<p>I am new to college confidential but a rising junior. As the beginning of school approaches, I have been rethinking a choice I made in the spring for my schedule. I am scheduled to take APUSH and AP Environmental Science (small private school with not many AP options) with all of my other classes at the honors level. After completely a 30 page summer packet for APES, I have discovered I honestly absolutely hate it. I am interested in pursuing a career in the medical field or in international relations. I have the option of dropping APES and taking anatomy and physiology as an honors course, which I am much more interested in.</p>
<p>However, after going on college visits this summer, I have noticed that they all seem to be looking for "the most rigorous course load possible". Will only having 1 AP instead of 2 my junior year affect my competitiveness for very selective schools?</p>
<p>I should also mention that although environmental is an AP, physio has the reputation of being a much harder class at my school, while a college wouldn't be able to see that. Also, while this isn't the main reason for my decision, the normal APES teacher has unfortunately just been diagnosed with breast cancer and will not be returning, meaning that we have a brand new instructor teaching an AP course for the first time. I appreciate any opinions! </p>
<p>Take what classes interest you (and in this case what may be more relevant to you later on in life). I toured Columbia a few weeks ago, and they talked about the importance of taking the most rigorous course load available to you. Key word: available. There, they compare the number of APs you took versus the number of APs your school offers, and that information factors into their acceptance decision. If your school offers a limited number of APs, the school won’t expect you to take them all: obviously not every AP will interest you and its not worth taking such a challenging class that you hate. Much more worthwhile to spend the time you would have been studying for that AP building other sections of your application with extracurriculars or volunteering.</p>
<p>drop it for physio. One vs two APs will not make a difference in admissions. There is no point in taking an AP you have no interest in. Good luck!</p>
<p>You’d be surprised how much colleges know about the individual courses at your school, so don’t be surprised if they know about the difficulty of the other course. Don’t feel like you have to stick to only tough courses with the “AP” label, there are plenty of other courses that fill the rigor requirement.</p>
<p>While I absolutely agree that you should always take the classes that interest you the most - and any adcom would agree with that - you also should consider which AP’s your school offers and what the expectations are at the colleges you are interested in. Taking only one AP junior year means you’ll only have that score (and maybe AP World from last year?) on your transcript when you submit college applications next year. </p>
<p>Does your school offer AP Lang or AP Lit? AP languages? AP Bio, Chem or Physics? AP Calc,Statistics, AP Macro or Micro Economics? AP Art History or Music Theory?
If you are interested in medicine, it would be assumed that you’ll take at least a couple AP sciences. If International relations, you can take AP modern European History or AP US Government or AP Econ…etc.</p>
<p>You can see the average number of AP classes that admits to your prospective colleges take and get an idea there. Definitely don’t take a class you think you’ll hate, but if your HS offers 10 APs and by senior year you’ve only taken 1 or 2, colleges may see that as an indication of lack of academic ambition, curiosity and discipline. Taking an AP class and getting a good score on the exam is an excellent way to make your application more impressive! If you decide on anatomy and physiology instead of APES, you might want to look into adding another AP in a different department.</p>
<p>Talk to your GC and see how would he/she comment on the rigorous level between the 2 options. There is no absolute criteria to determine the rigorous of curriculum. It depends mostly by what the school offers and the GC assessment.</p>