My school doesn’t offer many AP and honor classes so I’m going to take all the ones I can. I’m in band as a freshman this year which takes care of my year of visual/performing arts however I will continue taking band all four years of high school. AP Art counts as visual/performing art as well so will I benefit from it in any way if I already have that requirement covered?
take all the APs you can
I honestly don’t think AP art will influence what college you get into. Consider the following:
–Do you like art? Are you good at it? If you don’t think you have the artistic talent necessary to do well in this class it is not worth taking.
–What would AP Art replace in your schedule of courses? It would be a mistake to take AP Art in lieu of a core academic course.
–Talk to your guidance counselor and see if AP Art would have any influence on if he/she would mark of on your college recommendation that you have taken the most rigorous courseload available at your HS.
At the risk of stating the obvious, AP Art will generally require at least 2 years of art as a prerequisite. If you enjoy art and want to devote 3+ years to it, go for it. If you are thinking of taking it just for college admissions, you’re taking it for the wrong reasons.
My daughter did not take AP art and she was applying to art schools. Her school offered it, but she did not want to take it and preferred to work on her portfolio and work using other media. She was accepted to both NYU for studio art and to Pratt. It is an extremely time consuming class and it’s deadlines would have come at a time when she was the lead in our HS’s musical. In order to take AP art, most schools require that you take art throughout high school.
Update:
• If I took the class, I believe I’d do well because I’m not completely bad at art.
• My school is very lenient when it comes to AP courses. The counselors will sometimes let you take them even without the prerequisite. I know people who took AP Art without taking art any years before in high school.
• AP Art would not replace anything in my schedule. I have the option of putting it in so I’m wondering if I should do so.
• I don’t plan on taking any other art in high school, only AP Art. I understand that I should be more devoted towards it but I’m not passionate enough about it.
• I don’t plan on going to art school. I’m simply wondering if the course would do anything for me.
I’m sorry if I come off as if I do everything for the college admissions. My school ranks really low and doesn’t offer much in terms of curriculum so I’m trying to take advantage of what we have. I don’t know much so that’s why I started this thread.
@pathtocollege In the end, it’s not a matter of taking an AP class. It’s also a matter of what grades you will get in it and how well you do on the ap portfolio review. If grading for the class puts you in a position of being judged against other talented and more committed students who have taken art throughout high school, I would not do it. If teachers are willing to accept any level of work as long as it meets the deadline, then you can perhaps still pull an A. I highly doubt you will score well enough on the AP portfolio review without more instruction. There would be no advantage to sending to colleges a 1 or 2 score. Luckily the scores will come later than your acceptance at a college.
These are the requirements for the review:
- Carefully select 5 works that show in-depth understanding of and engagement with 2-D Design, Drawing, or 3-D Design issues in their concept, composition, and execution. (These works are in addition to works done for your concentration. Often they are done a year before AP art is taken.)
- A body of related works that demonstrate sustained and thoughtful investigation of a specific visual idea (12 images, some of which may show details, second views, or process documentation)
- A variety of works demonstrating a range of conceptual and/or technical approaches (12 images for 2-D Design and Drawing. These are different works than the 5 works for #.
So in all, you will need to produce about 25 pieces of art and an essay by May 5. Is it worth it? Remember that most people will have a decent number of those pieces done by the time they start the class, using pre-exiting pieces from their portfolio that were done in prior years.
Here is a link to the quality of the work they expect:
http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/members/exam/exam_information/228412.html
http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/members/exam/exam_information/228413.html
http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/members/exam/exam_information/228414.html