Senior Year Schedule Advice?

Pre-College Topics High School Life
1

Class rank: 2
Dream schools: Harvard and Dartmouth
SAT: 1400 (took it as a baseline, I’m retaking it in June)
School uses weighted GPA
Unweighted GPA: 4.0

I have a strong standing for extra curriculars, and I’ve taken nearly every opportunity presented to me (and even made some for myself).

1# in my class is taking 7 AP classes next year. As of right now, our (weighted) GPAs are extremely close- 0.001 or so off. Unfortunately, I also know he will be applying to Ivy League schools too, so it’s a rat race between us.

I’m definitely taking AP Lit, AP Gov (one semester), AP Marco Econ (one semester), and AP Physics 2.

I have the option to take AP calc or AP stats. I’m a very strong math student, but I want to major in political science, and AP stats seems more suited for that.

After that, I could take 3 more classes… OR I could try to get an internship- potentially with a politician or something else in law/government. The internship would count as only one class.

AP classes I could be taking: Art History, Biology, Environmental Science, doubling up on Stats AND Calc. There’s also some Business Law, Civil Rights, [my state] studies, etc classes I could take, but those WOULD hurt my weighted GPA and my class rank because they’re not APs.

I know these schools look holistically, but truthfully, I don’t come from the most resources, so if I’m going to get in, I need every single piece of advice I can get.

So my questions, keeping in mind I’m trying to get into Harvard and Dartmouth:

  1. AP calc or AP stats?
  2. Internship or… more classes?
2

AP Calc and “meaningful” government/political internship, or see if you can clerk with a local judge.

3

If you take calculus, you may have the option to take a calculus-based statistics course in college for a stronger understanding of the subject.

4
  1. take calculus. If you’re good at math top schools will expect it.
  2. take Mandarin 4. Top schools won’t know that at your school it’s a joke, they like to see level 4, and senior year is a good time to have an easier class.
  3. have you taken one each of Bio, Chem, and Physics? Then AP physics 2 is a good choice
  4. as an aspiring social science major, have you taken both AP World history and AP European history (or at least one of these two?) Doubling up in social science indicates interest in the subject you purport to like.
  5. an internship is good but ONLY if you can have 5 academic classes alongside of it AND if the internship is actually meaningful (fetching coffee for a lawyer would not be a good use of your time).
    For example: do you live in/near a State Capital? Or near a Campaign headquarters/ local campaign? Would you participate in the 2018 elections campaign in your city/state? Are you already known to one political party locally, have you already canvassed…? Is your state or district a swing state/or a possible “upset”? Is your House or Senate candidate " interesting" nationally? My guess is that students who interned for Doug Jones are going to be more interesting to strong political science depts than Roy Moore’s and not just because of the child molester issue, same thing if you’re a California Republican outside of Orange county, a Tennessee Democrat, a girl whoever’team on either side trying to replace Al Franken… And obviously you’d have to start very soon, not in August.
5
  1. Good point. I’m going to take it.
  2. I’ve taken AP physics 1 and AP Chem. I took honors biology. So I still could take AP Biology, but I know I’ll get a better grade in AP Physics 2.
  3. I’ve taken AP world history, but my school doesn’t offer AP European History. I did take AP Human Geography though.
  4. I unfortunately don’t live near the capital of my state. I could intern with the Democratic Party in my state though- and we’re a very red state. I’ve made myself known to them.
6

Out of curiosity, do you happen to know what you plan on majoring in? This can completely change the answers we will give you.

However, if you are applying to Ivy League schools, AP Calc is definitely more preferred than AP Statistics, even if you are not majoring in STEM.

Have a good day!

7

I would definitely take AP Calc anyways. From what I’ve read, and heard from my guidance counselor colleges much prefer to see AP Calc than Stats because its regarded as a much more challenging course, especially if you have your sights set on ivies

8

@anthonytheboy “I want to major in political science, and AP stats seems more suited for that.” :slight_smile:

9

@novelcytologist Is that a quote I said a while ago?

Lol! :))

I have no interest in majoring in political science anymore, but I recommend AP Calc even if you are. I’ve learned from many others on here and people in school AP Calc is preferred.

I’m sorry if this was rude!

Have a good day!

10

Note that top colleges DO NOT care about HS ranking AT ALL. In fact often if you see results threads the #1 student is mad that #4 or #7 was admitted… But top schools see the whole picture. As Stanford famously put it " it’s not a game of who has the most APs, wins “.
Fighting over .01or .001 point is childish.
(Taking 7 APs is madness and risks making your valedictorian look like an AP junkie not to mention a sleep deprived zombie. 4-5 a year should be the maximum and never at this expense of a " core” class.)

11

@anthonytheboy No, I was quoting myself from the original post to answer the question you asked.

12

@novelcytologist Oh, I get what you did there.

Then, sorry about my earlier answer. That was real silly of me. I apologize. In all honesty, however, I agree with everyone else here on this board. Taking 7 APs is very tough and unnecessary. If you’re able to do it, that’s nice, but you don’t need to, and AP Calc is much preferred to AP Stats.

Have a good day and happy Martin Luther King Jr. day!