School [Registration] Daze

Applying to College
1

<p>I know it's been asked to death, but I've read through a lot of posts and I'm still torn on registering for next year's schedule.</p>

<p>Until today, when I was talking to a group of juniors in my Honors Chem class and then blanked during my Geometry Quiz, I believed I was going to be able to handle 5 APs next year - my junior year. The other high achieving students in my class are taking and average of 4 APs. They are as follows:</p>

<ul>
<li>AP English 11 [My best and often, favorite, subject]</li>
<li>AP US History [Course at my school requires extensive notes for each chapter, with a chapter assigned per week. Average time these notes consume is around 3 hours/week. Other assignments not factored in.]</li>
<li>AP Spanish 4 [The more I learn, the more I like. I never did well in Spanish until this year]</li>
<li>AP Biology [The teacher is really good. The average student who takes his class gets a 5 on the AP. However, he too requires notes (specially formatted) and his tests, I've heard, are hell. I want to take the SAT II subject in this, too.]</li>
<li>AP Chemistry [Teacher the same one I have this year. She's okay, I suppose, and I have an A and I'm pretty sure she likes me, though rumor has it that she doesn't teach enough for students to be great on the APs. However, she writes stellar recs and is great at applying for science grants; she's gotten almost every one she's vied for. Her AP class averages around 15 students, a quarter of whom have A's. I also want to take the AP while the honors course still lingers in my mind from this year; I've also heard that bio and chem supplement each other...?]</li>
<li>Precalc Honors</li>
</ul>

<p>You see, I don't really want to drop anything, as I really want to take them all. It's true - part of my motive to do so stems from my desire to have weighted classes: selective honors (Chem, French 4, Physics] and APs are weighted the same at my school. With my 8.83 average Freshman year (I managed a 4.0 first semester of sophomore year with 1 AP and 3 honors classes), I really want to be able to raise my class rank, or at least maintain it. My other choice is to replace either chem or bio with honors physics, but physics contains too much math for me to be truly comfortable.</p>

<p>Am I overloading myself? Will I come to regret this? I know these AP classes won't help much if I don't get straight A's in them and do well on the AP exams, but I am in such a dilemma. I'd really appreciate any opinions or help at all.</p>

<p>Other options I've considered are:
- Psychology (AP not offerred; no weight, but am very interested in the class. The two teachers who teach are the APUSH teacher [very good teacher] and old Freshman geography teacher. I didn't like him much, if at all.)
- Digital Photography (still being submitted for a-g credit approval; new ROP class)
- Honors Physics (math = not my strongest subject. I consistenly flucuate between low Cs and mid-A's on quizzes and tests -.-)
- AP Stats (easy class, but no help in AP exam ? to me, it may be almost as bad as another AP class)</p>

<p>My list of want-to-go colleges include UPenn (Wharton), Berkeley [am a Cali resident], and a variety of other ones between. Does Upenn (or another other Tier 1 college) really expect this many AP classes? Help?</p>

2

<p>If your school offers many AP classes, then yes, they will expect you to have taken AP classes. Will they expect you to take 4/5 AP classes? Not necessarily. Choose classes that are rigorous. AP classes are not the only rigorous classes. Also, don't forget that colleges can tell when you're just taking AP classes for the sake of taking them -- there are kids who have a variety of interests and there are kids who are just gradegrubbers. Don't forget to take something you like every year or you'll just be miserable.</p>

3

<p>So if I replace...say, chem or bio with Psychology or Digital Photo, my schedule should still be rigorous enough for most schools. Would it be better to take Digital Photo 1 and 2 (2 senior year) or to take Psyc junior year and then Digi Photo senior year?</p>

4

<p>
[quote]
[Course at my school requires extensive notes for each chapter, with a chapter assigned per week. Average time these notes consume is around 3 hours/week. Other assignments not factored in.]

[/quote]
</p>

<p>That sounds EXTREMELY slow moving for an APUSH class. If the class is using a book like The American Pageant, a typical courseload is more like a chapter every other night, always followed by a challenging quiz. I only bring this up because it makes me wonder if perhaps classes at your school are not considered very difficult. I do not mean that to be degrading or rude, it is a serious consideration. If an APUSH class is three hours a week for reading/ notes, it is not too challenging a class unless the other assignments are extremely time-consuming. I am be fully misunderstanding the situation with the classes, but if that is an AP courseload at your school (chapter/ week) then colleges will know it's probably not very challenging.</p>

5

<p>Actually, I may have gotten my facts a bit skewed. It might have been per night. APUSH is actually considered on of the most time-consuming courses by the juniors and a great many of my classmates opted to take the CP class because of it. What I do know for sure is that they pretty much finish the book around March...</p>

6

<p>AP history requires 3 hours of notes? Really? My teacher only gave us like 10 mins of notes and I got a 5. I don't think us history is that hard. I didn't even study for the ap</p>

7

<p>I personally don't think your courseload looks too overbearing but don't take classes you wouldn't otherwise take WITHOUT the weighted GPA. Currently, I'm taking Bio/Chem and they do supplement each other (organic chemistry is soooooo much easier).</p>

8

<p>I've decided to replace the AP Bio class wit Psychology, which is a subject I've always been very interested in.</p>