I’m a rising senior, and just today I checked my planned coursework for next year, and it was completely different from what I had planned originally planned for back in April.
I’m taking a relatively competitive Allied Health Program where students explore health careers through specialized classes and clinical practice throughout the year - which is during the school day, affecting my school coursework.
I was planning on taking 4 AP’s senior year, AP Lit, AP Chem, AP Gov, and AP Calc BC, but my counselor just reached out and said that AP Chem conflicts with AP Calc BC and AP Lit conflicts with other advanced sciences. I don’t want to give up Chem or Calc BC, should I quit the Allied Health Program so I can take more AP’s to show a rigorous coursework?
I will only have 7 APs in high school even if I take all 4 this senior year, and I’m looking to apply to some top universities in the country such as Brown, Duke, UPENN, Vanderbilt.
Every single section of AP Lit conflicts with every advanced science class?
Course conflicts happen and won’t be held against you. And no, you should not take random APs just to take APs. But it seems like there is more to the story here
If I quit Allied Health, I’ll be able to take the morning AP Calc class instead of the afternoon block, freeing up my schedule for AP Chem.
Our school is relatively small so we don’t have a lot of sections especially for the more advanced courses. Plus I already took AP Physics I and AP Bio, so only advanced sciences left for me to take at our school is AP Physics II and AP Chem.
If you are interested in studying something math/science related, the core math science courses are MUCH more important for your education than Allied Health.
All sciences speak the language of math. That’s a fundamental. So I would not advise a kid interested in some aspects of science (whether health/medicine related or not) to skimp on math for the sake of “clinical practice”- what kind of clinical practice can a 17 year old do anyway? If you are interested in seeing what front line health care is all about- volunteer in a hospital, shadow a physician (if privacy/liability allows it) and take a traditional HS curriculum which in this case includes calc and chem.
I don’t have an opinion on lit- what English classes have you taken so far?
Core subjects are more important than electives. In this situation, I would quit Allied Health, which if I am understanding correctly, allows you to take AP Chem, AP Lit, and AP Calc.
Chem and Calc conflict, so you need to choose. Lit conflicts with other science classes? Does this mean AP Bio or Physics is available if you drop Lit?
If you’re looking at STEM/Health, maybe AP Calc, AP Bio, and regular/honors English. Especially if you already had AP Language.
Fwiw, my D has 5 APs next (Senior) year and English is the one subject area where she dropped down to Honors BritLit
The schools you mention all value rigor. They want to see that you took the most challenging courses available to you and that you succeeded in them. Prioritize the APs because your competition for admission most likely is.
What would your schedule look like if you stay in the Allied Health program and what would it look like if you don’t ?
Can you list both cases ?
Will you get certified as a CNA if you complete your Allied Health program?
Would you be applying to Nursing?
All in all, unless info you provide to the questions above changes things (and it could), Allied Health is an elective program whereas Calc BC and AP Chem are core classes for a future STEM major and thus more important.
What AP beside AP lit were you considering? Have you taken AP Lang?
Can you take any of these AP classes on line instead of in school? My son had to do AP US History online in order to make his schedule work. Are your grades and ECs top notch enough to give you a realistic chance at those schools if you have AP calc and AP chem? I would hate to see you drop the Allied Health program if you really love it if you don’t have much of a chance at those schools anyway.
I hope you’re mostly joking! Students are all saying they take 12-15 APs. How else can this happen if you don’t take 4 at a time? He did AP CalcBC/World this past year, no problem except for the PITA of online school for 2/3 of the year. AP Stats should be easy by comparison to Calc BC. I also do not expect he will take more than 2-3 of the exams.
It’s the combo. While not universal, since it varies by teacher, AP Bio and Chem concurrently can be a time suck because each has extensive labs (plus lab reports) in addition to regular class time and HW.
Can some handle it? Yes. But for most talented students, it’s a lot. Keep in mind that the kids on CC taking 15 APs, or perhaps even your kids, are not a representative subset of college-bound students, even those targeting T20s
AP stats, however, is generally very low workload.
Most of my son’s friends took Chem instead of PhysC, they did well too. Mostly 5s, occasional 4 or 3 in foreign languages (I guess it’s hard to learn a language online).
It’s because of Ap Bio + AP Chem - 2 core AP sciences at the same time =
Also, kids may be saying they’re taking 12+ APs but bragging on that topic is a HS thing, not a college adcom thing. For them, 8 carefully chosen APs provide the information they need about a kid’sability to handle academic rigor.
Different AP courses can have different amounts of work. Even the same ones can be different in different high schools. For example, AP calculus BC in one year starting from completion of precalculus is more intense than a two year sequence of AP calculus AB and AP calculus BC that some high schools have. So a student at the latter high school may get an extra AP course in math while having a less intense math sequence.
