Senior Year Course Load: What should I take?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

I am planning to go into film / dramatic writing in college, and I’m trying to figure out what courses I should take next year.

I’m deciding to take 3 out of these 6 options: AP Lit, AP Art History, AP Calc BC, AP Stat, AP Euro, AP Spanish

I only want to do 3 because I don’t want to overload myself as a senior, especially since I’ll have to be applying to colleges (and also for my sanity). However, if anyone thinks I should take 4, please tell me which ones. But definitely not 5 or 6, as my school is known for giving huge workloads and I know I won’t be able to handle that.

I’ve been going back and forth for weeks. AP Lit is the only one I’m 100% taking (obviously, since I’m going into writing). However, the rest are toss ups. I took AB as a junior, but I really struggled, especially with integrals, which is a major component in BC. That’s why I’m thinking of taking Stat, but I’d be the only person out of the 20 or so who skipped ahead in math (AB is technically a senior class) to not take BC. Would that look bad to colleges, even if I’m going into the arts / humanities and not any science or engineering?

Then, I want to take one (or maybe two) of the three classes left: Spanish, Euro, and Art History. I think I should take art history because although it’s more about paintings and other forms of art media, I feel like it’s extremely important to known such basics for film. At the same time, I’m very interested in Euro and also Spanish. The problem with Spanish, though, is that the teacher for the class isn’t the best (I had her this year too) and I don’t know if I’ll do well in the class. I do like learning the language, though, so I don’t know if I should take it or not.

I’m sorry this is so long! This post is a blob of information, so basically my questions are:
-Should I take BC or Stat?
-Will Stat look bad on college applications when I could’ve taken BC?
-Should I take Euro, Art History, and/or Spanish?
-Would taking only 3 years of Spanish look bad to colleges?

For reference, I took 4 APs this year (AP Calc AB, AP Bio, APUSH, and AP Lang). I’ll be applying to NYU, BU, and maybe LMU or Chapman. Of course there will be others, but those are the most selective ones, I think.

Thank you! :slight_smile:

2

In your case I doubt if you would need Calc BC especially since you took AB. I would argue that Stats won’t help you much either. Spanish seems like it would help you. The rest seems like a toss-up.

Is AP Studio Art or AP Music Theory available? - those would be the ones that would help you more.

3

@ProfessorPlum168 I know stats and bc won’t help with my major, but many of the universities I want to go to heavily recommend 4 years of a math, which is why I want to take one of the 2. Especially since I’m not taking a science.

And yes, those two are available! I never really considered AP Music Theory, but AP Studio Art has prerequisites that I haven’t met, so I can’t take it. If it helps, I’ll be taking graphic design next year.

4

I only thought about Music Theory because my kid knows someone who goes to NYU who is a film and music major or something like that. Does composing or scores for films perhaps? Studio Art is a neat class but very time consuming.

Stats would be pretty useful since you mentioned 4 years of math, which is always a good thing to have. There’s a lot of overlap between Calc AB and BC IMO.

5

@ProfessorPlum168 Oh that’s cool! I’m more into the writing aspect of film so I don’t know how much music theory will help me. And quite a few of my friends take studio art and say they sometimes have to make several pieces in one week, which is too much for me.

Thank you, I think that I’ll go with stats then. What about euro? Would it be necessary if I end up doing art history, since they’re both history classes?

6

Art History is considered an arts class by most colleges.

Since you’ve taken APUSH, I see no reason to take AP Euro over AP Art History, unless you have a strong preference for Euro.

For your career aspirations, and I agree you should take math next year, AP Stats is fine.

7

I personally think four is good. Not all AP’s are created equal, in terms of workload. I’d recommend AP stats over BC, and taking AP spanish is definitely a good idea. You’ve taken 3 years of spanish, though the AP Spanish class shows a degree of proficiency that would be good!

Good luck :slight_smile:

8

I would drop one of the Maths. And then pick between AP Euro and AP Art History.

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-Should I take BC or Stat? ==>Stats
-Will Stat look bad on college applications when I could’ve taken BC? ==> you’re going to have a writing major and you’ve already taken calculus AB, so, definitely no.
-Should I take Euro, Art History, and/or Spanish? => Art history, then it’s a toss up between Spanish or Euro.
-Would taking only 3 years of Spanish look bad to colleges? => Is there a Level 4 that’s non AP?

Note: run the Net Price Calculator on every college you listed; none “meet need”, meaning that they don’t care if you can’t pay, not their problem, you figure it out or don’t come. NYU is infamous for “gapping” students it admits and generally having lousy aid. You should try and apply to Kenyon and USC, if your grades/scores warrant it.

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Sorry this response took a while to come, I’ve been so busy with end of the year projects.

Thank you so much for all of the responses! It’s last minute to change schedules so I’m definitely going to go Monday and finalize it! You guys definitely helped with my decision.

And @MYOS1634 , I will, thank you for the advice! And I don’t know about applying to USC because I’m not in state, so I don’t think I’d get any financial aid unfortunately. :frowning:

11

USC (California) is a private university, just like Chapman and LMU. What matters in determining cost are your grades, test scores, and parents’ income.
What’s instate for you?
What about Oxy’s media arts major with the writing minor?

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@MYOS1634 Oh okay, and I’m in New Jersey so no well known film programs, unfortunately. And what’s Oxy?

13

You’re fine with just AP Calc AB for anything other than engineering/CS programs. AP Stats is fine if you need/want a math class, but don’t feel compelled to take Calc BC unless you want to take it (which it doesn’t sound like you do).

AP Art History sounds like a good choice.

Are there any Spanish classes besides AP that you can take. Can you enroll in a dual enrollment Spanish class, for instance? Perhaps on Spanish and/or Latin American film?

14

@LoveTheBard No, unfortunately since I took Spanish IV Honors this year the only thing left is AP, my school doesn’t have Spanish V Honors. The only other option is to start another language which I don’t want to do. And there’s no dual enrollment classes.

As for Spanish / Latin American film, my school doesn’t have any classes on this either. It’s either that or nothing, unfortunately.

15

Oxy = Occidental in Los Angeles.

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If you’ve reached level4 already, you’re good.m for Spanish. :slight_smile:
It’s level reached, not how many years were in HS and how many were in MS.
Everything else isbgoodw stats included.
If you’re on the East coast, look into the UNCW writing program. They’re right by a large studio btw.