Senior Schedule

Is it really necessary to take the most rigorous schedule senior year (as many APs as possible) even if there are other classes (not APs) that I am more interested in taking? I ask because I have the option of taking AP Euro or a semester each of two classes that are not even honors (simply electives) that I have wanted to take since freshman year. Even if I ask my guidance counselor to write on my rec these were two classes I took b/c of true interest, will this end up hurting me? I understand it is only one class out of my seven, but do top schools simply expect you to take as many APs as possible? (btw, I go to a pretty small school that only offers about 6-7 APs anyway.)

<p>Also, I will be taking 3 other APs if that info helps.</p>

<p>There are a few variables to consider. How will taking classes less than AP weight affect your class rank? and if there is a negative effect how will that play with the most selective colleges (ie are you high enough in rank that it will not impact negatively). I know the fact that my D took 7 APs in senior year very positively impacted her college apps and acceptances. But - everyone is different and it depends on your personal circumstances. Her final result was that she also moved from top 10% to top 5% as a result of her senior year schedule and her performance in those courses.</p>

<p>also depends on what else you are taking. Instead of AP Euro, are you taking another history/govt course instead? Are you taking at least 5 solid academic courses, either honors/ap, if offered? Are your electives even college prep? If so, and if you were an adcom, what would you think: AP Euro vs. xx class? Which schools are you interested in? </p>

<p>fwiw: in general, highly selective college app pools have kids that have taken 4 years each of math, history, science and english, and 2-4 of a foreign lang. Thus, that's the competition for those slots.</p>

<p>The two classes (each a semester) instead of AP Euro are a history and science but they are simply electives. My school doesn't rank but goes by top 10%, 25%, etc. so that doesn't really matter since I'll definitely be top 10% either way. And I will have at least 4 yrs of every subject by graduation. </p>

<p>My question is simply do colleges expect you to take the maximum amount of APs even if they don't interest you or is it okay if I took another class in the place if an AP because you had a true passion for it? The most amount of APs someone could take senior year in my school is 5 but for me its 4 since I did not get into one of them. Without Euro, though, it would be 3. Is this acceptable for the top schools (e.g. Brown, Dartmouth, Amherst)?</p>