Need help Picking Senior Year AP Classes!!!

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

Course Selection is coming up next week in my school and I am still deciding between 2 slots and 3 desired classes of mine. In my school we have 8 classes all together with 4 on “A” days and 4 on “B” days. Here are my selected classes that have already been picked out:

Honors Biotechnology III
Honors Biotechnology IV
Honors BioInformatics
AP Calculus AB
AP Chemistry
AP Literature

My potential majors as of now are the following:
Chemical Engineering
Chemistry
Biomolecular Engineering
Molecular Biology
Environmental Engineering
Biochemistry (Maybe)
Neuroscience ( Very Very Very Small Possibility)

Potential Minors:
General Biology
Biochemistry
Environmental Science
Statistics
Mathematics

Im in a program for biotechnology that requires me to take the 1st 3 courses and calc, lit, and chem i already know i want to take. But for my last two slots. Its between the following:
AP Microeconomics
AP Statistics,
AP Psychology

I wish I could take all of them but I can’t sadly but hopefully somebody can just tell me what to do. My reasons for taking Microeconomics is that I wish to learn about my country economy and how it works. Basically I want to take micro to just learn even though it has nothing to pertain to my science major in college. In my school this is the second school year my teacher has taught this course. He talks a lot about his life which keeps the class exciting but I fear that the actual amount of learning about the economy will be pushed mainly to the students. And yes I know I better get used to just learning the material on y own in college because in reality thats just how things are.
I wish to take AP Statistics because its basically a science class you learn how to interpret data and such. Also you can learn to analyze graphs and predict things with probability and plus I’m pretty sure Statistics is one of those classes thousands of college articles say that every student should take… Plus I hear its a hard class to take in college so I’d much rather take it in a high school setting get the credit with the AP exam and move the hell on with my life. Though there is a slight chance I could minor in mathematics or statistics so who knows.
Then with psychology the teacher has been teaching for years Ive heard she isn’t dry and the class discussions are fun. But the test are difficult but psychology seems such a fun subject that I would love to learn what they do. And yes I know I’m not going to be able to psychoanalyze people after I’ve taken this class only people with masters and doctorate do that (Mostly i don’t know). And I’m interested in learning psychology stuff to. But I don’t want to make a career out of it except maybe Neuroscience but thats a debate for another day.

These are my arguments for taking these and PLEASE don’t try to convince me not take all ap classes. The decision has been made and I just need help making this final one. Also I kind of want a pair which ever you choose to be a hard and easy pair because I am aware Im going to have to apply for colleges in the beginning and mid year. Im going to try to fight senioritis as hard as I can and will prevail. Also I can sometimes be a tiny tiny tiny bit lazy and I do procrastinate a lot but I could learn to change. And then maybe pick a pair that will look bombastic on college applications. So maybe pick 1 pair that will help with college major/minors one pair thats fun for learning one pair that will look amazing on applications or whatever. Ill take any advice/help that I can get.

Thank you,
Dory

2

“Plus I hear its a hard class to take in college so I’d much rather take it in a high school setting get the credit with the AP exam and move the hell on with my life. Though there is a slight chance I could minor in mathematics or statistics so who knows.”

All your majors are science and engineering, so AP Statistics will most likely not give you any useful college credit, since the college requirement will be calculus-based (sort of the same difference between AP Physics 1 and AP Physics C).

On the other hand, colleges usually give AP credit for Microeconomics and Psychology, so those could potentially get you out of some requirements.

3

Thank you and your right @goldenbear2020

4

@skieurope Can I get your opinion you’ve helped me before???

5

Sure. I agree with @goldenbear2020 AP Statistics is, IMO, the least useful for your proposed field since calculus-based stats will be mor usefule and, depending upon the college, will likely be required.

6

Personally I disagree with both the above commentors. Out of the three AP’s you have listed, Statistics is the most important and the most useful. I’m also going to be a senior next year. I already took AP Calc AB last year, and am taking both AP Chemistry and AP Statistics this year. Personally, I feel that Statistics has helped me in every other math and science class, here’s why. In AP Chemistry, you need a variation of standard deviation to calculate particle position. Standard Deviation is an equation that is only taught in AP Statistics. I’ve been able to apply it and the bell curve to FRQs in Chemistry, Calculus, and Mechanics. Like you, I am leaning towards majoring in Chemical Engineering, and I can assure you that none of your engineering colleges will take AP Microeconomics. This is because colleges have specific Economics for Engineers courses created that apply specifically to engineering. As far as AP Psych goes, you may or may not be able to get away with an elective credit. However, if you take either AP Gov or AP Euro instead, you will definitely be able to receive credit for your history requirement.