I’ve only taken 6 aps through high school - 2 in junior year (calc bc & aplac, both 5s) and 4 senior year (stats, spanish, physics and gov). Unfortunetely, I only got AP gov second semester, while I got regular econ (no ap option) first semester. Would AP Gov, a semester class, still count as an AP for college applications. I also took 2 honors and 2 DE courses. I’m aiming for UCB/UCLA- would my weaker courseload (most students in my school take 6-9 aps) be a major problem? I have a 4.0uwGPA, 1560 sat score, and hopefully strong ecs + essays.
Yes.
6 APs + 2 DE + 2 honors classes is not “weak.” Combined with your stats, I doubt that your courses will be the reason you don’t get in, if that’s what happens.
@skieurope would the fact that I got AP Gov second semester be a problem, because colleges won’t be able to see that I can handle 4 aps since they don’t see second semester senior grades?
No
Also, I forgot to mention:
No college expects you to take a class if the HS does not offer it. The AO will know that there is no AP Econ available.
If I have a choice to take AP Gov first semester, would it be better to take it first semester or second semester? That would 4 aps on semester, 3 aps the other
Your stats are very similar to those of my sons who were both accepted to UCLA four years and one year ago. They both went to a well regarded high school that offers oodles of AP courses. The younger one with the most APs only took 4 full year and 2 half year APs (Econ/Gov) plus a Statistics course at a college. The highest math course for both of them was AP Calc AB. They both got 1590 on the SAT, just slightly higher than you. They purposely did not overload on AP courses in order to protect their 4.0 UW GPAs, because GPA seems to be very important to UCs. Neither one had a lot of ECs, just a few that showed strong interest in their intended Comp Sci major. The older one was also accepted to Berkeley L&S, but the younger one was waitlisted.
It makes no difference.
If it makes you feel better, you can take the AP Macro and AP Micro tests on your own. Don’t do what my kid though and start cramming a week or so before.
If you do take this route, I would take the Econ first, the AP Gov if you have the choice. Your AP class will be split into Micro, then Macro. If you take it in the second semester, chances are you’ll barely cover Macro before the test happens.
But, this won’t impact admissions, FYI
Classes in senior year don’t affect UC GPA weighting.
I would counsel against taking too many APs Senior year, and this is why.
In the fall, you are in college application season. . You may be taking the SAT again. You may want to visit some more colleges. You have to write college- specific essays (hopefully you already wrote your common app essay over the summer.). You have to fill out your Common App and get recommendations.
Also you may be in marching band or Sports or be a leader of a club. College Apps is like another timesucking EC on top of that.
Then in the spring, you may have senioritis. You are been accepted to college and are looking toward the finish line. You have to study for the AP tests…it will be difficult to study for too many at once.
Stanford U says:
“We expect applicants to pursue a reasonably challenging curriculum, choosing courses from among the most demanding courses available at your school. We ask you to exercise good judgment and to consult with your counselor, teachers and parents as you construct a curriculum that is right for you. Our hope is that your curriculum will inspire you to develop your intellectual passions, not suffer from unnecessary stress. The students who thrive at Stanford are those who are genuinely excited about learning, not necessarily those who take every single AP or IB, Honors or Accelerated class just because it has that designation.”
But I would make sure that your grades in your first semester are good when applying.
@bopper, I’m not taking too many APs, but I will have one additional ap either first or second semester my senior year. Is one better than the other?
Oh i thought you were taking 3 one semester and a different 4 the next (block scheduling).
If you take it fall semester, it will be during application season. You will have to work on college apps and school and have good grades that first semester for when you apply.
If you take it spring semester, you will be adding another AP class as senioritis and studying for AP tests hits.
If you know you can be diligent and study hard, I would say spring semester.
Honestly speaking, 6 APs is not a lot and could be very problematic for UCB and UCLA. I’m not which HS you are at but you did mention somewhere in the Bay Area. My niece went to a very large HS in the Bay Area, average academics, 4.23 UC GPA at end of 11th grade, 1530 SAT, 6 APs and didn’t get into UCB (cleared waitlist at UCLA but going to UCI Honors). I think 5 students from that HS are going to UCB? At my kid’s HS nearby, pretty much everyone going to UCB (36 of them) took 8+ AP classes. I think we were all warned early on that UCB expects 8+ for STEM majors, especially if the school offers way more than 8. I would say everyone took 1 in 10th, 3-4 in 11th (4 is the max) and 3-6 in 12th. I’m going to guess that UCLA admissions will have similar acceptance criteria.
@ProfessorPlum168 I know that’s not a lot, but if it helps, there are rarely any aps allowed my sophomore year, and we certainly can’t take more than 4 aps senior year. Yes, this may be very problematic- but does that mean I should take AP Government my first semester senior year to prove to colleges that I can handle that courseload, or just take ap gov’t second semester and focus on my apps?
@lovescookies I don’t think the order matters unless you plan to take the AP Macro and-or Micro test on your own. In which case I would recommend saving AP Govt for second semester.
You also might think about taking AP Eng Lit. Getting a 5 saves you from taking an additional writing course in L&S at UCB. (Unfortunately I don’t think it helps if you are going for Engineering, I think.)
@ProfessorPlum168 I chose not to take ap lit because of the 25+ hrs of summer hw when I was interning full time. Other than, that my courses are aps, except the semester of econ (there’s no ap option at my school).