<p>I'm an upcoming Junior, and I go to a small private school, so some classes are only offered once a day. I plan on going into engineering or some sort of science field. I was planning on taking APUSH, APLIT, AP Spanish, AP Art History, Pre-Cal, and physics, but due to scheduling conflicts, I have to choose between dropping AP Art History or physics.</p>
<p>I don't want to go a whole year without taking a science course, but I'm currently at the top of my class and I don't know if not taking AP Art History will jeopardize my chances of becoming valedictorian.</p>
<p>My school is very English/Social Studies heavy, but their math and science department is lacking. Given that I want to go into engineering, this is a concern for me.</p>
<p>Anyways, which class should I drop, and do you have any ideas where I could take either class independently outside of school?</p>
<p>Physics is CP by the way. My dad is an electrical engineer, so I was going to try to self-study and take the AP Physics B Test (or maybe just the subject test).</p>
<p>If you are looking to go into engineering, you should take physics. You can always take AP Art History as a senior. Not being valedictorian is not going to hurt you in life and should not be the reason for determining courses.</p>
<p>Being valedictorian is unlikely to impact your college admission – most of the admission decision is based on your record through junior year, as long as your senior course load displays a comparable amount of rigor and you don’t suddenly start slacking off. While being valedictorian is certainly an achievement, it’s not worth jeopardizing your college choices because your curriculum is weak (you should at the minimum have biology, chemistry, and physics before your senior year if those are available to you). Agree with @skieurope that you could take AP art history as a senior. Another thought is to take physics in the summer before your senior year through your school (if offered) or at a local community college. </p>