As the title says, I am on the fence of whether I should take APUSH next year (I am currently a sophomore). I plan on majoring in AI/Computer Science at top schools, and here are some of the other APs I am currently taking/plan on taking:
AP Computer Science A
AP Statistics
AP Calculus BC
AP Physics 1
AP English Language* (on the fence for this one too)
AP Physics C Mechanics/Electricity and Magnetism
AP English Literature* (on the fence for this one too)
AP Microeconomics
AP Macroeconomics
Calculus III and Linear Algebra (or Differential Equations) at a nearby college (Fairfield University/Norwalk Community College) or with my math teacher.
We also have Project Lead The Way courses at my school, and I plan on going in the engineering route for those:
Introduction to Engineering and Design
Principles of Engineering
AP Computer Science Principles
Engineering Design and Development
Now, I would like to talk about why I don’t want to take APUSH, and to a lesser extent, AP English. This year, we have to take a course called Pre-AP Early American History, which covers a little less than half of the APUSH curriculum in one semester. Next year, I will complete the rest of APUSH by academic Q3 and then we will work on review for the exam. The main reason I don’t want to take it is because it seems pointless to me. The other required USH course is CPUSH, and I feel like if I took that, then my time could be better applied to projects like machine vision and machine learning using TensorFlow.
You have probably guessed by now that I am not a big fan of history, or writing essays. I can do it, but I won’t enjoy it the way others in my class do. Math and computers is more my speed, and it’s just that I don’t know how rigorous of a course load I have to have in order to get into elite colleges like MIT and CMU. Even if I don’t take AP English, I still will have taken 8 APs, and the PLTW courses give me college credits (and obviously the Fairfield University courses).
I can talk more about the other stuff I want to do/am doing (which includes SAT subject tests and extracurriculars) in the replies. Thanks so much. I looked at some similar posts about APUSH for MIT, and they said that APUSH gives you “9 MIT credits”, but those can’t be applied to humanities courses at MIT.
Honestly, if high school is even supposed to be even slightly fun, I don’t think I should burden myself with 13 APs over my high school years just to get into an elite college. I believe my extracurriculars are mediocre right now, but I am going to start a programming club next year (and maybe a Mu Alpha Theta chapter in my school), as well as join the NHS and Science Honor Society.