High school course selection

[bennington1]

My DS is in his sophomore year of high school and planning courses for next year. He is taking AP Chem next year and is considering taking AP Environmental Science as well. In his senior year he is planning on taking AP Physics. He is concerned that Admissions may not place much weight on taking AP Physics his senior year rather than taking it his junior year. He is concerned about being overloaded next year between academics, community activities and competitive swimming. Appreciate any thoughts.

 

[mdn18]

There's absolutely nothing wrong with taking AP Physics senior year. In fact, I'd think that's when most people would take it. After, what's there to take after that? I really didn't have the chance to take AP's until my senior year. AP English would be really good to have. And AB or BC Calc.

You want to stretch yourself but not so much that you "break".

 

[falconchic88]

I don't think it will hurt him at all. My Daughter, now a mid, class of 2016 took AP Physics as a Senior. As a matter of fact, at her school you couldn't take it sooner than your senior year. The major thing is that he is taking AP Chem! I know of candidates that did not have AP Chem on their schedule at all, and were personally told by Dean Latta to change their schedule to take AP Chem.

 

[DC1220]

Nothing is wrong with AP physics your senior year. The important objective here IMO is to follow the plebe's schedule as best as you can and to have the best grades. Even though he's going to have to do the classes again even if he gets perfect 5s on his AP tests if he does attend the academy in the future, it will show the academy that he can handle the subjects. Even if it is in the span of four years, you always want to make sure that you have the AP English, AP Cal, AP Chem, and AP US History.

Other recommendations I'd have is get him into a foreign language class if possible and also a computer or technology class also helps. These are mainly recommended through the Academy and the Admissions likes to see a little diversity with the language classes.

Don't think that it always has to be AP, because there have been candidates in the past who have not had all AP for all four years and they've been appointed. Some didn't have Honors or IB or whatever. Some had basic regular classes and still got appointed. Your son can have an impressive list of AP classes under his belt in his transcripts, but if the grades don't meet the standard, it's practically a waste of time.

I'd take it little steps at a time. Your son still has two more years of high school, and the academy tends to focus on mainly people who are Juniors and up. Two years is a long time, and there is a lot that is going to happen in his last two years of High School. Whatever happens I wish you and your son the best of luck.

PS: DO REALLY WELL ON THE SAT/ACT!!!!!!!!!