Course selection to get into highly selective colleges?

Applying to College
1

<p>Hello, I am a high school junior and must currently select the courses that I must take next year. Here is what I have taken so far:</p>

<p>Freshman Year
-Bio Honors
-English 1 Honors
-Spanish 2 Honors
-Geometry Honors
-Western Civilization Honors
-Gym
-two art classes (digital darkroom and a photoshop/illustrator class)</p>

<p>Sophomore Year:
-AP Bio
-Chem Honors
-English 2 Honors
-Algebra 2 Honors
-US History Honors
-Spanish 3 A
-Gym</p>

<p>Junior Year:
-AP Chem
-Physics Honors
-AP Lang and Comp
-PreCalc Honors
-AP Econ
-Spanish 4 A
-Organic Chem Independent Study
-Gym</p>

<p>So far I have received an A- or above in all of my classes, and it is worth noting that I attend a very good/competitive school.</p>

<p>Next year I want to take
-AP Stat
-AP Calc BC
-AP Physics C
-Myth and Bible Honors
-Spanish 5 A
-Gov (one semester required class)
-Middle Eastern Studies (ones semester required class)
-culinary (I need a practical arts credit)</p>

<p>My mother has raised concern over me not taking AP lit, but myth and bible is taught by one of my favorite teachers (who could write a great recommendation), and I would enjoy the subject more. Basically, my mom said that without AP lit, I could not get into an Ivy (or similar) University. However, I am obviously a much stronger science person.</p>

<p>Will not taking AP lit hurt me?
Thanks for reading my spiel</p>

2

<p>Most schools will only give you credit for one of the AP English classes–even the state schools. If my daughter had it to do again, she would have skipped the lit.</p>

<p>Your schedule looks pretty rigorous, but I wonder why you have not taken AP classes in Spanish or history.</p>

3

<p>I haven’t taken AP Spanish or history because I am not a language person and preferred to focus on different courses. If I had more room in my schedule, I would have taken AP world. </p>

<p>Also worth noting, I got a 800 on my bio SAT II and a 5 on the AP exam. My chem teacher is convinced I’ll get a 5 on the AP exam too.</p>

4

<p>You have a solid schedule with a good number of AP classes. You are most likely getting very good advice from your school. Your counselors there have a much better idea of what has worked for your schoolmates before you. I am in favor of taking a class or two senior year that you will enjoy and that will balance out the courses with the very heavy workloads. Good luck.</p>