Today I had registration for my school and these are the classes they gave me:
AP US History
AP Lang
AP Calculus AB
AP Physics 1
AP Stats
Vietnamese 3 (Language)
I actually went to my counselor to talk about my schedule and I told her how I didn’t sign up for APUSH and instead for regular US History. But she lectured me on how I have a lot of potential and my GPA is high so she wanted me to remain competitive as possible so they placed me in APUSH. I also wanted to do AP Biology but the classes were full and she also told me how I should do the “Power 3” which is biology, chemistry, and physics because that will look good on my transcript. I also went to the assistant principal and we had a talk with my counselor and they said they really recommended APUSH for me as I was in APWH… but then in APWH, I didn’t like note-taking and the essays were no fun so that’s one of the reasons why I didn’t want to go into APUSH. I even told my counselor “So no matter how hard I try, I can’t drop APUSH?” and they were like “Pretty much because we want you to remain competitive on your transcript.” And then I mentioned how I have low stress tolerance and they told me the only option they can offer is that I can drop AP Statistics and replace with an elective. So honestly I really have no idea what to do and btw I want to aim for the UC’s.
That’s really crappy of your counselor. :\ Maybe you can try getting your parents involved, if you really want to drop to regular US History? If you really have no other options, maybe dropping AP Stats for an easier elective would be for the best.
Regardless of what you do, your schedule is solid. It clearly shows rigor, with or without APUSH, imo.
That’s honestly ridiculous. You should be able to drop APUSH if you want to. A counselor should advise you to be competitive, not force you to be competitive. Plus, AP World History is very different from APUSH, so you shouldn’t be required to take APUSH simply because 1. your GPA was high and 2. you took APWH.
I would honestly be outraged, considering that you will be stuck with APUSH for the whole year. If you hate the essays, you will seriously hate APUSH, and dropping it would definitely lower your stress. Can you bring your parents into this? It is your transcript, not your counselor’s, and although the counselor is obviously trying to help you in college admissions, forcing you to take a class isn’t the right way to do this.
Plus, if you already have a high GPA, why would you be forced to take APUSH? Your GPA is fine; you don’t need a GPA boost.
In terms of your schedule, it’s rigorous, even without APUSH. AP Stats is a light AP course, so dropping it for an elective probably won’t do much to lower your stress. Physics 1, Calculus AB, and Language are pretty difficult courses, but I think you could do it, given that they are standard junior classes (although physics is taken by both juniors and seniors).
If you can take AP Biology senior year, I wouldn’t take Power 3. I’m assuming you already took Biology and Chemistry in freshman/sophomore year, so you already have experience in all three sciences.
@Muufeen Do you think it will affect me if I don’t go into APUSH? Some of my friends brought up the point how like colleges might ask “Why didn’t she/he challenge herself/himself and took APUSH when that class was offered to them?” And yeah, my counselors are very strict on schedule planning which sucks 
Having a competitive schedule for college is admittedly very important. However, there is a point where taking one extra AP won’t improve your chances. You are already challenging yourself with AP Calculus, AP Lang, AP Stats, and AP Physics; APUSH isn’t going to make or break a college application.
Plus, you do not want to burn out in the middle of junior year. APUSH is very rigorous (even more so than AP World History, in my experience), and so if you seriously hate these types of history classes that stress essay writing and note-taking out of a textbook, I wouldn’t recommend taking it.
You need a balance between challenging yourself and having good mental health. Overloading yourself is a recipe for failure, especially in your most important year academically. You want to receive stellar grades in ALL of your classes while having time for extracurriculars, and if APUSH would increase your workload tremendously and/or reduce your enthusiasm for academics, it may not be worth it.
There are always benefits for taking APUSH, but it’s up to you to decide if you can survive a year of APUSH or not. For example, you learn tremendously from APUSH, you have the opportunity for AP credit, you can improve your GPA (but assuming that your GPA is already amazing, the improvement will be minimal). If you don’t want to take APUSH, don’t take it; get your parents involved and drop a level. Never compromise your grades and your mental state for course rigor.
All in all, you are the only one who can decide if you’re willing to take APUSH, not your counselor. If you’re willing to endure the stress and hard work for a brownie point in college applications, go ahead. However, given that you didn’t want to take APUSH in the first time, I would advise you to drop a level unless you magically get an interest in American history all of a sudden. Is the stress worth the 0.03 or something increase in your GPA and a slight increase in course rigor? For some, it is; for others, it isn’t.
Also, dropping AP Statistics is probably not going to change your workload by that much, unless Stats is a very homework-heavy class at your school. Dropping APUSH, on the other hand, will definitely lower your workload (according to my friends who took APUSH and dropped down to my school’s regular US History).
Disclaimer: I am a rising ninth grader, so this may be a bad or inaccurate answer. Sorry if it is!
This is a really, really good schedule! Good luck in Junior year!
As for APUSH, unless you want to go into the Social Science field, taking regular or Honors for that class is fine. I do not really understand why your counselor thinks you have to take APUSH. I would because I want to go into the Social Sciences field, but I am guessing you want to go into Math or Science, according to the classes you are taking or want to take. It is alright to go to regular History.
Have a good day!
As a junior with a stubborn school counselor as well, I cannot stress this enough: Do what will make YOU happy, not your GC. My GC tried to make me take Chem when I didn’t want to (we have an alternate class that basically is a continuation of Bio with aspects of psych/soc mixed in), but I stressed it heavily that I didn’t want to do Chem this year, and I told him I would take it next year (I’ll deal with it later rather than now haha) As for APUSH, I didn’t want to do it either for the longest time, and he was disappointed but he relented (after a bit). I changed my mind later, but the point was that I fought for the classes I wanted or didn’t want to take.
My older sister had problems with this counselor in regards to scheduling too, but as she is a less confrontational person than I am, she opted to get our parents involved, which worked tremendously (my father and I share the same “confrontational” trait haha) so I can promise you that getting your parents involved will most likely result in the classes you want haha
Also, if you like Math and Science and are thinking about a STEM major, then APUSH is not a must. I would try to get in Honors history at least.
@bopper I was planning to be somewhere in the bio-chem field and it sucks that my school doesn’t offer Honors history
@Marg532 My last resort was bringing my parents but it might be a bit hard due to language barriers but we will try our best!
@Muufeen Thank you so much for the detailed reply! You really made a point and I think I’m going to drop APUSH and go into Regular as Honors aren’t offered at my school. Also I really appreciated how you reminded me that not only I need to do well in my studies, but also regulate my mental health and extracurriculars 