I am going into eleventh grade now and current I am signed up for the following courses:
Honors Physics (same level as AP without the exam)
Honors Precalculus
AP Computer Science A
AP Statistics
AP English Literature
AP US History
AP Spanish
I am currently in the dilemma, AP Biology counts as two course credits and I was thinking if I should remove AP Computer Science A and AP Statistics (which are my electives) to take AP Biology. Is my current schedule better than taking AP Biology to impress colleges, what do you think?
Please give me some reasonable advice, I appreciate it very much!
You should take Bio, Chem, Physics and at least one AP version of those if possible.
What do you want to major in? If CS, then keep that. If Engineering, then make sure you take AP Chem or AP Phsyics.
If pre-med, then take AP Bio or AP CHem before you graduate.
If humanities, then whatever you want.
I’m really undecided into what I want to major in. In fact, it’s between those three - engineering, computer science or premed. I just want to get into a good college and I wanted to know what would be the best option.
Keep the AP Computer Science so you can find out now rather than later whether you like programming. This will help you decide on a major before you apply to colleges, because you’ll likely either love the CS class and decide to pursue that as a major, or you will really dislike it and be able to scratch that off your list of possible majors. If you dislike the CS course, you might also decide to ditch engineering as an option, since that major usually requires a bit of programming in various languages.
Finding out your affinity for programming will not only help you choose a major, but also choose a college, as some offer CS and engineering majors and some don’t – if you find out as a junior that CS and engineering are not for you, then you don’t need to concern yourself with applying to universities that have those majors. If you discover it is the path you want to take, then that will affect which universities you target for applications.
I assume you have already had a basic Biology class as a freshman or sophomore when I give this advice, and also a Chemistry class, and that the Physics class on your schedule is your third science course. You can always take AP Biology (or AP Chemistry or AP Physics) your senior year. Having the basic Biology, Chemistry, Physics and one AP science course senior year should be fine.
Senior year I was thinking about taking AP Physics C Mechanics alongside AP Statistics and Computer Science A (if I ended up switching to Bio this year) I’m just trying to have course rigor to make my chances greater when applying to colleges that are very selective. I have a near perfect GPA (3.9+) and I can understand concepts easily but I can see where you’re coming from in terms of seeing if I will be interested in computer science. I think taking AP Bio and AP Physics senior year will be too much so I wanted to spread them out but I would be taking four APs if I do this and six APs senior year.
Take either physics C or AP bio senior year, depends on whether you learn more toward premed or Engineering.
Also, remember that top colleges expect 7-8 APs total, but well chosen.
If there’s another class after precalculus (calc AB or BC) it’d be a better choice for a Stem major than AP stats.
Right now your schedule looks slightly overloaded - is there no non AP elective you can take?
There are non APs but they aren’t worth it in terms of boosting the qpa. I am thinking about taking AP Biology Junior year and take Computer Science A alongside Physics C, Calc AB and other core AP classes and not take AP statistics at all (maybe a summer community college course). This would be 4 APs junior year and about 6 APs senior year - I took 2 APs sophmore year so my total AP courses will be around 12. I want to have multiple opportunities to make my decision for majors when I get to college so I think taking Physics and Bio and CS will give me a personal advantage. If you have a different thought please let me know!
Remember that selective universities look at your unweighted GPA. Course rigor is evaluated separately (5 core classes each year? How many honors+AP total? Which ones? What level reached in math and foreign language? All three from bio, Chem, Physics?.. Etc)
6 APs senior year is too many. You’ll have that hidden, writing intensive “class” called " writing college applications. You won’t be able to do a good job on it all. So limit yourself to 4 APs senior year.
The law of diminishing returns applies after about 8 AP’s total BTW.