I’m currently a sophomore taking French II and orchestra as my electives and thinking about taking French III over the summer so I can take AP French junior year. Trying to make room for AP Psych senior year without dropping orchestra. If I don’t do this, I would only be taking 2 APs junior year and I’m worried that that’s not enough. Should I even continue with orchestra all 4 years? My french teacher did recommend AP for next year but I’m also worried I might be lost since it’ll only be my 3rd year in the language. Without taking anything over the summer, I would have taken 8 APs throughout HS, and my school offers 20+ and I’ve got classmates on track to taking 12+. Summer classes would probably be expensive too, and I want the extra room in my schedule to be worth it. I have no idea what I want to major in, but I am still interested in taking all 4 credits of french and taking AP Psych as well.
I am not clear on your motives.
The name of the game is not “Whoever takes the most AP classes wins a college acceptance”. So your 8 vs. their 12 is meaningless without context. Eight AP classes can be plenty for ANY college. For a highly selective college, doing well in rigorous APs such as AP Chem, AP Physics C, AP Calculus AB or BC, APUSH, or AP Lang/Lit makes for a stronger transcript than AP Psych, AP HUGE, APES, or even AP Seminar or AP CSP. Even if you are aiming for a top college, eight APs would still be enough, as long as they’re the right APs (“right” in terms of what the college is looking for and appropriate for the particular educational path you plan to take).
AP French is meant to be a 4th or 5th year French class. So don’t take it third year without first having a discussion with your guidance counselor, with the actual teacher of the AP French class, or the head of the language department at your high school.
If you really want to take psych because you are interested in the topic and it is possibly related to your major, then squeeze in French 3 over the summer, and make room for it (or take Psych 101 as a concurrent enrollment class over the summer at a nearby college, and continue on the typical path in French through high school). If you’re taking psych for the sole reason of having more AP classes, know that it is widely considered a “fluff AP”. It’s “nice”, and while it’s not going to wow an admissions officer, they might expect to see it on your transcript if you do happen to profess an interest in majoring in that.
Finally, yes, continue with orchestra if you enjoy it. If you like it and you’re happy playing your instrument, don’t drop it to take a class you think would look “better” to a college. That can backfire in it’s own way.
If you enjoy Orchestra, keep at it.
But the short answer to your question is, ‘No’, do not accelerate Fr 3 over the summer just so you can take AP Psych. Even if you intend to be a psych major, AP Psych is not a strong enough intro for some top Unis, i.e., they don’t offer credit for it. (And if they don’t offer credit for it, they won’t be too impressed with it on your transcript.)
Much better (for top Unis) to make sure that you have full four years of the 5 academic disciplines: English, Math, Science, History, Foreign Language.