Thus far my senior year schedule looks like:
AP Calc BC (at my school it is a block period in which AB and BC are taught in the same year ultimately counting for both Calc 1 and Calc 2)
AP Chemistry (also a block period)
AP comparative politics (1st semester)/ AP Gov (2nd Semester)
AP Economics (micro one semester, macro the next)
The dilemma comes from this 7th period, I know I do not have an English class listed above and that is because I will be dual enrolling it at a local college, my Spanish teacher said it was a shame I didn’t start Spanish earlier because she says for a nonnative speaker who doesn’t have any fluent family members I’m excelling. Currently I’m on my second year and my current teacher has allowed me to skip Spanish 3 honors and go straight into Spanish 4 honors if I wish. Also I have considered taking AP Physics B or AP Photography but I am conflicted.
For a short background: I am a math and science kid looking into universities whose acceptance rates range from 20% to 45% , Spanish is by far the most boring slow paced class I have (hopefully it is because it is easy as opposed to just boring) and I’m conflicted on whether a great school would rather see an AP or a third year of Spanish in a 4th year level classroom.
To eliminate options I’ve taken these AP Classes:
Human Geography
World History
Psychology
Environmental Sciencs
American History
English Language composition
Statistics
Physics 1
My school does not offer AP computer science, it did my life would be much easier :-((
I’d do Spanish. Most top schools have a foreign language requirement, and that should help you place out of some of it. You certainly don’t need more APs!
You’ve got enough AP’s. Take the Spanish.
Sounds like enough work without adding more APs, you’ll have a ton of essays and applications and interviews, unless you plan for ED and it works out
Take Spanish. The great thing with foreign language is that what matters isn’t the number of years, but the level reached, which means that you’ll be considered to have completed 4 years. PLUS, you can take the SAT Spanish test in December and if you score high enough, get into a higher-level language class or be done altogether (depending on how high you score and your college’s policy - yes, there’s typically a foreign language requirement for graduation at college, and if HS classes go at a glacier pace, college paced language classes are brutal, covering about the first 2 years in 4 months, then 1-2 years in 4 months, then about 1 year per semester for the 3rd and 4th levels. Depending on the college, 3rd or 4th level in college would mean the equivalent of AP in HS.)
Furthermore, if you apply to a STEM school or a STEM major, it’ll be good for you to have a Spanish teacher recommendation (MIT actually mandates 1 non-stem recommendation).
Thank you! And I have a very solid Spanish recommendation already! My teacher has made it abundantly clear that she will write me a stellar rec (my friend who goes to Harvard used her for his rec so how bad can she be?). Also thank you for bringing it to my attention that skipping and advancing to Spanish 4 would appear as 4 years of a foreign language!
Here is an example of Spanish language course placement based on AP Spanish score:
http://spanish-portuguese.berkeley.edu/undergraduate/course-offerings-lower-division/
I.e. AP Spanish score of N is seen as equivalent to completing semester N-1 of college Spanish, with placement into semester N of college Spanish.
Another vote to take Spanish.
One can take the SAT Spanish test on any date the Subject Tests are offered. Spanish with Listening is only offered in December; Spanish w/out Listening is offered on the other 5 dates. AFAIK, no college has a preference for the Listening version over the non-listening one.
^I suggested the December date because it’d give 4 months of Spanish 4, and the test would still “count” for most colleges that require SAT subject tests :). Listening is in November, the December test is just “regular”.
^Ah, OK. That makes sense. Thanks for correcting me on the dates; that’s what I get for relying on memory 
Another vote for Spanish here, not just because you have a natural talent for it, but also for the level you will be placed in that will make you more likely to place out of it. Foreign languages are important in college admissions, and taking 3 years instead of 2 will serve you well, much better than adding another AP to your roster, which you have a plethora of already.
ps. you can never know too many languages
Note that around 2/3 of AP Spanish exam takers have heritage background and only around 25% are getting 5. Also, many engineering schools do not have foreign language as graduation requirement. It will be counted as humanity/IB?elective credits though.
I do not plan on taking the AP Spanish exam btw for anyone confused, I would be taking Spanish 4 Honors, which at my school is gapped with Spanish 5 before AP Spanish usually
… and for the purpose of course exemption or placement in college, the SAT Subject is just as good at the APin most cases.
^ I would say in some cases, but not most cases.