I’m kinda worried about junior year because of all the stuff I’ve heard about from upperclassmen.
Anyways, my school runs on accelerated block; A year is split into two semesters, and in each semester we are allowed to take 4 classes. This gets a little annoying for APs because if you have an AP course in the Fall, you have to retain all the information for the AP exam that takes place in the spring. If you have an AP course in the Spring, then you have less time to learn the course because the AP exam cuts into the time of the course. Homework gets really annoying too.
My schedule for this year looks like this:
AP Calc AB (Spring)
AP Calc BC (Fall)
AP Bio (2 semesters)
AP Eng 3 (1 semester)
AP Art History (1 semester)
Choir (2 semesters)
APUSH CONCERNS:
We are required to take a US History course in order to graduate at my school. I have taken history courses in the past such as AP Human Geography as well as AP World History, and I have gotten 5s on both AP exams. I’m conflicted. Should I take APUSH? Or should I take regular US History? I REALLY don’t like US history, and I’ve heard the APUSH teachers at my school make the class a living hell. If I decide to put in APUSH then I would lose AP Art History, a course that I would really be interested in.
I don’t really want to take a regular class because I want to show colleges that I consistently challenged myself throughout my high school years; however, I think it would be better because I am taking other rigorous courses/prepping for SAT/ACT that I want to spend my time focusing on. I’ve heard that APUSH takes a hell lot of time. If I decide to take regular US History, then I would have to take it online Fall semester because I don’t have space in my schedule to take it at school. I also don’t want to take a regular class because of the 1.1 multiplier that would hurt my GPA because of all the 1.3 (APs) I’ve taken, but I figured if I get a 100 in the class and take AP Art History in place of APUSH it should be okay?
Do colleges value/accept APUSH credit? What should I do?
OTHER CONCERNS:
Is junior year really that bad?
How much sleep per night?
What other things should I be doing to get ready for college/application process?
If you don’t like us history, don’t take APUSH. I hate history, and never took AP history, and never regretted it.
Junior year is what you make it. IMHO people choose to make it a living hell because they try to do everything they can to get into college and forget about sleep and happiness. I know people who got A LOT less sleep than me and took more aps than me and ended up at less competitive colleges than mine because making yourself miserable does not help. You will end up at a place that is good for you.
Have to agree with @soontobecolleger, if you don’t like US History, don’t do APUSH. If you like something, take it! I took orchestra all four years of HS even if it meant putting other classes to the side. From my perspective, colleges don’t really care if you have APUSH credit. Like for my school, it was just credit for a humanities course. For where you wanna go, it might matter, so think about it for a bit.
To answer your other questions:
-Junior year is hard if you make it like that. If you overthink everything, it’s not going to be a fun time. I can’t really speak on this because I took APUSH as my only AP for junior year. The general thing is, if you bog yourself down in a lot of work (and there will be a lot of work), you’ll get less sleep and you’ll end up being less happy. With regards to your schedule, take enough time to make sure you’re caught up and prepared for whatever is in that class.
-As for colleges and universities, look for schools that you’ll love to be at. Visit them on open house or info session days. Tour the campus. Ask questions to the student tour guides and any faculty/staff members you meet. Ask yourself if you’d like to spend the next four years of your life there.
colleges definitely would take APUSH over regular history. But with that being said, if you are genuinely not interested in APUSH then don’t take it. Also consider that colleges would rather take a student who took rigorous AP courses in high school and ended with a 3.5 GPA rather than someone who has a4.0 GPA with all regular classes. I’m also a rising junior and had the same issue of deciding whether to take APUSH or regular USH. I ended up sticking with APUSH. You seem like a hard working and tenacious student. Take a deep breathe and you’ll be fine !
