I’m planning on majoring in math, and I’m not that enthusiastic about taking APUSH in my junior year. History doesn’t really speak out to me and I don’t really care about anybody in American history, plus I heard it’s a lot of work. I want to do micro-macro because it seems interesting, and I can’t do both or it won’t fit into my schedule. I heard that good schools want apush, so I’m wondering which one should I take?
In Florida, I think it’s required you take an USH class, but doesn’t matter if its AP or not. I would ask your guidance counselor about that.
But just purely subject-wise, macro and micro have very little to do with math. It was basically simple algebra. I know a lot of friends who didn’t even bring the recommended 4 function calculator to the test and got 5s.
So taking a step back from college applications for a moment, I would advise college-bound kids to normally take AP US History because a decent familiarity with US history is considered a given for educated US professionals, and indeed informed US residents and citizens. Moreover, learning how to effectively study the past, sometimes the distant past, is a generally applicable skill outside of any given application.
Of course Economics is also an interesting thing to study, and often useful too. But I think many kids might get the most benefit out of an intro micro and macro sequence taken in college, with a higher expectation of math preparation.
OK, but you might not really care about any of that personally, despite what I think. Which is fine.
However, at least some famous/popular colleges more or less think like I do about these things. And although they will sometimes make exceptions, they may generally be looking for kids who understand and share those same values, and have demonstrated as much in their curriculum choices.
So if you are not such a kid–which again to me is fine–then you may not be the best fit for such colleges.
I think it would then be perfectly appropriate for you to respond, fine, I will look for other colleges that are more in alignment with my values. And I am sure you could find many who would not care whether you took AP USH or Econ.
But if you instead want to be a strong candidate for those colleges that do more or less think like I do, you may need to try to learn how to values the things they do. Or at least understand and appreciate those values enough to do what it takes to show them you can thrive at their colleges.
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Plus, APUSH is (imo) much more fun than macro.
The regular history “track” is 2 years of WH and 1 year of USH. Now, you don’t HAVE TO take these, but they’re the norm. My recommendation is to take APUSH – this helps with your English courses and SAT even – and you can always take AP Econ in senior year.
I’d also add that a good score on the APUSH exam is one of the more widely accepted exams for credit, depending on where you go to college. It is broadly accepted in place of general education requirements. Econ probably isn’t required for your major, so it may just be accepted as an elective, best case.
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sure, Econ can be interesting, but generally not very well taught in HS. (Few HS teachers majored in Econ, much less even took a single Econ course in college.). Leave it for college elective.
Look at it this way, a good score on APUSH and you might be able to waive out of the history requirement in college.
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I have 3 kids, all in college. None took APUSH at all. 
They had no problems to get to top schools (including UMICH, CMU, UMD, URochester, Case Western, GATECH, Richmond etc)
#1 took AP Government in 9th grade and got 3. Nobody even considered APUSH after that. 2 kids are technical (one is Biomed in GaTech another is in CS), 3rd is premed at Rhodes.
You should not be forced to take something that you do not enjoy unless it is mandatory…
I think two technical ones took Economics.
One in HS, another self-studied.
ECON without APUSH is perfectly fine for technical majors.
Nobody expects AP Physics from English major, but somehow people do not get that APUSH can be boring for many technical kids.
BTW both my technical kids liked history but not APUSH topics.
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Not to everyone.
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Personally I waited until university to take economics. I waited until graduate school to take econometrics (quantitative economics). Econometrics uses quite a bit of math, but basic macro- and micro-economics do not. I found both macroeconomics and econometrics to be interesting. Macro-economics also relates to things that happen in real life. As one example I first learned some causes of inflation, and then saw this happen and then noticed the impact on my grocery bills.
Having watched daughters take AP US History I will agree that it is a lot of work. Both APUSH and AP Euro History seem to require a lot of reading and remembering facts, with many of the facts being things that I don’t personally care about (such as what the name is of the leader who did something, and who killed who, and what city a particular treaty was signed in what specific year – I do however see that remember the years can be relevant if you want to understand the order of various events). I do however see how APUSH relates to current events and particularly to politics.
For me personally economics was more interesting, but I have noticed that not everyone agrees.
I would be inclined to take whichever course seems to make sense for you, after first making sure that you take whatever is needed to graduate from your high school.
There are a large number of very good universities. Perhaps you have heard that highly ranked universities want APUSH (?).
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And I think UMICH, CMU and Gatech are considered high-ranking. My kids’ experience proved that is fine to challenge yourself in areas that you are interested in. Not everyone should go with a flow. BTW 4 years of language is not necessary too.
My kids stopped at 3 (finished in 9th grade) and never looked back.
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In college, introductory economics is typically low math. Intermediate economics varies in math level required and used, ranging from no calculus to single variable calculus to multivariable calculus and/or linear algebra.
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