The schools I’m applying to are Cornell CALS (food science major) which is my reach and Colleges like U of I engineering.
My GPA is 3.7 unweighted, 4.3 weighted and my ACT is 35
The classes that I’m considering are:
AP Physics with Calc - Pretty hard, I’d probably realisticly get a B.
AP Environmental Science - Blowoff class but I’m pretty sure colleges don’t know about that.
AP Biology - Insanely hard, I’d probably get a B if I tried my best.
I’m still not really sure how much colleges take senior classes into consideration, but I know that Cornell really looks for students that actually fit their majors, so AP Bio would help a lot. If I did take it, I would be going out on a limb though, because I could get rejected from Cornell and also lower my chances of getting into U of I engineering because I didn’t take AP Physics C. These are just my thoughts, please correct me if colleges think differently
Which math and science classes have you taken before?
As for APES being a blowoff class - trust me, they know. APES is well-known to be a blow-off class at most high schools (especially when comparing it to the other AP Sciences).
Agreed. I would vote for Physics or Bio…especially if you haven’t had one of these subjects already. Ideally, you want to have Physics, Bio and Chem under your belt (not necessarily all AP though).
Which University of I ? Illinois, Iowa, Idaho, Indiana
Also, did you mean Food Science major at one school and engineering at the other?
If so, why not Food Science at both? Or are you unsure what you want to major in??
@yikesyikesyikes I’ve taken Honors Chem, Honors Molecular Bio, and AP Physics 1. I did best in bio. I’ve taken Honors Geometry, Honors Alg 2, Honors Pre calc, and AP Calc AB. I know the calculus integration in AP Physics C won’t be difficult because math comes easy to me, but the concepts might bog me down, the same as Physics 1
@Merrylee University of Illinois Engineering (I’m also applying to engineering at University of Wisconsin Madison, Purdue, Iowa State, and University of Washington in Seattle) , and Food science only at Cornell. I’m still unsure of my major and Cornell has a great school of agriculture.
Since you already took AP physics 1, I would take AP bio. But at the same time, since it looks like you’ll be applying as an engineering major to every school but Cornell (and I wouldn’t take AP bio just for Cornell), I would take AP physics C just for the experience. If you decide to do engineering, you’ll be glad that you have a strong physics foundation. Not taking it shouldn’t hurt your chances since you already took physics 1. I would take whatever class interests you the most because honestly one class isn’t going to make or break your application.
I’d go with Physics C.
You’re right that it’s a tough class, so you may want to balance your schedule to make sure it’s not too heavy otherwise.
What’s the rest of your schedule?
What’s instate for you and what’s your parents ’ budget?
Purdue may give you some merit and Iowa State will, but UW Madison and UW Seattle don’t give much money - the highest oos scholarship at UW is $8,000 and total costs are 50k.
Run the net price calculator and bring results to your parents. You have excellent stats and should thus be able to find universities within budget.
While I agree that you should take either AP Bio or AP Physics, let’s go back to the original question:
None of these courses, or any course, will “impress” colleges. Doing anything, academically or otherwise, with the thought that it will impress colleges is just folly.
Why the very different majors for different schools?
I do have a passion for biology, but my parents really want me to pursue an engineering career mainly because of the money. They said that the only way they would let me pursue biology is if I got my degree at an Ivy League. I’m honestly fine with engineering it just bores me a bit. And before people start screaming at me to pursue my passion no matter what, they should know that my parents are paying for my entire tuition as long as it’s engineering or ivy league 
We assume that your parents are paying for your tuition unless you say otherwise. That doesn’t mean it’s fine for them decide your career, and it’s especially not fine for them to decide your career based on such flawed logic. You won’t get a great bio job because your degree is from an ivy. You won’t get a bad bio job because your degree isn’t from an ivy. That’s not how employment works.
Don’t let yourself get locked into a career that you don’t want to do. You have to fight for the major of your choice. Maybe show them what kind of jobs you can get in the bio field. Approach it calmly and rationally, it sounds like an emotional “parents don’t have the right to plan out their children’s entire lives” (which is true btw) won’t work.