I selected regular Econ this semester and plan to take AP Econ in the 12th grade. But the counselor said it is not recommended to do that. She suggested to take other AP social studies in the 12th grade. Is the repeating so bad that it can affect my application to the top 30 universities? I plan to apply for STEM major.
My daughter is taking the highest level of econ her high school offers after taking an intro level as an underclassman. (Her school does not offer the AP curriculum.) She intends to study econ in college, though, and is a recent admit to her top choice, which is a T10 school.
It’s really a matter of trade-offs. Will the AP Econ “crowd out” other AP options that will help demonstrate high academic rigor or help you gain admission for your desired major? Will taking a second econ course prevent you from covering other bases in math, the sciences or humanities?
If your counselor is concerned, for example, that you’ll skip APUSH or some other key subject, listen to her. Remember, she will be asked to score your curriculum choices in the Common App, and if a T30 school is your goal, you’ll want her to attest that you took the most rigorous course load available to you.
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I want to select AP Econ because I think it is more interesting than AP Gov, AP Psychology, … I will take AP US history in the 11th grade, so I think it is rigorous enough. I am just not sure taking regular Econ and then AP Econ is a bad idea since counselor is concerned. But dropping the regular Econ makes me only have 1 semester of social science in the 10th grade and I don’t know it is a issue. I am going to meet with counselor tomorrow to discuss about the course selection. Thank you for your advice!
Don’t take AP econ if your going into stem. You want the highest math you can take with Physics and AP physics. The schools want to see rigor. AP econ isn’t that much more then your basic econ. Listen to your counselor.
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But If I don’t take AP Econ, I still need to take AP Gov, so that I have social study in my 12th grade. It seems you suggested taking the most difficulty math instead of 2 social studies in the 12th grade. Thank you for your advice.
How many semesters or years of high school social studies do you think you need?
Most university require 2-3 years of social studies, some recommended 4 years. But my goal is top 30, STEM major. I don’t want my application failed because I took 3.5 years of social study.
Not many. CalTech is the one that comes to mind. [UPDATED: I was going from memory on this response, which led to some wrong info. I’m not seeing where any T30 school requires as much as four years of social studies. The highest I can find is Stanford, whose CDS says “3+” (recommended, not required). As @skieurope notes, a school would not reject applicants for having “only” 3.5 years of high school social studies.]
I don’t think taking AP Econ (even after regular econ) rather than AP Psych or AP Gov will move the needle in terms of college admissions.
Just be sure your guidance counselor will not change the rating of your HS schedule rigor if you opt for AP Econ.
Caltech requires one year and recommends 3.
If the OP does not get into a certain college, it will not be because they only had 3.5 years of social studies.
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You’re correct – on both counts. I might have been thinking about Stanford, which (now that I’ve checked) is actually “3+” (recommended, not required), a standard the OP will meet.
@dongshiming, I stand corrected, see below. It looks like your counselor is giving you solid advice.
How does the counselor set the rating of the HS schedule rigor? Does she/he set year by year? or does she/he set an overall rating?
Overall
Noone at our school does Econ and then AP Econ. Just do AP Econ in 12th grade. The kids at our school do AP Psychology - both my kids enjoyed it. Both are STEM and it was a better soc sciences course than the traditional history-type courses. They are required though to take AP/nonAP govt as a 1 semester class.