Hello!! I am an upcoming junior & has been stressing over the fact on how much AP classes to take during junior year. So far the classes I registered are AP Lang, AP Calculus AB, AP Physics, AP Statistics, Regular US History, and Vietnamese 3 (Language). I consulted many of my friends but I still feel unsure whether I should take 3 or 4 and the reason is that I can’t handle stress very well and I don’t know how much stress will these classes give me. I also have a problem where once I’m hit with anxiety, I won’t be able to sleep at night. Considering during sophomore year, I didn’t even sleep the night before the AP World History exam )-; I also do track for sports & usually go home around 5-6 pm and I’m also a hospital & library volunteer so I’m pretty much occupied on Saturdays (which are my shift days). Oh, to provide a little background, as a sophomore I took AP World History, English 2 Honors, Pre-Calculus, Chemistry, PE, and Vietnamese 2. With these classes, I slept around 12-1 am & I was able to maintain all A’s during 2nd semester but suffered one B during 1st semester. Also I’m not really aiming for Ivy Leagues but more like top universities in California such as UCI, UCSD, UCLA, etc… Ah, I also feel peer pressured from my friends as almost everyone I know is taking 4-5 AP classes but I know I shouldn’t let that affect me but I can’t help but feel below as they could be potential competition. So please much help would be needed!
You shouldn’t be talking to your friends for advice about classes - your counselor is the person for that.
Do whichever classes you feel that you can handle. AP Stats seems out of place - unless you want to go into the math field, one math class is enough. Unless you are good in science, I would suggest you take a less rigorous science class. I recommend you taking APUSH if you can handle it and if you can drop one of your AP’s.
I think your schedule looks great; balanced, doable, and rigorous for sure. You don’t need any more APs. The only thing that I feel I should question, though, is the inclusion of AP Statistics alongside AP Calc. Are you interested in stats? If so, you may consider looking into a calc-based stats class in college. It would definitely be more interesting, and use the calc you’ve learned. You mentioned anxiety… Maybe dropping stats for a fun elective would give you a lighter load to carry.
You don’t need any more APs and could probably drop AP Stats (talk to counselor first). If you are interested in math, then don’t drop stats but it’s an option. You might not want to take many APs (3 is still quite a few) your junior year so you can focus on preparing for college and taking standardized tests.
I agree with the above posters: unless you’re really interested in stats, you could probably drop it for something else
Drop AP stats for sure and instead take a class you really look forward to , just for fun - and make sure to convey this idea of ‘taking a class just for fun because you love the topic.’ in your essays or interviews. The resulting schedule would be perfect.
@Shanban1607 Sorry for really late reply but I’m not particularly interested in Statistics, but in my school, it is one of the easier AP classes and the majority of the students come out with an A so I was thinking to take it as a GPA boost. I was actually debating to drop AP Stats too and take a class where I can relax and not have to worry too much about such as Photography 2 because I took Photography 1 as a freshmen.
@MYOS1634 Sorry for late reply too but I did consider taking a fun elective class but being the worrywart I am, I’m frightened it will make me look less competitive towards other students when applying for college. I don’t know if I’m worrying too much about my classes and how I’ll look compared to other students.
There’s a cap on how many total AP 's the UC’s you’re interested in will consider.
You already have one, take three this year, and take three senior year, and you’ll be good.
Really, take Ap stats senior year :).
Get a Fiske guide from the library and start reading about colleges.
Beside the UC 's, look into Willamette, Whitman, Chapman, Lewis and Clark…