I am a junior and this is my third year taking French. I love my teacher and my class, but I cannot prioritize it while taking more important, difficult classes. Consequently, I will most likely barely get an A in the class. Next year, I’m thinking I won’t take AP French. Will that destroy my chances if I compensate with math/science classes?
ACT: C:35 W:10 (2nd sitting)
GPA (unweighted): 3.98
GPA (weighted): 4.65
AP Tests:
European History (4)
United States History
Government and Politics
Calculus AB
Calculus BC
Language & Composition
OR
Literature & Composition
(I will not be taking both, but I cannot decide yet)
Physics 1
Physics C: Mechanics
Biology
Chemistry
Psychology
NOTE: I only have a score for Euro because I am taking the rest of these APs this year and next year.
I’m also considering not taking Psychology my senior year, so I can leave school early.
Thoughts, insights, feedback would be appreciated! Thanks in advance.
I think it’s better to opt out of a class you know you’ll do poorly in than to take it and have unnecessary stress. Pretty sure three years of a foreign language will suffice anywhere. As far as AP classes go, I can really only speak about my experience. I’ve taken or am currently taking every class you’ve mentioned with the exception of French (I took Spanish) and physics C. Psychology is by far among the easiest of the AP courses and should be a breeze, both as a class and as an actual test. I personally prefer AP Lang over AP Lit. Lang has a more rigid and easy to follow structure, not to mention that two of the three essays are more about your own opinions than actual analyzation of written work. Lit on the other hand has much more emphasis on analyzation of fiction work, which is more difficult in my opinion because it can be hard to figure out exactly what an author is trying to do. As far as the rest of the classes you have listed, as long as you’re an honest student with good work ethic (which I assume you are due to your stellar gpa), they really shouldn’t be difficult. Best of luck!
@afamelas Thank you for such a thoughtful response! One of the reasons I do not want to take Psychology is because I feel I need that time for self-study. Almost all of my classes will be IB, but due to expense I am opting to take AP tests instead. Also, AP tests are not as long or rigorous. I feel I will need the time to significantly study for biology and chemistry because the IB and AP tests have very different focuses. However, I already took a semester of Psych this year and my teacher expects me to continue on the IB course for my senior year. I do not want to disappoint her, but biology and chemistry are way more important to me.
I took AP chemistry, AP physics 1, AP physics 2, AP Psychology, AP Lang, and AP Government all simultaneously, and I can’t lie to you and tell you it wasn’t challenging. But I, in no way, felt like AP Psychology posed a detriment to my study time for the other classes. In fact, I don’t think I really studied at all for the actual test, the material is very easy to learn and very easy to quickly recall. But I can see why you’d be on edge about taking it. If I had to order the tests I’ve taken in increasing difficulty, it’d look something like this:
AP Psychology
AP Language and Composition
AP U.S History
AP Government
AP Chemistry
AP Physics 2
AP Physics 1
At my son’s school AP language is not available, so he had the choice to take a 4th year of foreign language and give up Valedictorian or take an AP class, skip the fourth year of language and be Valedictorian. The AP class is in a science and much more difficult than the foreign language class he would have taken.
This is from the Stanford website,
"We do not have a required high school (or college) curriculum, but we do make recommendations. We expect freshman applicants to have engaged in a rigorous curriculum and chosen from among the most demanding courses available in their secondary school. It is not necessary to take every advanced course offered; but if such courses are available to you, we expect that you have taken advantage of many of them. Our most competitive freshman applicants often have four years (grades 9-12) of English, four years of math (including calculus), four years of social studies, four years of science (including biology, chemistry and physics) and four years of a foreign language.
There is flexibility, however, in how we view an applicant’s curriculum. For example, an applicant may be competitive with just three years of a foreign language through 11th grade but also with five math courses taken in the last four years. Conversely, an applicant may be competitive taking two languages all four years and just three years of social studies."
http://admission.stanford.edu/basics/selection/evaluate.html
I wouldn’t do the early out unless you are doing dual enrollment or had some really good excuse. Colleges want to see the toughest schedule all the way through.
@Mysonsdad That’s great advice. Thank you! I’m thinking I’ll either stick with Psychology or maybe do Computer Science or Statistics. I still have a couple more months before I select my courses
@afamelas You found Physics 1 to be the most difficult? Was there any particular reason for that?
I personally preferred physics 2 over physics 1 because of my thorough background with chemistry. Many of the topics (such as thermodynamics) had a lot to do with laws we used early on in the AP chemistry course so it was easier for me to comprehend and work with. A lot of people do prefer physics 1 over physics 2 though. More physics-minded people seemed to prefer that one because the material was generally very cumulative.