I am a high school senior looking to apply to Ivy League and other top ranked universities. To date I have taken AP World History, AP US History, AP European History, and AP Chemistry and have gotten fives. I go to a small school with limited AP options. I am taking six full credit courses (AP Economics, AP English, AP Biology, Honors Calculus, Honors French III, and Honors Theology (a requirement)), and a half credit of Government. I have the option to add in AP Art History. This would mean that I would be taking on a significant amount of additional course work and would have a very full school day with only a 20 minute break each day. I love the subject, but could satisfy that love by visiting museums or taking an Art History class in college. Is it worth adding in the extra course from a college admissions standpoint? I was planning on self studying for the Spanish AP test, I previously self-studied for the AP World History exam.
Take the class if you want to take the class. If you don’t want to take the class, don’t take it. Don’t base your decision on what colleges will think, since, for the most part, they won’t care. In a similar vein, feel free to self study AP Spanish if you are looking for the college credit, but don’t do it foe the sake of colleges. Again, they won’t care that you self studied.
If you genuinely want to take AP art history, and are sure you could handle the work, then take it. But ask yourself: is the extra course load worth it? You already have a challenging enough schedule; you’ve taken four APs already with good scores to boot and are taking three more this year. Don’t try to convince yourself that the extra AP will matter that much. I used to think the more APs, the better. But don’t over stress the importance of APs. As long as your counselor will check “most rigorous” on your application, don’t worry about it.
If you are interested in AP History and want to make the time to take it that is fine, if you are not interested in the subject I wouldn’t bother. I can’t imagine any college admissions decision would hinge on if you had AP History or not.
Take it if you are genuinely interested, but don’t let that deteriorate your essays because of a lack of time outside of hw.
I don’t think one more AP will make or break your application, so unless you are sure you can handle the extra coursework I wouldn’t add it. Remember, seniors have an additional class called “College Essays” (I believe @Lindagaf coined this term and it’s SO TRUE- college essays are like a full course of work).
Actually, @yonceonhismouth , the always-wise @MYOS1634 might be the coiner of that phrase:-)