<p>Hi, I'm a sophomore and I one of the majors I would like to take in college is political science, then go to law school. I have made a list of all the AP's I have taken or will take by the time I graduate, please tell me which ones you think I should leave, reconsider, and take out. Thank you for commenting!</p>
<p>Taking This Year:
AP Biology </p>
<p>Will Definitely Take:
AP English Language & Composition
AP English Literature & Composition
AP U.S. History
AP European History
AP U.S. Government & Politics
AP Psychology</p>
<p>Can't Decide:
AP Statistics or AP Calculus (personally I think AP Stats would be much better for the major I'm interested in)
AP Physics 1 (can't decide between that or Honors Physics & I have to take to my counselor since my school is undergoing renovations)</p>
<p>I Might Take Online (School Doesn't Offer These):
AP French (I'd take it my senior year concurrently with French 4)
AP World History (took at an Honors level as a freshman)
AP Contemporary Government & Politics (If I don't take it online, I'll take: Honors Contemporary Issues, but it's only available as a half-year class though)</p>
<p>AP Euro is hard but it is really rewarding because it teaches you a lot on government and philosophy in addition to helpful skills especially in essay writing. Don’t forget about AP Human Geography, its pretty easy and super broad since you learn about cultures, social structure, demographics, etc. It was much more enjoyable than I expected. But yeah, definitely add AP Human to your list.</p>
<p>Really? I was thinking about AP Human Geography but I wasn’t sure if I would like the course. I’m quite interested now, thank you! Yeah, I’ve heard AP Euro is difficult but I LOVE history & politics. I didn’t know AP Euro had to do with philosophy though. That’s the second major I plan on doing. I would love to be a double major and a double minor. Any other ideas?</p>
<p>I too am planning on majoring in Political Science and Philosophy and then eventually law school 
– I tried to tailor my APs to be somewhat related to what I planned to study in college – these are the courses I’ve taken that I believed were most conducive to what I wanted to study in college (I’m graduating this year) --</p>
<p>AP US History - good introduction to American political theory, conservatism, liberalism, capitalism, etc. Very challenging workload, however.
AP World History - Easier than U.S., World provides somewhat more of a comprehensive cultural and political backdrop of different nations other than the United States. You’ll probably touch upon some legislation and foreign policy in the United States later on in the course - but the main focus of the course is outside of North America and Europe.
AP English Language and Composition - Analysis of rhetoric. My teacher was a news and politics junkie, so a lot of the work we did had to do with analyzing political campaign advertisements, speeches given by Congressmen, political pundits and satirists, etc. so all in all, extremely relevant in my case, though this is not a uniform curriculum by any means.
AP Environmental Science - Spent about two months studying Environmental law which was good because I’m deciding between Environmental Law and Constitutional Law – a lot of Environmental is based in humanities and political science rather than pure physical or natural science.
AP English Literature and Composition - An extension of AP English Language but based in fictional literature – my writing has improved exponentially because of this course.
AP Calculus AB - I chose AP Calculus over AP Statistics despite not being a math buff because I know that colleges, regardless of your major, tend to prefer Calc over Stats when you’re given the option. I’m doing pretty well in Calc – a lot of it is just reasoning and logic, I’d definitely recommend it. Stats isn’t necessarily a cake walk for everyone, and a lot of people (the majority actually), struggle with it at my school.
AP United States Politics and Government - The course title is self explanatory, lol. </p>
<p>If I could go back to my Freshman year; I probably would have tried to take AP Latin Vergil (not offered at our school and online Latin is not my cup of tea) – AP European History, and perhaps AP Psychology. </p>
<p>But** – keep in mind, your classes in high school do not necessarily have to reflect your intended major in college. High School should be an opportunity for you to discover interests you didn’t know you had - going in with the tunnel visioned idea that you want to be XYZ and you want to major in XYZ will only prevent you from taking classes that you might love. I seriously considered dropping math altogether my senior year – the decision to take Calc was pretty last minute and it turned out to be one of my favorite classes. Try taking a variety of classes that you think are interesting even if they aren’t necessarily related to Poli Sci at all. </p>
<p>Wow, thank you! That response was great. Yeah, I’m just not sure with AP Calculus…I mean if I take the class it will be pure hell. One of the reasons I hate math is because I hate learning random numbers and not learning how to apply it to the real world. That’s why I like statistics, you know. I might take a calculus class over the summer or with a college dual enrollment. Personally, I know I would absolutely HATE calculus. Math is too restricting for my like. If I get an answer the teacher always has to know how I got it, my brain just works differently. I get the answer for a problem first, but then I don’t how I got it. Subconsciously I know how to do it, but I have a hard time explaining it. However, wouldn’t colleges much rather see me take a class that demonstrates how passionate I am my future major, proves how much I know what I want. Do you really need calculus for the majors I want? Like would it hurt me greatly if I don’t take calculus? Be honest.</p>
<p>@MythologyMaster
I mean, I am no expert – but I talked with my guidance counselor and math teacher last year when I was making the decision between AP Stats and Calculus and my guidance counselor told me that colleges highly prefer Calculus over Stats as many schools don’t regard Stats as “real math” which I interpreted as a math that requires a higher thinking order – but Stats is still hard, harder than Calculus for many, which is ironic.</p>
<p>If you look at the websites of different colleges, especially top tier ones, they say that the ideal math track is one which is 4 years in length, ending in Pre-Calculus or Calculus if applicable, which basically means if you end up in Pre-Calculus as a Senior, then that’s fine (say you started off in Algebra I or “Integrated Math”) - but if you make it to Pre-Calculus prior to your senior year, then they expect to see Calculus on your transcript. </p>
<p>However - I don’t think Stats will kill your application or even hurt it considerably, in all honesty. Colleges advocate for Physics as well - which I decided not to take. I just didn’t think I would enjoy Physics or do particularly well in it, so I opted for other sciences, and I’m not losing sleep over how it will impact my applications.</p>
<p>At the end of the day, I don’t think an admissions officer is going to look at a Poli Sci application and say “Oh, Political Science? Philosophy? No Calculus? Every political science major must know how to find the definite integral of a function!” In the same way that I don’t think colleges will look at my application and see that I haven’t taken Physics and wonder how a Philosophy major could ever succeed without knowing how to calculate the circular motion of an object. It might be a blip on the radar - but it certainly isn’t a make or break thing. </p>
<p>Do what you think you’ll do best in. If you genuinely believe that you’re going to excel in Stats and flounder in Calculus, then by all means, take Stats. A lesser math with a high grade is much better than a higher leveled math with a C or D. </p>
<p>Good luck. </p>
<p>Thank you. That’s exactly what I need to hear.</p>
<p>Can I ask, why do you have FDR as your pic? </p>
<p>Oh, I don’t know - I really love US Politics and American history, plus my username is preamble1776 - so I thought a picture of FDR would be fitting as he’s my favorite President, lol. :)</p>
<p>I thought he would be your favorite president! I knew it!</p>
<p>Haha, yeah, he’s my favorite, followed by Woodrow Wilson, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and Bill Clinton. </p>
<p>Do you think I should take calculus during the summer and then take AP Statistics in school? Literally, I only have room for one class. </p>
<p>What is your issue with taking Calculus at school exactly? A lot of people find Pre-Calculus much harder than AP Calculus – I sucked at math but now I’m doing really well (like 95+) – and I’ve always been nothing short of a history buff. You might really like Calculus, I for one love it. It makes a lot more sense to me than any of the other math courses I’ve taken. Stats can be really tedious and contrived and even the math wizards in my group of friends really struggle with it. </p>
<p>Well I really like statistics because it’s the manner in which I like learning things–applying them to the real world. One of the reasons why I like politics so much. Personally, I like math, I’m even good at it, but I hate it with a burning passion interest wise. My father told me he was the same way in high school & he was a history teacher in his country until he moved to the U.S. I’m so much like my father too. History, politics, etc. are our thing. However, like I stated before, I haven’t discovered an aspect of math I truly like yet. If I were capable of seeing how the quadratic formula is used in everyday life or things that interest me, trust me, I’m all ears. Right now it all seems pointless. I just hate feeling like I’m wasting precious time. </p>
<p>I mean, there are definitely real world applications for Calculus.</p>
<p>Integration and Derivation are the basis of Position, Velocity, and Acceleration which can be tacked onto a number of different situations that occur everyday. </p>
<p>You can track the growth of different ecosystems with logistic functions and bacterial growth with exponential growth functions. </p>
<p>Bank accounts with interest rates can also be calculated with particular functions that track certain types of growth and decay.</p>
<p>Related rates of change can be used to determine how long it takes to fill your bath tub or how much damage an oil spill is going to cause in the ocean, etc. etc. </p>
<p>If you feel Stats is your best bet - by all means, take Stats. I love Calculus, so I’m a little bit biased in terms of what I think people should do in terms of math, but listen to your own sound judgment. </p>
<p>It’s obvious you like politics and history, so you understand why the question “Why?” is important. In math, the thing that will grab my attention is “why something works” & “why we need to learn this” & “why it functions a specific way”. Personally, I think it’s just my math teachers don’t know how to teach. They have been nice, but they only teach the problems on the board. That’s it. They don’t teach a lesson and the concepts. I’m all about understanding concepts, you know? </p>
<p>I plan to double major in International Affairs/Relations and Political Science and these courses are very helpful. This site can help you- <a href=“Get the Most Out of AP – AP Students | College Board”>Get the Most Out of AP – AP Students | College Board;
<p>AP Art History
AP Calculus AB (helpful)
AP Comparative Government and Politics
AP English Language and Composition
AP English Literature and Composition
AP Environmental Science
AP European History
AP Human Geography
AP Macroeconomics
AP Microeconomics
AP Psychology
AP United States Government and Politics
AP United States History
AP World History
any AP World Language course (for you, AP French Language and Culture)</p>
<p>Thank you, and I’ve used the website before. Why would calculus be useful?</p>
<p>“In the last 20 years, political science research has come to increasingly rely on quantitative and formal methods. Having a solid foundation in the underlying mathematical concepts will help you do better research in these areas. You may not know the direction of your research. However, you will find the mathematical skills and intuition you gain from the study of Calculus to be particularly helpful.”</p>