My schedule is:
AP English Literature
Chinese 5 Honors
Precalc AB Honors
Biology (no Bio Honors offered at school)
Studio Art
US History
I was originally taking AP Bio but I struggled A LOT so I dropped the course and I’m now self-studying AP Gov. I’m aware that self-studying doesn’t have the same weight as a real AP course because colleges consider the rigor of your schedule which is why I’m worried… My school only lets us take 4 APS/Honors in total (ex. 2 APs, 2 Honors; 1 AP, 3 Honors) so I’m not even maxed out anymore… I’m so worried. I feel like I messed up my prospects of being a competitive applicant for colleges!!
My senior year schedule:
AP Stats
AP Calc AB
AP Chinese
Science?? I have no idea what course to take… The classes my school offers are AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Physics C, and Psych Honors. There’s an online class for AP Computer Science but now you have to take the pre-reqs in order to take it (i might do it over the summer if possible)
Ceramics
Independent study (want to study history of Chinese immigration in the U.S. or Arabic/Japanese)
Will colleges still see me as a student who takes challenging courses with my senior year schedule or no? I heard AP Stats and AP Chinese aren’t super challenging!! Or should I just take an AP science even though I won’t get an A?
How many years of science have you had, not counting the dropped class? How many years of English and Social Studies? Do you know what you want to study in college? That makes a difference in what high school classes you should have. Have you taken physics yet?
In our school, computer science is a math elective. Colleges wouldn’t consider that a science.
Hi, I’ve taken science all 3 years so far as well as English + social studies
I forgot to include that I’ll be taking English seminars next year as well
I want to study a humanities type major or computer science, not sure yet
I took physics freshman year
Your schedule is fine, but I don’t think Psych is considered a science by adcoms, more a social science, so if there’s another non-AP science you can take senior year, you should do that, given your struggles in AP Bio.
Your goal should be to take Bio, chem and physics in HS.
Normally students take Bio freshman year…that is why we are curious.
re: self studying for AP
It is not worth it for admissions. Colleges want to see you take classes.
It may be worth it for getting credit in college. But it is more important to do well in your HS classes and do ECs.
What do you want to major in?
Why take AP stats and AP Calc?
If you want to major in STEM, then take an AP Bio/chem/physics. Its okay not to get an A.
if yuo want to major in a humanities, then just take some science.
Obviously you have to take English…can you take AP English Lang?
@MYOS1634 I took Physics freshman year, Chem Honors sophomore year, and am taking Bio now. My school offers Psych Honors but not Bio Honors. I know it’s a long shot but I want to ED to Yale and apply to schools w/ good English/social science programs.
@bopper My school arranged sciences differently than most schools, so we take bio junior/senior year. I’m already taking only 1 AP now… should I just have a more rigorous schedule next year to make up for it? Will it make a difference since junior year is weighed heavily?
I want to major in political science, economics, anthropology, English - not sure yet, but something English/social sciences related.
I figured that taking 2 math APs would be ok if I didn’t take an AP science.
I can take AP Lang but my AP Lit teacher told us that it wouldn’t help our college app because it’s just the “easier” version of AP Lit, so I wasn’t sure.
Do you think taking AP bio next year after becoming familiar with it this year would be ok? I feel like I could do it now after taking the course this year.
For Yale in Humanities/Social sciences, you need AP Lang. It’s totally different from AP Lit. AP Lit is about Literature. in AP Lang you study a variety of texts (non fiction as much if not more than fiction). Regardless of what your teacher thinks, selective colleges expect their would-be humanities/social science majors to have taken both if their school offers both.
English-> AP Lang
Math → Calc AB
Foreign Language → AP Chinese
Science → APES would be appropriate for a Humanities/Social Science student; otherwise, AP Bio???
Social Science->? (Will you Independent Study topic appear anywhere? If not, you need a History class).
Elective → Ceramics
Independent study (want to study history of Chinese immigration in the U.S. or Arabic/Japanese)
Colleges for you to explore: Macalester, Kenyon, UChicago, Dickinson, Hamilton
@MYOS1634, just wanted your opinion on “selective colleges expect prospective humanities students to take both AP Lang and AP Lit if both are offered by school”. At D’s school, the first three years are just regular English or Advanced (I guess equivalent of Honors), and then senior year kids can choose either of the two AP’s (D wants to take Language). She can take Lit as elective, but she wants to take a AP Research and AP Comparative Government/IR. Do you recommend replacing CompGov with Lit, or is your suggestion only for schools where kids can take AP Lang junior year and AP Lit senior year as part of English curriculum? Thanks!
“Science → APES would be appropriate for a Humanities/Social Science student; otherwise, AP Bio???”
The OP mentioned quantitative physics, a honors level course, which would be better, imo, than APES.
“Do you recommend replacing CompGov with Lit, or is your suggestion only for schools where kids can take AP Lang junior year and AP Lit senior year as part of English curriculum?”
Taking both in one year would be a lot of work, they’re both considered English or Language Arts classes and even selective colleges are looking for only one of those in a year. Just explain in the addl info section and you should be fine. AP Research/Gov is needed for the social science class senior year anyway.