Course Selection Dilemma

Pre-College Topics High School Life
1

Hi! I’m a junior in high school and my course requests for next year are due very soon. On a side note, I want to apply to top colleges (and I want to take AP classes to show that I’m capable of handling college level material), but I also have a TON of extracurricular activities that take away a lot of my time to do homework. This year, I started out in AP Lit, AP BC Calc and AP Physics C, along with two other non AP classes. I didn’t have enough time in my day to do all of that work, so I dropped from AP Physics C to AP Physics 1, which is a very manageable course. So right now I’m taking 3 AP courses, with BC being my hardest class but the homework is usually only an hour a night. My grades are good and I don’t have to stay up super late that often.
Here’s a list of my classes so you can get a better feel for them:

  1. AP BC Calc
  2. AP Physics 1
  3. AP Lit
  4. US History (Regular level, but my teacher is really challenging-probably should have just taken AP- so I should be able to do well on the SATII)
  5. Chinese III

For next year I have all of my classes set, except for my science class(es). This brings me to my dilemma. My school offers regular bio, accelerated bio, and AP bio. I am definitely taking bio next year, but I don’t know which one I should take. I’m going to be in multivariable calculus next year which will be my toughest class. Again, I have a lot of sports and leadership commitments outside of school, so my time to do work isn’t that plentiful, but I can carve out more time during my day I guess. That’s why a part of me wants to take bio accel and an elective science course that isn’t AP. But another part of me is thinking that AP Bio will be hard but doable, and it will be a good challenge because it’s a college level course. My question to you is, are my college chances going to be altered if I took bio accel and an elective engineering class or if I took AP bio which is a respected course among college admissions officers? Btw, I’m a math and science person but I don’t eat sleep and breathe it. I just think math and science are interesting, cool, and useful. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Here’s a list of my projected senior classes:

  1. Multivariable Calculus
  2. English elective
  3. Chinese IV
  4. Art independent study (either ceramics or filmmaking)
  5. Science(s) ???
2

I’d say if you can shell out the time for it, AP is going to look more impressive. What would your other elective be if you took AP Bio?

3

@gonfaloniere Thanks for the response. It would be Electric Vehicle Engineering and Biology Accelerated. On another note, would it be bad if I took AP Chemistry instead of AP Bio? My friends say the workload for AP Chem is a lot more manageable, I haven’t taken bio yet which is the only hinderance for me. Will it hurt my chances? I’d have taken two years of physics and two years of chem if I were to take AP Chem. Thanks.

4

You’ll definitely want a broad cover of all the sciences, so bio is pretty much required. I’d say go for AP Bio and go into it expecting a heavy workload. Then again, this all depends on what colleges you plan on applying to.