Hi, I am applying to college right now, and I have the option to take a free or take APES for my last class. Over the past 3 years, I have always taken the maximum number of courses, and the maximum level course (honors or AP) for every subject except foreign language. I have taken/am taking these AP classes:
APUSH (sophomore year)
AP World (junior year)
AP Gov (junior year)
AP Physics (junior year)
AP Macroeconomics (junior year)
AP Microeconomics (junior year)
AP Language and Composition (senior year)
AP Psychology (senior year)
AP Calc AB (senior year)
This year (my senior year), I am taking AP Lang, AP Psych, AP Calc AB, Honors English, Spanish 5, and Marketing 1 (it is a requirement to graduate). I am also taking on a Senior Independent Capstone Project. I also have some ECs (Mock trial, debate, and swimming) all of which I am a captain/leader of. And of course there are college applications.
As I said before, I have the option to take a free or APES and I want to take a free but I worry that colleges will take it as me slacking off and not trying hard enough my senior year. I also worry that not having “4 years of science” will hurt my chances. I am applying to schools like Cornell ILR, NYU, Boston University, Northeastern, and some of the UC’s for political science and international relations (except for ILR which would be the ILR degree). Will taking a free hurt my chances?
I would be concerned about not having a science for the schools you listed as well. Have you taken biology and chemistry? If not, I would take one or the other instead of APES. If you feel overloaded, drop psych and use your free period there.
Why are you taking AP Lang and Honors English?
AP Lang did not fulfill the english requirement in my school to graduate so I had to take honors english to graduate. I took AP Lang in addition to the honors english bc the class will help a lot with my future writing needs (persuasive writing specifically) while the honors english was just honors mythology and will not help much in the future.
@momofsenior1 I have taken AP Physics, Honors Chem, and Honors Bio, but I do not want to go into anything remotely close to a science field and my entire application is centered around my love for politics/debate/law which is why I am not sure if not having 4 years of science will hurt me. Additionally, AP Psych is one of my favorite classes and I am considering minoring/double majoring in psychology (the applied side not the biological/med track side - so more a social science than a bio-like science), which is why I want to keep that class.
Since you have taken bio, chem and AP physics, I think you are OK with that free period for your intended major. Talk to your guidance counselor though to be sure that your schedule will still earn you the “most rigorous” check mark.
I agree with @momofsenior1
You have your chem, your bio, and your physics. It looks like you have your 4 years of math, English, social studies, and language. I would say you are fine to take the free period. I don’t think that anyone would look at your schedule and think you are slacking off.
Do you have another non-honors or AP science you can take or is AP ES pretty much the senior year class in standard 4-year science path? Some high schools here have college prep physiology as an example.
@theloniusmonk there is no other non-honors science, and the other two sciences are AP Chem and AP bio - both of which are too intensive for me and far outside of my interests. I can also not swap into those: there was a mandatory grade needed in the honors bio/honors chem class to be eligable to take those.
@helpmepls09 -
I wouldn’t worry about not taking a 4th year of science (unless you were applying for STEM, which you’re not).
As long as you’ve taken the holy trinity (Chem, Bio, Physics) at honors of AP levels, you should be fine. AP Bio is a ton of work. I wouldn’t bother with APES either (unless you’re interested in the subject). If there is another Soc. Sci. or history you can take, I’d consider that AP Euro?Otherwise, I would follow @momofsenior1’s advice to check on the “most rigorous” classification and decide accordingly.
@LoveTheBard and @momofsenior1 - I spoke to my guidance counselor and she told me that no such “box” exists for her to check off. Do you know why this is? When you were going through the application process where was this box found?
My D’s GC “rated” her course rigor for the guidance counselor’s report on the common app.
Nope. Take it and enjoy it.
@helpmepls09 - Is the counselor new? He/she generally has to submit a recommendation as well as a secondary school report (sometimes called a school profile). Together these serve to contextualize your academic performance with respect to the course rigor offered at your school and in relation to your peers.
This is from the Common App website:
COUNSELOR RECOMMENDATION
The Counselor Recommendation (CR) is new to the Common Application starting with the 2015-16 application cycle. Within this new form, a counselor may provide answers to the following prompts:
• The duration and context in which you’ve known the applicant (short response)
• The first words that come to mind to describe the applicant (short response)
• A broad-based assessment addressing topics like academic and personal characteristics, contextual comments for the applicant’s performance and involvement, and/or observed problematic behaviors that an admissions committee should explore further (long response)
NOTEWORTHY
For those familiar with the School Report (SR) from Common App years past, the Counselor Recommendation, in essence, is the result of removing the “Written Evaluation” section of the School Report (SR) and creating a standalone form from it.
• Whether required or not by a college that your student is applying to, you may opt to submit this form.
• The Counselor Recommendation form becomes accessible to counselors only after the School Report has been submitted.
• Once submitted, the Counselor Recommendation, like all other submitted forms, is immediately available to colleges for download if your student has submitted his/her Common Application to that institution.