Is it strange for an ambitious student to not take an AP class freshman or sophomore year?

Pre-College Topics High School Life
1

<p>I plan to take 3 APs both junior (AP English, AP Environmental and AP US History) and senior (AP English, AP Calc AB, AP Gov) year if everything goes as planned, but I'm not too keen on taking one next year and freshman year has been devoid of any AP classes as well. Is this strange?</p>

<p>I consider myself an overachiever who's slightly ambitious relative to her peers. I feel as if I'm challenging myself academically as well as with my extra curriculars. I think there needs to be a purpose in taking a class, and for this reason, I haven't loaded my schedule with classes like AP Human Geography, AP Euro, etc because I don't have an avid interest in them. Instead, I selected this for next year's schedule:</p>

<p>English 2 Honors
Common Core Math 3 Honors
Chemistry Honors
US History 1 Honors (for some reason at my school, they require you to take US History 1 Honors before taking APUSH)
Spanish 3 Honors
Newspaper 1 (yearly)
Creative Writing</p>

<p>ECs:
Treasurer of Beta Club
Spanish Club, most likely to be an officer junior and senior year since the club is very tiny
Book Club, might be able to be Vice President senior year (there's a hierarchy, LOL)
Film Club (I help to create a short film each semester)</p>

<p>(And then of course, I'm going to be on the newspaper staff but that's a class).</p>

<p>Non Passionate ECs (I might drop these):
Sisters Club (mentoring)
Environmental Club
Creative Writing Club (mostly because it has such bad organization)</p>

<p>Projected ECs:
National Honor Society
Special Needs Prom Committee next 3 years (if it doesn't happen on my birthday like this year)
Maybe Project Unify
And maybe just maybe (hopefully hopefully) I can get a leadership position on the newspaper by the time I'm a senior or before. <em>fingers crossed</em> Hopefully editor in chief.</p>

<p>I'm pursuing my interests so I think my schedule and ECs are a good fit for me, but so many of my peers on this website are taking loads of APs that I don't find appealing at all. Do you think this is a good schedule for me? Do you think the rapid increase in freshmen and sophomores taking APs is usually unnecessary, or are schools like NYU and Emerson going to expect this?</p>

<p>Wow. This became a long winded ramble.</p>

2

<p>

It depends on how many your school offers, and whether or not they have rules about freshmen and sophomores taking them. I mean, are a lot of your classmates taking AP classes?

I sort of see what you’re saying, but your interests aren’t written in stone at this point, and taking challenging classes is often a more enriching experience than taking regular ones.
Six AP classes in your high school career is probably sufficient to be competitive at most colleges, though. </p>

3

<p>Okay, thanks for your insight. Most of my peers are not taking AP classes; however, my best friend attends a different school, and it’s basically a rite of passage for all “smart” sophomores there to take AP Human Geography (if they haven’t taken it freshman year). Also, she’s taking AP Environmental Science (which they never would allow a sophomore to do at my school) and Pre-AP English (which she insists is different from English 2 Honors).</p>

<p>I would say my school offers around 18 AP classes (so most of them, I believe?).</p>

4

<p>

Course rigor is relative to your school, so it doesn’t matter if other people have different opportunities because they go to different schools.

There is an actual Pre-AP [url=<a href=“Supporting Students from Day One to Exam Day – AP Central | College Board”>Early Access to AP – AP Central | College Board]program[/url</a>], but schools sometimes give courses that label even if they don’t relate to the College Board.
The College Board makes 34 AP exams right now. </p>

<p>When you’re thinking about what AP classes to take, you should also think about which exams you can get credit for at the colleges you want to apply to. Taking AP exams now can help you avoid classes (distribution requirements) you’re not interested in once you actually get to college.</p>

5

<p>If you excelled academically your freshman year, then why not a single AP your sophomore year? It’s practice for junior year. If your school offers 18 of them, then you are at a fairly high caliber school. At least some admissions officers would be curious why you didn’t try one sophomore year.</p>

<p>More importantly, AP classes can broaden your mind, improve your writing and critical analysis skills. And I don’t see how you can know already that you have an avid interest in Euro, etc., until you try it. </p>

6

<p>I knew I didn’t have an avid interest in it because I looked at the summer assignment requirements. :smiley: LOL. I’m kidding. Sort of. </p>

<p>Truth be told, the AP Human Geo teacher is good; I had her this year for World History Honors, but from how she described the class, I became certain I wasn’t intrigued by it. I hear DREADFUL things about the AP Euro teacher. Everyone loves the AP Gov teacher which is why I have an interest in taking it, but I simply don’t have room next year. (Those are the only classes sophomores are permitted to take; freshmen can only take AP Human Geo).</p>

<p>I began to plan my entire high school schedule pretty early, and since I get excited at the idea of many opportunities, there were many classes I wanted to fit in. While I could have taken AP Gov next year (since I plan to take it anyways), I really want to to be on the newspaper staff for the rest of high school, and take a higher Spanish class as well as take at least ONE Creative Writing class (since it’s pretty relevant to me as an unpublished author—querying sucks), there simply wasn’t room. I have my future schedules all filled up and while everything’s subject to change, I don’t think waiting till junior year is that detrimental, especially when I’m not reaching for any Ivy Leagues (or true equivalents) here.</p>

<p>I think my plate will be pretty full next year anyway. I definitely don’t think my schedule is that of a slacker’s since I’m taking all honors core classes, foreign language, Newspaper (which is a huge commitment and will be an invaluable experience) and then a class that’s relevant to me. Creative Writing apparently has excessive amounts of homework though…pretty sure I’ll survive in one piece, but I’ve heard it isn’t as easy of a class as it should be.</p>

<p>Ugh. Now you’re making me question myself.</p>

7

<p>I’d put the Creative Writing off until Junior or Senior Year. It makes sense on so many levels:

  1. you have room to take an AP
  2. You can continue writing on your own and will have a larger body of work before taking Creative Writing
  3. You can read more great writers… this is essential. If you have read widely, when your teacher begins discussing descriptions you will remember that great story by Somerset Maugham and his/her comments will mean more.
  4. You will have more maturity. It takes a lot of maturity to accept other people’s criticism. And it takes tenacity to rewrite your work multiple times until it truly reflects what you wanted to say.</p>

<p>As to which AP class, I’d suggest you take Govt as it’s your preference. But if you love the Human Geography teacher, I’d also consider that. A teacher with a passion can make just about any topic interesting.</p>

<p>Good luck. </p>

8

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>I like the AP Human Geo teacher, but from the times I’ve met the AP Gov teacher and interacted with him, I’d rather take AP Gov. However, I’m not changing my schedule because</p>

<ol>
<li>It’s too late to make any changes.</li>
<li>If I’m going to take the same amount of AP classes anyway, to me, it makes more sense to have half of them distributed between junior and senior year.</li>
<li>Creative Writing is somewhat rigorous for an elective at my school, and if my rigor increases in junior and senior year, I’d rather not have to worry about another work-filled elective.</li>
<li>I feel the class is essential for me now as I’m currently embarking on the perilous journey of querying literary agents.</li>
</ol>

9

<p>Most sophomores in my school take APWH. If you already took world history honors, why not just take it?</p>

<p>I personally regret not having taken an AP test freshman year. If you take one now, you’ll only have one test, thus more time to study/focus on that one specific test. If you absolutely don’t want to take an additional AP test to what you mentioned, why not take one you planned on taking Junior year to lessen your load? </p>

<p>Plus, you’ll have the experience of taking/studying for an AP test so junior year you’ll be more prepared. </p>

10

<p>If you say that most students at your school don’t do APs in freshman or sophomore years, then don’t. My school doesn’t let freshmen or sophomores take them, and reports that they “discourages juniors and senior from taking more than two AP classes a year,” so I won’t be compared to students who have taken 13 AP classes all throughout high school. It depends on who you are in the context of your school.</p>

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<p>I already stated that it’s too late for me to change my schedule and I’m still pretty convinced my schedule holds no errors, but thanks for the feedback.</p>

<p>& @Hiya12345 my school doesn’t offer AP World History.</p>

12

<p>My high school didn’t allow freshman and sophomores to take AP classes. Like others have said it really depends on what your school offers and what your classmates are doing. </p>