HI all 
Happy Thanksgiving!
I’m a freshman in a #1 public high school in Honolulu HI. Class Registration for next year is on next wed, but I cannot decide to take AP US History or not. I’ve heard that APUSH is one of the most rigorous and difficult AP courses. My friends taking APUSH told me to avoid that class no matter what 
I asked my counselor , and she said she wouldn’t recommend taking it unless you want to major in history or related in college (I’m planning to major in animal sciences or biology). Is this true??
Also, I don’t think I can handle that much workload, and the main thing is, I totally HATE history.
I am aiming for UW Madison, U Minnesota, Penn State, UF, UC Davis, and Purdue. I will take AP Biology, AP English Lang/Comp and AP English Lit/Comp, AP Psychology, AP Calculus,Honors Chemistry, and Physics in community college in junior and senior year. Will not taking APUSH hurt my chances?
Also I am considering taking regular US history, self study and take AP USH test. What are your thoughts?
Thanks
:)>-
If you HATE history, don’t take it, and don’t bother with self-studying either.
Is history something that is mandatory? I think your courseload is already rigorous enough.
^^^ Agree 100% - why would you consider taking An AP in a subject you hate? That’s not what they are ideally for.
I love history and I dropped it. The reason being it takes about 3 hours a class of homework. It is a lot of info. Self studying is great, but Bio and Calc can be monstrous given a strict teacher.
For comparison, In junior year I had
Honors Chem
Technical writing
Engineering Tech
Calc 1/2 (CC)
Drafting (cc)/Culutral anthro (2nd semester)
Ap Lang 5
AP environmental science. 5
My advice, take as many classes as you can do well in, which includes the test.
I enjoyed History and felt my courseload was easier than most of my other classes.
However considering you dislike history and teacher’s are variable on work, your mileage may vary on this.
APUSH involves a lot of homework, and having time management skills is essential. If you don’t like history, then I wouldn’t take APUSH, especially with all of the other courses you are going to take. I took APUSH last year, and the amount of homework I had a majority of the time was overwhelming to me. Your schedule looks very rigorous already, so I don’t think you need to take APUSH. Take the classes that interest you and you know you can succeed in. Don’t just take AP classes just to look better. Not taking APUSH won’t harm your chances.
No, don’t take APUSH, it’s not worth it.
I’m not sure of your family’s financial circumstances, but if you guys can pay 45k a year at those universities, then by all means go, but they give very little financial aid to out of state applicants unfortunately. You can become a vet by starting out at any 4 year college, not necessarily one with a vet school.
The way vet school works is you have to take certain prerequisite classes in undergrad before you apply to actual vet schools. These prereq courses can be completed anywhere, and included Bio 1 & 2 with labs, physics 1 & 2 with labs, general chem 1 & 2 with labs, orgo 1 & 2 with lab, biochemistry, english 1 & 2, calc, and statistics. Some schools also require physiology (davis), microbiology (cornell), genetics (a lot of schools), animal science, and/or animal nutrition. So at the end of your 4th year in undergrad, after you’ve completed all the prereq courses and you’re on your way to getting a degree, you apply to vet school. This is when you start looking at the big land grant, out of state, public schools. For now, I’d recommend focusing on in-state publics and out-of-state privates. Some OOS privates with vet schools are Cornell, UPenn, and Tufts. So if you’re dead set on going to an undergrad school w/ vet schools (because they do offer certain opportunities, like clinical experience) then consider those 3, but they’re also highly selective schools.
Good luck. Also basically ignore everything I just said if your family is comfortable affording the OOS tuition at a place like Davis or UF.
APUSH really depends on how well you’re already grounded in history, my teacher was less than stellar, rarely assigned homework (or even class work) and I ended up missing 1/4th of the class (missed 45 of 180 days), but I still got a 4 because I just like history and learned the information on my own at some point in time. My friend has an even odder story whereas he missed 60 days and got a 5!
If the class is gonna be hell for you, and if it is going to be difficult to get good grades in, then I say avoid it. It sounds like the rest of schedule will be rigorous, best of luck!!!
I thought APUSH was a great course at our high school, but at many schools it’s taught with a lot of busy work. It’s a managable course if the teacher doesn’t have you doing sill things like outlining text books. I made my older son who is 100% STEM oriented take it. He thanked me when he realized it got him out of the US History requirement in college. Your schedule sounds fine for the school you are aiming for. I think taking a regular US history course would be fine. Don’t bother self studying for the AP.
As someone who loves history, APUSH is a piece of cake. Studying is like reading for fun and I love the challenge of piecing together history from a variety of perspectives. However, those who are doing poorly in the class are those who hate history. Self studying is a waste of time for the same reasons. It’s not worth your GPA and your misery–take classes that you WANT to take, not ones that you think you have to take.
I abhor history. Yet it is one of the easier aps, since the homework you do is half of your studying. If you, like me, love stem courses and barely study for them still get A’s, take it. Junior year is your time to shine. Try to do as many aps as you can, however crazy it is. But if it is too much, dont. And self studying for the ap exam will be more work, jsut saying.
And if your school looks down on apush, maybe the course there sucks. For me, all students take it because its a “required” class. I regret having such a rigorous schedule what with sat and whatnot. Pace yourself, do what you can, and try your best. Apush is just a meaningless course. I would forward to bio and lang. Those are kiiller.
And shoot for better schools.
And arent you a sphomore?
Thank you guys!! I decided to take regular US History. Thanks for being so much help!