<p>I don't know whether to decide to take a varsity sport for 2 years (11-12th) or to take an extra AP class. I think the 5 APs Junior year (and 1 non AP class) and 6 APs Senior year would bring my GPA close to 4.5 and I'd probably be top 1%. On the other hand, I could take 4 APs Junior year and 5 APs Senior year and my GPA would be 4.4~ (maybe less if the sport takes up so much time my grades suffer) and I wouldn't be as high of a rank.</p>
<p>And for Calc, if you do well in AB, instead of taking BC your senior year you could take Calc 2/3 (Integral/Multi variable) at a local community college. That is what I am doing. It isn't so bad.</p>
<p>taking AP physics then AP physics C is also strange ( same argument as for calculus above). </p>
<p>During freshmen and soph you've only taken 5 academic courses each semester. It would be better if you took more than 5 during junior and senior year. maybe you can take a non AP course that's uc accepted.</p>
<p>Definitely forget about the whole taking AB and BC stuff. Take either or (the latter covers more than the former), but not both.</p>
<p>As long as you maintain course strength for your senior year, you're good to go. Remember that UC counts only your sophomore and junior grades. So if you want to cram APs, do it during your junior year.</p>
<p>For senior year, do what best fits you while maintaining academic rigor. </p>
<p>If you have time, do track. If you don't find some way. No point in being in AP's if you're miserable.</p>
<p>And grades aren't everything. Your test score is a big factor too and so are ECs.</p>
<p>for UCs, i think the most important part is to get As, as opposed to taking APs... i know a bunch of kids who just have straight As (few/no honors) that got in.</p>
<p>Did these kids end up in Berkeley and UCLA? For the top UCs, one usually needs a combination of tought classes and stellar grades, and/or other things in the application to make one stand out. It all changes based on circumstance, though. If you have many APs at your school, the ad coms will expect to see many on your transcript, unless you have some reason not to be in them, some difficult circumstances. Flippy, you'll probably be fine either way, so just do what makes you happiest, as long as you have a few ECs going.</p>
<p>yes, I have talked to admissions officers at Berkeley, and they said they would much rather see "slightly lower grades in UC approved honors/AP class, rather than higher grades in easier classes"</p>
<p>DRab: that was extremely comical. UCs dont want individuality; they want a generic class!</p>
<p>thats why numbers (gpa, sat) are 99%, and u get 1% if youre like, editor in chief or varsity captain or something. </p>
<p>ps, OP, you have a fun two years coming up! (to tell you the truth, theres three ranks for APs, 1-2, 3-6, and 6+... anything over 6 is already good enough)</p>
<p>The UCs want a generic class like Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, ect. does- they want promising, high performing people who will "go places," and each school takes as much of those as they can from their pools.</p>