<p>Hi I'm a Junior planning on applying to Columbia next year ED. I have legacy and URM status, but I'm more worried about putting together a schedule for next year, senior year, that will have what admissions people are looking for: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>I'm in 4 AP's this year. I'm hoping to take 4 next year, but would 3 be okay? </p></li>
<li><p>I know that they want students who are good at a wide range of subjects. I'm very strong in english, humanities, social sciences and languages. I've taken AP's in all of those areas. Will it hurt me if I take AP's in those areas again as a senior and don't show much diversity of interest in terms of harder science/math classes? </p></li>
<li><p>The AP sciences at my school are very selective. I tried out for one, and probably didn't get in. Should I try to take a science elective instead?</p></li>
</ul>
<p>-I'm going to be in Pre-Calculus next year, because I wasn't in my schools Gifted Math program in middle school. Will it hurt me that this class is a lower difficulty level than those of other applicants taking AP Calc? </p>
<p>Basically I'm confused about whether I should pursue AP's in subjects I'm really interested in, or try to take some other classes in math or science to look more well-rounded? Opinions? Thanks!</p>
<p>My advice is to take what you think is interesting (whether you’re interested in stuff you’re good at or in challenging yourself in stuff you’re not), and not worry about how it looks to admissions people. You’ll enjoy your classes and therefore your senior year a lot more, and if you have passions they will shine through to the admissions people anyways.</p>
<p>Take it or leave it, but I didn’t take a science OR a history class this year (took 2 languages and AP music theory instead) and currently admitted to 8 out of 9 pretty selective colleges. True, Columbia is the last one I’m waiting for, but still :)</p>
<p>Don’t look well-rounded; the majority of applicants to selective schools are “well-rounded.” It’s much better to follow your passions, particularly if you can take AP classes. Take a science elective and a math class, but if you’re a prospective humanities major applying to CC, they will expect you to take (and excel at) humanities classes. Just excel in all your classes, particularly the humanities ones. If you do very well (750+) on the critical reading and writing sections on the SAT, literature and other humanities SATIIs and APs, it won’t kill you to just do well (650+) on the math section of the SAT or a MathI SATII. Admissions committees understand and appreciate applicants’ unique strengths. Abandoning your interests to look well-rounded will only hurt you in the long run, particularly if it will drag down your GPA.</p>
<p>^I usually agree with pwoods, but I don’t agree that well-roundedness hurts an applicant, as long as the applicant excels in all of his or her classes. Excelling in everything is always better than excelling in most things. I agree with pwoods, however, that coursework that “will drag down your GPA” is generally ill-advised at the high school level.</p>