And I was one of the people who said that. I also said that you should not focus specifically on Harvard, or any school, when doing course selections.
So let’s go back to the initial question.
The core of a HS schedule for any given year (assuming that you have not already completed graduation requirements and a college’s recommended preparation in a certain subject) is to have one course each in English, math, social science/history, science, and foreign language. Once that’s out of the way, you can fill the balance with electives. So not having room because you’re doubling up on subjects like arts or math at the expense of a science is not the way to go. FWIW, I would assume that AP Music Theory would meet your school’s fine arts requirements.
Yes, one can fulfill shortcomings by filling the holes in summer school, but I am of the opinion that summers are better spent doing non-academic work. Additionally, it will make you, IMO, fresher for the beginning of the next academic year and will probably provide more interesting essays on your college application. Schools like Harvard are really not interested in filling there class with students who are pure academic drones.
In this case, go with what your school recommends. How AP Calculus is taught varies from school to school. One way, and it sounds like how it is at your school, is to cover the AB topics in AB and to only cover BC topics in BC. Other schools cover both AB and BC in the BC class, but that’s not applicable to you. So for you, jumping straight into BC makes no sense, since you will not have learned 60% of the material needed for the AP test.
No it’s not. Harvard asks for European history, although it does not need to be AP. And really what they are saying is that they would prefer exposure to one or two non-US history courses. Keep in mind that Harvard’s suggestions are just that; it is not meant as items to check off the list. Many applicants attend HS’s where HS policy would preclude following Harvard’s suggestions and they are not disadvantaged in the admissions process. Similarly, applicants may have had valid reasons for being unable to fulfill the recommendations. From my own experience, although Harvard requests it, I did not take bio in HS. Not AP bio, not regular bio, not bio in MS that counted as a HS course . Nothing. I did, though, have 4 years of science, one year being astronomy (sorry, @gibby ) It did not hurt me in the admissions process. While admittedly this is a sample of n=1, my point is that Harvard and other colleges will look at the total picture and not focus in one small part of your application.