Two Part Question

Applying to College
1

I am currently a sophomore enrolled in American Literature Honors, so next year I will be taking British Literature Honors. I intend on majoring in English in college, but my school only offers AP English Literature for seniors on the Honors track for English.

Is it possible to take British Literature Honors and AP English Language simultaneously, but not to the exclusion of my other classes? Also, my school offers nine APs total, but I am at a disadvantage given I did not get into APUSH and therefore cannot take AP Gov, for instance. I also do not qualify, and do not intend on, taking the only language AP there is which is Spanish.

Being a humanities-oriented person, I do not intend on taking the STEM Aps offered like Chem and Environmental Science. I only want to take AP English Lit, AP Psychology, and AP Art History since they are relevant to my career pursuits. Would this be considered taking the easy way out if I avoid the STEM electives and APs at my school, if I am genuinely not interested or passionate?

Lastly, my senior year here is the rough draft of what I want my schedule to look like:

AP English Literature and Composition
AP Psychology
Religion 12 (I attend a Catholic, all-girls school).
Film Studies
American Popular Music (a VHS course I plan to take since I want to minor in Music in addition to minoring in Creative Writing). Only one semester in length.
Statistics (I absolutely hate math and want nothing to do with Calculus. Besides, Stats is more relevant to my major). It is non AP at my school.
Phys Ed (Semester 1) followed by Health.
I have no plans to take a lab science senior year.

And I do want to take AP Art History as a junior to gain experience with an AP course but not sure how that would work if I am taking an elective now in place of a second year of language.

What do you think colleges will perceive my courseload as opposed to a STEM major taking advantage of, like, AP Calc, Chem, whatever have you.

Sorry for the lengthy response but I am genuinely curious.

2

I think it’s important to keep in mind that a lot of colleges, even t10/t20s don’t want well-rounded students, they want a well-rounded class. They want students who are passionate about one or only a few areas and are really really great at it. While it is always great to be well-rounded to the best of your ability and take the most rigorous classes possible, you should be okay if you have great grades, awards, accomplishments, extracurriculars in your intended area (English, humanities, etc.)

3

It depends on the type of colleges you are aiming for. The most competitive schools want to see high course rigor across the board, regardless of your intended major.

Also note that many schools want to see four years of core courses, including science.

4

One year of a foreign language will likely be a problem. Check the common data set for the colleges you are interested in to see which courses are required and recommended.

5

Have you run this plan by the college placement team at your high school? They will have ideas for you.

Which colleges/universities are currently on your list?

6

@fleeingdays, what you are referring to has to do with a student’s extracurricular interests, ELECTIVE course choices and AP choices, not overall school schedule. Top colleges absolutely do NOT want to see a student specializing by dropping core couses to double-up on other core courses (or taking too-many frills non-core courses.) High school is the time to get a solid, well-rounded education in ALL core courses. College and/or grad school/vocational school is the time to specialize.

@AveryDanae345, whether your schedule is OK depends on the selectivity of the schools you plan to apply to, but I’d be concerned that you have too many “extras” such as film studies, etc rather than enough solid core courses in each area. That matters more than whether they are APs or not.

Ideally, selective colleges like to see four years of each core area: English, Math, Science, History/Social Studies, Foreign Language. Electives can be in the arts, tech ed, phys ed, or any of the core courses a student is especially strong in (and things like film studies, music history and psych). Those electives are fine in moderation but too many in one year at expense of cores will raise eyebrows (no matter what you plan to major in in college).

Sometimes a student can get away with not taking a core course senior year in social studies or foreign langage to add another core subject in their strongest area, such as a very advanced math class for a STEM major. But one year of foreign language is considered useless (our high school requires two just to graduate except for vo- tech or special ed students!) and two would be bare, rock-bottom minimum for a lot of colleges, Selective colleges prefer to see at least level three foreign language even if they say they will accept two. Some students started level one in 8th grade, and can attain level 3 language by the end of sophmore year. If you have only had one year of foreign language I would STRONGLY urge you to take that next year even if you have skipped a year. This is especially important for a humanities, non-STEM student, and much more important to your future than film studies and the like (which you can take in college). Even if you dislike foreign language, you will almost certainly have to take it in college up to a certain proficiency level (and the college classes move a lot faster and are much harder.) I would also re-think the idea of skipping science and history. It’s OK if you don’t take them at high levels. Many non-stem students take AP environmental science because it is seen as a softer science (and a useful one, even for non-scientists, in understanding the current conditions in our world environment affecting all of us.) Good luck!