<p>I'm going to be a junior.
Sophomore year, I took 3 AP's (bio, chem, euro). I haven't gotten back my scores yet, but I'm hoping to get them back next week - California ftw! xP
Next year, I planned on taking 2 (lang, stats). However, due to scheduling conflicts, I'm very likely dropping stats, which leaves me with only one AP.
I could've taken AP art history if I had known about this conflict earlier, but the class has since filled up and the only thing I can replace stats with is regular physics (there's no honors physics at my school). With no previous physics background, I don't want to jump right into AP physics.
APUSH was also an option, but the teacher at my school is notorious for not getting things graded, venturing off onto all sorts of tangents in class, etc. I'm not interested in majoring in history or anything like that, and I don't really have a genuine interest in the subject, so putting so much work into the class, IMO, isn't worth it.
I'm planning on self-studying a lot of APs next year to fill the void, but I don't know if getting 4's and 5's will be enough to make up my lack of AP courses.</p>
<p>As of now, my schedule consists of:
-AP lang
-Calculus*
-US history
-Psychology
-PE
-Spanish 3
-Symphonic orch
-Physics
*My school doesn't offer AP Calculus. We directly earn college credit from the Cal State University system, so that's even better right? I don't have to take an AP test to get credit.</p>
<p>If I'm aiming at schools like Northwestern, JHU, UCB, etc., how badly will this impact my chances?</p>
<p>alright your junior year is considered your most important year of high school, and is often regarded as the one that should be most challenging, including what classes you take. you should really just consider doing at least one more. the apush one doesn’t sound too bad? at least he’s not notorious for being ridiculously hard or something like that, but also keep in mind apush has a heavy work load. also, you don’t need any background physics knowledge for ap physics, i took ap physics b as a junior last year with only taking bio and chem the years before, it is just an accelerated class, not an extension off of a general physics class. hope that helps!</p>
<p>APUSH has really hard tests that just happen to also have really low curves, but there are some people in my year who are really good at history. Homework usually involves reading 30 pages from a textbook with really small print, no pictures, and large pages, which is almost the complete opposite of my euro textbook.
AP physics is the hardest class in the school, and I was hoping I didn’t have to take it until later.
Either way, it might be too late for me…still haven’t gotten my books and there are summer assignments too :/</p>
<p>I have no physics background but i am going to take AP Physics and im also going to be a Junior.
Im also taking AP USH and i know there is a lot of reading from this “A people’s history of the u.s., by Zinn”. im hoping i can skim through it throughout the year unlike World History, lots of pictures.</p>
<p>So, I don’t want to be mean, but I am going to be honest. My friend just graduated and she was a top top student at my school (8 in the class). She took two APs her junior year (Bio and USH), and did well in both of them and on the exams. Her Senior Year, however, she signed up for AP Physics alone because she didn’t want to take any others (didn’t like Calc, wasn’t a fan of English, and wasn’t placed in a high enough Spanish class). However, the AP Physics class was terrible this year so she dropped the class, leaving her with 0 APs. Because she took fewer AP classes than others, she was rejected from top schools such as Tufts, BC, and Holy Cross.</p>
<p>@ddPAO
Hmm, good luck. Chances are I’m not going to risk my GPA for an AP physics class that only has one or two people get A’s in. (The smartest person I know - he’s currently going to Caltech - took the class and got a B, so…yeah.)
I don’t know about APUSH though, I get all sorts of feedback at school about the class. The majority of people say it’s a major waste of time and a major pain if you’re not genuinely interested. </p>
<p>@languagefreak
Thanks for the info
I’m already on a way faster pace than everyone in my grade (except maybe one person). It’s just that this scheduling conflict thing is really annoying me. I was planning on taking Calc & AP stats at school and then being done with all the math classes my school has to offer by junior year. Then I can take college classes at a UC senior year.
I’m definitely taking more than one AP senior year.</p>
<p>I think to clarify things for you guys:
I’m planning on self-studying a lot next year because I know I’m only taking one AP class.
If I get good scores on the courses I self-study, will it make up for my lack of taking actual courses?</p>
<p>And also as a note, for junior year the maximum number of AP courses I see anyone taking is 3, due to overenrollment in many classes and people getting dropped.</p>
<p>Annnnnnnd I just found out the book for APUSH is The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People by Boyer, etc.
Anyone know about how fun this book is?</p>
<p>I had the enduring vision for APUSH. It isn’t exactly “fun” lol, but I do remember noticing that it seemed like it was written at a pretty low reading level. It isn’t a terrible book. You really should take more than one AP junior year to get into Northwestern and JHU (maybe not Berkeley since you appear to be in-state), so APUSH probably wouldn’t be the worst option if you can’t take Stats.</p>
<p>I can see why you propose this question. In my opinion, I think you should be fine. Like stated above, your Junior year is the most important, so as long as you somewhat challenge yourself this coming year, I think you should be fine!</p>
<p>@dsr7291
Ahhh, thanks so much! All I’ve heard about it up until now was that it didn’t have pictures and the words are smaller so there’s more to read Boo. Now that you put it that way, I guess I’ll just get a cup of coffee and read through the assignments whether I want to or not. But first I have to see if I can get in APUSH since we signed up for classes a month before school ended…</p>
<p>@ColdAsIce
Yeah, my counselor’s telling me that it doesn’t really matter what I take now because she only looks at my GPA and for UC’s, since only 8 semesters of weighted classes count in your weighted GPA and I’m already past 8, taking weighted and nonweighted classes will have the same effect on my GPA. But I don’t think she understands that it’s not just about the GPA…colleges look at your transcript of what you take too.
I know that junior year’s important, but there are the SATs and I’m also looking at improving my EC’s, in addition to a lot of self-studying.
Thanks for the input :)</p>
<p>i had the enduring vision book! it was the red one… i think the 4th edition? anyways, you’re right. not too many pictures, pretty small font, and it’s not too interesting if you’re not really into history. It’s pretty dry and too the point. Make sure you really take good notes, because nothing is really stressed, and each and every sentence in that book is really important.</p>
<p>Oh man, that’s pretty annoying. I liked in middle school when they italicized or bolded all the important concepts. Made everyone’s life easier :/</p>
<p>Yeah, to reiterate what others said, just do what you can. If there are scheduling conflicts, just politely ask your guidance counselor to explain them in your app. The best way for you to make up for this will be self-studying. If Stats geniuinely interests you, self-study it, considering you have an entire year. Just do your best.
I kind of overlooked that fact that you will be a junior next year, and that changes things a lot :). You seem to be in great shape. 3 APs your sophomore year is excellent! Just keep up the good work, and try to do the best you can.
Even though APUSH sounds tragic (and I didn’t like it), it really might be worth it in the long run. Sometimes you just need to suck it up and go for it, even though it totally sucks. It’s a tough position to be in, but it will pay dividends in the end.</p>
Boo. Now that you put it that way, I guess I’ll just get a cup of coffee and read through the assignments whether I want to or not. But first I have to see if I can get in APUSH since we signed up for classes a month before school ended…</p>