What class should I take? (choices)

Applying to College
1

Hey everyone, I’m an upcoming senior, and I have strived for the last three years to challenge myself to take the hardest classes as my goal is to get into an Ivy league school (the dream is Harvard :)). Currently I’m debating whether I should take AP French or AP Psychology. I need help in choosing which one I should take. Here is some background on me: Right now I take French 4 (a pre-req for AP French); however, I am a math and science - loving student. My schedule for next year will include one of these two classes, and

AP Literature
AP Macroeconomics
College Math (I take AP Calculus BC and Statistics right now as a Junior)
AP Art History (Need a fine arts class and I strive for APs)
AP Chemistry
Humanities (Required class)

Please help me decide which one I should take.

p.s. I plan on pursuing neuroscience and becoming a neurosurgeon. I know that most Ivy Leagues (especially Harvard) only accept 5’s on AP exams like AP French (some may accept a 4 - like Columbia), but my teacher’s goal for AP French is for us to pass, which is going to get me only a 3. I already have a lot on my plate, not including extracurricular activities and senior project so all replies help; thanks :).

2

Ditch AP Macro and do AP French and AP Psych.

3

I have to take an economics class, so it has to be either regular econ or macro

4

I guess just AP French then. If it’s possible at all to do a college-level psych (or self study for the test in May) then do that too. :slight_smile: If you want to go into neuroscience, AP Psych does seem like a perfect path. However, you say your dream is an Ivy so they want to see that advanced foreign language.

5

Take AP French. It’s considered “core” class and a “core” AP, whereas AP Psych is a “light” AP.
You’ll have a foreign language placement test and at HYP the default level pretty much is AP (for example, at Yale, there are 3 tracks depending on how well you did on the placement test, which is AP-level, and if you did too poorly, you have 2 “remedial” levels, which mean 4 semesters of a foreign language required for graduation; it’s quite similar at colleges of that caliber, except Amherst and Brown since they don’t have distribution requirements).
If you think your schedule would be too hard - and, with 1 college class + 5 APs, it’d definitely be - the class to switch would be Econ (AP-> regular). That wouldn’t really affect your academic profile.