More important to take AP classes before senior year or not?

redraider2022

USMA 2026
Joined
Aug 15, 2020
Messages
96
Curious about what y'all think on this. Taking 4 APs senior year, only because they weren't open to me beforehand due to the progression system my school has for core classes. I'm already on-track to have taken all the courses USAFA would want at a high/AP level. I guess the better question would be how much senior classes are weighed. How much the admissions process would care about my senior schedule, I guess is what I'm trying to say. Ideas on this would be appreciated.
 
This is my personal opinion/current experience, so nothing official. My thought process was that USAFA wants to see my challenge myself, and to stay on the honors/AP course through my senior year. They don't want to see me take all regular classes, with an open period. They don't want to see me slack off my senior year just because it's my senior year. I'm not saying completely dedicate yourself to the academics, allow yourself some room to take a night off, so you don't get a burnout, become overly stressed, and then perform poorly in those classes. So that's why I also have 4 AP's in my senior schedule next year, so they can see I'm dedicated and preparing for college. This is my 2 cents (or is it 10 cents?), and there's probably more people qualified to answer this. Best of luck!
 
Eh - my vote is it depends a lot on what the classes are and what you would take instead. It also depends on what you intend to try to validate at USAFA or elsewhere.

I chose NOT to load up on APs my senior year, I took AP calc and that's it (I took honors physics, but my school didn't offer AP physics or chem at the time - I would have definitely taken those). I decided having some release periods and more time for tennis was better than taking AP stats , AP Lit and/or AP art history - and it was totally the right call for me. I was able to really commit the time to my calc class without killing myself (academically) senior year, which left me the time I wanted to work on my tennis. I took college writing instead of AP Lit and also managed to fit a microelectronics elective in, which was SO fun.
 
Senior schedule is very important. USAFA and all colleges require it because they want to make sure you are meeting the 4 x core courses, and even if you are dual enrollmenting or APing into oblivion, your senior year may be the one you take that 4th requirement of E M Sci History, or required yrs foreign language.

Beyond that, how critical it is for YOU all depends, so can't answer that. Try looking at it by asking, would I regret not taking this-or-that class? Would I have missed out on having (super awesome) teacher at my high school? Taking a really interesting class? Catching some z's in study hall/class? Expressing my creativity with creative writing? Enlightenment with Sociology of Star Wars? Wished I took that next level AP in a hard science? Lots of ways to look at it.
 
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