I’m currently debating whether or not I should take AP Literature this upcoming year. I am taking 5 other AP courses this year and while I’m sure I could handle the extra workload, it would be a lot easier to manage my time with sports and my other extracurriculars if I were to drop the class. The issue is, however, if I were to drop AP Lit, my only other option would be to take two semester long academic English electives. I took academic English my freshman year, but then took H English 10th grade and AP Lang 11th grade so I’m concerned that it would look like I’m not improving or slacking in my English skills.
So, would dropping AP Lit look bad on my college application? I would think that the 5 other AP courses I’m taking this year and the 3 I’ve taken in the past would make up for the fact, but I’m planning on applying to schools such as Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, and UPenn which I know have very selective application processes and competition. On another note, I know I would disappoint the English teacher/debate coach I’ve had the past two years who I am having write one of my letters of recommendation this year (and who strongly recruited me for AP Lit) and I wouldn’t want this decision to reflect poorly upon me.
That’s not a bad option, and can actually be more interesting, depending on the electives.
S/he’s a big boy/girl; s/he’ll get over it.
5 AP’s is a lot; 6 is probably overkill. Also, keep in mind that you will be spending a lot of time on college applications and essays; rising seniors always underestimate the workload involved.
The other thing to look at is what credit your potential colleges will give for AP. Many colleges, like Georgetown, will give credit for AP Lang or AP Lit, but not both. Penn and JHU give credit for neither.
It’s probably not a huge deal if you choose to drop AP Lit but it does look questionable when you go from AP Lang to a lower level English class (and it will likely reflect that you chose to take the easier class when you had the choice not to). That + the fact that midyear reports from senior year aren’t weighted significantly (so you have a little room to slack) + the teacher is writing your rec would push me towards sticking with AP Lit in your situation.
Again it’s probably not going to be a deal breaker but the best students/applicants typically stick with the most rigorous course load through all years.
I think that AP Lit will look infinitely better than dropping down to an easier class. Yes, you have 5 other AP classes and that’s definitely going to be tough, but AP Lit is an important class to take. Out of the classes you are going to be taking right now, the ones I would think of as “expendable” would be AP Psych or AP Gov. What are you planning on majoring in? If it is something along the lines of political science or IR (just guessing bc Georgetown and JHU are known for these), then AP Lit will be very helpful. If you had to drop an AP class, assuming that was your major, then I would say drop Psych. But, if your major is more science or math related (JHU is also known for biomed), then consider dropping, for example, AP Gov. I don’t know about your school, but at my school, AP Gov is one of the easier ap classes. I don’t have an AP Psych option at my school, but I don’t believe it is that hard either. To me, these classes are ones that are good to take, but admissions won’t really miss that much if you don’t have them. However, they probably will notice more if you drop down from ap Lang to electives. Also consider that for many schools it is required that you have 4 years of English, so they obviously value English, and so you should strive to take the hardest English class (ap) your school offers.
The problem with dropping down to an easier class is that you will not be writing on a college level… Like you supposedly did in AP Lang. AP Lit would probably bolster your writing skills… which is a very valuable asset when moving off to college.
Another point for taking AP Lit is the progression of AP classes. Colleges like to see that you took AP and then went on to the next challenging course. Going down to a regular class would probably not be a good idea… Especially applying to the schools you want to go to.
A different option would be to take an English class concurrently with your community college. Generally, these classes are easier… Though the grading might be harder, depending on the professor. Still, you might be able to slack off (MIGHT: all colleges/professors are different!) while still showing colleges that you are, in fact, ready for college.