Help! What AP's to take?

Applying to College
1

<p>My D just finished signing up for AP and Honors courses for next year and I need to get some input from you guys.</p>

<p>Let me start by saying that her GPA has been climbing steadily but is still only a 3.0. She goes to a well-regarded prep school (about 20-25% get into Ivies or top tier schools every year) and she's having a good semester (figuring about a 3.2 with AP US, English Honors and Japanese 3).</p>

<p>For her senior year, she just signed up for AP English 4, AP Government, Japanese Honors 4, AP Environmental Science, Pre-Calc. </p>

<p>I know that AP Environmental Science is frowned upon by many here as too easy and people seem to indicate that its not thought of very highly by admissions departments. Having said that, for my D this is a very tough schedule. She also needs to get her GPA up and rather than take a different science course, I'm inclinded to keep her with this schedule because:<br>
a) It could help her GPA<br>
b) With a less demanding science, she will have more time to do well in her other courses.
c) We're not trying to get her into Harvard here. A Top 40 LAC is our goal.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance for your input.</p>

2

<p>It is very important to be at 3.0 or above. I think the 3 AP's that are listed would be fine. The tough AP's are Calculus, Physics and Chemistry. If you go down that route, it will just be a lot of stress about the mid-year report.</p>

3

<p>yes the APES is kinda frowned upon , though i think its a fun class where u learn alot of kool stuff, im taking ap physics c now, none of the crap interests me, its all theoretical at times,but environmental is real stuff :)</p>

4

<p>Thanks guys. Just talked to the college folks at D's school and the basic feeling was that if she's not trying to get into the Ivies (or Stanford, etc) and isn't planning on majoring in math, science, pre-med, etc., then AP Environmental Science is perfect.
She really is working hard and to pile on yet another difficult course (can you imagine how hard Japanese Honors 4 is anyway), just wouldn't be fair for her as she tries to get her GPA up.</p>