APUSH is outstanding preparation for the verbal section of the SAT. For that reason alone, it is worth taking.
It’s also (IME) very good prep for the SAT subject test if you are applying to a college that recommends them.
what about regular US history (or honors) and AP english. I am a big advocate of taking AP english (usually language in 11th and Lit in 12th) the last 2 years of high schools. highly selective schools LOVE ap english!
Neither of my kids took any AP English though they both took APUSH and younger son also took AP World and AP Euro. They didn’t like the teacher or the reading lists and signed up for senior English electives instead. Older son got into Harvard and Carnegie Mellon, younger son into U of Chicago, Vassar and Tufts. They took plenty of other APs, in line with what other kids aiming at those schools took, just not English. The AP Euro teacher had the reputation for being the best writing teacher in the school.
No more so than any other rigorous course.
I’m a big fan of taking AP Lang as a junior, assuming the teacher(s) are effective in teaching writing skills, which, in the long-term, is a valuable life skill, and in the short-term, will be invaluable for writing college application essays.
In terms of taking both AP Lang and AP Lit, I’m firmly in the “it depends” camp. If the applicant is targeting colleges that don’t give credit for both AP Lang and AP Lit, and if the HS offers interesting English electives as an alternative to AP Lit or English 4 Honors, I see no reason to take both if the student does not want to. Just because a school offers an AP does not mean that taking it is required,
But of course, you do need to get through the admit gate. COllege X won;t give you credit if you aren’t their student.
Some of the English electives are mighty unconventional. An interested kid might be able to take those in college.
True.
You say that like it’s a bad thing. 
Again, it depends upon the HS and the college. My HS offered a number of interesting and eclectic English electives. My college also offers a number of interesting and eclectic English electives. However, there is very little overlap in the offerings.
That said, sadly, it’s a moot point for many/most students, whose options for 12th grade English are English 4 CP, English 4 Honors, or AP.
Regular versus AP version. It all depends on the student. If he wants to take the course with more depth, let him. He will still have homework in the regular course and it may go so slowly it becomes boring. His academic peers are likely found in the AP version, taking them away from the regular course. I still recall being in the regular social studies class one semester in HS due to scheduling conflicts- so boring to be with the regular kids.
Taking the more rigorous courses can give a student a better knowledge base and study/time management skills to prepare for whatever college is attended. As for admissions- those who are willing to successfully stretch themselves deserve the place more than those who do minimums.
Remember that AP courses are not the same as those at the level of college (or Honors program for flagships et al) those HS students will attend. They are meant to give good students more than the average student can handle, with the advantage of preparing for AP exams to get credits at some colleges.
@mathmom just because your kids did not take those classes and got into selective schools does not mean they are not highly respected. Alot has to do with state you are coming from, high school, legacy, hooks etc. I know personally from 2 selective schools that Ap English classes are the way to go. Even if you claim to be stem or whatever.
For the UCs, the 8 semesters that get honors points on the UC-calculated GPA are listed at https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist#/list/search/institution
Search for his school and look for the honors classes he took in 10th and is taking in 11th. If they have a star on the right, they get the weighted point. Many of a school’s “honors” courses will not get the extra point. All the AP classes will. His precalculus class may get the point, some honors science classes get it, and the foreign language class might if it is the 4th or 3rd year.
Ideally, he would have at least 4 year-long points in 10th and 11th. Also, any dual-enrollment classes would count as a point or two.
@LvMyKids2 - two admissions officers is just as much of an anecdote. I’ve heard from a whole panel you should take the APs that interest you. (Dartmouth, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Vassar and a couple of more admissions officers.) That said, of course I think generally a kid aiming at top schools should consider taking one or both of the AP English courses. I’m just here to tell you it’s not necessarily a deal breaker if you don’t. It probably didn’t hurt in our case that one kid had a 790 and the other an 800 on the SAT verbal section. They loved to read. They just didn’t like the way English is taught in our school.
Interestingly, younger son got interested in creative writing thanks to the elective he took and he continued to take creative writing in college. He listens to a number of podcasts about the writing process. I think he’s got a better grasp of the way writers think than the English teacher who made him write about religious symbolism in The Old Man and the Sea.
Just an FYI: STEM kid at our high school last year was told by college advisor that not having any AP english or history classes didn’t look great. And this kid, with 15something on SATs, ECs up the wazoo, National Merit etc… did not do as well as expected in the college applications game. Correlation doesn’t imply causation, but I think they do want to see challenging courses in the english/history sphere.
I would agree with @4gsmom . My STEM kid took AP Latin, APUSH and AP Econ as well as AP Comp Sci, Bio, Physic C, Chem and Calc BC.
My history kid took AP Calc BC, Bio and Physics C.
They just didn’t take AP English. 
IMHO (and I am only a dog on the internet, so…), “take what you’re interested in,” is true but easy to misunderstand.
When I went to an Ivy, a million years ago uphill both ways in the snow, the kids I went to school with were overwhelmingly interested in everything. My own kid, who has no Ivy interests, was deciding between AP Chem and AP Psych, and finally opted for AP Chem despite the fact that she anticipates being a social science major, because Psych is reputed to be easy and Chem hard, and being able to work hard in an environment where everyone else wants to work hard is more important to her than anything else. That’s not the same as piling on APs for the sake of APs, but it’s also not the same as taking on-level classes because you’re not interested in those subjects.
I agree that even the STEM heavy schools still prefer to see AP english and history courses.
I would concur. Not that a STEM kid needs to take every AP English/history class available, but most colleges want to see balance. Few colleges are interested in one-dimensional applicants. It’s fine for a HS student to leans toward STEM (or humanities), but that does not mean that colleges are looking for specialists.
“Just an FYI: STEM kid at our high school last year was told by college advisor that not having any AP english or history classes didn’t look great. And this kid, with 15something on SATs, ECs up the wazoo, National Merit etc… did not do as well as expected in the college applications game.”
I gave you a like because you used the word wazoo, however your general point is right, for STEM majors, you should take a couple of honors or AP non-stem courses, again thought as long as your hs offers them.
Our English choices are
IB HL English Yr 1 and 2
or
AP Lang/Lit
or
Language Arts 3 and 4
My son took honors instead, and I think he regrets it (same with AP Human Geo) because it probably has hurt his class rank a bit. Most of his friends are also taking lots of APs and they seemed to be able to handle APUSH no problem (along with AP Calc and Physics)
The class rank piece was very really at my daughter’s HS. Since AP and honors were weighted, trying to stay in the top 10% without them was nearly impossible. When my daughter took her engineering sequence, it wasn’t considered an honors class even though there were honors math and science pre-reqs. She got 100 every semester but it actually brought her GPA down because it wasn’t weighted. The school has since remedied that but I know the kids who were in the running for valedictorian didn’t take that sequence even though they wanted to do engineering and were interested.