Also to OP, you didn’t mention where you are from.
Recent UC admissions treads appeared that most successful applicants do both AP and DE classes when AP is offered in their schools. So they are not mutually exclusive. Before you say that’s just the California public schools, keep in mind our school counselors are telling their kids to apply to Ivys because they may actually have a better chance of getting in than an UC school.
Not the case at our high school. DE isn’t even allowed unless it’s a subject that is not offered at our HS. Most students therefore don’t do DE. They do AP, IB, or a combination of AP and IB. Our HS has good results in UC admissions, as well as in admissions to elite private schools.
I wonder what is the basis of your statement – is it anecdotal from your own HS, or is it based on some data published by UC or some other source?
I do believe that UC admission offices have a detailed model of typical course loads at HS that send many applicants. They say that students are evaluated in context of their HS, and I think this is accurate, at least for CA HS that send many applicants to UC.
Edited to add: I also think discussion of UC admissions is off topic for the OP’s question, as the OP specifically mentioned “MIT and the Ivies,” not the UCs.
I am from Michigan, and I don’t plan to apply to the UCs
Making the point AP and DE are not mutually exclusive for ANY school admissions. Seems many successful candidates would be open to do both.
Is that still off-topic for you?
AP and DE are not mutually exclusive in general (although this is VERY dependent on what is offered at your high school).
However, AP and DE are mutually exclusive when a student is making a choice about which specific class (or class sequence) to take for a specific subject. In the OP’s case, Physics.
For state universities like University of Michigan, you can check their web sites for AP credit and transfer equivalency of your college courses.
So, jumping back to your original post/options…
Before dedicating this much course time to physics, where are you in the math continuum? Having a solid foundation there will set you up for future success in STEM majors anywhere you go.
Consider that you may want to take the equivalent of physics 202 at an Ivy if you were accepted. Look at the course descriptions for Physics at MIT. If you come in with DE credits some colleges accept them, some make you take a placement test, and some forbid retaking something you have the credit for… research that as well. They are more likely to ask if you want to apply the AP credit.
What other classes are you taking? Does the schedule for the DE classes force additional DE courses or can you take a mix of DE and AP?
OP- the most important thing is a solid foundation. Period, end of story.
We can all debate (and we do, endlessly) which course, which sequence, DE or AP etc.
But if you have any plans to major in ANY scientific field, you need a solid foundation in math, bio, chem and physics. The rest is window dressing. Kids regularly post here that they are taking advanced classes in the neuroscience of cake decorating or college level classes in the biomechanics of circus performance (I’m being facetious or course) in order to impress the Adcom’s at Cal Tech or JHU or MIT or CMU because “I’m going to stand out”.
A future scientist doesn’t need to “stand out”. He or she needs a solid foundation, whatever that means for you and your academic ability, preparation, time management skills, mastery of the material, etc.
HS kids don’t need to “major” in any particular branch of science. They need a solid, rigorous foundation. There is no such thing as one physics class being more or less “useful” than another. You can’t worry about decorating the living room of a house if you haven’t bothered to put in electrical outlets, make sure the foundation and load bearing walls are up to code, etc.
Take the right sequence for your HS and your current level or preparation in the sciences.
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