Hello, I really need help with my senior year scheduling.
**I want to have a major in Computer Science/Mechanical Engineering field.
Here’s my junior year schedule:
AP Calculus BC
AP US H
AP Comp. Sci. (my school doesn’t offer, so it’s an online class; but it’s a school approved, so included in my transcript)
English III (regular)
Physics (regular)
Spanish II Honors
Theology III (regular)
(our limit was 3 APs & 2 Honors)
Possible classes I can take:
Multivariable Calculus (online; for sure)
AP Statistics (I don’t know if I can fit in to my schedule b/c max courses that I can take each year are 7)
AP Physic C (for sure)
AP Chem (not sure)
AP US Gov (I really don’t want to take it) or regular US Gov
Spanish III Honors
English IV (maybe Honors if I can get in)
Theology IV
(limit is 4 APs & 1 Honors; Maximum courses are 7 each year, so I have to eliminate some classes from above)
-Since I am taking AP Calc BC this year, I don’t have any other more advanced AP to take next year (AP Stat is easier than AP Calc BC, so I want to avoid taking easier class in senior year. If I can I want to take both Multivariable & AP Stat)
-For science, I wanted to take only AP Physics C, but since I don’t really have any APs to take, I think I will have to take AP Chem too…
-For social studies, I really really don’t want to take AP US Gov b/c I am an ESL student, so having lots of problems in APUSH. I am regretting right now for choosing APUSH
-For language, I want to take AP Span if I can so that I can wouldn’t have to take AP US Gov to make 3 APs, but I don’t know if I can… b/c usually ppl take AP Span after Span III. I might have to take an additional class during summer if my teacher approves it. But I don’t think she will.
-For English, I got an A- last semester in regular English, so I have to appeal for honors English IV, but I’m not sure if I can.
**really important question:
I know I have to take same or more #s of AP class in my senior year, but since I will be finishing AP Calc BC this year, there’s no more hard AP math class left in my senior year. Do you think my courses will still good looking with 3 APs (or 2 APs) + 2 Honors with Multivariable Calc? Because if I am taking AP Calc AB this year, I could have taken 4 or 3 APs + 2 Honors in senior year with AP Calc BC. I am so worried…
Taking a Dual Enrollment Class such as Multivariable Calc “counts” higher than an AP for college admission - anything that’s “post Ap” will.
Perhaps taking AP Euro or AP World would have been easier for you if one of these two matched the history of the world region you’re from. I agree APUSH would be super hard for an ESL student (perhaps someone back home can send you a book about American history in your native language? That typically helps alot and saves time since you can read the material without a dictionary slowing you down.) However AP Physics C would have been ever harder so… there was no “good” choice. At least in your “brag sheet” for your guidance counselor you can write that you’re not afraid of academic challenges since you took APUSH as an ESL student, something I’m sure is not common.
Multivariable Calculus = take (if college class, plan to take a 2nd semester advanced math class, such as linear algebra)
AP Statistics = not needed, is considered an"AP lite" or a math class for students who can’t/won’t take Calc.
AP Physic C = take
AP Chem = take
Regular US Gov = take - this should be a semester-long course: see what social science you’d take 2nd semester.
Spanish III Honors = take over the summer at a local community college and, if you can, take AP Spanish. Since you are a native speaker of another language (I think, from another thread, it’s Korean?)make sure you take the SAT Subject in Spanish, perhaps in June or December, and Korean Subject test (november).
English IV (maybe Honors if I can get in) = petition, saying you’ve also taken APUSH and thus have shown your ability to do Honors-level work in English even when there’s a lot of reading
Theology IV
Definitely take Chem, MV Calc, and Physics C. That’ll cover you for STEM. Also take AP gov. Statistics isn’t a necessity, The post-AP MV Calc will more than cover you for math. Frankly, some schools consider AP stat as an elective, rather than a full math class.
I don’t know what you do EC/ and Sport wise but here are my recommendations using various scenarios:
You don’t participate in ECs or Sports- Hard
AP Physics
AP Chem
Spanish 3 H
Multi Calc
AP Humanities Elective (I recommend Psych and Gov)
Eng 4 H
If you are in any ECs or Sports- Balanced
Eng 4
Reg Gov/AP psych
AP Stats
AP Physics
Span 3 H
Multi Calc
The difference in the schedules is the difficultly. During senior year, you will spend a good amount of time on the college admission process. Loading your schedules with harder AP classes while handling College stuff and other commitments may look good on a transcript, but may break you in the long run (I learned from this first hand).
Be careful on how you judge what you can handle your final year, remember colleges want to see a rigorous course load that you will succeed in and also think about if you got your vaccine shot for senioritis.
Multivariable Calculus - https://clep.collegeboard.org/exam/calculus/questions
AP Statistics - What majors are you considering?
AP Physic C - Does that count towards University Physics (the hard one) or one of the easier Physics?
I’ve been playing around with degree plans and credit-by-exam options lately and it looks like you’re kind of all over the place; is there anything out there that requires Chemistry, Physics and Statistics that you’re interested in? AP means AP Exams and AP Exams mean college credit, so what’s the point in combining things that don’t combine?
Also, some of these things you can test out of without taking AP Courses for them I’m pretty sure.
The point of AP classes isn’t to take the exam. Colleges in fact use it as a proxy for “curriculum rigor”, which allows you to get in. They care about the class more than about the exam and in fact don’t require you to take it. They want to see you tried to take the most challenging courses available to you and see it as proof that you are used to that level of depth and demands.
At Top 25 colleges, you don’t even get credit because AP is the default preparation expected. The “core” AP classes (in English and in Math, in particular) have been taken by almost everyone and therefore you start off in a lower level if you didn’t take it in HS; their 1st year classes are post-AP and thus AP doesn’t carry credit.
At most public universities, APs allow you to get credit and skip ahead, and/or to accelerate a bit so that you can take advanced classes earlier or double major more easily.
Multivariable Calculus is equivalent to the 3rd level of calculus (after AB and BC).
Physics C is equivalent to 1st semester physics for physics majors and engineers.
Level 4 or AP in a foreign language is required to be competitive for the most selective colleges (Top 50 universities/LACs).
Obviously, OP attends a religious private school, hence Theology (which must be mandatory).
@MYOS1634 I would have to disagree, back in my sophomore year I went to numerous college fairs. I ran into Upenn AOs who told me that most top schools want you to challenge yourself with APs (I was taking AP bio at the time) and succeed, if not, have the academic integrity to switch into a lower level of the course. They said that AP test scores (the tests that you were bashing) are used as a benchmark score on the students mental readiness for college as well as placement for classes.
ikooldiscovery: the AP score isnt useless - but I was responding to entranceexamguy who’s advocating just taking a bunch of CLEP or AP exams rather than taking the course. The course is what matters most as curriculum rigor and college readiness would be most important. The point of Ap is not to take the exam and get credit. At most top universities/LACs students won’t get credit since the 1st year level classes are higher level than the AP class. A student’s motivation shouldn’t be to pile up APs in order to get lots of college credits, but rather to have the most thorough preparation for college.
I am not bashing the tests BTW, not sure where you saw that, but I assume you’re an adolescent and might thus see bashing where there is disagreement. Just be aware of origin of message/audience, etc., before jumping to conclusions.
Also, you should read the threads about how Oklahoma is trying tomake it /has made it impossible to teach AP (that’s bashing: saying things that aren’t true about the test to justify trying to withdraw funding altogether .)
@MYOS1634 Thank you so much for your comment! I submitted my appeal app for English IV H, but since my school has really intensive English & history program, I don’t know if I can get in… hahaha And I talked with my Spanish teacher, but I don’t think I can keep Spanish 3 course So maybe I should take AP Gov…?.. And it is so embarrassing to say, but I got 770 on my SAT II Korean test… I kind of knew that I will get some questions wrong in listen section b/c the person right next to me had some kind of mental problem, so he was distracting others by asking questions during the listening test… And that time, I didn’t know that I can cancel the score…
@hungryteenager Thank you so much! Yes, I think I should take AP Gov
@ikooldiscovery Thank you for your comment! I have weak ECs… I used to play tennis in my freshmen year but not anymore, and was an ASB(student government) tech coordinator in sophomore year, but since this year, tech coordinator is no longer part of ASB but part of tech department, so no more leadership position… (however, I am still doing the tech coordinator this year although it’s not in ASB anymore, and I don’t think it counts as a leadership position…) I think I will take AP Gov/Chem/Physics C & MV Calc with 2 honors (if possible), but as you mentioned, I don’t know if I will have time to work on my college apps in first semester I heard that AP Gov & AP Chem are really challenging in my school… and I don’t know about AP Physics C yet. This year, my school had really easy teacher in AP Physics, but he is gone next year.
@EntranceExamGuy Thank you for your comment I am considering Computer Science / Mech. Engineering as my major. And level 3 of language (for me, Spanish) & 4 years of theology are required in my school to graduate
I submitted my appeal app for English IV H, but since my school has really intensive English & history program, I don’t know if I can get in… hahaha And I talked with my Spanish teacher, but I don’t think I can keep Spanish 3 course 
So maybe I should take AP Gov…?.. And it is so embarrassing to say, but I got 770 on my SAT II Korean test… I kind of knew that I will get some questions wrong in listen section b/c the person right next to me had some kind of mental problem, so he was distracting others by asking questions during the listening test… And that time, I didn’t know that I can cancel the score…