Too much?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>So for college, I would like to go into business and I was wondering if this is too much for my junior year,</p>

<p>AP Calc AB
AP German IV
AP Physics
AP Stats
AP Computer Programming
AP English I
AP American History</p>

2

<p>yes. yes it is</p>

3

<p>ahh but i dont know what to drop, i feel like i should challenge myself</p>

4

<p>Of you can do it well, go for it. But make sure you can really succeed with such a schedule. Also, you still need to balance this with other activities.</p>

5

<p>My son took 6 APs, jazz band and Spanish 4 his junior year and it was fine. It really depends on what kind of student you are, if math stresses you out (he thinks its easy so that math heavy schedule was perfect). </p>

<p>I think it’s a tough schedule but only you know if you can do it without being miserable and stressed.</p>

6

<p>@thedawg87: With all due respect to the other posters, colleges judge you within the context of YOUR school. It doesn’t matter what someone else’s son did, or what course load another student took halfway around the world. </p>

<p>What matters is how many AP courses most college bound students at YOUR high school are taking in their junior year. If most students at your school are taking 4 AP’s, then taking 7 AP’s will look impressive . . . especially if you can manage to keep your grades up with that kind of course load. However, if most students at your school are taking 7 AP’s, then you will appear to be taking the normal course load.</p>

<p>Speak with your guidance counselor, as they will have to submit a Secondary School Report when you apply to college and rate the rigor of your course load, as compared to other college bound students from your school. Often, high schools restrict the number of AP’s a student can take unless they have over a certain GPA. And even then, at some if the best, most competitive high schools in the country, 5 or 6 AP’s is around the upper limit for a junior. So, speak with your GC.</p>

7

<p>Are there any high schools where 7 AP courses are considered a “normal course load” and if it is considered a normal course load, I doubt he would be asking if its too much on these forums.</p>

<p>I don’t think anyone here is fit to tell you how many AP classes you might want to take off that list or which ones as we don’t know what your capable of, what your work ethic is like, or what your interests in.</p>

<p>From my understanding though, if you want to stand out from the other applicants, I can assure you there are better ways than to overwork yourself with AP classes. And all of your efforts will be undermined if you can’t keep up the grades in all of the classes. I think it would be smarter to take a bit easier course load and take some really interesting ECs ones that would make you seem like an interesting person that they would actually want on their campus. I can’t see how you would be able to do that if your spending all your leisure time studying.</p>

<p>And 1 more thing @Gibby
If the Guidance Counselors at his school are anything like the ones at my school (or even my county), then the advice he gets from his guidance counselors probably won’t be the best advice as they tend to look after their own butts before their student’s so they probably will give advice that leans on the safe side and probably alittle bit cliche advice that really isn’t tailored towards him as an individual.</p>

<p>I know my GC was rendered completely useless for me the entire college application hunt, the only thing she was good for was keeping me in check with deadlines and making sure teacher recommendation letters and school files were sent without problems (and even then it was still a big hassle trying to catch my GC at the right time when she wasn’t busy with another student or busy in a meeting or simply not in school the day that I need her to.)</p>

8

<p>English 1 & German IV? Ay caramba!</p>

9

<p>@mccruz. See: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/ap-tests-preparation/714494-what-meximum-number-ap-classes-has-any-one-taken.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/ap-tests-preparation/714494-what-meximum-number-ap-classes-has-any-one-taken.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Although my kids took a total of 10 AP’s during their high school years (freshman = 1, Sophomore = 2, junior = 3, Senior = 4), a handful of kids on the above thread are taking, 5, 6, 7, 9 and 10 AP courses per year. I don’t know if that is the norm for their high school, or whether they were just overdoing it. </p>

<p>You may think your GC is completely useless (and granted, some are) but every GC must fill out an SSR on behalf of their students. Colleges heavily rely on these SSR reports for a student’s comparative ranking. Which is why the OP should speak with their GC. See page 2 of SSR: <a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Docs/DownloadForms/2013/2013SchoolReport_download.pdf[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Docs/DownloadForms/2013/2013SchoolReport_download.pdf&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;