No. Should not sacrifice passions especially you already taking so many AP classes. Why are you taking 2 Math classes in Senior year? This is totally over kill. Either take AP Stat or Calc BC. You will have plenty of time to take either class in college if desire. High school is supposed to prepare you for college, not replacing it. Good Luck.
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No physics at all is a big hole in your application, especially if you are shooting for highly rejective schools. It is a foundational course.
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I’d stick with your junior year plan and wait to plan your senior year schedule until you need to. If Calc AB is going well I’d probably advise continuing with BC senior year instead of stats. One or the other, and stick with your passions because that’s what makes you happy and interesting.
The advantage of BC senior year is that it’s an actual math class. AP stats doesn’t feel like math to students at your level. In addition, you might then be able to test out of calc in college and start with a proper calculus based college level stats/probability course.
Read the apply sideways blog post at MIT as it might help you keep things in perspective.
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Take Psych, keep choir and forgo BC. Even STEM kids don’t need Calc BC to get into top schools and you are not STEM.
Make sure you have enough lab science. It could be APES as a third if you don’t want physics.
Before you pick schools, have you spoken with your parents about budget ? College can be $20-nearly 100k a year, with the most selective as the highest priced in case you qualify for need.
That will potentially drive your school selection. For those on a budget, especially if their families don’t qualify for need aid, it 100% does.
Nonetheless, I think your initial plan is the correct plan. If you decide to change ahead of senior year, then that is fine too. Nothing in 12th grade is set in stone 20 months early.
The most important thing about math this year is you should not be the one deciding. Your pre calc teacher should place you. Bcuz you are in 10th grade, you haven’t gotten to that point yet. My A in pre calc kids both were placed in AB, not BC so even if you are doing well, BC might be out of reach anyway for next year.
But in two years, I suspect you’ll have no shortage of great schools for an IR degree (one of my kid’s majors). And this includes with psych and choir and without BC and Physycs but yes you need a third lab science and Physycs would be the sensible one to take. But not the only that could work.
Best of luck.
Take Physics instead of APES, since you have not taken it yet and you mention you are targeting selective schools. IMO that is much more important than Calc BC over STATS, though I agree with others that for the most selective schools BC is best.
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No
Maybe. Maybe not. This is really going to depend on the colleges you’re targeting. But personally, I’d do physics In place of APES. Or do physics as a junior and do AP Bio as a senior.
But sorry about senior year in 12 months. Come back at that time and ask again, preferably with updates on your personal stats and college targets.
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Take one year at a time. Much will depend on the colleges you plan to apply to. Note that all APs are not considered equal in terms of rigor.
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Pardon me if you already mentioned this, but where do you plan to apply? It might be worth calls to the two top international relations programs on your list to see what classes they would value more. My guess is that they may value language, history or government classes over an advanced calculus class you will never use in the field.
I would be very surprised if any AO would give such specific guidance – especially because at most colleges students are free to change majors once admitted. YMMV.
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That was not our experience. When my son was a high school sophomore we called the UofM admissions counselor for the region that included our high school to ask about math requirements (the engineering school said that four years of math were required on the UofM website, but my son was maxing out the math offerings with BC calc as a junior). Not only did he answer our question about the math requirement, but he gave guidance regarding AP science classes and STEM electives that would look good to the AOs.
Besides, what does the OP have to lose? The worst thing that could happen would be the admissions counselor refuses to help.
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I think you could go back to the teacher (who recommended BC) and ask what that recommendation might mean. We always recommended for a class (because students otherwise couldn’t take it) if a student would be projected to earn a C- or above with “reasonable effort”. This was important information for students who nevertheless were NOT recommended, because it’s a pretty low bar.
I agree with not dropping show choir but I don’t agree with not dropping AP Psych. And, yes, you should find a way to fit in Physics. Someone said AP Stats is “the lowest AP” but I would say that is either Psych or maybe Human Geography. Within STEM, APES is a valuable course for IR, despite not being considered too rigorous.
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If you plan to apply to selective or very selective schools, you will need to take one of AP Physics courses, there are several to choose from, and I would still consider taking AP Calculus BC as your math teacher recommended you take. Again, all of these based on your ambition to apply to some selective schools. Good luck!
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