Is 7 AP Classes to much?

Applying to College
1

Hi,

I am a rising senoir.

Currently I am signed up for 6 AP classes and 2 regular classess:

AP Literature
AP Research
AP Statistics
AP US/Macroeconomics (I’m counting this as 2)
AP Chemistry
Speech and Debate Class
P.E

I also plan to independently study for 2 other AP classes my school doesn’t offer:

AP Microeconomics
AP Comparative Gov’t and Politics

I am a full time Speech and Debate member and might possibly be the leader of several clubs (Global Affairs Forum, Model UN, Science Olympiad, Tedx @ our school). I am also still studying for the SAT, ACT and subject tests which should all be completed before Nov 1.

Here’s the dilemma. Since freshman year, I have always wanted to take AP Psychology. However, I still haven’t taken P.E, which is a requirement to graduate. I have the option to take a CBE (Credit by Exam) for P.E and if I receive and 80 or above, that would be my grade, allowing me to take AP Psych. If I take P.E, the majority of the year, I wouldn’t be doing anything and would rarely dress out. I feel like this would be a year wasted instead of taking AP Psych, where the teacher is already expecting me to be in the class. I would only have 2 weeks now to study for the test, but I don’t know how difficult or easy it would be, and online classes are too expensive. My parents and college consultant all say that I’m taking to many classes and that I’m going to work myself to death for no reason, but my Aunt has encouraged me to continue.

At this point, I don’t know what to do. I really want to know if I’m am overdoing it, or are my wants justified? If anyone could help, I would appreciate it so much. Thank you.

For Reference

Universities I am interested in:

-University of Chicago
-Harvard University ( I know, but I feel like this is almost everyones dream school)
-Vanderbilt
-University of Texas at Austin

2

Your schedule is too rigorous. You have a plethora activities in addition to an unnecessarily rigorous schedule. Add the hidden, writing -intensive ‘class’ called ’ college essays and your growing brain needing a minimum of 8 hours of sleep, and you’re headed for burn out and something giving - which may well be applications.
Self studying doesn’t help for admissions. If you truly are passionate about the topics in the classes you’re willing to self study, do so in the summer after graduation.
If you want to take AP chemistry replace it with an honors science.
Where are you with foreign language? Have you taken the AP or at least the subject test?

3

I think you mean, “Are 7 AP classes too many?” As @MYOS1634 said, yes.

I’m not sure why you think you’re going to get a better answer from people who don’t know you ate all. If adults who know you and your abilities think it’s overkill, then it is.

4

You should take as rigorous courseload as you can excel in – is 7 too much? Likely. Maybe not. I took 6 my senior year – aced them all – had my best grades in my 12th grade. But there’s no point in doing that and getting a 3.5GPA.

5

If you have to ask, you know the answer. That is a ridiculous number of courses to take in one year, along with everything else you do. There is no prize for most APs. Stanford famously has said so as well. Self studying extra APs will serve no purpose and will not impress adcoms unless you demonstrate elswhere in your app that you did them for a compelling reason.

Yet, you have always wanted to take AP psych and haven’t done so. Why not? Scrap two or three of the unnecessary APs and take it. You are prioritizing the wrong things. Study what interests you and it will show in your grades.

6

Self studying for APs senior year will do NOTHING for your app.

In what curriculum does AP US history and Microeconomics count as the same class?

7

I would drop at least two APs. But in terms of the PE/Psych dilemma, I think you should do that CBE thing.

8

My school does it as 1st semester US Gov’t and 2nd semester Macroeconomics

9

@skieurope Well, the main reason my parents say I’m taking to many is because my mother doesn’t fully understand how AP works and says its not necessary. My father just agrees with whatever she says. My college consultant is just concerned I won’t be able to graduate because of the P.E credit, hence me trying to decide to take the CBE or not.

10

Why are you doing this? What is the purpose of taking these specific classes?

11

If your college list is realistic then I think you can manage this if that’s the kind of senior year you want. AP stats, gov, and econ aren’t regarded as “hard” APs, and neither is pysch if you add that. Lit might be hard depending on your school, and chem is going to be hard. I think people get way too obsessed over the “AP” label. My kid worked harder in freshman art than she did in 2 of the 3 AP classes she took last year (one of them being psych, which she loved, by the way). Many of the honors seniors at our hs take 4-5 AP classes in an 8 class schedule both junior and senior years, so I don’t see this as being so unrealistic. But you should forget about the self studying. You won’t have time in the fall. College apps and grades should be your priorities, not taking on self-study APs. You might have more time in the spring and can pick one then if you still want to.

What concerns me more than the number of AP classes is this: " I am also still studying for the SAT, ACT and subject tests which should all be completed before Nov 1." With a schedule like that, it’s going to be tough to find time to do any significant test prep this fall, and you don’t have many weeks for it anyhow… Without scores how can you finalize your college list? What kind of private college counselor has you doing all your testing in the fall of senior year? That’s a really bad idea.

12

@MurphyBrown My state used to have a high school system of 4 by 4, where you need 4 years of SS, math, science, and English. Then my state changed this to House Bill 5, which allows flexibility in student’s schedules. This only applied to students below me, so I had to switch to this plan. By then, I already had taken Algebra-Precal (I was 1 year ahead in math) English 1-3. I took all AP social studies classes since freshman year, and honors bio, chem and physics in that order. I was planning to take AP Chem my senior year. I have not taken Calculus and had no plans to take it. Why do you ask?

@Lindagaf Well, the leadership positions for some of the clubs are still up in the air, but I would still be a member. I’m only for certain a leader in our schools NHS chapter. I wanted to self study for those classes because those are topics I am highly interested in, as well as plan to study in college. My logic on this issue is if I didn’t feel prepared to take the AP exams when registration came along, I wouldn’t sign up, but I would have some basis in the subject matter. I explained above why I wasn’t able to take AP Psych in my first three years. I also had foreign language requirements I had to complete. I still need 1 more year of English and science, and SS. I need an advanced math so I can graduate as my plan on House Bill 5 is in mathematics (meaning I must have 6 math credits and I currently have 5). The only class that is not necessary is P.E if I take the CBE. But, reviewing all of these replies and my own thoughts, I may just stay in PE.

@MYOS1634 I explained the majority of my response to you in the two posts above. The only science options I have are AP Chem, AP Bio, and AP Physics. I already took all honors level science classes since freshman year. I know I shouldn’t compare myself to others but many of my friends are taking at least 5 or more AP classes, so I never considered it out of the ordinary. “Have you taken the AP or at least the subject test?” I have taken 6 AP classes so far, 4 in my junior year alone. I have not taken any subject tests yet, but plan to take them in the coming months. However, I found out recently that many of schools I listed do not require them, except Harvard. I have taken two years of foreign language classes (Spanish).

13

Two year of foreign language is not enough for the colleges on your list.

14

I don’t know what “AP research” is, but I doubt it’s anything you need and I would drop it and add in the gov and politics APs you say you are very interested in.

If you are interested in econ/gov/IR you may be better off taking calculus, which you could swap out stats for.

Does AP computer science fulfill your science requirement? It might suit your interests better.

15

@VickiSoCal – Concur about the languages. Three years is a minimum.

The kind of schedule you are trying to force may be of some modest assistance to you in a Harvard application, but even that is going to depend on a lot of other hooks which I don’t see in your summary. What makes you truly unique from every other brilliant perfect 4.0 unweighted GPR with an SAT over 2350 or an ACT of 35-36? That is what will make the difference at Harvard as opposed to a total of 30 APs. What you are doing to yourself is completely unnecessary for the other schools on your list. Like Harvard, Chicago will be focusing on your uniqueness through their essay.

The one thing I will say is that the number of APs you want to take makes you a natural as a workaholic UChicago student. Not a natural to get in, just a natural to grind through it.

16

@mathyone AP research is the second half to the two year program called AP Capstone. I passed the AP exam for AP Seminar, the first half. My school doesnt offer AP Compartive or AP micro economics. Iam taking AP Gov’t/AP Macroeconomics (each are a semester). I know I wouldn’t do as well in Calculus as I would in Stats and was told by my math teahcer AP stats would be better for Econ. I don’t know if this is true, but its what I have been told. At my school, I wouldn’t be allowed to take AP Comp Sci because I wouldn’t have the prerequisite credits. I do like coding, but not as much as Chemistry/Physics. I’m not taking AP Physics because of the teahcer and because I will not be taking Calculus.

@VickiSoCal I have visited many of these Universities and they said my 2 credits is fine. Harvard has 4 years recommended, but I know several people who have gotton in on 2. I speak my family’s language, Creole, fluently. I can read a speak Spanish, I just dont have the credits. How bad is this? The schools I listed are my top choices, but I have other schools I know I can get into.

17

Have you read the recommended courses that Harvard likes to see? Pretty sure at least three years of FL is recommended. Without it, your app will suffer, trust me.

Senior Cc posters would agree that 6-8 AP courses is a good number. Who cares if your classmates are doing 12? I am guessing the pressure at your school is intense and there are a lot of unhappy students. You should take another year of FL. Take AP psych. Take a science, a math, a social studies, p.e. Take an elective if you have room. Good luck.

18

The 'have you considered the ap or subject test’s referred to foreign language as I worried you might only have taken up to level 3. With that list of universities I hadn’t thought you’d only have 2 years of foreign language. It is not sufficient for the universities on your list.
The colleges you’re aiming for expect level 4 or AP, unless there’s a compelling reason. Add Spanish 3H in as a priority.
What do you do in AP Research?
For economics you’ll need calculus and statistics but one can be taken in college.
For IR you need strong foreign language and history, plus us gov/comp gov preferably.
You can take 4-5 AP classes, sure: AP psych,
AP stats or calculus, Ap lit, Ap econ/gov OR both economics and both poL classes. Add CBE PE to skip PE, allowing you to keep one honors science class*, plus Spanish3H and Speech&Debate.
*Is there no science class such as honors Anatomy/Physiology, Honors Marine Science…?

Are you attending a lower performing school? If not, you’ll be expected to have 2 subject tests even at schools that state it’s optional.

19

I don’t honestly think independently studying an AP test is one of the better things to do with your time. You can be other things that are both personally more fulfilling as well as favorable in applications. I was a testing machine in high school and while it was “impressive” to score very well on standardized exams, it was still pretty uninteresting and said little about me as an applicant.

20

UT only requires two years of FL. Are you an auto admit?

What are you planning to major in?