<p>I'm in a somewhat strange position in that I have not taken Macroeconomics or Microeconomics in high school and still want to major in a business-related field. The reason is that I had studied basic economics prior to my grade eligibility for AP Econ (we must be grade 11 or higher) through a CC and I had taken the AP Economics tests in 9th grade (scoring a 4 and a 5). </p>
<p>I have been told that not having a formal economics class in high school may cause colleges to believe that I don't have a genuine interest in econ or that I was intimidated by the difficulty of the econ classes (neither of which is true). Ironically, I took the AP tests early to, in fact, demonstrate my early interest in economics. </p>
<p>So my question is: given a decent extracurricular record in the business/finance/econ fields, will my lack of an AP Econ class on the transcript be a significant detriment to top tier schools? And would it be better to take AP Macro/Micro over AP European History my senior year, even if the class would serve more as a review than as actual learning? </p>
<p>A lack of an AP Econ class will not be detrimental for admissions. The admissions committees know that students will change their majors a lot. I read somewhere where the average was 7 times while in college. Not taking it will not be a significant factor.
As for taking Macro/Micro over European History, I would advise you to do this. Senior year is going to be quite difficult with all of the college applications and you’ll need as much free time as you can get. I would strongly advise you to take Macro/Micro over European - the point of high school is moreso to get you into college then provide you with “actual learning” in senior year.</p>
<p>You’ve taken a college level econ class, and you’ve gotten great scores on both AP econ tests. That shows the college that you understand the material and had an interest in it because you took it early. In fact, you should explain this in your additional info section so they know you went out of your way to do this.</p>
<p>There’s no sense in taking AP econ as a class if you’ve already passed the exam. They’ll think you’re trying to cruise your senior year, and you DON’T want to come off that way. Euro is a tougher class but stick with it - I don’t see any reason to take an AP class if you’ve already passed the exam. You’ve already had an econ class already so that’s not an issue either.</p>
<p>You really have to look into the schools you want to apply to. From my understanding, and correct me if I’m wrong, most students are NOT admitted right away to their intended major. Usually this takes place after a year or two, so I have a hard time believing that any of this will cause you any problems. I think you might be jumping the gun a little, because you don’t even know if your APs will transfer over to your intended Uni. My brother took AP courses and when he got to Clarkson, they didn’t accept AP’s at all.</p>
<p>Just contact the admissions people. I’m not sure this really matters at this point.</p>
<p>Most colleges don’t care exactly which classes you take in hs, as long as you have a rigorous preparation in math, English, science, foreign language and so on. Many, many students come to college without any background in economics at all. I agree that it’s silly to take AP Econ if you’ve already done well on the exams. Take something else-- AP Euro history if it’s your best option.</p>
<p>In response to LaurenW, I will likely apply to a few undergraduate business schools and my assumption is that an economics course would be more applicable to such an institution than a history class. </p>
<p>In any case, thanks for all of the advice and I will plan on taking European history my senior year.</p>
<p>I understand you want to apply to an undergraduate business school. I also attend an undergraduate business school. I could not apply until the end of my sophomore year. Therefore, my previous “business” coursework was irrelevant until I was admitted into my School of Management after my second year. I went through two years of a “general” studies period. Schools tend to do this because they know kids will change majors at least 2 or 3 times, as I also did.</p>
<p>I just wasn’t aware any schools directly accepted you into an undergrad business school without making you take at least the pre reqs.</p>