<p>I'm a male senior in high school and my schedule is as follows:</p>
<p>AP European History
AP Calc
AP Psychology
AP Human Geography
AP English Literature
Foods (cooking class)
Library Worker</p>
<p>With this schedule I have one unfilled spot and I don't know what to do with it.</p>
<p>I can take either:
1) An Online German Course (it would be my first German class and my third foreign language class, the first two being Spanish)</p>
<p>2) Take AP Biology as an independent study course</p>
<p>3) Take 6 hours of free online college courses (I would more than likely take an astronomy course and maybe a gender studies course depending on what else is offered)</p>
<p>I want to go into a biology related field in college so I think AP Bio would help with that BUT the AP Bio class has a huge workload associated with it and I already have a heavy workload so I'm hesitant to add to it.</p>
<p>I also want to take the German class and have been told that taking multiple language courses can show cultural interest and help with admissions and scholarships</p>
<p>I don't know how I feel about the college courses
If anyone has any advice it would be REALLY appreciated :)</p>
<p>Take bio, you should take your core subjects for all fours year (especially if you are an intended STEM major). You are taking three APs that are technically classified as a “social studies” class, drop one of those to compensate for the homework.</p>
<p>My first thought was exactly what ArtsyGirl said. Drop one of your APs and take Bio-- probably Human Geo or Euro (I would say Euro, unless you love history).</p>
<p>As for that extra slot, I say take German. As a lot of schools, 2 years of language courses are required and 3 are recommended. It’s online so hopefully won’t be much of a time commitment.</p>
<p>Going into an introductory bio college course class with a background in bio is very valuable.</p>
<p>I agree drop a social studies class (AP Human Geography probably won’t look that great as AP Bio). But just a quick question why are you thinking about taking German for one year after taking Spanish for 3 (Unless you took Spanish 2 freshman year and etc but you said you have only taken 2 Spanish classes so that doesn’t make sense). One year of another language won’t look that good because they will know you won’t know it that well. A lot of top schools require 3 years of the same foreign language some even require 4. Is there an option to take Spanish 3 or 4 online? If there is personally I would drop AP HG take the extra Spanish class and take AP Bio. If there is no Spanish I would not bother with German and do option 3 with 2 with dropping APHG of course.</p>
<p>Ana I was considering taking German because 1: its a language I’m actually interested in learning and 2: It was recommended to me to take it by a college prof who has worked on scholarship boards in the past he said it might help me to show an interest in “expanding my knowledge base”</p>
<p>And what I’m considering doing now is dropping my foods and library worker courses and replacing them with a free block for APBio during the day, dropping euro to compensate for the workload, and taking German.</p>
<p>Taking German for one year in high school won’t give you enough to know it and you will probably forget it if you don’t take German in college and the colleges know that. They want someone to commit to one language. I got this from another CC thread:
Seattle Pacific University
Duke
Stanford
Harvard
Yale
Williams
These colleges and more require 3 years not including colleges that recommend 3 at least and you seem like a top student that might want to apply to one of those colleges.</p>
<p>Actually about the highest I’m aiming for is Vanderbilt, other than that I’m mainly just looking at state schools. I don’t really have any intention of going into Ivy’s or anything like that</p>
<p>Vanderbilt expects (but doesn’t require) 4 years in each of the core subjects, including foreign language. They do consider it acceptable to sacrifice a year in a core subject to pursue other interests. Two years of language will make you less competitive.</p>
<p>Well I’m focusing more on what will help me receive scholarships Vandy is my number one but I don’t think I’ll be able to get enough FinAid to go so I’m trying more for Good scholarships at some of my in-state schools (KY). Specifically UofL.</p>
<p>Your rationale for taking German 1 as a senior to somehow increase your chances for a scholarship is illogical regardless of what the professor you mention in your post told you.</p>
<p>Pancaked advice applies not only to college applications but to scholarship ones as well.</p>
<p>The supposed opportunities are not the only reason I was considering German. I have a legitimate interest in the language and this is the first opportunity I’ve had to take a course in it.</p>