Okay so I’ve finally settled on a schedule for my senior year, but I’m worried it will be too hard. For reference, this year, I took two AP classes, AP Calc BC and AP Psych. Junior year is the first year that APs were offered. I also took physics and molecular biology this year.
Next year, I am planning to take
AP Chem (known to be hard, my priority)
AP Bio (not extremely difficult, but not easy)
AP Stats (easy?)
AP Comparative Government (supposedly a lot of busywork)
Art
P.E.
English 4
Does this schedule seem too hard for a senior year? I’ve had many people tell me it is, but I really want to take AP Bio and AP Chem. I think I can handle it, but I’m looking for more input.
@bopper I don’t think I would do very well in multivariable calc. They are offering a calc III at my school next year, but I would rather take AP Stats and potentially get the college credit than take calc III for no credit.
@LindagafI don’t have any humanities-based APs but I’m considering taking dual enrollment English classes next year instead. Since I’ve never been the best at English, I figured AP Lang/Lit were not the best fit for me.
@Hamurtle I’m currently in AP Calc BC, and I’m planning to take AP Stats next year with or without AP Chem. At my school, it is common for more advanced students to take two AP sciences, and AP Bio is not particularly difficult, so I think that I could manage AP Bio and AP Chem.
I would strongly recommend you not take AP Bio and AP Chem together. Both have labs and are time-intensive. Since AP Chem is a priority, don’t take AP Bio.
What major are you thinking of?
AP Comp Gov goes with AP US Gov or AP Econ, otherwise it’s only a half course.
AP Stats doesn’t often get credit at selective colleges because it’s “college stats LITE”; you’ll have to retake stats in college anyway because you’d have to for many majors and because it’s a class that fits under “relevant coursework” on your resume regardless of internship applied for (but employers don’t care a fig what you did as a HS student, only college).
@MYOS1634
Would it be possible to take AP Chem and Bio at the same time? I am a very strong science student and I know I could handle both of them. At my school, Bio is not particularly difficult, but Chem is.
It’s not just a matter of being able to handle it - there are only so many hours in a day. You need to have several hours a day for your ECs because that’s how you’ll end up selected for a top 40 university or LAC. Read hiw to be a high school superstar by cal Newport.
@ChezCurie right now my #1 choice for University is the University of Minnesota, but I’m also looking at UNC-Chapel Hill, University of Kentucky, and the University of Arizona. I took Spanish up to level 4.
Since your list of colleges is of public universities, the out-of-state ones may be expensive. Talk to your parents about college funding and run net price calculators on the college web sites.
AP chemistry and biology could be high workload due to labs, but that can be dependent on the school.
Biology majors and pre-meds do not typically need multivariable calculus, but may need statistics (but sometimes a calculus-based statistics course is specified).
Many medical schools do not accept AP credit in place of pre-med requirements, so you would need to substitute a more advanced course in the same subject area for one skipped with AP credit.
It is not required to major in biology to do pre-med, although other majors need to complete the pre-med courses.
I think we’re all giving you more or less the same advice: two lab sciences doesn’t sound enjoyable (even if you can handle it) and AP Stats may not serve you very well. I guess the real question is why do you “really” want to take two AP sciences? I know the pre-med track is all about GPA, so I can see that you may want to be in a position to easily ace those classes as an undergrad, but as @MYOS1634 suggests, there’s a quality of life issue here. Wouldn’t you rather have a reasonable senior year where you’re able to sleep and do ECs?