Hey! I’m currently a sophomore in HS and I have my Fall 2017 registration appointment with my counselor tomorrow. My current GPA is 3.95 UW/4.0 W.
Here is my current course load with last semester’s grades:
Honors English II (A-)
AP Euro (A-)
Algebra II/Trig. (B-, ugh…)
Physics (A+)
French II (A)
Advanced Orchestra (A)
PE-Dance (A+)
And here is my planned course load for next year (most rigorous possible):
Honors English III
APUSH
Honors Precalculus
Honors French III
AP International Relations/Comparative Politics
Advanced Topics in Computer Science
One interesting thing about my school is that the load for juniors and seniors can be only six classes instead of seven, unless I add a regular class.
I’m considering adding another regular class offered at my school which is Engineering Robotics. This is only a 4-point class, however. Will taking this hurt my GPA in any way? If not, will adding this to my junior course load enhance my college application?
If this helps, here’s my tentative senior course load:
AP English Comp.
AP American Gov./Econ.
AP Calculus-BC
AP Statistics
AP Physics
AP French
(Might consider throwing Illustration & Design in there too)
My dream colleges are MIT, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, the Ivies, among others. I want to double major in Computer Science and Astrophysics.
Is there anyway you could take more APs junior year and less senior year? That sounds like a pretty stressful senior year to me. And you should ask your counselor about the GPA question, because every school calculates them differently.
I would take more junior year, but the prerequisites for a lot of APs tell me I can’t take them until senior year. Perhaps I can take AP Statistics next year and AP Intl. Relations senior year. Would that help? I hear AP Stats is rather stressful, and I haven’t heard that about AP Intl. Relations.
Your senior year looks similar to mine and I’m applying to similar colleges (although not MIT)
I’m taking 6 AP’s (7 exams) and one honors.
The effect of one class on a 4 year GPA is akin to a pimple on an elephant’s butt; it won’t have negative consequences. If the class interests you, take it. Don’t take a class just to look good on an application.
Another problem is that I’ve heard the course load part of college admissions is all relative to how many APs your school offers. My school is a magnet so it offers a lot of APs. I feel like my AP courseload is not enough. I’m also self-studying an AP currently because I know that looks good on applications.
This is actually surprisingly similar to me (courses and grades). I did English H II, AP Euro, Alg II H, Chemistry (instead of physics, which was junior year), Spanish II H, Engineering, and World History.
I went from 1 AP class (Euro) in Sophmore year to 6 in Junior year (APUSH,CompSci,ArtHist,Eng,CompGov,Psych,).
I have A’s in 5 of them and a C in Compsci (sucks but that’s the way it is).
I would recommend (if possible)
English III H > AP English Lang/III
Honors French III > AP French III
AP International Relations (do you mean comparative government?) should have another course to follow it up since it is usually a 1-semester course (you will need another semester course, possibly AP Psychology).
Advanced Topics in Computer Science > I would just recommend you try out AP computer science instead.
If your weighted GPA is above 4, it might hurt it. However, it will most likely help your unweighted GPA, because it should be on an easier scale. You should also keep in mind whether the extra time necessary will help or hurt you in other classes.
AP English Lang/III and AP French III aren’t offered at my school; they recently stopped offering AP English courses to juniors. The highest French IIII offered at my school is French III Honors. But nonetheless, I’m still taking the most rigorous courses in those subjects at my level my school offers. As for AP Comp Sci, I’m doing self-study this year. Advanced Topics in CS is post-AP at my school (it’s only 4-point though :/) and I hope to take it next year if I pass the AP Comp Sci test.
I’m not 100 percent on how the one-semester AP thing works; I’ll have to ask my counselor about it tomorrow.
If my weighted GPA is hurt by those extra 4-point classes, how bad will that look on college apps? If it does look bad, will my willingness to invest my time in an extra class make up for it (assuming I do well), even though it’s 4-point?
I’m trying to add the most rigor I possibly can to my schedule next year, even though I can’t take six AP’s like you did because of my school’s course offerings. And then there’s the whole weighted GPA conflict with adding 4-point classes. Deciding courses this year is much harder than it was last year!
@camille004 To be honest, your schedule for Junior year would be even more solid if you could take an AP science course and an AP English course, but that’s not possible if I understand what you said correctly. Your honor courses should still count as 5.0’s, so you’ll be set if you can get A’s in those classes. I would also recommend taking a chemistry course during your junior year because you did not take one your sophomore year. As for Computer Science, I suggest you self study for AP Comp Sci Principles, as from what I’ve heard should be an easy test. As for APUSH, be warned if your school as a bad teacher; cuz for my school, my APUSH teacher basically name graded the entire year. Senior year should be ok for you, as it seems you are already used to the stresses that come with being an AP student. AP Statistics is really dependent on the teacher (I had a really bad experience with AP Stats because all my teacher would do is talk about her baby and stalk her nanny). As for AP Calculus BC, if you’re honors precalc class is the same as mine, doing precalc for one semester and calc ab for the other, see how you do your second semester and determine then whether or not you want to take on the challenge - check your counselor to see if your precalc class is set up like mine as I am just talking from my own experience. AP Physics should not be a worry for you as it seems you have a strong background in math. Also, I suggest taking IB French SL if your school offers it, because it is somewhat an easier course and it still basically counts as an AP course. Everything else should be good and hopefully this helped you with deciding your classes.
I’d recommend taking more AP’s as a junior and less as a senior, for a couple of reasons. First of all, when applying to colleges, unless you apply winter break of senior year, you transcript won’t show what classes you’re taking senior year, nor will those classes be factored into your GPA. Second, even the most driven students at my school have trouble balancing more than 4 AP classes in a year. It’s really hard to get better than 2’s and 3’s on your AP tests if you have to take seven of them in one year. You simply won’t have the time to study adaquetely for all of them. Finally, you’re a sophomore. A lot can change between now and senior year, more so than what can change between now and junior year. Also, you shouldn’t worry too much about taking a 4-point class. It won’t hurt your GPA, because most colleges use your unweighted GPA in admissions.
Drop AP Stats (plan to take Stats in college), and add Illustration and Design indeed.
No. If your school policy limits juniors on how many 5 point classes you can take, colleges understand that. Most HS’s have required courses in arts/PE, etc. that are not weighted. Colleges get that. So try not to make this an arms race in trying to jam in as many 5 point classes as possible, since that won’t help you if you don’t perform well in the classes.
As mentioned above, taking 6 AP classes as a senior when you have to write admissions applications is something that very few students are able to balance successfully. But you still have a year to go before worrying about your senior schedule,