<p>I'm currently a Junior in high school with a 4.1 W GPA and 3.8 UW GPA. My SAT scores aren't great at all.. 1740, but I'm also taking the ACT and am hoping I do better on that. Here's my question: After Senior year, I'll have 4 Honors classes and 2 AP. Instead of taking this elective that I reaaaally want to take, should I take Spanish 4 AP? Or will my 4th year of Spanish and it being AP not make a difference because I haven't had too many other APs. </p>
<p>I really want to attend, or at least get into UW. It's just getting so competitive that I'm scared I'll get postponed or won't get in. </p>
<p>Btw, I'm OOS, no financial aid needed, and I have tons of ec's, can get killer recs, and my essay won't be an issue. </p>
<p>If in doubt, take the class you want to take. A single class isn’t gonna make or break an application unless you happen to be failing that class.</p>
<p>Not to make you lose any hope, because I think you could get in eventually, but I had 2 APs and 6 honors with the same w/uw gpa and a 29 act and i got postponed. I had excellent ecs and good letters/essays. So, that’s just kind of how it is this year, probably more competitive next year.</p>
<p>@ kudryvaka : yeah that’s what I was thinking but of course my school counselor thinks differently. </p>
<p>@peachyone: I appreciate the honesty. So u don’t think the additional AP and fulfillment of the 4th year of Spanish would increase my chances of getting in? Did u end up going to UW?</p>
<p>It depends. What’s the elective? If it was art or fashion design or photography (and you’re not going into an art-related field), I might feel differently than if it was economics or speech or psychology, especially if those subjects were related to what you ultimately hope to major in.</p>
<p>It’s criminology 1/ criminology 2. I currently dont know what i want to major in but if it weren’t for sociology/ criminology being a “frowned upon” major I’d most likely go into that. I’m also interested in psychology as well as music management and PR. I know, they’re totally different from each other lol.</p>
<p>Major in the field YOU want, not what others deem desirable. Taking level 4 Spanish would give you the courses needed to meet the UW BA foreign language requirement, you have met the BS reqs with 3 units. Also- when you look at the UW admissions competitive students’ courses taken in HS most will have 4 years of a foreign language. However, given the chance to take a course in a potential career area I would opt for that. You can easily write in some esssay how you chose to explore this field instead of another year of Spanish. Before you commit to the criminology course be sure to find out what it is meant to accomplish. Is it an overview of the field or is it intended for students choosing a technical school program following HS? You don’t want to be stuck in a course populated by mostly average students without college goals (btw- campuses other than UW have the major you seem interested in).</p>
<p>Thank you Wis75, what you said definitely made sense. And I know that the Crim class offered at my school is a very popular course among all students, but I know it would give me insight and a good overview of the topic. And yes of course I know that other schools that offer this kind of thing, I’m looking at a few other schools. Wisconsin however, is the most competitive and I would like to at least get in and then decide where I go. UW has a good balance with social life, academics, and everything else which is why I’m trying to base my senior year on UW’s standards</p>