress colleges. </p>

<p>As for physics, I think you should take it. If you aren't looking to major in engineering, most schools give a lot of credit for a 4 or 5 on the AP Physics B exam.</p>

<p>For example, just looking at Umich, if you get a 5 on the Physics B exam, you receive credit for 4 classes [Physics 125(4), 127(1), 126(4) & 128(1)], which is 10 credits.</p>

<p>What's your MAIN college choice?</p>

3

<p>I'm going to be a Junior, and my main choice is probably Boston College.</p>

4

<p>You probably should stick with an AP science, but I think it is a big mistake to take AP physics when you are not taking AP calculus. Can you test out of keyboarding - - that looks like a fluff class.</p>

5

<p>AP physics B doesn't need calc.</p>

6

<p>Calc helps in AP Physics B, but you don't need it by any means.</p>