<p>I sort of feel obligated to take it because I want to get into Ivy league schools and those of similar rank... but next year (junior year) I'm probably also taking AP Lang and Comp, AP Calc BC, and double period AP Chem. In addition, I have 3 periods of art (I go to art school so these classes are taken seriously) and I might take computer science classes online (although with the workload I'm looking at it doesn't seem likely). I have no interest in US history, but everyone acts like APUSH is required for any serious student. What do you guys think? Does it look like slacking if I don't take APUSH?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It won’t look like slacking if your schedule is otherwise rigorous. Realistically, colleges don’t care that much. However, let me qualify one thing: you should take a good number of AP classes, so that your weighted GPA is high, because a lot of public universities such as my own consider absolute formulaic GPA pretty highly. But one course isn’t going to kill you – just don’t avoid AP classes in subjects that aren’t your absolute favorite. </p>
<p>All this said, I did take APUSH as a high schooler and got an A both terms, but didn’t exactly care about the material in the least.</p>
<p>I mean if you absolutely hate history…why take APUSH? If you think you can handle the work load and be successful, why not?</p>
<p>Not taking APUSH won’t kill your chance at an Ivy ;)</p>
<p>I know it wont kill my chance, but will it noticeably hurt my chance? I’d rather not take it, but I think I can handle it at the cost of some sleep.</p>
<p>Well since you want to go to an art school I would advise you to switch AP Chem with APUSH. History greatly influences art. However, don’t take it in addition to your other classes. </p>
<p>And be aware that APUSH is a lot of work and if you have bad time management, it could destroy your GPA. You’re not going to be denied admission because you didn’t take APUSH.</p>
<p>AP US History is one of the easiest classes at my school. Its really not even an AP class. I seriously got nothing wrong on our midterm exam, on about 2 hours of study. I’m not a genius either, it was just really easy. Depends on the teacher, I guess. </p>
<p>How hard does it get at other schools?</p>
<p>No, I don’t want to go to an art school, I want to go to a university and study math and science. I go to art school for high school. Sorry if that was unclear.
The head of the social studies department said that about 10 or 11 hours should be spent on APUSH outside of class. Do you find this accurate?
Is it really so much harder than regular old USH?</p>
<p>See Circular, that’s exactly what I was thinking. I can’t tell whether it will be killer or a joke. I’m the type of person that gets 100 on tests just by doing the work without too much additional studying.</p>
<p>It depends on the school. APUSH at my school is ridiculously difficult and only ~15 students of a class of ~250 (only juniors take it, although seniors are technically allowed) end up taking it. Of those 15, maybe 1 or 2 will get an A. The workload is known to be among top 2 most time-consuming in the school, equal to AP Bio, but at least you’re likely to get an A in Bio for the work.</p>
<p>I’m a “humanities” student and didn’t take APUSH, although my primary reasoning was not workload but a dislike of US history. My year, two “science” people took it and got low Bs… accepted at/attending Stanford and MIT, respectively. Otherwise it’s a class that only true history buffs take.</p>
<p>Thanks, this is all really helpful. I guess I just have to ask my guidance counselor and current juniors how hard APUSH is at my school. I think it should be doable because most honors Global students take it. Then again, I don’t know anyone who is taking AP math, science, and english courses at the same time…</p>