<p>Some chemical engineering majors require biology, so AP biology may be more useful than AP environmental science.</p>
<p>APES (AP enviro) is a fine AP to self-study, some chem background helps but you can read the Barron’s or similar AP study guide and polish it off in about 2 weeks. It is interesting and fun material, just not worth spending a year doing. </p>
<p>For your plan, OP, taking AP Bio will look better and help you more than taking AP Environmental Science. However, that’s your personal choice. Taking multiple AP sciences senior year will be complicated but if you think you can do it, then by all means, go for it!</p>
<p>@Mom2aphysicsgeek the MVC is on my school’s campus, but we get CC credit for it; a professor from over there comes and teaches it to us. I know for a fact that we at least would get UC credit for that. Either way, if I didn’t take it, I’d take C++/Discrete (also college courses on campus), since I don’t want to take 3 sciences in a year; I can’t have a gap year between languages because of school policy. We have to get course selections signed off by our previous teachers in the subject; hence, I’d have to get my Spanish 4 application signed off by my Spanish 3 teacher, who I wouldn’t have seen for two years. We get the same CC credit for Spanish 3 and 4, by the way; I currently am earning a grade in “SPAN-101B” that will go on my CC diploma (along with several other CC courses I’ve taken in the past). That one is just taught by a high school teacher, but the CC gives us credit for it.</p>
<p>Our AP Bio teachers suck anyways; on the other hand, APES, Chem, and Physics have all been said to be “the best course on campus” at some point in time. I can’t study biology for my life. I’d rather take a college course with a good professor than take a high school course with a mediocre teacher. Some of the colleges I’m looking at don’t award AP credit anyhow. I’m not looking for credit in most AP courses (maybe in Calc, but that’s it). </p>
<p>@2prepMom I’ll self-study it if I don’t take the course, but I wanted to take the course because it’s supposed to be a really good course and I want to learn it. </p>
<p>@MrMom62 I was thinking about switching around the order of the AP Chem and APES, but I decided against it because I wanted to take sciences I had never taken before junior year. Both are equally difficult. I want to take multiple sciences no matter what.</p>
<p>By the way, the “OR” means “or, if I don’t get in.” </p>
<p>I want to go to a selective school for the challenge, for the environment. All of the schools I’ve fallen in love with (three, to be precise) are very selective as a general thing (1st and 2nd for universities and 1st for LACs in engineering programs).</p>
<p>It is pretty hard to believe that a CC in California would not have second year college Spanish courses (which would definitely be more advanced than high school Spanish 2).</p>
<p>If one of your target schools is Berkeley for chemical engineering, be aware that:</p>
<p>a. The chemical engineering major requires Biology 1A (a huge pre-med-infested course, though you may be able to find a CC course that articulates to it), according to <a href=“http://chemistry.berkeley.edu/student_info/undergrad_info/degree_programs/cheme_major/index.php”>http://chemistry.berkeley.edu/student_info/undergrad_info/degree_programs/cheme_major/index.php</a> .
b. Math 54 at Berkeley includes both linear algebra and differential equations. For subject credit purposes, it does no good to take linear algebra without also taking differential equations.
c. <a href=“http://chemistry.berkeley.edu/student_info/undergrad_info/exams.php”>http://chemistry.berkeley.edu/student_info/undergrad_info/exams.php</a> indicates that AP biology, calculus, and some others count toward requirements, but AP chemistry and environmental science do not.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus I don’t particularly want to go to Berkeley (mainly because it’s so big), although I may end up going there. My top three, actually, are Stanford, MIT, and Harvey Mudd (although it’s a crapshoot to get into any of them; Stanford is mainly the one I’m worried about for the four years, since on their website, they state that their most competitive applicants have four years of a foreign language; and in that case, they’re referring to years as in inside high school). I’m also worried about one of the schools that’s most likely to give me a scholarship; on their website, they said they “require two years, recommend three years, and prefer four years.” </p>
<p>Again, I don’t care about credits for courses, for the most part. </p>
<p>And for some reason, the local CC doesn’t offer those courses. It’s really strange, but I don’t know why. I can’t drive all the way to the other CCs nearby for courses, either. I’d take it at the CC if it was offered, however. </p>
<p>Here is Stanford’s foreign language graduation requirement:
<a href=“https://web.stanford.edu/dept/lc/language/requirement/index.html”>https://web.stanford.edu/dept/lc/language/requirement/index.html</a></p>
<p>My son is still waiting for admissions results, so I can’t tell you how it worked out, but he chose to drop French after tenth grade (technically, that meant four years of language, since middle school =2), so that he could take art in 11th and AP Art in 12th. He figured he could take French in college but it would be tough to take art. In his applications, he mentioned that he dropped French in favor of art, and he submitted an art supplement to all his schools. He thought that colleges should be able to appreciate that one has choices and has to take them based on what one really wants, rather than someone else’s plan. I agreed with him, although it remains to be seen how colleges saw it (his class load senior year is six APs and one honors, so it’s As Rigorous As Possible, which we hope matters).</p>
<p>If you can self-study and take the Spanish SAT, I’d think you’d be in excellent shape, although I would also note the reasoning behind your choice on your applications. If you could do something in a summer term Spanish-oriented, that might be better still.</p>
<p>Thank you! </p>
<p>One thing: although I really want to take Journalism, I’d drop it in favor of Spanish (4 only; I’m not going to take AP Spanish senior year, since that would be murder with Physics C, Chem, MVC/Linear Algebra, and maybe Lit, along with the fact that my ECs cut into my homework/study time by three hours twice a week). </p>
<p>Just thought I’d mention that MIT requires bio to graduate. </p>
<p>When you start applying to colleges, make sure you understand how they accept credits earned in high school. We saw multiple instances where it was stated that credit would only be granted for credits earned on a college campus. It was not an issue for our son bc he took all of his classes at a 4 yr university. </p>
<p>Another issue is advanced standing vs. advanced level. Some schools accept credit and it is applied toward graduation requirements. Other schools restrict the number of hrs a student can bring in and so students need to complete the number of credit hrs to graduate. </p>
<p>Another way it can work is schools accept no AP credits, but they’ll allow you to take a more advanced level of class and give you credit for the lower level class if you pass the higher class with a sufficient grade. For example, they may let you start in Calc II and if you get a C or better, you’ll be awarded the credit for Calc I.</p>
<p>There are downsides to doing this at some schools - namely that the college level equivalent classes are a lot tougher than you realize, so starting higher may be a GPA killer and that can have some serious consequences for pre-meds and the like. If I were going to your average state flagship and could knock out a semester’s worth of credits and wasn’t pre-professional, I’d take the credits, but at a Top 20 National or LAC or any pre-professional, think long and hard about skipping up. It may not be worth it.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice! I’m fine with retaking courses, especially if they’re more difficult/rigorous than the high school course. The main reason I’m taking AP courses is because they’re interesting and the people in them are (somewhat, at my school, since pretty much anyone can take an AP course) smart. </p>
<p>I sorta skimmed over all the posts because truthfully I was too lazy to read, so I apologize if I say something that someone already said or something like that</p>
<p>Anyways, you’re in Spanish 3. To me, taking one more year of Spanish after you’ve already done 3 years is optional. If you want to do a double major or minor in English, I would definitely recommend to do the Journalism course. Not sure about Harvey Mudd, but Stanford (and probably MIT) would probably see taking journalism more positively than taking Span4 because it’s your passion and they value that. </p>
<p>I’m not sure where the APES v. Bio thing came from but I took Bio last year and it wasn’t bad at all, but I’m pretty good at bio though.</p>
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<p>Regardless of the college, if you can skip an introductory course and take a more advanced course using AP credit, try the old final exams of the course that you may skip. That can help you determine how well you know the material from the college’s point of view, allowing you to make a more informed placement decision.</p>
<p>Yes, I forgot about that trick, and it’s a good one. But sometimes there’s little to be gained from that advanced course when you are talking about med school admissions. Freshman year has enough stresses without overshooting on your initial courses.</p>
<p>I intern at a local professional newspaper. I’m also Editor-in-Chief of my school newspaper. To be on the news staff, you basically have to be in the Journalism class. I’ve taken Journalism two years in a row, alongside APs, like you. Journalism, I think, really prepares you for other subject areas. You have to communicate with others for interviews, do research, stick to deadlines. I’ve seen a lot of the kids improve in their writing and work ethic from Journalism I to Journalism II. Also, the class is fun. Remember, high school is supposed to be FUN? Even several highly selective schools don’t mind if you don’t do four years of language. I have a lot of friends who had to drop their language to take AP Stat and AP Calc. One got into UPenn after not taking Spanish her fourth year. Other kids are getting into great schools without fourth year of language. The thing about high school language is that some schools are better than others at making sure you learn the language and colleges don’t know how well you are truly comprehending the material. Spanish III and Spanish IV are very similar, to be honest. I continue to take it because I want to continue to study as long as possible so I can obtain fluency. I plan to study abroad in Spain in college, so I don’t want to take a gap year in the language. But, that is just me. I have heard many stories of people who didn’t take the fourth year and freshman year of college, they could pick it up again. Do what makes you happy.</p>
<p>I’ll stick with my original plan, then.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>