Do AP Classes Matter THAT Much?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
1

<p>Hello all,</p>

<p>I'm trying to decide between taking an overload elective class of Spanish 4 AP versus not taking that and dealing with a regular workload.</p>

<p>Would not taking Spanish 4 AP really make that much of a difference in my application? Do schools even care whether or not you take an AP foreign language? </p>

<p>Course Load w/o Spanish 4 AP:</p>

<p>AP Chemistry <- Elective #1
Honors Anatomy <- Elective #2
Honors Calculus
Honors Econ/Gov
Honors English 4
Christian Life (required by Catholic school)</p>

<p>The reason I don't want to take Spanish 4 AP is because I feel taking an overload class my senior year, the year of applications and trying to get the best grades possible, might hinder me from doing my best. I feel like I have enough work as it is and being that I'm not a fluent speaker, I don't see the class taking it easy on me. Granted, I love Spanish but I just feel it would be too much for me.</p>

<p>My point here is, if I were to apply to any schools in general (mainly talking about UNC as an OOS student), would they look at the rigor of my curriculum with the Spanish 4 AP and be impressed when compared to other OOS students or would it not make that much of a difference since it's a foreign language class?</p>

<p>I'd like to be able to do as well as possible senior year but I feel this class might keep me from doing so.</p>

<p>I have until tomorrow at the end of the school day to decide so please respond with anything if you can. Right now, I'm more or so leaning towards dropping the AP Spanish 4 in order to better focus on the classes I really care about (I mainly overloaded AP Spanish 4 since it was another AP class to throw on my curriculum).</p>

<p>What should I do?</p>

2

<p>Could you post your stats as if you were being chanced? One class isn’t going to make or break an application. With that said, adding AP Spanish would help if your SAT/GPA were rough…</p>

3

<p>My DD did not take AP Spanish and was accepted to UNC. She took Honors Spanish IV. Taking the extra year of Spanish did help her on her language placement exam for UNC and she placed out of any further language classes.</p>

4

<p>@threegirlsmom: I’m just trying to figure out if taking a class will make or break my application and I’m pretty sure it won’t but considering I’m an OOS student, anything could help me out. Could you post your daughter’s stats? It would make me feel better if she’s sort of at the same level as I am and is she an out-of-state student (OOS)?</p>

<p>@luke8ball: My stats C&P’ed from a chance thread I made (at the time, I did not know I had been accepted into Spanish 4 AP):</p>

<p>=General Background Info=</p>

<p>Gender: Male
Race: Hispanic
Grade: Rising Senior</p>

<p>==Stats/Scores==</p>

<p>GPA (cumulative, unweighted): 3.67
Class Rank (haven’t been told what I’m ranked, I’m just assuming this is where I am): Top 10-25% in class of ~200 (I go to a very competitive high school in Florida)</p>

<p>NOTE: Commas separate different times taken.</p>

<p>SAT Overall: 1750, 1740 (1780 Superscore)
SAT Math: 620, 600
SAT Writing: 590, 620
SAT Reading: 540, 520 (YIKES!)
SAT w/ Essay: 8, 8</p>

<p>ACT Composite: 26
ACT Math: 30
ACT English: 28
ACT Science: 24
ACT Reading: 20 (TERRIBLE!)
ACT w/ Essay: 10</p>

<p>NOTE: I plan on submitting the ACT, I’m done with the SAT. The next few times I take the ACT, I plan on raising my score to a 27 or 28. The reason I plan this one or two point gain is due to the fact that I neither studied nor practiced for any of these (which shows).</p>

<p>==Course Rigor==</p>

<p>Freshman Year:
English 1
Spanish 1
Global Studies
Biology
Algebra 1 Honors</p>

<p>(1 Honors class out of a possible 2 Honors classes taken)</p>

<p>Sophomore Year:
Chemistry Honors
English 2
Spanish 2
World History Honors
Geometry Honors</p>

<p>(3 Honors classes out of a possible 3 Honors and 1 AP class taken)</p>

<p>Junior Year:
Physics Honors
English 3 Honors
Spanish 3 Honors
US History Honors
Algebra 2/Trig Honors</p>

<p>(5 Honors classes out of a possible 3 Honors and 2 AP classes taken [assuming you know if AP is offered, the Honors level of that same course offered])</p>

<p>Senior Year:
AP Chemistry
Honors Anatomy (AP Chemistry and Honors Anatomy are my two required elective choices I chose out of AP Chem, Honors Anatomy, Marine Bio, AP Physics, Honors European History, and AP Spanish 4)
English 4 Honors
American Econ/Gov Honors
Calculus Honors</p>

<p>==EC’s==</p>

<p>-National Honor Society for 2 years
-Lacrosse for 4 years
-Mu Alpha Theta for 1 year
-Key Club for 2 years
-250+ hours of community service (mainly working with children with learning disabilities or poor education and feeding the homeless/hungry in and around my community)
-Taught myself two programming languages (Python and VB.net, both a little bit short of intermediate levels [currently in the process of trying to learn Obj-C for development of iOS applications])</p>

<p>==Recommendation Letters==</p>

<p>Don’t have them yet but I expect them to be good.</p>

<p>==Essays==</p>

<p>Haven’t written them but I’m sure they will be between decent and excellent.</p>

<p>==Final Words==</p>

<p>I know my tests scores in Reading and in general are terrible and probably nowhere near where they need to be as well as my EC’s being a little bit week but I do have these schools as reach schools and I’d simply like to know my chances of getting in anyways. Like I said earlier, I will be retaking the ACT at least two more times and plan on getting a 27 or 28 (higher would be even better) so hopefully that will boost up my chances. I know Johns Hopkins requires SAT Subject Tests and although I don’t have them, I do plan on taking them and hope to score well.</p>

5

<p>I think you’ll have to bring up your SAT or ACT scores to have a chance OOS. Without increasing those (I would say at least >31 for OOS), I don’t think the language course will be a factor.</p>

6

<p>That’s a relief. Thanks for the information.</p>

<p>PS: Did I mention I am applying ED for UNC? Maybe that will help a bit. I know two kids from my school’s graduating class of last year who were accepted to UNC. Both applied ED and the lowest score one of them had on the ACT was a 26 so my hopes are up, to say the least :D</p>

7

<p>My daughter is a sophomore at UNC this year so I’m a little rusty on her stats. Here’s what I remember:</p>

<p>In-state from a large, public high school in the Charlotte area. </p>

<p>SAT
Math - 670
Reading - 660
Writing - 740</p>

<p>ACT Composite - 31</p>

<p>GPA 3.96 Unweighted/4.87 Weighted</p>

<p>Class Rank - #5 of 528 </p>

<p>She had a total of 8 AP classes. No AP Language classes.</p>

8

<p>It’s not really ED. It’s either the first or second deadline, and they’ve always said that there’s no difference between the two. Moreover, applying for the first deadline doesn’t lock you in if you’re accepted, so there’s really no advantage to it.</p>

9

<p>I would not take AP Spanish. For us on grades and a better ACT.
Do I understand you are Hispanic? That would be another reason not to take it especially if ou speak Spanish at home. They’ll assume you’d do well. Good luck!</p>

10

<p>Specifically it is a non restrictive early action (EA) program. Which means it is not binding for the applicant. You can apply to other EA schools and an ED school and you can decline the offer to attend UNC if accepted. It is an advantage in that you will have a decision from UNC-CH (positive, negative or deferred to RD) early in the college application process. And if accepted in EA, you can “lock” yourself in (i.e. commit to attend UNC-CH). UNC-CH will not rescind the EA acceptance unless something unusual happens (like your grades plummet), but that is the same caveat across all EA, ED and RD acceptances.</p>

11

<p>I think UNC would like to see 4 years of a language - is Honors Spanish 4 an option? Honestly UNC OOS with your stats is a real reach so it may be smart to concentrate on getting your test scores up.</p>