My class history so far: (4.0 UW)
Freshman Year:
English (required)
History (required)
Biology (required)
Geometry (could’ve done honors)
Spanish 3/4
Photography
Sophomore Year:
English (required)
History (required)
Chemistry (could choose between regular and AP)
Algebra 2 (could’ve done honors)
Spanish 5/6
Ceramics
Junior Year:
AP Lang. (could choose between regular and AP)
APUSH (could choose between regular and AP)
AP Enviro (could’ve chosen AP Bio, AP Physics, Hnrs. Anatomy or AP Enviro)
Math Analysis (could’ve choose honors)
Spanish 7/8
IB Art SL (Counts as an AP class)
(tentative) Senior Year:
AP Lit.
AP Gov/Econ
(AP Bio, Hnrs. Anatomy or AP Physics)
AP Calc AB
AP Spanish Lang.
(IB Art HL or Political Science)
SAT Score for Comparison: 2180 M 660 CR 740 W 780
What science class and elective should I choose? (I’m not the best at science so I’m not sure how well I would handle AP Bio or AP physics … would taking honors anatomy be really bad?)
Also… I have taken the most rigorous courses for English/History/Spanish/Art but not for math and science, will this affect me a lot when applying to colleges like UPenn, UCLA, NYU, Pomona, Georgetown… etc with a Political Science major?
Does my senior schedule counteract the lack of AP/Honors classes freshman and sophomore year?
Pick whichever one you like best and in which you’ll do well. Your proposed schedule for senior year is very rigorous whichever one you pick.
agreed, not taking an ap sci for a PoliSci major won’t be the end of the world
Personally unless it’s known to be really hard at your school you should take AP Bio. Most colleges will require a lab science class and if you do well in AP Bio you can get out of that. IN college lab sciences take a ton of work and time because you have regular class, recitation (like small group tutoring), and lab plus you have all the regular classwork plus lab reports. AP Physics 1 doesn’t get you much credit in college so I definitely would not take that one.
Top 50 universities/LACs want to see all three of bio, chem, and physics. AP Physics 1 is easier than other AP science classes (it’s not easy, per se, but it’s at the same level as Honors Physics, covering fewer topics more in-depth).
For your elective, take either one, but since you’re interested in POlitical Science,why not take the class to get an idea of it and show your interest? (Plus, the “why collegeX” basically writes itself: After taking AP Gov, AP Economics, and especially a senior year political science class, I’m sure I want to major in political science, and at College X because i like … and COllege X offers …, I started learning about … and Professor Z is an expert on it", etc)