My dd is trying to forego a social studies/history class for senior year. She has already taken Honors World History in 9, AP World History in 10 and is taking APUSH now. She will have a total of 11 APs at the end of high school so course rigor is not an issue. She would just prefer to take an art class. Her other classes would be AP Bio, AP BC Calculus, AP Spanish, AP Language & composition. She has met high school requirement of 6 semesters of ss/history. We are trying to figure out if colleges would view this negatively (she is looking at most selective). Thanks.
Even for the most selective schools, it seems that of the 5 major academic areas (English, math, science, foreign language, history/social studies), social studies is the one that few colleges request 4 years. Harvard and Princeton suggest 2+ as an example.
At the end of the day, it will be all looked at in context. Is the overall 4 year plan challenging and generally well-balanced? If so, I would not spend too much time overthinking it.
Additionally, there is nothing wrong with taking an arts class from the college point of view. My senior year courseload included a theater course, nor did I take all of the HS courses the college I am attending “recommends,” and I did OK in the admissions process. A data point of one, but still.
@Veryapparent - does your school not require US Gov- I thought most states did. That would be a common 4th soc studies - and AP Gov is a high scoring test
She doesn’t have any art. She has been in orchestra for all HS years and plans to in senior year as well. After this year she has fulfilled her high school SS requirement of 6 semesters She is in an accelerated program so took many high school courses in middle school. She took a high school state history course in 8th grade which was a HS requirement so technically has 4 years except that we are strongly discouraged from having those classes on transcript because they adversely affect class rank (not weighted as honors-gets credit for it though in terms of fulfilling state requirements). AP Gov was the class she was considering but it would put her at 5 AP classes which seems absurd for senior year and in general. She won’t drop math or science and AP Spanish is easy apparently.
I think Class rank is just another data point. She will be one of thousands of high stat kids that apply to tippy top schools. So for those schools everything matters. Her college list has plenty of safeties and matches though. I am not worried about the issue for those schools.
Another option might be to drop Spanish, take AP Gov, and take the art class.
This would work mostly if (1) she already has Spanish through Spanish 4, and (2) she doesn’t plan to take more Spanish in college. No college requires more than 4 years of foreign language. And if you’re not planning to continue to study a language, the loss of skill in the language during the year without it doesn’t matter.
^ except many colleges have a foreign language graduation requirement where the number of semesters depends on the score on a placement test or level reached in high school (where AP may waive the requirement.) So even if she doesn’t plan to major or minor in Spanish there may be an incentive to continue with it.
Thanks she is currently in Spanish 4.
At the moment it is physics. But that changes pretty often. She has lots of interests and is well rounded. An A student all around and high test scores. She navigates towards sciences but really the only classes she doesn’t like are history classes. When you ask her she says I am interested in everything. She is definitely though going to minor in music.
My answer to the OP’s question is, “Art? Go for it!” Nothing will be missing from the qualifications of this student. And she might even find out how talented she is in art and develop some skills that will come in handy later. I assume this is studio art, not art history or art appreciation.
