<p>How much does it hurt admission chances at HYPMS, especially for applicants who excel academically, to not take AP English in Junior Year if you take it as a Senior? I have 5 AP classes this year, one of them is AP Environmental Science and the other four are hard APs. I have an A in my regular English class so would that seem sort of inconspicuous on my transcript of hurt adission chances for HYPMS? Thanks.</p>
<p>Is an A- in an AP class better than an A in a regular class? And yes, I do know the old quip that an A in an AP class is better :)</p>
<p>No, it’s just AP or normal level. However about 30% of kids in the grade take it and seeing as I’m in the top 1-2% of my grade it seems like an anomaly…</p>
<p>I think it depends what you intend to study, but if you’re taking AP English senior year it doesn’t matter, regardless. If you never take AP English, but take other AP classes and plan to be an engineer, than it is not as important. Keep up the good work … don’t forget to do other things besides study.</p>
<p>At my son’s school, the 11th grade honors teacher suggested that those who are not up for AP Lit and Comp take reg Eng and AP Lang and Comp which is what my son did. Best decision as the Lang Comp teacher is excellent and my son feels his writing has definitely improved. AP lang and Comp is an elective at our school so you cannot take it in place of LIt and comp.</p>
<p>My D got into a top 10 LAC without AP English. She had APs in other classes, but it wasn’t worth compromising those classes to work on AP English.</p>
<p>OP is asking specifically about HYPMS, schools that have the luxury of choosing from countless near perfect applicants.</p>
<p>For such schools, taking a fully rigorous course load should be a given. For high schools that offer a full range of APs, as the OPs HS apparently does, that would include AP Eng Lang junior year and AP Eng Lit senior year.</p>
<p>Face it, many applicants with near perfect grades in “most rigorous” course loads, great scores, ECs, etc. will be rejected from these schools. To aim for these schools and CHOOSE to slack off in English seems imprudent to me.</p>
<p>Adcoms know not all kids can fit all desired classes into their schedules. Not all hs offer perfect flexibility. Plenty of top STEM kids have to skip AP English to fit in an advanced math-sci class. And, I’d say 5 APs is rigorous. The entire app package has to be compelling- not just courses or stats. Where it would hurt to skip AP English is if you intend an English or lit major. If OP is STEM, then enviro makes sense, though, as noted, it’s lighter.</p>
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<p>Of course. It’s always overly-serious, overly-eager hs kids who come from well-resourced schools who say things like that, because it simply never enters their minds that there might be schools where AP Chemistry and AP English are offered at the same time and students have to make a choice.</p>
<p>^ or tougher than AP chem. Eg, high levels of calc and physics that go beyond ordinary AP. The bigger issue is kids who can’t fit in that last year of foreign language. OP is getting an A in English, so far, and hoping to include some AP Engl next year. When the time comes, ensure the rest of the package shines. Take a hard look at ECs now, so there are no desperate posts next fall.</p>
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<p>I would be interested in knowing what % of hs schools in the country offer math classes beyond a Calculus BC type of level. I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s vanishingly small.</p>
<p>I was adding to your point, not disputing it. STEM kids who do go beyond AP physics and calc aren’t always worried about the “trad path” of AP Engl and AP Lit. Nor do they lose for that, when the basic requirements are met and the kid chooses fitting challenges. Yes, I think most of these kids would go with honors Engl, but OP didn’t get that choice.</p>
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<p>As far as “native” offerings go, vanishingly small, essentially only a few super-elite high schools. Dual enrollment courses may add a few more, but it would still be a small minority of high schools that offer such courses. Students elsewhere who complete BC junior year or earlier would have to juggle schedules between high school and local colleges to take additional math, or do so in the summer.</p>
<p>Back to more “normal” students – when I was in high school, the honors sections of various subjects were each assigned a different schedule period (e.g. honors math was always in period 2, honors English was always in period 3, etc.; AP was part of the honors sequence at the appropriate level) in order to minimize schedule conflicts for students taking honors (including AP) in any combination of subjects.</p>
<p>Okay a **** load of AP classes does nothing for you. 2-3 a year are fine. AP environmental science is a waste of a class. You would have been better off replacing it with an AP English or an advanced science such an anatomy honors or something or chemistry ii honors.</p>
<p>Scheduling isn’t a problem for me though, AP English is offered at very period, or maybe all except one. It’s more about the workload…and actually my school offers multivariable class beyond BC Calc which counts for college credits.</p>
<p>Then I’d say that if you’re truly serious about attending a HYPMS you should take AP English both junior and senior year. Sure, the rigor will be tough, but it won’t get any easier at any of those colleges.</p>
<p>S took an extremely rigorous HS course load, 7 APs both junior and senior year, no “lites”, and he tells me his 4 course college workload (at one of your target schools) is much heavier than it was in HS.</p>
<p>7 APs may well be easier and less work than 4 real college courses because many AP courses cover a semester’s worth of real college course material over a year.</p>