How important will your high school senior year course difficulty be in college apps?
I am deciding between 2 schedules. Let me know which one makes the most sense considering the fact that college apps and ecs take up time.
Option 1: AP Calc BC, AP Stats, AP Physics 1, reg English, visual and performing art(VAPA), econ/gov
Option 2: AP Calc BC, AP Stats, AP Physics 1, AP Chem, reg english, VAPA, econ/gov(online)
Option 1 but drop AP stats and replace it with Foreign Language level 4 OR honors/AP Econ/gov.
I agree that you should drop AP Stats in favor of a foreign language.
To be sure, though, what were your classes the first three years and what kinds of colleges are you targeting?
Freshman: Integrated Math 3, Honors English, Biology, Spanish 2, PE, Computer Science Pre-req 1
Sophomore: Pre-calc, Honors English, Honors Chem, Spanish 3, AP Euro, Computer Science Pre-req 2, Health(Online)
Junior: AP Calc AB, AP Lang, AP Biology, Spanish 4, APUSH, AP Comp Sci
Note: I am targeting schools for cs/engineering. It is very difficult to sign up for new AP classes at this point. I originally signed up for option 2, but I can switch to 1 by dropping AP Chem.
With that information what are your suggestions?
Option 1 but can you take AP chem instead of AP stats?
I don’t like the idea of doing an online course if that course is offered at your school.
Option 3: AP calculus BC, AP chemistry, AP physics 1, English, art, economics/government.
AP statistics is commonly not accepted for subject credit for CS or engineering majors, who are likely to have to take calculus-based statistics if statistics is required for their majors. On the other hand, AP chemistry may get you out of a peripheral chemistry requirement.
I can take AP Chem instead of AP stats. I’m not too concerned about AP credit for college. I’m more worried about being able to handle the course load with college apps. AP Stats is supposed to be a very easy AP at my school so I thought if I went with option 1 it would make more sense to keep Stats rather than Chem.
I guess my next question would be is option 2 a bit too much for my senior year? Is there a need for me to take all 4 of those APs?
You’ve had AP Bio. You will be taking AP Physics 1. I don’t think you need AP Chem if you don’t want it.
You don’t need another year of Spanish either, but if you plan to apply to colleges that have a language requirement, getting that requirement waived via AP Spanish is not a bad use of your time.
The colleges want to see a rigorous senior year. Especially for any engineering discipline. You are expected to be able to handle the load per se. Yes, you are challenging yourself. But the most important thing is to keep your GPA up. Don’t take 4 AP then get Cs.
Does option 1 show that I am pushing myself enough in terms of course rigor?
Yes, it does.