Senior Year Schedule Help/Advice?

College Search & Selection
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<p>Right now I'm in:</p>

<p>AP US History
AP Eng Language
H French V
H Chem
Acc Math 3 (Pre-Calc/Analysis)
Health/PE</p>

<p>Which places me on track for:</p>

<p>AP Calculus (AB or BC)
AP Chem or AP Bio
AP Econ/Gov
AP Eng Literature
AP French
Senior Psychology</p>

<p>I am looking for advice on what to do, though.</p>

<p>First, I currently have a borderline A in Pre-Calc and though I generally understand the concepts well, I am unsure if Calc BC may be too difficult. Last years class split between AB and BC and the kids in AB without exception are doing extremely well, while the BC kids are split, with some doing quite well and others struggling. Do colleges treat AB and BC similarly in the admission process? Is a 5 on the AB exam better than or equal to a 3 or 4 on the BC exam?</p>

<p>Second, I've gone through five levels of French, but my speaking and listening skills are still, in my opinion, subpar. The French program at my school is notoriously easy until AP, and I am curious if I should consider potentially saving myself from an extremely poor AP score in lieu of taking something I find more interesting like Honors Anatomy. Would colleges look poorly on me dropping the language? Is anatomy a substantial enough course?</p>

<p>Finally, I am currently in chem and doing very well, and I enjoy the subject; however, I also very much enjoy bio and, though I took honors bio freshman year, I am interested in potentially taking it as well. I plan to major in some sort of Bio/Chem mix in college (Considering Biomedical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or Biochemistry). My question here is: What are others experiences with the class and the AP exam? </p>

<p>I intend to apply to some top (reach) schools like Cornell, Vanderbilt, and Yale, but I also have my more reasonable schools like UNC-Chapel Hill, UVA, and GaTech. Also, for some background, I am currently 6/460ish kids in my class with a 4.0 unweighted, 4.379 weighted GPA.</p>

<p>Thanks for the help/</p>

2

<p>BC Calc is much more highly regarded than AB, but taking any AP Calc at all is good, as many students fear the course and whimp out with AP Stats or some other math class. Particularly at top tier schools, and going into engineering, you can expect that your competition will have taken BC Calc. </p>

<p>BC Calc is definitely not easy. However, pre-cal is not really a good indicator of your BC success. You really don’t need much pre-cal at all in Calculus, except trig identities are occasionally useful, it’s its helpful to know what the graph of a function looks like. I took precal two years before Calc, so I forgot most of it, and it has not held me back. That being said, if don’t consider math a strong point, BC will be really tough. AB is verrry managable; BC covers the entire AB curriculum in just the first semester. As for the exam, when you take the BC exam, it comes with an AB subscore. That is, you essentially get a BC exam grade and a AB exam grade. BC covers more and with greater complexity, so they AB and BC scores can’t really be compared.</p>

<p>Five levels of French is definitely great, and more than most. You do not need to take AP French, and definitely not if you think you will struggle. Not worth the stress in my opinion. Less about the AP score, more about your grades and your senior year workload/stress level. You will not be looked down upon. </p>

<p>If you enjoy Chem, I highly recommend AP Chem. Great course. I didn’t even like Chem and AP Chem made me a chemistry junkie. AP Bio is a bore; it’s an entire year of straight memorization. I find Chem to be far more valuable, and it is more in line with your career goals I think. Really though, just decide which you like more, and talk to past students to see how tough they are. Both will look good on your transcript.</p>

<p>Final note, what is senior psychology? Have you thought about AP Psych? It would look better, be weighted higher, and is a very easy AP. Amusing course too.</p>

3

<p>Is senior psych necessary? Can you do a study hall instead? Really…seniors get senioritis, so give yourself a break if you can.</p>

<p>* more reasonable schools like UNC-Chapel Hill, UVA, *</p>

<p>Those schools are difficult to get into out of state? Are you instate for either one?</p>

<p>Do you have a financial safety school (one that you know that you’ll get into and you know for sure that you can afford)?</p>

4

<p>Senior Psych at my school is basically the relaxing class of senior year. It follows a freshman course called Gifted Developmental Psychology and is really meant to be a fun course for seniors to take to lighten their heavy course load. I have not considered dropping it in favor of AP Psych because it comes highly recommended by everyone who has taken it. </p>

<p>Also, in regard to schools I plan to apply to, my super reach is Yale, and my only real shot is if I am a recruited athlete (rower). Otherwise I plan to apply to other top tier schools like Cornell and Vanderbilt, along with some more reasonably schools like UVA and UNC-Chapel Hill.</p>

5

<p>Mom’s point was that schools like UVA and UNC aren’t exactly “reasonable.” UVA is extremely selective and still a reach for you, though you are probably a match for UNC. Similarly, Yale is just as much of a reach as Cornell and Vandy (Vandy a liiitle less so). Just make sure you apply to a few schools that you KNOW you can get into and know you can afford.</p>

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<p>Oh, I’m sorry, I guess I didn’t really read exactly what she was asking. Yes, I plan on applying to University of Georgia and Georgia Tech. All of my scores are well above their 50% ranges and I live in state.</p>

7

<p>Ah, well there ya go.</p>

<p>By the way, Honors Anatomy is fine, particularly if you are taking a lab science as well (which chem/bio are).</p>

8

<p>Awesome! Thanks for the advice.</p>

9

<p>david rink, I want you.</p>

10

<p>Excuse me?</p>

11

<p>May I ask, and this is with all due respect-
How do you manage all of those classes with a 4.0 GPA?
I’m really curious as to how because my workload isn’t as bad, but I’m constantly struggling with having good study habits.
Do you have any tips/advice on how you get such good grades on these really hard courses?</p>

12

<p>To be 100% honest, my study habits are, well, abysmal. I do very little extraneous work unless I deem it absolutely vital to my understanding what I am learning. I am a very bad example of what to do if you want to improve your study habits. Sorry I can’t be of more help.</p>

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<p>Seriously, we’re soulmates. See you at practice!</p>