I am a senior. I have taken mostly Honors/AP (8 ap’s total) classes but I have taken 1 or 2 regular classes every year (out of 6 total classes) to balance my course load. My stats are good but how much of an impact will this have?
Very important
None, depending on context… Having a rigorous course load does not mean every course needs to be an AP-equivalent. Many applicants for a variety of reasons take a regular class or 2. A very common reason is HS graduation requirements, where things like PE/music/art generally are not leveled. Of course, if you’re applying to colleges with other applicants from your school with more rigorous loads, then you would be potentially disadvantaged.
If you look at their Common Data Sets, every college (and I don’t know of a single exception) lists “rigor of secondary school record” as “very important”. So there’s that.
Indeed, the courses you choose in high school are one of the most important factors to an admissions committee. The more rigorous, the better you appeal to admissions committees. It’s not necessarily “keeping up with the Joneses” though—you don’t need to match every student and take the same classes out of fear they will objectively be “better” than you. Large differences in classes between your fellow students may negatively impact you. I think that guidance counselor letters help here too (they can help an admissions committee compare one student to another on a host of factors, including course load—the content of this letter is, of course, outside your control).
I know that you’re a senior and choosing classes are behind you. The best you can do now is (1) do as well academically as you can in the courses you have, and (2) write the best college essays you can.
Fwiw, my son took a study hall his first three years in high school. He was not penalized (as far as we know) come results time. Good luck.