My D is currently a sophomore at a large public HS and is beginning to plan out her course load for Junior and Senior year. As a sophomore she was only permitted to take 2 AP classes (school rule). I am specifically interested in the importance of taking a science for all 4 years of HS especially since she will not be a STEM major.
Here is her current thinking:
Sophomore (current course load)
AP World History
AP Art History
PreCalc H
Chemistry H
Spanish 5 H
English H
Debate
Junior
AP English Lang
AP Spanish Lang
AP Comparative Gov’t (Constitutional Law program)(Big time commitment)
AP Calculus BC
AP Biology
AP Psychology or Honors History class
Debate
Senior
AP English Lit
AP Spanish Lit
AP Statistics (only options at HS are AP Statistics or AP Comp Science after Calc)
AP US History
Honors History or AP European
Science or take AP Psychology
Debate
Concerns:
Taking 6 (Frankly 5 sounds like a lot to me) AP classes during Junior year which include AP’s (Calc BC and AP Bio)
For science, preferred would be biology, chemistry, physics, and an advanced level or elective science for the fourth course, for super selective colleges that want to see four years.
If taking only three years, it is best if they include biology, chemistry, and physics.
In terms of schedule, why not take physics instead of AP biology, if she has not already taken physics? That may reduce the junior workload while completing the three basic sciences.
So let me summarize the suggestions re: science classes…
Freshman Bio (Honors)
Sophomore Chemistry (Honors)
Junior Physics (Honors)
Senior Science elective ie Genetics H or AP BIO
Thus this reduces the Junior year AP overload and gets her exposure to physics.
If I don’t have that right, let me know.
D has always wanted to take AP Psych bc the subject interests her and I am of the opinion she should try to take the classes she is genuinely interested in.
In junior year, what is the “honors history” option you list as an alternative to AP psychology?
AP psychology is not generally considered to be one of the harder AP courses, since it emulates a one semester college introductory psychology course that is not generally considered that hard a course at most colleges.
D is aware that AP Psych is not known as a difficult AP course.
Here are the other Social Science offerings … (didn’t realize her HS offered this many other H classes)
African American History H (year long course)
Ancient History H (semester)
Medieval History H (semester)
Global Gender Studies H (semester)
World Religion H (semester)
International Relations H
Is she particularly interested in any of those elective history courses?
Note that none of the AP history scores give subject credit for any Princeton history course, according to https://www.princeton.edu/pub/ap/table/ . Of course, they may give subject credit at other colleges she may be considering (e.g. University of Colorado - Boulder, see https://catalog.colorado.edu/undergraduate/admissions/credit-examination/ ). But it is not automatically the case that one of the AP history courses will necessarily be better overall than one of the other history courses, based on both interest in the content and subject credit in college (though she presumably needs a US history course for high school requirements, so taking the AP one makes sense there).
In terms of work and difficulty, AP English and Spanish may depend on how strong a foundation the lower level high school English and Spanish courses have built before she reaches the AP level. AP calculus BC does cover a year of college material, which is a faster pace than AP courses that cover a semester of college material (e.g. statistics, psychology). These may be relevant when trying to determine workload.
Since you mention AP CS, if she takes a CS course, AP CS principles would be a better option than AP CS A or other typical high school CS courses for a student not majoring in CS who wants to know how CS relates to everything else. http://cs10.org is a college course that is a model of AP CS principles; she can go through it on her own instead of taking a course if she prefers to learn CS that way.
i took AP CSP as a freshman and it was not too difficult in terms of coursework. i agree with all of those above who say 6 AP’s is too much—it really isn’t the key to getting into Princeton!
The risk with overloading AP in junior year is it’s a leap in rigor and some kids get surprised.
If she did have bio in 9th, it’s a toss up between AP bio and physics. Ask around about these courses at her hs, how doable or how crazy. If physics is foreign to her, she can take it in senior year. Once she’s done AP Span, she doesn’t need the AP Span lit.
You’ll know next summer how she does in the first two AP tests. She’ll have AP world and AP comp gov, but that’s all for a humanities/poi sci kid. Instead of CG, can she take APUSH in 11th and drop back math to regular or H calc, forget the AP psych? Because that would show the grounding in the basics of history. Can she take APCG in 12th?
For tippy tops, what matters is the right classes (and the colleges’ recommendations for the breadth.) It’s frequently said, this isn’t and AP arms race.
And, she should seriously consider some sort of vol work in poli sci, whether local govt, a local or state rep So many kids don’t (not even in this election year.) After all, she’s aiming high.
The person to ask is your guidance counselor, not any one of us. Rigor is relative to what is offered in your HS.
The top tier colleges will want to see the guidance counselor check the box on the recommendation saying you have taken the most rigorous course-load available at your HS (which doesn’t mean taking every AP class – there is often some latitude in this). If the guidance counselor says that your prior and current HS schedules are sufficient to get that most rigorous box checked then you are fine.
She may want to ask her counselor if any proposed choices (e.g. history electives versus AP European history) would affect whether the counselor marks “most demanding” on the counselor recommendation.
“Most demanding” is only one data point. After that comes the schedule, itself, and any AP scores. And this D wants a humanities major. Swapping in another AP history for psych shouldn’t disqualify for MD. The question, though, is if she drops BC.
So yes, talk to the GC. He or she may not want to discus the app’s Counselor check box. So be diplomatic.
D’s counselor is new to the HS this year. D is beginning to occasionally meet with her in order to build some sort of relationship since this is a large HS most high achieving students never interface w their counselors.
I will try to find out how the GC’s typically mark the classes regarding levels of difficulty. AP v. Honors (Great suggestion)
AP CG is only offered during Junior year because it runs as Con Law class which competes against other schools in the region and nation. Thus not a possibility to move it to senior year.
D was actively involved working on the state governors race and hopes to begin volunteering at the state legislature.
Possible coursework options seem to be:
Change AP Calc BC to Calc AB and still take AP Bio. (to lessen work load)
Or
Change AP Bio to Physics H ( if it is less demanding and to exhibit physics exposure)