Should I take AP Gov or AP Macroeconomics for Semester 2 of Senior Year?

Applying to College
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Hi! Here’s a little background … I want to take both AP Gov and AP Macroeconomics. However, they both occur second semester of my senior year and the classes scheduling collide so I have to choose between them.

I’m planning to major in Econ so Macroeconomics is more oriented towards my trajectory, especially as I am taking AP microeconomics at the moment. I’m really enjoying micro and I would love to do macro.

However, if I don’t take AP Gov, I’m concerned it will look weird, or maybe as if I’m “slacking” senior year (in spite of all other classes being AP) since I’ve taken the AP/honors track of history offered in my school throughout. I’ve also taken AP European History, which is not offered as part of the main history track in my school, but an elective, showing my commitment to more difficult history.

My private counselor says I may likely will have to explain myself in one of the essays if I don’t take AP Gov, as that disrupts my pattern of rigor in history and scales down on difficulty per the school’s track. I’m also worried about having to take a lower-level history course because I feel that I won’t be challenged enough.

Not to mention, I’ve heard some schools recalculate GPA, only accounting for core classes, so AP Macroeconomics won’t really make a difference/AP boost.

Again, AP macro is really appealing and my family and I want to go in that direction since we think it aligns with my major.

I love the ideas behind both of these classes (I’m a humanities student) but I’m really upset I have to choose between them.

I would self-study for the one I can’t do, but that’s definitely not going to work time-wise and I don’t know if I can do a community college program over the summer since I’m going abroad.

What do you guys think is the best decision, AP Gov or macro?

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Depending on which one you pick, would you be taking a non-AP version of the other one?

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It doesn’t really matter what aligns with your major, because you’ll take macro in college, anyway, if you end up majoring in Econ. Most colleges do not admit by major, so they’re not looking for you to take foundational courses for a specific major. As far as GPA calculations are concerned, both classes would count as core classes as long as they both satisfy your social studies credit requirement (and I can’t imagine that they don’t). I’m not sure it really matters which course you take, but if you have had not had any kind of civics or government in high school, I would recommend AP Gov.

I would recommend against self-studying either of these courses. The point is to take the course, not to take the exam, and you’ll miss a lot – discussions, readings, lectures, etc. – if you don’t take the course. Whichever course you don’t take next year, plan to take an equivalent in college instead.

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IMO your private counselor is wrong. You shouldn’t need to explain anything on the application. You want to highlight the positives and avoid drawing attention to the negatives (which not taking AP anything really isn’t a negative anyway). If you are passionate about a subject and want to pursue more, then that’s what you should do.

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In our school, you took them both - one in the Fall and one in the spring. I think it’s common so surprised to see they are offered in the same semester. The two make up a year of social science which may be necessary.

Is there an alternative path - online or at a CC - to take the other - so you have that full year of social science?

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It’s entirely possible that there are other social sciences offered first semester. At my kids’ school, it’s more typical to take AP US Gov one semester and AP Comp Gov the other during junior year (though you could do this sequence as a senior). There are a few other one-semester electives. Relatively few people take AP Econ. Some kind of US government class – AP or not – is required, but Econ isn’t.

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I think that you should take the class that you feel is right for you. I also agree with another answer that you do not need to explain anything in your essays. It sounds like you have taken a very rigorous set of classes and done well.

Personally I took Macroeconomics as an undergraduate student in university. I did like it quite a bit, and it did help to explain things that I have seen far more recently (as one example, it could at least in principle allow one to look at current government policies, and to then invest based on the likely result of those policies).

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If you’re more interested in Macro, take that. Especially if you think you might want to major in econ.

Don’t devote essay space to explaining it. It’s not perceived as less rigorous than Gov.

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Double check with your school counselor as well. Gov was a required course for graduation at my D’s HS.

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I think the OP will take government, just not the AP one. I was thinking that as well since Gov is usually a graduation requirement.

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It commonly is, but there is typically a non-AP version that may offer more sections than the AP one and therefore not a scheduling conflict issue that the OP is encountering.

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Yes, that’s why I asked if the student is at least planning to take the non-AP version of the class.

Even if it’s not a requirement at the HS, I am guessing that some colleges might expect a student to have a class in Gov on their transcript, or the student might end up having to take an additional class at college to pass a requirement.

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In some schools govt is year long! everywhere is different:) at some schools you don’t have a choice of macro or micro you have to do both… etc etc etc

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If I were to take AP Macro, I have to take regular government. Or, I can take AP Gov, but can’t take AP Macroeconomics (I already took regular economics, and I’m taking AP microeconomics so there’s no other options than AP Macro left).

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I truly don’t think this matters, take the one you think is most interesting. (note if taking econ means you have to take non-honors govt and that mess with GPA is only thing I can think of that makes a difference one way or other).

They are both APs and fill same nice of history/social science IMO. Yes, some/many re-calcuate GPAs for only core, either econ or govt will be core social sciences, is my understanding. But obviously each school makes their own rules.

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For us, we have to do 3.5 years of history, so it’s not a requirement since I’ve already done three years of history, as well as AP euro, which is a full-year elective. So essentially, I’ve fulfilled the requirements.

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You can always take the econ class at a community college, if you are afraid reg gov won’t look good.

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Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t. Many states don’t require this.

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Hence the word “usually.”

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I think either option sounds fine:

A) regular Gov, and AP Macro

B) AP Gov and no more economics in HS, you could take something else that might interest you

If you really wanted to take AP Macro and you worry about how regular Gov will look, you (or your HS counselor) can put a note in the application explaining that it was not possible to take both AP Gov and AP Macro because of scheduling issues. My understanding is that it’s not uncommon to put schedule notes like that in an application, because students are often affected by scheduling issues (at least at our HS this seems to come up).

Note that I wouldn’t suggest putting a schedule issue note in an essay (that would seem strange). But your counselor could put a note in their letter (along with checking the most rigorous box), or you could put a brief note about your HS schedule in an additional information section.