Should I take a history/social science course next year?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
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<p>I've been reviewing my courses that I have taken/will be taking for the end of high school. I am currently a junior. The one thing I'm worried about is how my transcript will look to college admissions officers. The number of courses in each subject looks pretty good (4 years or more in each), except for two areas: science and history/social science. Based on what I registered for next year as far as classes go, by the time I graduate, I will have taken 6 lab sciences (a combination of chemistry, biology, and physics with AP's in some of them), while in the social sciences, I will only have taken 3 courses (World Cultures in my freshman year, US History as a summer class before junior year, and AP US Government and Politics). All of these classes satisfy a graduation requirement anyway.</p>

<p>Long story short, for my senior year, I will be taking 2 lab sciences (AP Biology and AP Physics 2), while I won't have any history classes. Would it be smarter to not take AP Biology and take AP European History instead? Or should I stick to taking the two AP science classes? In case it wasn't obvious already, I like science MUCH more than history, but history has started to grow on me over the past couple of years.</p>

<p>In addition, I will only have 3 credits of math total to graduate, or 4 if you (and most importantly, admissions officers at colleges) count AP Statistics. My math classes have included Algebra 2 Enhanced (freshman year), Pre-Calculus (sophomore year), AP Calculus 1 and 2 (each was a semester, and are dual credit at the local community college), and then I plan on taking AP Stats next year (senior year). Should I also take one more actual math class? I've maxed out the math courses at my high school, but I would always have the option to take Calculus III at my local community college. Any thoughts?</p>

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<p>A guy in my grade decided to only take an English course and a bunch of science courses his senior year (he only had two years of a language and three years of a history) and he got accepted to UChicago and MIT.</p>

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<p>I don’t think most colleges ask for four years of history/social sciences. For example, [url=<a href=“https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/preparing-college/choosing-courses]Harvard[/url”>Guide to Preparing for College]Harvard[/url</a>] asks for two (preferably three) years, and [url=<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/admission/applyingforadmission/preparation/]Princeton[/url”>http://www.princeton.edu/admission/applyingforadmission/preparation/]Princeton[/url</a>] asks for two, and [url=<a href=“http://www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/basics/selection/prepare.html]Stanford[/url”>http://www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/basics/selection/prepare.html]Stanford[/url</a>] asks for three or more years. </p>

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<p>That’s fine. You can “specialize” as long as you’ve met colleges’ recommendations in the subjects you aren’t taking. </p>

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<p>AP Statistics counts.
When they say they want four years of math, they’re assuming you started with Algebra I or Plane Geometry in ninth grade and took one class per year. If you make it to calculus with fewer than four math credits, that’s also fine. So you should only take Calculus III if it appeals to you.
Btw, AP refers to advanced classes designed by the College Board, so classes you take at a local college aren’t AP classes regardless of difficulty.</p>

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<p>It’s great that prestigious colleges like that only really need to see two or three years, but what about the majority of “average” schools? I just feel like it might like very unbalanced to colleges. I do think that history might interesting to me if I learn about new material (90% of the history classes we have to take in school now look at American History, not much of any other part of the world).</p>

<p>To be honest, I would find Calculus III to be more interesting than AP Statistics, but it seems like AP Stats is one of those classes that would be very useful for real life. So it’s probably worth taking? Thanks for the responses!</p>

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<p>They require even less. If you meet the standards of the most selective colleges, you probably meet the standards for most colleges in the country, which is why I singled them out. As an example of more average school, [Ohio</a> State](<a href=“First-year applicants – Columbus campus - The Ohio State University”>First-year applicants – Columbus campus - The Ohio State University) wants 2 (3) units of social science. Of course, if you have specific schools in mind, this information will be on their websites too. </p>

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<p>Calculus III would be more impressive, and it’s useful in real life for many careers. But whichever one you choose, you can always take the other in college.</p>

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<p>Great, thank you very much, that helps a lot!</p>