Hello,
I am going to be a senior next year and only have a few AP courses to choose from in school now. Here’s what I’ve taken so far:
Grade 9 (no AP’s allowed freshman year):
H Bio
H English 1
Health
Leadership Development (online)
H Math 2
H Math 3
Principles of business and finance
Spanish 1
H World History
Grade 10:
AP Chemisty (4)
AP Psychology (5)
AP Stat (5)
H Chem
Programming 1
H English 2
H Pre-Calculus
Spanish 2
Grade 11
AP Human Geo
AP Calculus AB
AP Calculus BC
AP USH
AP Physics 1
AP Env Sci
H Programming 2
H English 3 (i hate english)
Planned for Next Year:
English 4 Honors (required)
Civics and Economics Honors (required)
Calculus III (Community College)
AP Computer Science A
AP Computer Science Principles
AP Physics C Mechanics
AP ??
AP ??
I have these options to fill in the last two slots:
AP Physics 2
AP European History
AP World History (online)
AP Macro/Microeconomics (online)(both courses together = 1 credit)
AP US Government & Politics
From these 5 I’m leaning towards macro and micro because it is probably easier than the others on the list. Can anyone recommend an 8th course for me to take, based on what’s the easiest?
Thank you for your help.
Are you doing this for college apps or just to be challenged? You already have more APs than you need for college given your senior year course load. Do you have to take eight classes, most students only take 7 max, typically 6 if they have a sport or want a slightly lighter load. Take an elective or two in something you’re interested in, and that will give you some relief from these APs.
It is really dependent on several factors: 1. How much you think you can handle the current workload / courses you have already listed, 2. How difficult the courses that you have listed as possible options left, and 3. What major or career path are you looking into. For example, if you plan to go into a heavily Math / Science based major (Applied Mathematics, Engineering, etc.) then you should be looking towards taking either AP Physics 2. That being stated, many seniors in other high schools are expected to take either AP Government and AP Economics, and I believe that many colleges expect this to be the case. Also, looking through your record, it would be best to take either AP Government or AP Economics since it seems that your academics quantitatively are solid, but you need to bolster the more liberal arts aspect. In the end, the most important thing is to ensure that you can sustain your health, since it seems that you have sufficient AP’s as it is (I took 14 AP’s during high school).
Spanish 3&4 are conspicuously lacking, so I’d focus on that before I pile up one more AP.
Reaching level 3 is the minimum for a selective college, and level 4 if you aim for a college in the
top 30 (national universities) or top 50 (national LACs).
This accumulation makes you look like an “AP junkie” - one who cares more about the AP label
than about the careful crafting of a balanced schedule. You have to be careful: adcoms don’t like
it when all your classes are AP.
I’d convert your schedule to
English 4 Honors (required)
Civics and Economics Honors (required)
Calculus III (Community College)
AP Computer Science A OR AP Computer Science Principles
AP Physics C Mechanics
Spanish 3
AP Macro/Micro
Remember that visiting universities, applying to universities, and choosing between universities will essentially be another full time extra course. As such, there is something to be said for taking a bit less senior year.
Personally I would avoid either of the AP history options. I watched a daughter take AP European History, and it was IMHO the hardest earned A- that I have ever seen in my life. There are an enormous volume of random events that happened in European History (and probably any other History) that you probably don’t really need or want to learn about. As an adult I love reading about history, but you will be too busy senior year. US Government and Politics would probably have the same problem.
You should check about the language requirements of whatever universities that you intend to apply to. Definitely include safety schools (if you read CC for a while, you will read about a lot of very strong students that either don’t get into their reach schools, or get in but can’t afford them).
This brings it down to economics and/or physics. I would be inclined to do less rather than more (ie, one or neither of these). Personally I loved both subjects. I was a math major in university, which seems like at area that you are probably good at also.
@MYOS1634 Thanks for the advice! The reason I have not taken more spanish is because I absolutely hate learning spanish and the class. Spanish 3 is notoriously hard at my school (AP level difficulty supposedly).
@DadTwoGirls Thank you for the great advice. I will probably not take either history classes next year. I do have an interest in getting a MBA so I will likely to take the AP economics courses.
@StormfalconX
AP Physics 2 – I took AP Physics 1, not sure how AP Physics 2 is but I heard that it mostly electricity and gas laws. A lot of students at our school just jump from AP Physics 1 to AP Physics C
AP European History – Depends on the teacher. AP Euro, in many respects is easier for me than most subjects because I just love history. Additionally, literally there is a major part of history in AP Euro that focuses on Russia 1900+. I just know this particular time period of history well because my great grandparents were alive during the Great Patriotic War and during the Stalin regime and my grandparents during the Cold War. Anyways, take it at your own risk. Is the teacher easy? Do you like history?
AP World History (online) – Not sure how APWH is but my friends have complained that it is a lot of notes but then that depends on the teacher. From what I heard, it is a conglomerate of APUSH + and AP EURO concepts + Mesoamerican early life stuff. Again, your choice
AP Macro/Microeconomics (online)(both courses together = 1 credit) – not sure about this at all
AP US Government & Politics – I would recommend this if you are super political. For me, I love math and history, politics as a side. I think if you are actively engaged in the US political system such as monitoring our most recent elections and the past ones then I recommend you take this.
Studying history is VERY different from reading about history, just like reading A Brief history of time is different from AP physics 1. The approach and techniques are just as difficult as, say, AP physics or AP calculus and both take a lot of time (there’s a lot of random stuff in calculus too :)… It just doesn’t feel random when you’re a mathematician) so it really depends on your motivation, your previous skills, and your teacher. Evaluate accordingly.
Essentially, for top schools, you need to have four full years of English, history/social science, and science; for foreign language and math, what matters is level reached, IE., level 4 or AP in foreign language and pre-calculus honors or calculus for math. You get some leeway senior year and don’t have to take everything that year, especially if you already know you want to major in stem or in humanities/social science, but your current schedule is not very unbalanced (out if seven or eight periods, you currently have a half unit of social science, a full unit in English, and zero foreign language with only a very low level achieved.)
If Spanish 3 is hard at your school, take it online or take Spanish 2 at a community college (college level 2 meets the high school level 3 requirement and because it is one semester, you could take it in the spring, when your grade won’t matter much, in the spot of calculus 3 taken in the fall.)