I apologize if I am posting in an incorrect section.
Hello, this is my first post on College Confidential, though I have been using the site for a while now to get information.
AP World History is the only AP Course for sophomores, which I am taking at the moment.
Anyway, my problem lies with my schedule for Junior year mainly, and I have some questions regarding it.
Here’s the course schedule I have planned for next year so far.
AP Language and Composition (or maybe English 11 Honors, I don’t know if I would be prepared for it.)
AP US History
Pre Calculus Honors (AP Calculus Senior year)
AP Biology and AP Physics 1(I could possibly take Regular Physics instead)
AP Spanish 4(I’m not amazing at the language, though it is the only option past 3H for my school.
Research 3 (College Level, and also will continue later with Research 4 senior year)
Chorale
First of all, am I taking too many AP courses for junior year? I honestly am not sure if I may be able to handle it. Should I be taking two science AP courses at once? I am really interested in most of these courses except for Physics and Spanish. I still am interested in the classes, just not as much as the others. Second, my teacher will not teach AP Chemistry, since the last time she taught a class, all the kids in the class did not do well. Even with the newly reinstated AP Environmental class in my school, everyone in the class received a one the last time the class was taught. Though, I believe only 9 people were in the Environmental class initially, and some dropped out after some time, and those that remained received the score. You see, teachers in my school at least get graded on how well their students do on tests, and the reason she will not teach the AP Chemistry class is the fact that she does not want to risk losing her job.
Should I self study AP Chemistry instead?
As a result of this, I will likely only be taking AP Physics 2 senior year as a science course. Would that be bad regarding pre med school applications?
For my Extra curriculars, I am currently in Red Cross Club, Amnesty Club, and also History Day(though really just a competition.) I also play piano as well, though I wouldn’t consider my playing good enough for it to be considered an extracurricular activity. I plan on joining Math and Science Honor society next year, and also starting community service this year (I know, it is a bit late), and maybe “shadowing”, I believe it is called. Is it too late now for me to be joining new extracurricular clubs and also doing community service? Honestly, I believe that my lack of extra curricular activities is probably the most worrisome aspect about my future application.
I apologize if I am too concerned for future endeavors, and also the many questions I have asked.
As a current sophomore taking AP Physics and AP Chem (along with other APs), I would say that two science APs are definitely manageable if you are willing to put in quite a bit of time and effort. On the other hand, DO NOT try to self-study AP Chemistry. I would consider it to be amongst the more difficult of the AP courses and since it is so inherently lab-based, you would struggle with finding appropriate resources, etc.
Your current extracurriculars look good to me. I would advise against “jumping into” a bunch of extracurriculars in your junior year, especially because you plan on taking such a rigorous courseload. The most important thing is to find one or two activities that you are truly passionate about and to really “delve deep” into them. If you can do some community service/volunteerism on the side, that is just a bonus. The idea that you need physician-shadowing and hospital-internship experience in order to apply to a “pre-med” program is completely a myth.
Thanks for the reply, and sorry for my late one!
Would you recommend putting down piano as an extracurricular you did in your spare time, even though you did not receive any rewards or were very good at it?