<p>Hey, all and sundry. Without any preludes, I am a junior in high school and currently taking all AP classes. And it's hard. Without going into a long self-absorbed rant, let's just say that my science and math classes are presenting difficulties. I've been in all AP classes since ninth grade, but am now considering dropping PreCal for regulars in order to save my GPA. So here's the question...will dropping into regulars math and possibly physics for one year hurt my chances at competitive colleges (Amherst, Pomona, Princeton, Macalester, etc.)? I am going to be back in all APs next year, but if I stay in them this year I'm probably going to ruin my GPA...and that's bad. So I would appreciate some input on this. Thanks!</p>
<p>i dont believe precalc is an AP Course</p>
<p>pre-calc is ap</p>
<p>I don't see Pre-Calc on this list:
<a href="http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/subjects.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/subjects.html</a></p>
<p>whether or not you take a few extra ap classes wont affect your acceptance to a top school. there are so many more factors, so don't worry about it. just make sure you keep everything else going well.</p>
<p>And plus, there are only 2 AP english classes...you couldn't take AP english all 4 years of hs.</p>
<p>Your school may label them as AP but they are not unless collegeboard actually offers tests for it.</p>
<p>pre-calc is not AP. </p>
<p>end of dicussion.</p>
<p>It seems that you use AP to label courses that would normally be labeled "Honors"</p>
<p>and how could you have math classes prior to Pre-calc that are AP? There is no AP algebra / geom / etc...</p>
<p>well.. there's this really dumb cc that i live nearby. i believe they teach geometry there. so tech .... lol</p>
<p>yeah, when I was in college at a 'real state university', I tutored the elementary ed majors in basic algebra to help them through that class...</p>
<p>Yes, you guys are right...Pre-Cal in Pre-AP for me; I just referred to it as AP out of habit.</p>
<p>And what about all your other 9th and 10th grade classes? How were they ALL AP? It's not possible.</p>
<p>Personally I would stick with the Honors (or "AP", if you will ;-D) courses. I don't know what real college adcoms do because I've never been inside their brains, but if I saw one person with a lower GPA and harder classes and another person with a high GPA and easy classes, the person with the hard classes would get more points. </p>
<p>First of all, it shows you want to challenge yourself, that you like learning, and that you're not afraid of setbacks. Especially if you began your high school career in all accelerated/advanced courses, and then you drop some to regular in Junior year, that says to me that you tried hard classes and couldn't handle them. Again, I don't know what real adcoms think, but this is how I would see it.</p>
<p>If you stuck with the hardest courseload, even if your grades drop, that would tell me that you are a person who can handle a consistently high workload, and more importantly, that you don't give up in the face of adversity. Even the smartest students have ups and downs and can't all make straight As on everything they do. What makes them great students is a love of learning and being challenged - not just expecting to recieve an A because they're so brilliant. If your ego is crushed by recieving a D, that says to me you are a weak person and I really don't want you at my college. The fact that your only concern is impressing adcoms with your high GPA instead of taking the classes you want because you are interested in and engaged in the subjects would be another redflag to me.</p>
<p>As long as you don't fail the class, if you can pull a C or higher I think it's worth sticking with the hardest courseload. Again, I don't know how real adcoms think but if it were me making the decision, you'd come out ahead.</p>
<p>Just my $0.02.</p>