Hello, College Confidential.
I wanted to ask you all whether you thought my planned course selection for Junior Year looks alright. I’m aiming for HYPSM so hopefully, these courses show a great level of rigor/interest. I’m most interested in STEM and do a lot of ECs/olympiads in STEM areas so keep that in mind when evaluating my selections
Here it is:
Honors English or AP English Lang (depends if my current English grades meet the cutoff to take AP)
Honors Precalculus
AP Computer Science A
AP Physics C
AP Chemistry
Geography or AP Economics (Micro+Macro)
I’m probably equally interested in these two courses but the geography teachers know me better and I’d probably do slightly better in that course. Then again, economics is an AP Course so I guess that counts for something (I also know the economics teacher decently well so…)
Anyway, if I were to not take either Geography/Econ Junior yr, I’d probably take it in Senior Year so this is mainly about the ordering of courses. either geo junior yr and econ senior yr or vice versa.
What do you think?
Highly competitive schools want to see 4 years of core classes. You need a history course and foreign language.
AP Physics C needs calculus level math. Push it off until senior year where you can take it concurrently with AP calc.
Have you completed foreign language level 4 (4th year) or AP level already?
What core history and social studies courses have you completed already?
As mentioned above, you need calculus for physics C.
@momofboiler1 @ucbalumnus
Thanks for the quick reply!
Do universities need to see 4 years of history or just 4 years of social sciences? I’ll likely take AP WH Senior year and I’ve already taken one other history course.
I’ve already finished the full sequence for one foreign language at my school so I don’t think that’s a worry.
AP Physics C needs calculus level math. Push it off until senior year where you can take it concurrently with AP calc.
Yes, that’s true but I’ve already learned calculus at the AP Calc level outside of school and I’m learning olympiad level physics right now (AP Physics C level, if not harder).
Again, thanks so much for your comment!
You should be fine if AP Physics C at your HS includes only mechanics, especially if you’re participating in f=ma competitions. If the course includes E&M, you should think hard about your readiness.
Between Geo and AP Econ (micro+macro), I’d recommend choosing Econ for the schools you’re targeting.
Officially, the course is a general ‘AP Physics’ Course so there are a few who do take the Physics 1/2 tests but most take both Physics C tests so I’m probably going to take both as well.
Thanks for your input on Geo vs. AP Econ.
For history/social studies - at the high school what we are told is 3 actual history classes and 1 social studies. For example we do US History 1 honors then US history 2 Honors or APUSH (whichh does not replace US History 1 here) and AP World or modern world history honors. For social studies options such as sociology, government etc - which one you take just depends on your interest - that said some students love social studies and take several. However since every college is different you can check with some colleges your interested in.