I’ve been reading a lot about APUSH online recently, the history course I’m currently signed up for taking my Junior year, and I have heard both horror and success stories. This would be the FIRST AP History course I will take, along with my first 2 other AP courses (Psychology and Spanish Language). I genuinely love learning about history, but I’m scared that if I take APUSH, my GPA would be lower than if I took U.S. History Honors (both are weighted the same, 5.0, at my high school). I know that even if you have a B in an AP class, and an A in honors, they like the AP grade because more it shows them that you took the most rigorous course given to you, which I understand, but UT Austin looks closely at rank, and at my school, taking APUSH is treated the same as the honors version (which I hate). I really do want to take APUSH and I believe that I will be able to pass the AP exam in May, but I’m most worried about how it will affect my GPA and class rank. Thank you and please leave suggestions below! 
@nicoden It is probably best to protect your rank. If you are in the top 7% and the AP class could push you out of the top 7%, I would stick with honors. US History is part of the core curriculum at UT so if you really love the subject, you’ll be able to take it again.
As of May1, 2017, the APUSH exam only gives credit for one history class at UT with a 4-5 score. I don’t personaly think the work involved in APUSH balances out with getting only one credit now instead of two.