Senior Year Class Schedule

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

Hi everyone! I recently received my senior year schedule, and I want to drop one of my classes to have a free period. I am seeking help on which of these classes I should drop. Here it is…

  1. AP European History
  2. AP Spanish 5
  3. AP Psych
  4. AP English Lit
  5. Peer Tutoring Semester 1/ Free Semester 2
  6. Nonhonors Physics
  7. AP Calc AB
  8. AP Gov

I am deciding between AP European History and Physics. I want to major in political science in college and go on to law school. I am totally not a math and science person. However, I know that colleges want to see three years of lab science. Freshman year I took honors physical science (non lab), then honors bio (w/ lab), then honors chem (w/ lab). So, I took three years science but only two years of lab science. Will colleges like Georgetown, BC, or Notre Dame think poorly of me for skipping physics? Please give me your honest opinion. Thanks so much.

2

  1. My gut reaction is that top tier schools like to see students take biology, chemistry, and physics so I’d suggest you take physics.

  2. That said, you can go online and check the recommended/required HS classes for each of the schools on your list. If any of them recommend 3 years of lab science or physics then definitely take physics. These competitive schools will have tons of applicants who have met all of the recommendations/requirements and not doing so could put your application at a disadvantage.

3

I also agree that you should keep Physics. Most schools (including the top tiers that you mentioned) like to see you take science classes all 4 years of highschool. If you drop euro you still have AP Gov to count towards a social studies credit. I agree to check online for those schools specifically to see what they want.

4

Drop AP Euro and keep physics.
AP Euro is considered to be one of the hardest AP’s and you’ll already have enough on your plate with 5 other AP classes and college apps to fill.
Side note: taking AP Government was one of the biggest reasons that I now want to major in poliscI, it seems like a class that you would love.

5

I’d drop AP Psych actually, because it’s purely an elective and doesn’t reinforce rigor (it’s an AP lite) nor academic interest (AP gov and AP euro are much better for this purpose).