Right now I’m thinking that my senior year schedule will be something like this:
AP LIT
AP CALC AB
AP STATS
AP COMPUTER SCIENCE
AP ECONOMICS
AP GOVERNMENT
And… I need help choosing the seventh
I’m trying to decided between AP CHEM and AP ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
I’ve taken biology, chemistry, AP Bio, and honors physics
I didn’t do so great in chemistry, but I’m worried apes isn’t like a real science class?
I’m aiming for the top UCs and I am not sure if it would be detrimental to not do a “tough” science class next year.
Any advice would be much appreciated!
If you’re choosing between APES and AP Chem, I’d go with Chem. It depends if you can handle it though. You’d have 6 other APs and you said that you did not do so great in chem. AP Chem > APES any day, but can you handle it? Especially with Calc?
I would suggest AP Chem over APES, but I would also suggest that 7 AP’s are overkill.
Tripling up on math… is that a good idea?
All the other APs I actually WANT to do, but the thing is that I feel like I need a science. I don’t know if I should just go with APES or drop a different ap class so I can do chem… And honestly the only reason for that would be to show colleges that I’m not slacking, and I know that’s not the reason to take ap classes… I just don’t want to receive a college rejection and wonder if I could have gotten in had I done AP Chem instead
1 AP class will not make the difference between an acceptance and a rejection. However, if you want an opinion, AP Stats is a bit useless at this point. Most people take it before AP Calc. Is it a useless class? No, but you can take it in college. That would be an AP you could drop in order to fit Chem in.
UCs only count 8 APs. Total.
In addition, colleges don’t like the “everything but the kitchen sink” approach to APs.
Ideally, you need all 5 core classes (1 each of Math, English, Science, Social Science, Foreign Language) + 2 classes that show what you like (personal picks that match your interests as expressed in essays and ECs, or in plans, for instance); 5 of the 7 should be AP or Honors. This is for ALL top universities and LACs (so, in addition to the UCs, Pomona, Pitzer, Occidental, Chapman, USC, Whitman for the West Coast, + all other universities/LACs you may think of.)
AP LIT => good
AP CALC AB => good
AP STATS => unnecessary, remove (however, DO plan to take Statistics in college!)
AP COMPUTER SCIENCE = OR APES but CS is considered better than APES
AP ECONOMICS
AP GOVERNMENT
= pick one unless you plan on being a social science major - that’d be a “personal pick”.
Add an Honors Foreign Language class level 3 (or 4) ; do you have your art requirement covered?
AP art history
AP Chem
AP physics
I would choose chem.
How about apes vs honors anatomy?
^ in what sense?
You already have a science class (CS). You can double up if one of the classes is really interesting to you but it has to “fit” with your profile, your interests, etc. You can’t just take an AP “to line up APs”.
In terms of “general culture to understand the world” or “likely to be found in a non-stem-major gen ed class in college”, APES would win. However if you intend to go into nursing, Honors Anatomy would matter more. (For premed, AP bio is more beneficial, but you’ve already taken it.)
Keep in mind that the class you’re lacking right now is foreign language, not science. Colleges will not care that you didn’t take AP Chem, especially since you took one each of bio, chem, and physics + one AP science already. You’re covered. Not to mention that you say you didn’t do great in Chem and no one is impressed with a C in an AP class.
Beside Foreign Language, you have to choose two other classes, one of which can be APES.
And do you have your Art credit? (Without it, you can’t apply to UCs.)
I already have my art credit and I’ve finished through honors French. I’m leaning towards honors anatomy now although its a killer class at my school, I think I’ll learn a lot more information that will be beneficial no matter what field I go in. So no APES or APCHEM then…
I think APES is more beneficial if you’re looking for a “well-roundedness” class. It deals with the way science impacts the world, or how the world impacts science, and the relationships between the different parts of the natural world (including geography, physics, chemistry, and biology). You’ll learn about current issues and problems, as well as ways to (possibly) solve them.