<p>For my Junior year, I am uncertain as to how rigorous I should make my course load.</p>
<p>I am currently planning on taking:</p>
<p>AP BC Calculus (includes Diff-Eq and Discrete Math)
AP French IV
AP USH
AP English III
Pre-AP Physics
Computer Programming
Philosophy
Astronomy</p>
<p>All of them are 5.0 weighted. Other options are BioTech (4 hours college cred), AP Physics B, AP Comp Sci, and/or AP Chemistry.</p>
<p>…What’s the question?</p>
<p>Sorry, should have made that more clear.</p>
<p>Should I add AP’s? How much does taking those AP’s affect Admissions? Which AP’s are the most influential on admission?</p>
<p>I would advise taking AP Comp Sci over Computer Program, AP Physics over Pre-AP Physics, and switching Astronomy and Philosophy with AP Chem and Bio Tech. Unless you’re planning on doing Astronomy or Philosophy in college.
Colleges love seeing that you take a rigorous schedule. The more AP’s the better. Take caution though. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. If you feel you can handle it, then take it. If you don’t, then just take some easier courses. It depends on where you want to college and want you want to do.</p>
<p>I’m worried that I’d be over-applying myself. BC Calculus at my HS is extremely intense, with a large portion of our class failing, and still spending 2+ hours a day on it. However, 97% made a 5 on the AP last year. As well, AP Physics and BioTech are now closed. I think I will take Chem however, I think that would fit well with my plans to go into Pharmacy. Next year I will make sure to take BioTech, as since that isn’t an AP isn’t mandatory for Junior year. I would take AP Comp Sci but I have no prior programming experience, so that might hurt me. Lastly, I am recovering my GPA from an uninformed Freshman year, so I need to ensure all A’s. Thank you for your advice!</p>
<p>AP Computer Science A is like 1/2 to 1 semester of introductory computer science for computer science majors at a university, so taking it over a year in high school would be a more gentle introduction to the subject (analogous to AP Calculus AB versus university freshman calculus courses).</p>
<p>Depends on what schools you’re applying to, really. It sounds like a very rigorous courseload already…Do you have some specific colleges you’re doing all this for?</p>
<p>For the very top schools, your courseload should be at least as rigorous as that of your peers. This means you’ll be marked “Most Rigorous Courseload” by your counselor on her rec and that your weighted GPA will be competitive for a top class rank.</p>
<p>^But it also depends on what level of top colleges (s)he is working toward. Because I only took half the AP classes offered at my school (and also didn’t even take anything higher than Honors Algebra II for math) and still got into schools like UC Berkeley and UCLA. I think a lot of people worry a little too much about taking a rigorous high school courseload when, in fact, it is often unnecessary to do so. </p>
<p>But if (s)he is aiming for HYPS or something, that would be a different matter altogether. :p</p>