<p>Hi guys! I just moved to new high school as a junior and I did not take any AP class during freshman and sophomore year at the former school. Even though there was one ap class avaliable during sophomore, I did not take it...haha</p>
<p>I am planning to self study 3~4 AP that I am pretty interested in and want to study them. Is it plus factor for universities? My new school offers all 3~4 ap classes that I am planning to self-study. Because of this, I feel like college will look at me like lazy student.. </p>
<p>So my question is "is self study APs plus factor even though the school offers the classes?" I can't take some of AP classes in new school because of school rule(students can't take AP classes except Chemistry and physics if one takes regular class)</p>
<p>If your school offers the course, it is better to take the course from a college admissions perspective. If you want to self study for the sake of knowledge, by all means do so, but it will play no role in admissions.</p>
<p>Last Spring, I went to an Exploring College Options event, which had reps from Harvard, Stanford, Penn, Duke, and Georgetown. During the Q&A, someone asked, “What do you think of applicants who self-study for additional AP’s over and above the AP classes they take?” One rep responded, “Please don’t do that. We’re not impressed by that.” The other reps all nodded.</p>
<p>Ok, I took US history and World history in my former school, I was going to take APUSH or AP WORLD in new school but my new school doesn’t let me take neither APUSH nor AP WORLD HISTORY because I already took regular classes. World History class was requirement for freshman. There was AP EURO HISTORY avaliable for sophomore, but I had no interests in taking Euro. I had to give up taking reguar US history class if I decided to take AP Euro, so I ended up taking reguar US History.</p>
<p>For biology, I took it as a freshman requirement class. I heard that the AP BIO class requires tons of work, so I feel like self-study is better option for me. There is AP BIO class in my new school.</p>
<p>How do you think about it based on my situtation? I will explain everying to my new school counselor. Maybe new school counselor might be impressed by my passion …haha</p>
<p>In that case, it would be pointless to take either of the AP History classes. so if you want to self-study to potentially earn college credit, go for it.</p>
<p>I would still opt to take the AP Bio class.</p>
<p>“I heard that the AP BIO class requires tons of work, so I feel like self-study is better option for me.”
Colleges are going to recognize that self-studying instead of taking the actual class (when possible) is a way to avoid doing work.
Another important part of the AP Biology curriculum is the lab experience, which is something you’d most likely miss if you opt to self-study. </p>