I have recently had my scheduling talk with my counselor. Currently, I am taking 2 AP/Honors classes (WHAP, Alg 2 Honors), and am trying to take 5 my junior year. He did not agree with this, and is forcing me to drop one down to four. I am completely fine with that except that I am unsure of which one to drop! Here are the courses that I am applying for, and some notes on what I have learned about each course, based on talking to my peers.
AP Physics 1 - Unsure about the difficulty level of this class
AP Literature - Heard a lot of work has to be put into this class
AP Comp Sci Principles - No info on this class, new
Spanish 3 Honors - People said people put the same amount of work into Spanish 3 as Spanish 3 Honors, except you get the 5.0 in honors.
Precalc Honors - Hard class because of teacher (can self study)
Which class should I drop, based on what looks good for colleges as well as the difficulty? I am hearing that Comp Sci Principles is somewhat of a “joke” and “not respected” class, however if I were to drop it, unlike the other 4, I would not be able to replace the class with anything, as Comp Sci A is full.
Both girls have taken the regular AP Comp Sci A, and both would tell you that the Comp Sci principles class is “fluff” and they went straight into AP Comp A. So it depends on how hard you want to grind next year and what you think you want to focus on in college.
AP Physics is no walk in the park-make sure you’re ready for that one, especially since you’re only in pre-calculus next year.
So if you want to protect your GPA and physics is your weakest subject, drop down to regular physics. If you want to work hard, drop CS Principles.
What looks good to schools is doing well in your chosen subjects
Tough decision, I don’t really want to drop AP Comp Sci Principles only because Comp Sci A is full, and if I were to take a free period, that means I would only have 5 classes, (6 but one of them is a required religion course not on the a-g course list).
Same ^, though I wouldn’t drop a class at all. It’s a good schedule in my opinion. I’m taking a very similar schedule next year and most of my friends will be doing 5 aps/honors next year, they took three this year I took two like you. However, if your counselor is really making you, he knows you better than me and it’s your decision. Honors Pre Calc and Honors Spanish III should definitely not be cut. AP Physics and AP Lit can be important and show that you are taking more rigorous courses than the average person.
