<p>This is my senior year in HS and my class is very competitive in the top 5%(I will have taken 11 APs and have had all A's yet I will not ranked #1 at the moment...:|). I currently am taking 7 APs this year, but since I went to a private middle school I got no honors weight for classes. This places me at a HUGE disadvantage. IF I were to DROP AP Physics, I could take 8 APs and become valedictorian (WOoHOo), but If I stay in AP Physics, I shall be only 4,3, or 2 in my class. This is my question: Should I drop AP physics to take APES and another AP course to become valedictorian or should I remain in AP physics and not be #1. Of course, this is all assuming I get all A's this year, which I have in the past. </p>
<p>Edit: I want to know which will look better for admissions, Valedictorian or APES instead of AP Physics</p>
<p>Maybe I missed it because I read to fast but, why wouldn’t you want to drop AP Physics to become Valedictorian? Are you think that, with college essays (unless you’ve done them already) and supplements, that you’d be overworked?</p>
<p>I just changed my senior schedule from a less rigorous to as rigorous as I could yet STILL being able to get those As I need to keep my GPA afloat.</p>
<p>But, since you’re talking about become Valedictorian, which is a very prestigious title, I say that you have a history of overcoming difficulties and a couple other classes doesn’t seem too different in my opinion.</p>
<p>If you are planning on going into math/science /engineering the AP Physics is going to be necessary. You say you are taking 7APs. Is there another AP you could drop? One that is not a core class (math, science, english, social studies/history, foreign language). Being Val is a great achievement, but is more bragging rights than anything else. Vals are turned down at top tier schools all the time. It does not guarantee entrance to universities. A Val with an easier schedule is not looked higher upon than someone 5th in their class with a harder schedule who didn’t get the higher GPA simply because of weighting.
There are many, many schools that do not weight honors classes, so the fact that you feel at a disadvantage here is frustrating, but not uncommon. Some schools do not allow AP classes until the Jr year so the GPAs in the 4.4 range are nearly impossible to attain.
My advise is to call admissions at your target reach school and ask how they will view both choices. Then you can make an informed decision. My guess is you will be told the harder course load is going to be more important than being Val.</p>
<p>BTW AP Physics is double blocked so If i drop it I have room for an 8th AP thats why I would have room. Also, I am planning on majoring in premed or majors that lead to med school</p>
<p>That you’ be taking 8 AP courses is impressive. Your GC will no doubt rate your coursework very rigorous, so one course more or less is not going to affect how colleges perceive your coursework or course rigor.</p>
<p>In practice placing out of college (calculus based) physics is rarely a good idea, so I expect that you’ll end up taking first year physics in whichever selective college you attend, regardless of whether you continue with AP physics or not.</p>
<p>I think then that the Valedictorian would be the prize of choice. But with 8 AP courses don’t underestimate the effort required to get all those As.</p>
<p>And while I agree with a previous poster that should you ask colleges which is the better choice they’ll say AP Physics, that view doesn’t apply in your case since you have a very rigorous schedule.</p>
<p>I dont think one is better than the other
–and if you ask AdComs–there are tons fo Val that are denied…
so take the courses you have passion for and which will help launch you into your major at college.</p>
<p>You do know that you will be accepted at a college long before you are actually declared a valedictorian, right? The AP class will help more in admission.</p>
<p>The class rank from the end of Junior year. They will see your 1st quarter/ semester grades (depends if you ED), but the rank will be from the end of Junior year.</p>
<p>I’d go for Val because honestly AP physics won’t hurt that much if you’re taking 8 AP’s (ouch ). You’re still going to take physics anyway so its not a huge loss.</p>
<p>When you look back twenty years from now, whether you were Val or not won’t matter from a career/friends/family perspective but it will matter from YOUR perspective. Being valedictorian would be an amazing way to cap your high school years IMO.</p>
<p>If your question really is which is more important in admission, I’m with Erin’s Dad - colleges won’t know if you’ll be val when they are deciding whether to admit you, so that doesn’t matter at all. It’s really only about bragging rights.</p>
<p>Samd1993 – In the real world people do not brag about being a high school valedictorian much past the third week of their freshman year in college. I also don’t agree with blueiguana that AP Physics is necessary if you plan to pursue an undergraduate degree in a STEM discipline. It will certainly help prepare you for real college work, but it isn’t necessary. None of the students in our NYS county who have gone to MIT, RPI, RIT, CMU, Case, etc. had AP Physics in high school for the simple reason that none of the 7 high schools in the county offer AP Physics.</p>
<p>AP Physics – will better prepare you to do well in college Physics. GPA is important to med schools, so getting a head start in Physics should be more helpful to you than dropping Physics and taking AP Bio-Lite, I mean AP Enviro, + another non-rigorous AP survey course.</p>
<p>Actually…people don’t brag about being valedictorian even once they get to college…because at an elite school like this OP seems to be contemplating, many of his classmates also will have been vals, to the point that it’s not even worth talking about–and if they were not the val, they were very close, perhaps missing just because they took a class they wanted instead of trying to game the system.</p>
<p>In the long run, if the OP is thinking of going into engineering or premed or one of the sciences, AP Physics would be much more useful. Even though it’s not generally advisable to use the AP credit instead of taking the college physics class, having AP Physics in high school provides a strong basis for the college class.</p>
<p>Another point not yet considered…the OP is counting on “the competition” continue getting straight A’s and also himself continuing to get straight A’s…there are an awful lot of as yet unwritten variables here.</p>
<p>boysx3, That is excellent advice. Had not been for my son taking AP Physics in high school he would have struggled with calculus based physics and other science classes in college.</p>
<p>justink, I believe you made a great choice to remain with AP Physics.</p>
). You’re still going to take physics anyway so its not a huge loss.</p>