Courses Dilemma

Applying to College
1

<p>So due to scheduling conflicts, I am being forced to choose between AP lit and BC calc for this upcoming year (my senior year). My options are basically to drop into AB calc or drop into a normal english elective (probably a crap one because the popular ones are all filled up). I'm worried that dropping to AB will weaken my math/science, as I am not taking science this year. If college weren't in the picture, though, I would definitely drop to AB as math isn't really my area of interest (politics is my passion). So what would be your advice?</p>

<p>Here are my stats for some context (sorry if it's too much info, I just copied and pasted):</p>

<p>I'm a white male, I go to a fairly high rated prep school in New England.
Classes this year::
Independent study in AP US government and politics (not offered at my school so I'm basically creating my own class), AP Latin, AP lit, religion (this is required and why I'm not taking science), AP BC Calc
GPA: 3.86/4.00 (unweighted)
Test Scores: SAT 2300 (800 CR/700 M/800 W)
800 SAT II Chem
800 SAT II US History
780 SAT II Literature
5 - AP European History
5 - AP Chemistry
5 - AP English Language and Composition
5 - AP US History
ECs:
Varsity Football
Varsity Wrestling (captain)
Monitor (basically equivalent of class president, but there are 8 and all seniors - it's essentially the highest level of student leadership)
Student Discipline Committee
Skiing (moguls competition - won a competition last year)
Writer for school paper
Harvard Model Congress
Model UN - Honorable Mention at BOSMUN 2010
Volunteered for 2006 Kerry Healey Gubernatorial Campaign
Volunteered for 2008 Ron Paul Presidential Primary Campaign
Volunteered for 2010 Scott Brown Special Election Senatorial Campaign
Attended the St. Alban's School of Public Service this summer(politics summer program)
I'm also trying to create an Institute of Politics at my school, not sure how successful it will be</p>

<p>My first choice right now is probably Georgetown SFS, but I'm also applying to Harvard, Princeton, Tufts, GW, UVA, UNC, American, Claremont McKenna</p>

2

<p>AP Calc AB + AP Lit seems much better than AP Calc BC + Regular English. Especially because:

</p>

3

<p>AP Calculus AB is already a very challenging course. You don’t need to take BC to cover for your lack of science, since as you stated, your passion is in the humanities. I agree with BillyMc, 2 AP’s on your schedule looks better than 1 AP and one elective.</p>

4

<p>I would agree with you guys, but there is one issue. The BC Calculus teacher is really good (he teaches from the book he published). I had him for geometry, and he makes math make a lot more sense than any other teacher. I’ve been working extremely hard in the honors math track for three years, and I feel like all that effort would be wasted if I drop to AB now. That said, I don’t want to let emotions cloud my judgement, so if AB is nearly the same in the eyes of colleges, I will go with that.</p>