I have to decide on my schedule for next year within the next week. Keep in mind that I’m a HYPMSC hopeful; although I may not have the greatest chance of going to one of those schools, I’d love to work towards going to one of them. Here is what I am planning to take next year:
AP Psychology(Over the summer/online)
Honors Precalculus
Honors Spanish 5 (Pre-AP)
AP Eng. Lang. and Comp.
AP US History
AP Bio (was gonna take Physics 1, but then I realized that it wouldn’t prepare me for the physics SAT II subject test)
AP Human Geography (Thru accredited online provider as it is not available at my school; I go to a private school with limited APs)
AP Economics(Thru the aforementioned online provider. Again, not offered at my school + Economics is the best field ever and I really want to take a class in econ)
I purposefully tried to take as many easy APs as I could that I was interested in so that I could have a manageable, but hopefully impressive junior year schedule. I know it sounds a bit crazy, but I think that it is definitely manageable!
Take out AP Human. It would only distract you from studying for other classes. You wouldn’t get any useful credit with the schools you’re aiming for. Replace it with a fun class or study hall. Subject tests are made so that anyone without access to APs could still do well. AP Physics 1 would be more than enough prep. If you don’t take Physics this year, I highly recommend taking it Senior year. You are are supposed to have one year of Bio, Chem, and Physics.
I agree you should remove AP Human Geography. It’s a gateway AP for freshman/sophomores, to give them an idea what AP’s are like, and is thus counted as an AP lite.
Rather than taking AP Psychology online, can you take a summer class at your local CC that shows you’re interested in social science (you seem interested in Economics, but what about international relations, political science, cultural anthropology…?)
If I were to take AP Human Geo. out of my schedule, would it look bad for me to be taking only 4 APs during the school year? Because of my school being a super small and competitive private high school, Most of the HYPMSC hopeful juniors at my school take 3-4 APs and a select few take 5-6 because they are able to bypass some of my school’s departments’ policies. My school offers a decent amount of APs, but most of them aren’t even available to most students until their senior year (AP Econ & AP Hum. Geo. aren’t included in the APs offered by my school) … Also, I was planning on working ahead in the online courses during holidays and doing some work here and there during school weeks as the online school I’m using allows individuals to pace their curriculum; I though doing this would help me keep sane.
Ok, thanks for the advice! I already looked into taking classes at my local cc, but the ones that were offered to highschool students weren’t great, nor were they meeting at convenient times.
It will not look bad as long as your GC still rates your schedule as “most rigorous.” Once that check mark is in place, AO’s will not be analyzing your schedule in depth.
Be aware that for most colleges, including the ultra-selective ones you’ve mentioned, the law of diminishing returns kicks in after you have 6-8 AP courses throughout your entire HS career. IOW, each additional AP course will not add appreciably to your application. Having said that, there are valid reasons for additional AP’s, but packing a schedule with AP’s just because they’re AP’s will look like the applicant is an AP junkie.
If your school limits courses, you will not be at any disadvantage in the admissions process. Colleges expect applicants to take the most rigorous courses they can handle within their HS curriculum. No college expects a student to look for other opportunities solely to circumvent school rule. The GC rec will include a school profile which will list ant academic restrictions that the school imposes.