<p>I'm a sophomore right now, and I just received my teacher recommendations for next year. I got recommended for AP World History, but I'm not sure if I want to take it. Right now my schedule for next wear will include AP Calculus BC, AP Chemistry (double period in my school), AP Language and Composition, AP Psychology, Tech Ed (required), and either Honors World History or AP. I'm worried that AP World will take too much time, and I won't be able to do well in the other classes. I want to major in english or biology in college and follow the pre-med track, so I don't think an AP history would matter that much in helping my acceptance, but I could be wrong. I like history, but I wouldn't say I ~love~ it like I do science/english.
If you have taken AP World History, do you think it was a difficult/time consuming class? Do you think taking it would really help me stand out to colleges later on or do you think it wouldn't really matter because I don't intend to be a history major? My dream college is UPenn, which I know is a highly competitive school to get into, but I'm not sure if taking another AP is even worth it if I'm not too interested in it.
Thanks for reading!</p>
<p>How many AP classes do you have this year? Can you take AP WH your senior year and take Honors US History next year? Do you plan on taking further math classes after Calc BC, for instance with a dual-enrollment at a local community college - you could potentially take World History too?</p>
<p>Right now I’m in AP Biology and AP Government, and so far I’ve gotten pretty high A’s in both. I took Honors US History freshman year, in our school we’re required to take a world history, U.S. history and government class from any level. Most kids in my school take some kind of world history, whether regular, honors, or ap, in junior year, so I kinda want to get it out of the way next year >_< after Calc I want to take AP Statistics, but it really depends on if I can do well in Calc. </p>
<p>Calculus BC is Calc 2 actually (Calc AB is included but “reviewed” at a faster pace). It’d be strange to take Stats after Calc BC - schools such as the ones you’re considering would not see if positively, unless it’d be taken in addition to a dual-enrollment college calculus class (at the community college level, you’d probably take Calc3, but you’d have to check with the math dept there.) Unless your high school offers Discrete Math/Differential Equations. By “A World History”, I assume you mean European History or World History, right? (Check). If you take Calc3 at the community college or Differential Equations, it won’t matter that you took Honors WH and not AP WH since the college will see you have real strengths and a balanced schedule.</p>
<p>Ohh ok, I see. That sucks about AP Calculus/stats, why is taking Calculus before Statistics looked down on? 
I’ve thought of taking some math or even science courses (if available) at my community college, but I’d probably do that summer after junior year or during senior year (& by a world history i meant either regular world history, honors or AP, taking euro would just be a social studies elective in our school). </p>
<p>Ask UCBAlumnus, he’s the resident expert on all things math. But typically AP Stats is considered as a class to take instead of Calculus for students who can’t do it (scheduling issues, math issues…) or in addition to Calculus (for students who do well in math). Calc BC is the most advanced math class offered in a regular math curriculum, I think only 5% high school students ever take such a level (or perhaps even less, but it’s definitely a tiny minority). So if you’re good at it, you should continue with the same level of math.
If you take World History in the summer, would it “count” toward your HS requirement? You could also take Calc1 at the community college, it’d help you with Calc BC.</p>
<p>I don’t know where MYOS1634 gets their information. Why would taking Stats after AP Calculus BC be looked down upon? My son took pre-calc his sophomore year, so taking Calculus made sense his junior year (he took the local city college calculus course, which is equivalent to AP Calculus BC). He took Stats (one semester) his senior year. Not a problem with the colleges. As for AP world history, that can be a brutal course, depending on the teacher. The teacher my son had assigned 2 to 3 hours of homework each night. Almost killed him with the rest of us AP courses. However, he did get a 5 on the AP test, so I guess it was worth it. Another teacher at our school that teaches AP WH is more lax so not as much homework, but dosen’t prepare the students as well for the AP test. </p>
<p>For a college like UPenn, taking CalcBC as a junior and then NOT continuing with the next calculus class and taking Stats instead would be seen as less rigorous or a way to take an “easier” course. (It’d be fine to “double up” and take AP Stats one semester and Calc3 one semester). It could be justified, of course, for instance if the student got a B in calc BC, or if the student is taking a combination of AP Econ and AP Stats to prepare for an Econ major and explains it briefly on commonapp, but I don’t think UPenn would consider CalcBC followed by AP Stats as rigorous as Calc BC followed by Differential Equations or another advanced math class.
Don’t take my word for it, ask UCBAlumnus, if he disagrees with my assessment I’ll defer to his judgement.
I agree that considering the schedule you’ve planned for yourself, APWH would be overkill. Your solution might be to take WH 101 at your community college if your HS will let you do that.</p>
<p>To the OP, I think you’re fine taking Honors WH. I personally would choose AP and switch psych for something else.</p>
<p>To MYOS1634, a true story: In my previous PreK-12 school, the highest math level is Calc BC, there are 4 people tops that take it as a senior. One guy took BC as a junior, and took stat as an independent study senior year. Guess where he is now a junior? Yup, Penn. Oh, and for anyone planning on applying to Penn, please call it “Penn” before someone on campus corrects you. :)</p>
<p>Also, I am assuming MYOS1634 is an adult, but please remember that the OP is a 15 yo kid. Every high school curriculum is different. Some schools have AB as a prerequisite for BC. Others have pre-calc as the prerequisite… Most don’t have linear algebra, diff eq, MVCalc. Some do Physics C in 2 years; others do it in one, etc. Not all students have a dual enrollment option with a cc, Indeed my old school did not have that option, and since I was on track to do BC as a sophomore, I switched schools I just ask that you not needlessly freak out the kid over something that was not in his original post. Colleges will be looking at his course selections based on what the school offers. If the student maxes out the school’s math offerings, the college will see that.</p>
<p>*her original post 
haha but thank you skieurope, I knew I wanted to take AP psych even since the beginning of this year, world I was pretty iffy on but now I’m thinking maybe I’ll just take the honors version…if it’s true what tasmom says about the 2-3 hour workload per day I don’t think it’d be worth it for me considering I’m not extremely ‘passionate’ or anything about history.
MYOS164 I’ve heard that Multivariable Calculus is even harder, even though it’s not an AP…my plan was after junior year assuming I get A’s in Calc I’ll take that as well as AP Stat. I was toying with the idea of enrolling in some Orgo class in community college after AP Chem, but to be honest it would be pretty difficult for me to enroll in numerous cc courses during the regular school year. Until I get my license, then possibly…
Thanks for all your answers guys, really helps :)</p>
<p>@skieurope: 
I used to call Penn Penn but <em>everyone</em> here calls it UPenn so I yielded. 
(It used to grate but now I got used to it :D)</p>
<p>yes Multivariable Calc is even harder but very, very few high schools in the country offer it (as in, probably 99.9% don’t). I figured that since your HS offered BC for juniors, which in itself is even rarer than offering it for seniors, you might attend a high performing HS that offers a further math course, in which case if your choice was to take that class OR stats, you’d be at a disadvantage in the college process if you plan on using math for your major (it wouldn’t be the case if you planned on majoring in Art History but for the majors you listed it’d be factored in at universities you’re likely to apply to). If you plan on taking BOTH Multivariable (which is considered a 2nd year college course for math majors) AND stats, then you’re well ahead of the game. If you HS didn’t offer Multivariable it would be better for you to take Calc3 at a cc than stats only, but a combination of both <em>if you like math</em></p>
<p>Skieurope is right though, don’t stress out tooooo much over course selection. For universities with selectivity at 20% and below, the deciding factor will ultimately be something like “do you show passion” and “are you someone we’d like to have on campus”. For courses, it’ll be whether you took 6-8 AP classes, maxing out in subjects related to the subject you purport to major in (even if you change your mind, it shows you have an understanding of what you want and how to get there, can chart a path and plan, etc, etc.) and if you have a subject you’re really comfortable with, see if you can take classes beyond 1st year college - so, Multivariable Calculus, or Advanced Spanish (1 semester college = 2 years HS - languages can be brutal at college). Generally speaking, taking a class (even a 101 class) at community college can be a good choice for students: this way they establish that they can keep up at a college pace. Of course the choice should be a class where they’re likely to get a good grade and which they should be ready to drop if they’re getting a grade below what they’re getting in HS, but overall if taken seriously it can be a good experience, in particular because they’ll be with very different students than in a HS class, the approach will be different (handling a syllabus, etc), the pace, sometimes the materials.</p>
<p>Don’t focus on just one college though. Your next task should be to find two colleges you’re 100% sure you can get into, that you like, and that your parents can afford. </p>
<p>It looks like your schedule next year will be quite rigorous so i can see why you would be apprehensive towards the idea of taking another AP class like World History. However, since you mentioned that you want to go to Upenn, i recommend you take AP World. Every AP class that you take will raise your weighted GPA higher and will make you course rigor more impressive and for a school like Upenn, you’d need to be as impressive as you possiblly can. I took AP World freshman year and passed with an A average and a 4 on the test, but it was my only AP and my teacher was very good, additionally it will take quite a bit of studying since its a lot of information, but again if senior year rolls around and you end up getting denied by Upenn or other top notch schools you may end up regretting not taking AP World when you had the chance. </p>