I will be a junior next year and these are the classes I want to take:
11th grade schedule:
-AP English Language
-AP US History
-AP Psychology
-AP Chemistry/Biochemistry (2 credits)
-Honors Precalculus
-Orchestra
-Spanish 3
My counselor wants me to cut out an AP class because she thinks I will be stressed. She wants me to cut out AP Psychology but I don’t know what to replace it with. I really don’t want to cut it out though. Do you guys think this schedule would be too hard? Also if I do cut it should I replace it with: AP Human Geography, College Sociology, Forensic Science, 3D-Design or Advanced Accounting? Would competitive colleges still want to accept me even though all of my classes aren’t weighted?
an AP class or two wont really affect your admission decision. Focus on studying for the SAT than worrying about this. If dropping one AP will be helpful do it. My friend regretted doing 4 AP classes his senior year but you do what you feel comfortable with
If you are going to eliminate an AP class, I’d pick another one to drop. I’ve had 3 kids take AP Psych and each of them said it was their easiest AP class
I definitely agree that AP Psych is not the one to cut from that list. In my opinion, dropping U.S. History will significantly decrease your stress load, and keeping AP Psych should be no trouble at all. I’m in it right now, and don’t spend more than 20 minutes a night on it, maybe an hour before a test. Also, if you’re taking AP Chem, you’ll need something to balance out those book notes. Good luck!
Whoa. Cutting US History and keeping Psychology is crazy, for one thing most states require US History to graduate from high school. Of the classes on your list, Psychology is the first one to drop—it is neither a required course under most states’ laws nor is it a “core” subject like history, English, math, science, and foreign languages.
@smartypants210
Your GC probably know you more than any of us here. Listen to her. Too stressed out could ruin your aceademic plan. APUSH is time comsuming. If you don’t like a lot of reading or have not much time to read, drop that one. Choose an honor level of any history class that you like instead.
My DD was a liberal arts leaning in high school. She only had one AP in her junior year and 3 AP in her senior, a total of only 4 AP. The rest were honor classes and orchestra ( similar to yours). She got accepted to her first choice (an Ivy). Don’t overload yourself. Know your strength and limit and do your best.
Dropping AP US History is just wrong, if you are doing so to maintain AP Psychology and/or AP Human Geography, etc. This is analogous to the “AP Calculus or AP Stats” question that pops up every 10 days on CC—everyone knows which is the harder course and selective colleges want to see you pushing yourself. If you are tremendously interested in Psychology as a field, then perhaps go ahead and keep it and drop down a level on US History, but not otherwise.
One other issue is that schools which grant AP credit will usually grant two semesters of credit for a score of 5 on AP US History test, while a 5 on AP Psychology will only net you one semester of credit (of course, the super elite schools don’t even give AP credit anymore, but you may or may not attend one of those). At th end of the day, that is the real point of AP classes to begin with—to avoid as many “intro” classes in college as possible.
OP: I would listen to your GC. Your workload is substantial & impressive. It is clear that you are not a slacker–even if you stick with just 5 classes after dropping AP Psychology.
I’m with @BooBooBear. You don’t drop history rigor for an “easy” AP. Not in the same breath as asking about competitive colleges- and OP has previously said that includes Ivies.
Learn what they want. It’s not the biggest count of AP, it’s the right, smart stretch. Rigor and balance, cores first.
Also, what major are you thinking? If stem, try for AP math by senior year.