I’m currently a junior in high school, but soon I will need to select courses for my senior year. I have a very demanding schedule this year, and want to have one next year, but I can only handle so much. This is my current schedule (junior year):
AP US Gov / AP Psych (S1 & S2)
AP Chemistry
AP Lang
Spanish 3 Honors
Physics Honors
Precalculus Honors
If I were to not drop any of my advanced classes next year, this is how my senior year schedule would look:
AP social studies (AP Euro?)
AP Spanish
AP Biology
Anatomy & Phisiology
AP Lit
AP Calc (idk AB or BC yet)
That’s a lot, and I still want to enjoy my senior year. I definitely want to double up on science again next year because it’s what I want to do with my life / major, which means AP Calc is also a must. I don’t know if I should drop AP Social Studies, AP Lit, or AP Spanish and just do regular Spanish 4? I would like to take AP Spanish and keep AP social studies, and do a regular english class instead of AP Lit, because I don’t really care for english.
However, what would colleges want to see me taking my senior year? Would dropping to regular english look bad in exchange for AP Spanish? Should I drop AP social studies instead? Thanks!
If you’re applying to really competitive schools, what you have is probably what they’d prefer. I think they want to see you cover all 5 academic fields with the most advanced course that makes sense with what you’ve done before. And they’d want a sixth course that shows where your interest lies. (A seventh class is probably optional if the first 6 are strong enough, as yours are, or you go to a school where 7 is not normally done.) It just happens that for you this adds up to 5 APs and a science course.
If you were to lighten one or two classes, a non-AP social studies you are interested in could be OK. (You already have two AP social science this year.) And Spanish 4 is a logical class to go to after Spanish 3 (not everyone gets to AP language, especially if you didn’t start until freshman year).
You certainly could go to non-AP English. The downside, I think, is that English is important, and it would seem clear that the only reason you’re taking non-AP English is to avoid the harder class. So that would not look quite as good compared to your classmates with two AP English classes.
I would counsel too manyl 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 and get a good score.
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.”
So in your case I would think about:
What colleges are you thinking of applying to ? If tippy top tier, then you are competing against others who are taking those classes.
What is your potential major in college? If STEM, then consider dropping history to an honors level. Is there a Spanish 4 option or does it have to be AP? I agree with @Wilson98 …i would keep English as AP if possible.