Factors: Does one look better for top colleges? Would you highly recommended both? If so, which one should I take first senior year and which one should I save for college?
I appreciate your suggestions! Thanks!
To be honest, I don’t think they really care… The availability of AP classes vary great per school, so they often don’t penalize students a ton. For example, I’ll be done with 12 APs, but I’ve got friends that have gotten accepted into HYPS with 6 or less APs. If you’re an econ major, both are going to be critical – Psych will help tremendously for Microeconomics as you’re attempting to understand and assume a consumer and a firm’s psyche, and US Gov. will help you a lot for Macroeconomics, especially when dealing with regulations, fiscal policies in the U.S., etc…
I’d recommend stepping away from the “What would colleges like,” and choose what you’d like. In the end run, all that matters (and probably what colleges like to see) is a demonstrated passion. Good luck.
As @Rhidian says, selective colleges care that you take a rigorous course load. Neither psych nor USgov will pop up particularly strongly - neither good or bad. AdComms tend to not pay a lot of attention to what you say you are going to major in (as long as you are applying to the right section of the school)- they know that lots of students change their minds!
As @Rhidian says, selective colleges care that you take a rigorous course load. Neither psych nor USgov will pop up particularly strongly - neither good or bad. AdComms tend to not pay a lot of attention to what you say you are going to major in (as long as you are applying to the right section of the school)- they know that lots of students change their minds!
Take whatever you want. I didn’t take AP Psychology in college and I ended up majoring in it. I took AP U.S. Government because I thought I wanted to be a prosecuting attorney, and I loved the class, but ended up not going to law school.
AP Psych ins’t a curriculum that is close to a college intro psych class. I’d go with gov.
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Colleges care more about AP course rigor. I would say that AP Gov is slightly more rigorous than AP Psych, but this choice most likely will make zero difference to colleges.
I’d go with AP Gov, both because it’s useful for economics and because it’s closer to what you actually learn in college.
AP Psych is like a fun elective for the AP crowd - also known as “AP Lite”.
Actually, I checked out the AP Psychology curriculum and it is very similar to an introductory college psychology class. So I wouldn’t say government is closer to what you’d actually learn in college - they’re both good representations of an introductory college class in the area, which is what AP was designed to be anyway.
AP Psych is no more a “fun elective” than psychology is a “fun elective” to people who major or minor in it. It’s certainly a fun class and an interesting subject to take. It also is probably easier than AP American Government, but that’s no reason not take it seriously or to skip it.
At some high schools, there is a required government / civics course, with AP US government being the honors version, while AP psychology is purely an (academic) elective. Both attempt to emulate a one semester introductory course in college (though not all colleges accept them for subject credit).
Within such a high school requirement constraint (if applicable), take whichever or both depending on your interest.
Note that behavioral economics is a subarea which involves some psychology. Economics is also a topic in politics, so some knowledge of political science (government) may be helpful if one studies economics for the purpose of making policy decisions.
@juillet: the situation with AP Psychology has nothing to do with Psychology the subject. It’s absolutely a valid subject to take in college and in high school. The situation with AP Psychology has to do with the way the AP Psychology class is constructed - it’s designed by the CollegeBoard company to be a “light” class, an “academic elective” class for kids who take APs and don’t want to take “regular” psychology, but it’s not designed to be equivalent to a semester-long college class. It covers the topics but in a “light” fashion. Very, very few universities give credit for AP Psychology.
Actually, it does seem that more than “very, very few” universities give subject credit for AP psychology. However, you would have to look outside the super-selective universities to get a more representative sample. Introductory psychology in a university is often not considered a particularly difficult course, since universities typically assume no previous background in the subject from high school (unlike in English, math, science, history, etc.).
Just as a data point, Notre Dame gives credit for AP Psych if you get a 5 on the exam. The same is true for AP Gov.