I have always been on the “advanced” track and with junior year approaching, I heard I should continue “appyling myself”
However, that would mean taking classes I’m not interested in. I heard its better to do what you want and the right college will find you but then I also heard that its best to do the hardest classes and forget interests.
I’m planning on taking
AP English Language and Comp
Forensic Science (as opposed to AP Bio or Chem)
French 3
US History (as opposed to APUSH)
Theater Tech (really interested in)
Performing Arts Production Assistant ( an advanced theater class that only accepts 8 top students per year, opposed to a more academically rigorous class)
And I’m choosing between AP human Geo and AP Psych
In the past, I’ve done
Freshman year:
World Geo
Health
French 1
Theater 1
Algebra 2 (I finished Algebra 1 and Geometry before i started high school)
Freshmen PE
Accelerated Biology with Research (advanced biology class that expects 2 previous science teacher recs)
English 9 (our school doesn’t offer advanced freshmen english classes)
Sophomore Year:
Chemistry ( I was placed in Honors Chem but I had to switch my schedule so I had to drop honors chem to regular)
Theater 2/3
Yoga (for pe credit)
Advanced English 10
AP Euro
French 2
Pre-Calculus
Extra: I’ve also done Sociology, Psychology and Calculus 1 at the community college
How did you do on Euro? I took Euro my sophomore year and APUSH my junior year and got 4s on each, if you did well in Euro it sets you up well for success. Also AP Psych probably looks better than AP Human
I think while colleges are interested in you taking a challenging work load, what I’ve gleaned from my time on this site is - Take challenging classes, but not so challenging you’ll fail. That, and APs are less about college admissions for most people, and more about “skipping” college level classes, and saving time/money.
So consider - Where do you want to apply? Do they accept APs for credit? Do some research about how much those schools take APs into account during admissions.
And as the other people said - Maybe take APUSH, AP Chem, or AP Bio. I wouldn’t exactly recommend taking two of them, since they are all pretty challenging courses/have ridiculous workloads. (People do this, it’s possible, but it’s very stressful. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you really wanted to.) So if you’re really interested in Forensic Science, take APUSH
Take a look at how that community college Psych class translates to credit at colleges you’re interested in. Taking AP Psych might be redundant.
Thank you so much for your feedback. @bopper
I have my Biology and Chemistry credit done. I wasn’t planning on doing Physics Because I know I won’t do well in the class but i might…?
I definitely want to do AP Chem because I fell in love with Chem this year but at our school, forensics is only for juniors so I wanted to try that while I can. However, I see your point so I might drop forensics.
My other science options are Forensics, Physics,Honors Anatomy (but i heard forensics is better than Anatomy) and AP Bio (but the Acc. Bio class I took freshmen year is an unweighted equivalent).
As for math, I already have 5 years finished. Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, Pre-Calculus, and Calculus 1. I can do AP Calc BC, Stats or AP Stats next year because I have those options open but I didn’t see the point in taking 6-7 years of math when I don’t expect a career in that field. However, If it improves my transcript, I don’t mind taking it.
Thank you very much!
@Qipsoma Thank you as well. I’m looking at colleges with a 30-60% acceptance rates (mostly liberal arts colleges) I’m not sure what I want to major in yet but I assume it will be in liberal arts. Other schools I have interests is Syracuse, NYU, Emerson College, Bard, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, University of SF (I live in the california bay area), and the New School. My psych class is equivalent to AP Psych but if i take it at school I can get a weighted grade and my gpa needs a boost.I also have a busy schedule so I am not interested in taking too many difficult classes but I understand I need to in order to stand out to colleges. thank you so much.
@angryturtle I did decent in the class with an A but I barely passed the AP exam with a 3 ( excuses suck but I do have a valid excuse for the low score) so I wasn’t sure if APUSH was for me…