Should I take 5 AP's instead of 6 AP's Senior Year?

Pre-College Topics High School Life
1

I’m currently scheduled to take 6 AP’s my senior year of high school:

AP Calculus AB – there is no CP or Honors Calculus offered
AP Chemistry
AP English Literature
AP Government – ½ semester
AP Macroeconomics – ½ semester
AP Spanish Language – there is no CP or Honors Spanish 4 offered
AP Studio Art 2-D Design – need to take an Art in order to graduate

Although I feel that I can do well in all the classes, I fear that this may add too much stress to my life.

I’m probably going to be a Philosophy major and I was wondering whether it’s okay to drop AP Chemistry for Zoology CP.

My school counselor says that my schedule should be as rigorous as possible to make me look more attractive to colleges.

Considering the Philosophy major and my past class schedule, is it okay to drop AP Chemistry for Zoology CP?

Here are my past core classes:

Algebra 2 Honors (A/A)
AP English Literature (A/A)
AP European History (A/A)
AP Physics (B/B)
AP Psychology (A/A)
AP US History (A/A)
Biology PreAP (A/A)
Chemistry CP (A/A)
English PreAP 1 - 2 (A/A/A/A)
Geography (1 semester) (A)
Geometry Honors (A/A)
Pre-Calculus CP (A/A)
Spanish CP 1 - 3 (A/A/A/A/A/A)

Here are my list of schools to which I’m likely applying:

–REACHES–
Washington University in St. Louis
Vanderbilt University
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Los Angeles

–MATCHES–
University of Washington
University of Southern California
Boston University
University of Texas, Austin
University of Michigan
University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Davis
University of California, San Diego
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Tulane University
New York University

–SAFETIES–
University of Pittsburgh
University of Oregon
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
University of California, Santa Cruz

Here are my general stats:

Unweighted GPA: 3.94
Weighted GPA: 4.33
Unweighted Core Subject GPA: 3.94
Weighted Core Subject GPA: 4.39
High School Transcript Unweighted GPA: 3.94
High School Transcript Weighted GPA: 4.22
UC Unweighted GPA: 3.91
UC Capped Weighted GPA: 4.27
UC Uncapped Weighted GPA: 4.36
Unweighted Rank: 12/522(Top 3%)
Weighted Rank: 17/522 (Top 4%)
ACT #1: 32C, 33E, 29M, 36R, 30S, 28W
ACT #2: 32C, 35E, 35M, 33R, 26S, 20W
ACT SS: 34C, 35E, 35M, 36R, 30S
SAT Subject Test US History: 760
AP European History: 4
AP Psychology: 5
AP English Language & Composition: 5
AP US History: 5

Thanks in advance!

2

Personally, I think you could drop from the 6 APs to 5 and be fine. What matters to colleges is that your guidance counselor checks off “most rigorous schedule” in their evaluation- you need to ask her if she will still do that if you take 5 APs.

3

Do you need to take AP art? Is there another art course you could take? I think that would be smart, as the art portfolios are known to be very time intensive. Remember, you will still need to have time to do your college apps, seeing as you’re applying to so many schools.

4

@yonceonhismouth - Thanks for the advice. I asked my counselor, who said that replacing AP Chemistry with Zoology CP will make my schedule go from “most rigorous” to “rigorous”. I still don’t know what to do.

@Shanban1607 - I don’t need to take an AP art, but I do need to take an art to graduate. AP Studio Art 2-D Design is not considered a difficult class in my school. I can replace it with Ceramics, etc., but AP Studio Art (aka Photography) sounds more interesting.

5

I would get your parents involved and have them go to the director of guidance and further up the chain of command as necessary. Going from 11 AP’s jr/sr year to 10 AP’s does not, IMO, warrant a reduction from “most rigorous.” I can’t imagine that a college AO would not call into question the rationale/sanity/competence of a HS GC on this.

The prevailing wisdom is that 6-8 AP’s or AP-equivalent courses for the entire HS career is “most rigorous” and that any further AP courses will not add anything meaningful to the college application.

6

But the OP is in California, a state in the thick of the AP arms race.

7

I agree with @skieurope - It’s ridiculous that she wouldn’t mark your schedule as most rigorous if you went from 11 to 10 APs. If the school won’t budge, I recommend writing an explanation somewhere on your application, perhaps in the Additional Info section.

8

Involve Your parents.

9

@suzyQ7 Be that as it may, my advice stands. While the school might be under the belief that “whoever has the most AP’s wins,” plenty of top colleges have gone on record to say that is not the case. Whether the parents get anywhere or not is a different question, but they should at least go on record as saying the policy is ridiculous. As @yonceonhismouth says, if the school won’t budge, they need to explicitly state its criteria on the Secondary School Report.

10

Thank you for the advice. I’m also considering dropping AP Chemistry and taking AP Statistics instead (since I love math). My new schedule would be:

AP Calculus AB
AP English Literature
AP Government/AP Macroeconomics
AP Spanish Language
AP Statistics
AP Studio Art 2-D Design

However, that would mean i won’t be taking a 4th year of a science.

Thoughts?

11

Taking a regular science would be better than taking AP stats just /mostly to satisfy your guidance counselor 's unreasonable demands.
Honestly if you could take ceramics and regular or honors science you should be fine for all colleges, so involve your parents to discuss the matter.

12

My counselor said she’d mark my schedule as “most rigorous” if I take AP Statistics.

Now my dilemma is only having 3 years of science in high school instead of 4. However, I’d now have 5 math courses instead of 4.

13

I don’t think you need to stack up on sciences? You took Chemistry CP so the jump to AP probably isn’t that big, but I don’t know how it goes at your school… I don’t think you necessarily need every science or even stats if you’re anchored to Philosophy. But idk, you do like math and maybe taking the variety of APs (Stats is a very universal class, even more than Chemistry) will give you options if you decide to change majors later.

14

Thanks, @tangentline.

Definitely sticking with Philosophy and will likely have a double major in Math, because I enjoy it so much. However, Statistics could replace Math should I enjoy it more.

I’ve been looking at the Common Data Sets for the schools in which I’m interested and all of them require 3 years of science and recommend 4 years of science.

That’s my concern.

15

@suzyQ7, if op is California instate, he only needs total 8 combined AP and Honors during his sophomore and junior years to have maximum UC GPA.
If op is OOS, still total 8 AP during sophomore and junior is enough for max UC GPA.

16

I’m CA instate. It’s my understanding that UCLA and UCB look at both capped and uncapped UC GPA.

I believe I’m all set for the UC’s. It’s the OOS and private schools that I’m concerned about.

17

^^ Oh shoot. Thanks for the information!

18

@SculptorDad Thanks for your reply!

19

I go back to my earlier advice of getting your parents involved and speaking to the Director of Guidance. I fail to see how the GC’s recommendation can be taking seriously by colleges.

"Dear College:

I rated @theringofinfinite 's schedule as “most rigorous” because I felt that it was more important that he have 6 AP’s than following your college’s recommended HS preparation.

Sincerely,
The GC"

20

@skieurope My parents and I spoke with the guidance counselor and her supervisor today. It came down to them saying that the school offers > 20 AP classes and to take a CP course over an AP is not “most rigorous”. Whatever. I dropped AP Chem and signed up for AP Stats (in which I’m very interested). I’ll gamble with only taking 3 science classes during high school. Hopefully, colleges will look at my transcript and determine that I didn’t slack off my senior year even though I didn’t take a science.