This question has been asked in various forms before, so I’ll keep my explanation brief.
Is it better to take 3 AP classes and all honors, receiving lower grades with very rigorous courses, or take 2 AP classes and all honors, receiving higher grades with slightly less rigorous courses (bearing in mind that it will be junior year, filled with PSAT/SAT preparation and extracurriculars)?
Essentially, my concern is that if I take another AP, my grades will drop, simply due to the difficulty and amount of work. Contrastingly, I am concerned that if I do not take another AP, but retain higher grades, but my courses will not appear challenging enough.
Just looking for some thoughts/advice/guidance on this issue.
My son, a current junior, went through the same dilemma. He ended up taking 3 AP classes - AP Calc BC, AP Physics 1, AP Govt- honors English, honors French 4. It is a lot of work. He probably would have gotten lower grades if he took AP Language just because of time commitment.
My advise - take 3 APs in classes that you really like.
Definitely sacrifice rigor but not in an obvious way. For example, if you are a STEM person, sacrifice the APUSH or language. If you are an English person, take AP Calc AB instead of BC or take Honors Physics instead of AP Physics, especially if you plan to take an AP science senior year. Of course, if you took the lessor physics class in a place where there is not much science available and change your mind that you want STEM, you can talk aboout that in your essay, MAYBE but do not count on it
It depends what you’re aiming for. If your goal is a top Ivy or Stanford, MIT, etc., take the most rigorous classes and make sure you do well—work really hard and get help if you need it. If your goal is less ambitious, sacrifice rigor in a course unrelated to your future major. Remember, though, your guidance counselor will be rating (for colleges) the overall rigor of the courses you’ve selected during your high school career, so you want that rating to be the highest. It won’t be if you don’t consistently take the most demanding courses.
Will all of the top students in your class be taking the 3 AP classes? Ultimately your grades and schedule will be compared to theirs (for class rank and an assessment of course rigor).
Although I think students should take the hardest possible courses that they can take (not necessarily the most) AND do well in (not necessarily meaning As, but obviously a great outcome), I still tend to favor rigor over grades. Why? It’s not all about creating a competitive college app. The sun will still come up if a student doesn’t get into some top school. It’s to help a student develop/strengthen time management skills, self confidence in managing increasingly difficult materials that should hopefully serve them well no matter where they attend or what pathway they go down. In some ways high school is the time when a student should develop a realistic assessment of their college readiness by challenging themselves. It’s better to learn it in high school than when the cost is perhaps hundreds of dollars per college unit. I don’t mean to suggest kids should be taking AP/honors courses just because they’re rigorous. There should be something in the student’s history that indicates a chance to succeed in more challenging courses.
Take the course load that is interesting and challenging and most importantly you can manage. One AP more or less will not doom you to rejection. CC is littered with posts from exhausted kids who drove themselves crazy with academic rigor and still didn’t get into their dream school. Far better and healthier to do a great job with what you can handle than overload yourself. Only you can decide what that is.
“Lower grades in rigorous classes or higher grades in regular classes?” is a false question that results in useless answers. Instead, limit APs to subjects that you are good at/interested in, and do your best in all of your classes. Don’t exhaust yourself and destroy your high school years because of someone else’s idea of how you need to “succeed.”
It’s complicated. Ultimately, places want to see either both or they just want to see you can manage. (Low A’s, B’s) I guess rigor is more important though, as long as you don’t go below a B into C zone.
In case of concern I would suggest to take one less AP class and do better in all of your classes. Besides you do not know how the GC checks those boxes. You should visit him/her and ask so you know where you stand. Just one less AP might not make a difference in the box checked.