I’m a junior looking to apply to business schools next year. My senior year schedule is already filled with AP courses (all AP’s, for that matter), and I’m wondering if it would “look” better to colleges if I take a business course called Advanced Business Topics or AP Environmental Science? APES seems like an easier AP course, however my schedule is filled with all AP’s. Will taking a business course indicate my interest in business more so than an AP course will indicate course rigor? Will only having 3 years of science in high school matter? I assume I’ll have to look at the specific schools I’m applying to for that last question. Thanks in advance!
I would take the business course and take the APES exam at the end of the year without taking the course. However, make sure you are still taking some other science- I would never give up a core subject entirely to take an elective.
Ideally you would want to take APES. Colleges don’t differentiate between easy APs and hard APs; they’re all the same. The only way I can see that the business course would look better is if it required an AP course as a prerequisite and if that is clearly marked somewhere on your school report.
Course rigor trumps showing interest in every case.
I agree that you should look at the schools you are interested in but offhand I’d say that four years of science is viewed favorably.