Need advice on junior course selection in high school for future CS/maths major

Pre-College Issues
1

I am a sophomore. This year I selected AP CSP. There are two options I can choose in the next 2 years

(1) AP CSA in Junior and Data structure (duel enrollment) in Senior. (I don’t have room for AP statistics in senior year)

(2) Data structure (duel enrollment) in junior. Take AP CSA exam by self learning in Junior. And AP statistics/IOS programming in Senior.

Which one is more impressive for the AO? I don’t know whether skip AP CSA class is bad or not. But I also think the score of Data structure in Junior is impressive. What do you think?

2

You don’t need to impress an Adcom. You need to get solid preparation for whatever comes next.

Self studying (if your HS offers the AP class) is rarely the best move. And why AP Stats (which is considered the “easy” math AP) instead of BC Calc (the “hard” math)???

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3

Wrong question. What do you like? How much experience do you have of programming?

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4

No point in doing that.

5

It’s difficult to advise in a vacuum, without seeing the rest of your courses. Only if you have 4 years of each of the 5 core subject areas (Eng, SS, Sci, FL, Math) should you add AP CS and data structure. Will that be the case?

I agree with blossom AP Calc BC or even AB > AP Stats > AP CSA and data structures…even if you want to be a CS major. Certainly if you want to be a math major.

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6

I will take AP Calc BC in Junior year. The most frustrated thing is the course that I need to select other than the 5 main core courses. I will apply for a CS/maths major. So I know data structure is very hard and I will definitely keep it on my list. The question is to take it in junior or in senior and the trade off.

7

Would you get credit for this class at the colleges you are planning to apply?

8

Yes, I will select AP Calc BC in junior. Maths is one of my options for the future major.

9

I am not sure. I think it depends. But I plan to take the course again in the college no matter what because I believe the course taught in HS is too simple. And I want to get solid knowledge in the algorithm.

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10

Take what you want to take, not what you think the adcoms want to see. At the end of the day they want to see rigor and good grades. Beyond that you don’t know. Rather than trying to impress them based on a guess, go with facts and take the courses you’re interested in.

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11

I have some experiences of programming, like Java and Python. That’s why I think self learning is not a problem for me at all. But I contacted to some college admission officer and they said they don’t look at the AP score on the common app. They look at the transcript. But I don’t know whether taking data structure in senior is too late because some of my friends will take data structure in the junior year. I don’t want to be left behind.

12

Self-learning is a good thing. Taking the AP exam without taking the course in school is useless.

13

You are putting the cart before the horse. HS isn’t a job training program, and college isn’t a lengthy apprenticeship. Focus on the basics. If you have an elective opportunity, take another literature course? Something that hones your writing skills? Music theory?

It’s great you have programming experience. But HS isn’t a coding academy.

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14

I think if I want to pursue a specific major, I need to select the courses in that area in HS. And that will benefit for the application. I have other interests, and I enjoy the band which takes a tremendous amount of time and makes my GPA lower. But I won’t drop it although it doesn’t help for the application.

15

A lit class will help your English skills which will ALSO benefit your application. You don’t need to show proficiency in multiple programming languages to major in CS. You DO need to show strong HS prep across the major academic areas whether or not they are relevant to computing.

You posted asking for advice- if you are convinced that you’re on the right path, why ask a bunch of strangers for the benefit of their experience?

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16

Yes, I will take AP Eng in my junior. I will pick the most rigorous courses provided in my HS, like AP USH. I want to do my best.

17

Duel = a type of fight
Dual = double

You have a lot of “I think” in your posts. Every poster responding has said the same thing: no, you don’t.

It is not that common that every poster on a thread has the same response. Your challenge is to figure out if the posters know more than you do. Having been on CC for a fair few years now, I can tell you that @blossom, @eyemgh, and @Mwfan1921 are long time, experienced and knowledgable posters (@SouthYankie is new to me, but the posts are on point and beautifully succinct). They are adults who have seen many admissions cycles, talked to many AOs, and shepherded kids through admissions across multiple schools.These are not HS students guessing or trying to figure this out,

It is your GC who will answer the rigor’ question, not what your friends do. If you are concerned, ask your GC if your planned curriculum will meet the "most rigorous’ standard. If so, you are good to go.

As for whether to take a class junior or senior year, here are couple pros/cons either way:

Junior year: the work load typically gets heavier and the material harder, and Junior year grades carry the most weight. In addition, many people start getting heavier leadership roles in their ECS as juniors, putting more pressure on your time. If your DE classes are at the local university (not in your HS classroom*), there is also travel time to consider. Finally, sometimes students so overload Junior year that their senior year options are less rigorous, so might look as though you have chosen to take an easier senior year. There are colleges that specifically look at the senior year courseload to see that the rigor is the same or higher. So, in the context of those factors: does putting Data Structures in Junior look like a good plan?

Senior year: EC leadership roles can require even more time, and the general advice is to consider college applications (including researching, writing essays, getting all of the LoRs in, gathering all the financial information if applying for financial aid, completing the forms, etc) as a ‘class’ in itself. Unless you have an early acceptance, first semester grades are critical. If the goal is to demonstrate interest and commitment, having the class on your senior year transcript checks that box.

*note whether the DE is in your HS or at the college can affect whether colleges will accept the credits

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18

I am just not sure choice 1 is better or choice 2 is better.

19

If you mean “better” for impressing an admissions committee, neither option will be why you do or do not get an acceptance.

If you mean “better” for you, then as suggested above, look at your life as a whole: if you are determined to take Data Structures, then which year you take it will only matter to you, and how it fits into your life. From an admissions point of view it will not make a difference.

You are holding very tightly to your belief that one or the other choice will be the “right” one and will make a difference in your college admissions.

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20

This isn’t going to make any difference for admission to college.

I’m not a big fan of the AP CS courses but if CSA is the best way at your school to get some experience with object oriented programming I’d probably do that first, then data structures as a senior. Especially if you’d get the chance to work on some bigger projects. Some of this depends on what most of the students with your interests and background do at your school though. It’d be fine to self-teach Java over a summer but I wouldn’t bother with AP tests.

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