I understand that colleges like to see upward trends in grades and courseload. My question is… will colleges look down upon me due to the fact that my Senior year schedule is less rigorous than my Junior year schedule?
My school uses the block schedule. Here is my whole high school career course schedule…
Freshman Year AP’s None
Sophomore Year AP’s [GPA: 4.0uw]
[<em>]AP European History
[</em>]AP Calculus AB
[<em>]AP Chemistry
Junior Year AP’s [GPA: 4.0uw]
[li]AP U.S. History[/li][</em>]AP Biology
[<em>]AP Calculus BC
[</em>]AP Physics C: Mechanics
[<em>]AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism
Senior Year AP’s [assuming I will continue my 4.0uw trend]
[ol]
[li]AP Government[/li][</em>]AP Computer Sci.
[li]AP Statistics[/li][/ol]
I’m going to apply to competitive schools (UCLA, UC Berkeley, Stanford, USC, Cornell, etc.) Do you think the downward trend from my Junior year to my Senior year will affect me in admissions? If so, how much?
<p>Well all the junior AP are hard AP classes while frankly, your senior AP's are "AP lite" classes...but at the same time You've taken all 3 hard science AP's and BC....I would recommend Microeconomics (isn't an econ class required?)... Comp Sci can stay but since it's not exactly hard you should probably replace stat with a harder class. I don't know how much your school offers, but if they offer Multivariable Calculus (above AP) then take it. Oh and AP Environmental Science is easy if you want to just stick another AP in....Anyway I would recommend Microeconomics and Multivariable Calculus...</p>
<p>Unfortunately, my school does not offer Microeconomics, Multivariable Calculus, or Environmental Science... I have basically taken all the main, difficult AP's at my school. There's alway AP Art History and AP Studio Art, but I am not artistically inclined.</p>
<p>Art History is a great class for the non-artistically inclined (for anyone else reading). But, as long as you have 5 solids (two non-AP courses) this year, you should be ok. Hopefully, your GC mentions on the rec that you took every AP offered by your HS, and hardest schedule possible.</p>
<p>You don't need to be artistically inclined to take AP Art History. Do you live near a college? If you do, then maybe they will let you take classes there. If you took classes from the local college and AP's from your schools, then it would be just as rigorous as your junior year schedule.</p>
<p>I have the same thing, kinda. I took 5 my Junior year, but am only taking 4 this year, because well, my school sucks and we only have nine, so I don't think that they will hold it against me. Why would they?</p>
<p>Did you sleep much your Junior year? I took 4 AP's and played a sport and I had slept very few full nights. And your Junior AP's look harder than mine.</p>
<p>I know I sure didn't sleep this semester (senior year)...5 hard AP's and marching band leader...mon-thurs i was at school from 8AM to 9PM, fri 8AM to 11PM or 1AM depending on where the football game was, and saturdays practics from 9AM to 9PM...
Man I'm glad this semester's over...</p>
<p>bluebayou: Yes, I will be taking other courses in addition to the 3 AP's I have listed under my Senior year that are not AP's. My main concern with AP Art History is that they do a significant amount of art analysis, which I can never understand. I could never see past the simple colors or contrast. This goes along with literature as well. I always struggle when it comes to analyzing the arts and literature.</p>
<p>thesiren72102: Actually, I do live near a community college. I never really thought about that. Is it a good idea for someone to take a class (let's say.. Psychology, for instance) and then later take the AP test for it (the AP Psychology exam) without taking the official AP Psychology class (my school doesn't offer it)?</p>
<p>mekrob: Let's hope colleges don't treat us too harshly. :)</p>
<p>Romo1: Nope. It was very tiresome. Staying up to 2:00am and 4 - 5 hours of sleep were very common.</p>
<p>FlamingChicken: Wow. How did you find time to do homework? ... or even sleep?</p>
<p>I am worried that colleges will view me as slacking off my senior. I think they'll probably take note of it, but if I keep up good grades, do you guys think it will impact my chances of admission significantly?</p>
<p>Don't worry about it - check that the school profile your high school sends includes a list of AP classes. Colleges - especially the top colleges - will figure out that you have pretty much taken every thing available at YOUR school. That's what counts.</p>
<p>Dickies - that's the problem... I didn't... My grades this semester aren't all too great, but to colleges it's just going to look like senioritis....</p>
<p>ditto what carolyn said, its about taking the most advantage out of the resources that are available to you. besides, the stacked up, challenging junior year courseload that you took and got a 4.0uw out of will probably be more impressive to colleges than if u tried to evenly divide your APs between junior and senior year. so yeah, congrats and good luck! if youre looking for some college credit, perhaps take a class at a community college</p>
<p>You can take the Psychology class at a community college and then take the AP Psychology test, but depending on the colleges you apply to, they might not accept it. I heard some schools would not grant credit if you did not take the class along with the test. Then there other colleges where it doesn't matter if you took the class;they about if got a high score on the AP test. But, there is always the option of self-studying the AP's that you are interested in, if it is not offered at your school.</p>
