Question about Academic Recommendations

<p>I'm a rising senior who is planning to apply to Princeton. I go to a school which doesn't send students to HYPS and doesn't offer that many AP courses and etc. I tried to create a senior course load that would provide as many AP courses (a total of 8 throughout high school for the AP award) and still stay true to the academic units recommended by Princeton.</p>

<p>According to the Princeton Review The Best 361 Colleges, Princeton recommends 4 years of foreign language. My original schedule satisfied this recommendation but there is a conflict with one of my APs and the language course. So my question is, how about is it to get 4 years of foreign language in comparison another AP course? </p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>It might depend on what the other AP course is and how much you actually are interested in it. If you still think your counselor has every right to check the "most rigorous courseload" box, I honestly cannot see it as a negative to take a foreign language (especially if you're actually interested in the language). My guess is that the language would, it seems, look better. But perhaps someone else has some concrete information from Princeton.</p>

<p>By the way, my school only rarely sends a student to HYPS (only Princeton, actually) and I didn't take all the APs my school offered even though it would reasonably fit in my schedule with adjustments. I took 6 non-honors and non-AP music courses throughout high school--however, I took more APs than any other student and my counselor definitely checked that little box (I was not valedictorian). Hope that helps.</p>

<p>I actually emailed Princeton about this a long time ago. They were really nice and generally said that 4 years is recommended but by no means required. So take the class you want to take more.</p>

<p>Likewise do you think that though I have taken one year of history (though Pton recommends 2), I still have a fair chance? I had taken world geography in place of history in my early years of high school.</p>