<p>My school doesn't offer an AP Economics course, and I'm going to take very easy AP courses next year to improve my GPA (Lit, USH, Stat, Env Sci). So I was considering self-studying AP Economics, and my parent's family friend is an economics professor. He actually tutored my brother as well.</p>
<p>I'm not planning to major in Business. I'm not planning to major in Math or Science either but I'm going to end up taking AP Chem and AP Calc BC anyways. So I was considering I might as well study this, since it might look good. So the question is, would colleges even remotely take into consideration the fact that I studied an AP course outside of school?</p>
<p>It’s for my Junior year, I’m a Sophomore right now. And they would have no concern about it at all? And especially because there are a lot of intelligent kids in my grade, many of which are taking AP Chem next year. One of my friends is even taking AP Calc BC along with that, and she’s probably going to be the valedictorian. So I thought it might put me a bit past the edge against my school peers if I take an AP course not offered in my school.</p>
<p>Still, almost no impact at all. All colleges will see is your self-reported AP score (not even official). They will hopefully notice that AP Econ was not on your transcript, though they may not even pick up on that. AP Econ certainly isn’t highly regarded and isn’t a difficult self study. It’s a small advantage, sure, but almost negligible. Self-studying one AP is not the way to stand out!</p>
<p>Hmm alright. Thanks for all your help! I noticed that whenever I ask a question on these Forums, you always answer them. And not to be a drag, but would self-studying two APs make anything more than a negligible difference? I know AP Human Geo is really easy, and our school doesn’t offer that either.</p>
<p>Self studying more APs would have a bigger impact, yes. Easier to notice the effort. The real point of self studying APs is really for your own benefit, not for your application. I mean, you can earn college credit, and learn about subjects you are interested in. Self studying AP HGeo sounds like a snore to me, though Econ could actually be useful.</p>
<p>Self studying also is more significant if your counselor is well aware that you are self-studying. They will submit a report to colleges about the rigor of your course load and whatnot. If she’ll mention that you self studied APs because the school did not offer them, it’ll look a little nicer. Otherwise, the only indication that you self studied, again, is you reporting “AP Econ- X” in the test scores section of the app, and then AdComs figuring out that it isn’t on your transcript.</p>
<p>Hopefully others will comment, I’m certainly not a 100% guaranteed source of knowledge!</p>
<p>When you apply to colleges, will you generally have a chance to discuss with your counselor about your course rigor? Or will they just be filling out paper after paper of students by just looking at their transcript and ticking off a box?</p>
<p>^i don’t know if thats what your supposed to traditionally, but I reported that I self-studied ap’s in the additional info section. But maybe thats just me…</p>
<p>Hmm, I might consider that. Also, any thoughts on the difficulty of AP Music Theory? I have a strong musical background, so reading notes and identifying musical symbols wouldn’t be anything new to me. And what’s the difference between AP Macro and Micro Economics? Are they two different courses/tests?</p>
<p>I think self-studying AP Music Theory, AP Human Geo, and AP Econ should be enough for colleges to notice. And hopefully I can follow through with y’all advices and let colleges know that I took a lot of additional APs not offered in my school.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the awesome help! I would still appreciate additional input though. :)</p>
<p>It depends. The counselor, for CommonApp at least, actually is suppose to give a “recommendation.” At my school, we work pretty closely with the counselor to write it, as they really don’t know us that well. If anything, you could just have a meeting with the counselor once the recommend ion request is sent (via commonapp) and see if they need any info. You can mention the self-studying and encourage the counselor to mention it.</p>
<p>And yes, like tomato said, you can use an “additional info” section to mention that some of your exam scores were self studied. I feel like it’d be better for the counselor to say, if she would, plus it’ll convince the counselor to give you a higher recommendation.</p>
<p>No idea on Music Theory, my understand it it’s certainly not easy, but you should do some research (google: Self-study music theory). Macro and Micro are different courses and tests. Macro focuses on economic systems as a whole, Micro focuses on specific functions and sectors. Macro includes a bit of Micro. I believe Macro is far more common, but again, this is where you should do a little googling.</p>
<p>Rather than taking the easiest APs just to boost your GPA and attempting to further pad your application by self studying easy APs, why not man up and take a few hardcore APs at your HS?</p>
<p>Adcoms will respect AP Bio, Calc, Physics, Euro, World, and a foreign language a lot more than a few cake APs on your transcript and the easiest others off transcript.</p>
<p>I’m taking AP Biology this year, and I’m barely managing a B+. Based off my brother’s experiences, AP Chemistry is much more difficult than AP Biology, and I don’t think I can really afford to have a C (B- if I’m lucky) in my Junior year transcript. If I don’t take AP Chemistry and AP Calculus BC next year, I’m going to definitely take it senior year. If I do take it next year, I’m going to take the two easier courses senior year. So I might as well take the easier courses to boost my GPA when it will help the most. AP Physics is offered in my school, but I heard from many seniors and graduates (once again, including my brother) that the teacher is a total nutjob. My brother got a 5 on the AP but he had a B- because the teacher “doesn’t believe in As.” So I’m just not going for that route at all.</p>
<p>Again, thanks for all your help! It’s much appreciated, I’ll probably choose three out of Macro Econ, Micro Econ, Human Geo, and Music Theory to self study.</p>
<p>As an interviewer, I certainly notice self-study for the APs. I think it shows initiative, especially for students who want to demonstrate a passion for a particular area of intellectual interest that isn’t offered by their schools. So a musician who did AP music theory would be more impressive than one who didn’t. Likewise, a budding economist, whose school doesn’t offer econ, but self-studied AP Econ, would be showing commitment for their area of interest. Does it make a ‘big’ difference? Not compared to your grades, test scores, letters of rec, overall class rank, etc…but as part of the qualitative factors that go into evaluating a candidate? Sure it matters. Of course, if you were a musician, you could also demonstrate that passion in other ways like forming a group with friends who play for fun and/or money. </p>
<p>So, don’t do it just to show you can: Your time would be better spent doing something you care about.</p>
<p>Bio vs Chem
I’m a junior and taking AP Bio and Chem this year and I think that Bio is much harder than Chemistry. I barely scraped out a 90 in Bio the last quarter and that was because the easiest test of the year was in it. I usually get 70-85 on tests even with the curve. In Chem, I barely study or do homework (optional) and get 90’s. Bio is strictly memorization and Chem is very conceptual. This is probably the reason why people many people think Bio is harder and why many people think Chem is harder. There is almost no reading in Chemistry and it’s basically just doing problems. If you understand the concept in a Chem lesson then your pretty much set except for maybe 2 or 3 practice problems. If you don’t, then you probably will have to work at it a bit, but there is no way it is as much work as Bio. Basically, Bio=High workloard (reading, memorization) Chem=Low workload but harder concepts.</p>
<p>Other stuff
If you want to self study an AP course, it should be because you actually want to learn the course material. If you’re just doing it just to try to stand out, then it probably isn’t worth your time. However, I’m also taking AP econ this year and its both Macro and Micro courses. Econ is usually considered an easier AP and is probably very manageable for self-study. If you can find a textbook and read it thoroughly, you will get a 5. I personally read very little of the textbook handed out in class because my teacher does a good job explaining, but of the pages I have read, I can say that is very good. Book: Economics, McConnell and Brue Publisher: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Also your family friend will be able to help out a lot. If you’re going to take one of the Econ tests, I would suggest just taking both of them. The two are related and have some overlapping topics. I wouldn’t advise self-studying over taking another hard course in school unless you truly believe you will be able to focus on learning the material. </p>
<p>I’ve heard many things about AP Music Theory and all I know is that it is extremely hard. I play violin and in orchestra and everything, but I would probably fail the class. The class is much more than “reading notes and identifying musical symbols” and a sound base of music theory is recommended. I don’t know how strong your musical background is, but if you haven’t had much exposure to music theory besides playing and knowing basic scales (major minor), I would stay away. You can probably take a course at a music school and this will probably get you a 5 on the AP, but again, unless your really interested try to take classes in school.</p>
<p>I honestly don’t think self-studying is better than having a rigorous course load. Like M’s Mom said, self-studying should be about showing passion.</p>
<p>And if you have time to do more, then self studying for AP exams because “they are there” is not the best use of your academic time. Self study in areas where classroom dialog is critical, and where term papers or labs may be important doesn’t resonate. A much better alternative is an “independent study” course that perhaps one of your teachers would be willing to sponsor. Pick an area in some academic field that matters to you – and dig deep. It will be analogous to college work and demonstrate ability and initiative.</p>
<p>I’ll probably self-study AP Human Geography, I want to major in the political science area anyways. And I’ll probably take AP Econs as well, I might also consider business in college, and it’s nice to have a background rather than nothing. If the fact that I took those extra AP’s don’t help my admission chances, oh well. At least I learn something useful that I can potentially apply to my future.</p>
<p>As for AP Bio vs AP Chem, I severely disagree that AP Biology is pure memorization. Whereas yes, Chemistry is conceptual, I think that Biology is more application-based. Memorizing the crapload of information is the first part, which I can easily manage. I consider my memory skills to be great, seeing how I never need to study for AP World History and I pull out easy A+'s. But the thing about AP Biology is that it asks you to take your memorized information a step further and analyze it in a different situation.</p>
<p>Anyways, my brother took both AP Chem and AP Biology in high school. He had a 98 average in AP Biology but in AP Chemistry had an 82 average. He’s a much stronger math/science student than I am, and seeing how badly his AP Chemistry scores dropped compared to AP Biology, I’m not very hopeful about my future grades seeing how I only have an 85 right now in AP Biology.</p>
<p>Again, thanks for all your help guys. I really appreciate it.</p>