<p>i am thinking about signing up for an AP government class at a diff high school, since mine doesn’t have it. i heard its an awesome class. but however, i will not be able to have a final science class my senior year because the ap govt class is during my science class, which is only an honors class.</p>
<p>its about 20-35 minutes away.</p>
<p>how will this help me on the application?</p>
<p>how GOOD does it look? is it as good as a strong EC, or as good as taking some awesome summer program like TASP? or is it as good as dirt? </p>
<p>will it make a difference on my application at all?</p>
<p>Ap gov’t should be easy to do a self-study for, if you’d rather do that than drive to another school every day. It’s equivalent to a one-semester college course, instead of two-semesters.</p>
<p>umm…well, it looks like you’re leaning toward the first option (driving to another school to take the class). It might be an interesting experience. I suppose that it WILL looking like you’re willing to take the class…but what will that show?</p>
<p>First, why is it you really want to take this AP Govt class? (That’s a rhetorical question.) If you’re truly passionate about the material, and would like to challenge yourself beyond the confines of high school, I’d say go for it. That’s awesome. Otherwise, maybe it’s best to think twice about it. I only say this because right now you seem more preoccupied with the impression it’ll make on your application. Learn because you want to, and don’t worry about how it will “look” on a piece of paper. If nothing else, that’s what this whole college admissions business has taught me.</p>
<p>Second, which science course will you forgo for Govt? Even if the latter is an AP class, it’s arguably not one of the harder ones–at least, not when you compare it with, say, AP Physics C. From a more superficial perspective, many colleges do prefer (or, at the very least, look favorably upon) 4 years of science. Not doing this, however, will probably not make too much of a difference college-admissions-wise.</p>
<p>Third, I wouldn’t say going off campus to take another course can be considered an EC, per se (though it is admirable, and would probably help you in the long run). And it obviously can’t be viewed the same way as a summer program–and definitely not one such as TASP. However, I can tell you that it’s considerably better than dirt (although dirt itself, IMO, is not inherently bad) :)</p>
<p>and yeah, i agree completely with everything she said. i don’t know how many times i’ve said this, but it’s really not worth it to do anything for the sole purpose of padding your resume, whether that’s taking a class or attending a summer program (even TASP!), if you don’t have your heart and mind in whatever you’re pursuing. if you want to take the class, by all means do it, even though you can certainly take the exam through self-study (it’s a semester class, and if you wanted to, you can self-study comparative government and US government in the same year). </p>
<p>so to reiterate, if you’re passionate and truly want to learn government and find that taking this class at another school is the best way to do it, then go for it. otherwise, it won’t be worthwhile and honestly, i don’t think it’ll help much, if at all, compared to your other option.</p>
<p>Self study for AP Gov. It’s really easy (trust me I’m a Freshmen and I’m somewhat sure that I got a 5 - after 2 days of intense cramming). But the class is TRULY amazing (then again…I’m the kind that reads BusinessWeek, WSJ and the sort)</p>