I’m planning on taking APUSH, AP bio, AP chem, AP lang, honors precalc, honors spanish convo, honors anatomy, and I’m also doing an after school research project with a mentor. I was considering taking a precalc class over the summer to switch the precalc with AP calc. I’ve never taken an AP class before, but I will improve my work ethic since I really want to do well my junior year and be an optimal applicant for college (really shooting towards the ivy leagues) Is this schedule going to be too much for me?
None of know your aptitudes or the difficultly level of your particular school/teachers. The best advice is to work with your guidance counselor and teachers to create a schedule that is rigorous yet manageable for you.
No one on an anonymous message board can answer this. The workload is manageable for some, not for others.
The advice above is correct. Hopefully you consulted with these folks when you selected your courses.
If you’ve never taken an AP course yes this is too much: take 2-3, to start. In addition, taking three science courses (including one of the hardest AP courses there is) has disaster written all over it.
Also DO NOT rush through precalculus and DO take it during the school year.
What’s your current GPA?
What classes did you take this year and where grades did you get?
Finally, there are literally dozens of excellent colleges out there.
The Ivy league includes colleges that are vastly different, from core curriculum to no gen eds, from gritty urban to isolated rural. Not to mention they’re far from being the best at everything - UChicago, Northwestern, JHU, G’town, not mention Amherst, Pomona, Bowdoin, Williams, Wellesley are all different and highly selective too. Finally, your schedule wouldn’t especially impress adcoms, as it seems to reflect hubris more than a reasonable plan with a careful progression highlighting your academic strengths.
I suggest you keep your schedule as is except replace AP chem with a light elective, keeping in mind this schedule would be very demanding. If you’re unsure, replace apush with honors us history.
I have a 4.337 gpa and got all As on eng, bio, civics, algebra 2, spanish 2-3, and intro to ap chem(all honors) and am currently top of my class. I really wanted to focus on improving my science education for junior year and my bio teacher recommended I take AP bio with AP chem rather than taking AP bio with AP physics. I think I will stay with precalc but I would really prefer still taking the 3 science classes since the anatomy/physiology class would help with the research I want to get into
Excellent.
Your bio teacher may not have realized you planned on taking more than just AP Bio and AP Chem together.
If you really want to take them both, replace APUSH with Honors US History.
What do you mean by “the research I want to get into”?
It really depends on you personally. At my high school (it is extremely competitive with about 50 students each year achieving a 35-36), students are not allowed to take AP Biology and AP Chemistry at the same time. I actually tried to sign up for both in the same year, and they told me I couldn’t so I switched to AP Biology and AP Physics. The rest of your classes should be doable though. I would take precalc through the school though because AP Calc is very difficult (unless you really like math) and you need a good foundation for it. My only concern would be that you sign up to take too many courses and then end up performing not very well in them due to the difficult work, as that would severely decrease chances at an IVY school.
I’m still currently devising a written plan to submit to my school’s science department but it will be relating to something biomedical/health science. That’s why I think I should take AP Bio, AP Chem, and honors anatomy/physiology since it would be improving my knowledge relating to the research that I would be conducting. I also am going to apply for summer research programs for the summer after my junior year and I assume that I should be well-educated on the biomedical sciences before going to this type of program.
My daughter just finished her junior year and took 6 APs… Calc BC, Physics C, Chemistry, English Lang, French and Computer Science Principles; the workload was fine. She took AP Bio as a sophomore and indicated that it was a lot more work than AP Chem. Depending on ones aptitude in STEM classes, doubling up in AP science may or may not be a good idea.
^ an issue is that this student has never taken an AP course. So they may be taking on too much at once.
What’s the policy at your school on dropping down a level?
We can drop down after the first semester.
Then, if you feel the risk is worth it, you have an out - but you should know it’ll likely be hard to go from zero AP to 2 strong AP s, 2 well-known hard APs, precalculus honors and Spanish honors.
If you see you have to cut on sleep and ECs, of if your grades drop below B’s, drop down in US history.
Why take 2 AP Sciences?
(My recommendation would be AP BIo+ A&P junior year, AP Chem+ Honors Physics senior year).
I’m just really interested in the sciences ~.~
While it comes down to how you are as a student, I can say that it is doable with the right mindset and work ethic. I had almost the same classes as you are planning to take but it did not come without a lot of sleep deprivation, stress, and hard work. I think junior year can be pretty stressful and you want to make sure that you are challenging yourself while also maintaining good grades. If you are taking more AP’s with the thought that it will give you college credits, I would first see if the colleges you are looking into accept AP credits, what score you have to get in order to earn credit, and then see if you want to stick with your classes. I also want to add that having both AP Chem and AP Bio will be extremely challenging and I personally would not suggest it because even if you think you are strong in both subjects, keeping up and mastering the curriculum will be more difficult than you may think (I took AP Bio this year and that alone took up the majority of my time). Additionally, the fact that you have not taken an AP before gives me pause because the transition from honors classes to AP can be very jarring to some students (myself included!). I am not trying to scare you out of your classes but keep in mind that your junior year will really determine how you are setting your college applications up for not only the grades you present but the opportunity to demonstrate leadership, participate in extracurricular, and obtain letters of recommendation. With that said, whichever classes you choose, I wish you good luck for your junior year!!