Senior Year Course Dilemma

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

I am a junior (most likely going to major in CS) and have a free elective spot for senior year. I’m torn between 3 courses to fill that spot:

AP Econ:

  • Very light workload
  • Have a slight interest in course
  • I MAY pursue a double major with econ

AP Stat:

  • Very grindy course at school
  • Might be relevant if I head into data science? idk

AP Bio:

  • Probably the hardest out of the three
  • Also super grindy
  • I feel as if this could show the best course rigor?

The rest of my schedule will be made up of the most rigorous courses that are available to me:
Multivar + Linalg
AP Phys C
AP Lit
Computer Systems (elective offered at school)
AP US Gov
AP Spanish Lang

What should I take?

2

You have plenty of rigor and you have all your core courses covered. Take the class you want. Sounds like that would be econ :slight_smile:

3

Ap Econ or… free period to take care of your college apps (with 6 very rigorous classes, no college would expect you to take anything else, even Harvard.)

4

I agree…AP Econ or study hall.

5

Whichever one is most interesting to you.

Data science will involve statistics and computer science. AP statistics will give you a introduction to statistics, although it may be more worthwhile to take a calculus-based statistics course at a college if that is available to you (or when you get to college).

6

Unless you have a highlighted interest in one course or think the workload would be too much, I would consider taking AP Bio. Especially look into score credits at colleges you are interested. More likely than not AP Bio will cover more credit once you get to college. I was in a similar position last year, as I plan on majoring in Computer Engineering, and ultimately chose AP Bio. If you like the sciences (especially chem) the class will not feel like a burden. Overall, my experience with the course was decent, but at most colleges it fills the lab science requirement of two semesters of bio.

7

This mom :point_left: says take AP Econ, because “very light workload” is relative to the kid and it is a perfectly fine class to have on your transcript.

1 Like
8

Econ is a very interesting subject, at least IMHO, and would be more valuable than doubling up a math or a science.

(Though AP Stats also teaches material very useful in life)

9

If the OP does do CS or data science as a major, it is likely that a calculus-based statistics course will be required for the major.