<p>My school has a limited course offering (3 APs total- Bio, Chem, Lit). I've taken or will be taking all of those, + some self study and online via Northwestern CTD, mostly for social studies and history stuff that my school doesn't have. I know the conventional wisdom is, "exhaust everything your school offers before dual enrolling," etc. I have/had definitely exhausted our history classes when I started with Northwestern.</p>
<p>I got a 5 on my AP test from my CTD class. My senior year, I could take an extra CTD social studiesish class, or I could take Physics at my school, the only higher-level class at my school that I haven't or won't have taken. I plan on majoring in something humanities-related, but I want to try for competitive colleges. Which class would it be wiser to take?</p>
<p>If you weren't going into the humanities it'd be physics as a no-brainer, but that makes it a much more difficult question. I'd still recommend physics just to make you look more well rounded, but if you're not looking at a bunch of really hard to get into schools it probably won't matter.</p>
<p>Thanks. I'll have taken AP Bio and Chem, if that counts for anything. But I'd like to try for Brown, Amherst, Wesleyan, etc.</p>
<p>The good news is that I think colleges recognize that my school doesn't have ::tons:: of opportunities. Not many kids try for top schools, only as a matter of circumstance, but of the handful who have, they've gotten into some pretty banging schools with no more than a max of those 3 APs by graduation (and occasionally, some community college classes). I'll have 6 or 7 total (depending on the Physics question.)</p>
<p>Have you taken physics previously (i.e. a more introductory physics?)</p>
<p>I know that for Wesleyan, 79% of the entering class had taken bio, chem, and physics. However, this also means that a full 21% hadn't taken all three - so it's definitely not going to be a must-take-to-get-into-these-schools question. I think that if you take a course of study that is aligned with what you're most interested in, you'll probably do fine in the end. If you're taking about taking AP physics, and you've already had intro, then I think you definitely should not worry about it and should just take what interests you more.</p>
<p>Don't sacrifice your high school happiness and learning (after all, that's the point of high school, isn't it? to learn, too?) for the ridiculous competitive admissions process. If you follow your interests and passions, that will hopefully come through to the top LAC-type schools you're looking at. :D</p>
<p>Thanks for the very helpful + kind advice, madjoy.</p>
<p>My school only has 1 physics class (non-AP). It's seen as a top-level class only because honors-type kids are the only ones who take it. I guess in college's eyes, it would be seen as introductory level, although it's only taken by upperclassmen. So it's that v. say, AP Gov or AP Euro. (I'll already have taken or will be taking APs: USH, World, Bio, Chem, Lit, Lang). I do have things that could potentially offset curriculum weakeness, like TASS, etc, that are really humanities or writing related.</p>