<p>I am a senior for this upcoming year. Because of this, I am (of course) stressing about which classes I should take. My schedule is just not working out the way that I planned it to -- there are quite a few classes that are only offered on the same period.</p>
<p>Junior Year Classes:
APUSH
AP English
AP Psych (self-study)
AP Gov (self-study)
AP Calc
Honors Physics (school doesn't offer AP)
Latin III Honors
Human Geo Honors (school doesn't offer AP)</p>
<p>Now, my dilemma is for this upcoming year.</p>
<p>The AP courses that are offered at my school that I desire to take are:
AP Bio
AP Latin
AP Stats
AP English
AP Art History (I need an art credit for graduation)</p>
<p>Basically, the conflict is this:
If I take art history, I will not be able to take Latin.
Similarly, if I take Latin I will not be able to take art history. The problem with this is that instead of art history, I would have to take Art 1 for the art credit, which would lower my weighted GPA.</p>
<p>Does the benefit of having four years of a foreign language equalize the detriment of having a slightly lowered GPA?</p>
<p>I am also considering taking AP Environmental Science online to balance out the lowered GPA.</p>
<p>Please give me your insight!</p>
<p>Well…my answer’s the same as before. And I give it emphatically, and without any question that it’s right.</p>
<p>But I know you reposted because you’re hoping more people will chime in. I hope they will, because I’m quite sure the majority, if not the entirety, will give the same answer I did.</p>
<p>The principle at work here is that colleges and universities care next to nothing about the number that your grade-point average works out to. What they care about is your transcript: the record of the grades you earned and the classes you earned them in. If you get dinged a tiny bit on your GPA because you took unweighted art in order to take AP Latin, that’s a reasonable choice, and colleges will respect your right to make it. They won’t grade you down because you lost a few hundredths of a grade point in your GPA.</p>
<p>And here’s another thing: if you took AP Art History instead of Art I, then you wouldn’t be taking the Art I, which, presumably, meets at some other hour of the day. What would you be taking in its place?</p>
<p>
. </p>
<p>Actually, according to A is for Admissions, by Michelle Hernandez, class rank is an integral part of the Academic Index. They bin students by Academic Index and then take a certain fraction from each bin. Obviously, the higher bins give you a higher chance. </p>
<p>Unfortunately taking unweighted classes, hurts you in this manner. </p>
<p>However, if you are aiming for the very top schools, you’d be advised to take Latin because they want to see 4 years of a language anyway. If you are aiming for great schools that are not quite at top 5 level, then taking the Art I class is probably fine. </p>
<p>AP Environmental Science isn’t bad. It represents only one semester of college work and is not that burdensome when spread out over a whole year. AP Stats and AP Art History are also in that category.</p>
<p>Instead of Art 1, the only other class that I would be taking would be a study hall (there are no AP classes offered on the same period)</p>