Should I take AP's that don't match my major?Answered
Hey! I'm an upcoming sophomore (I'm doing Pre-IB), interested in math and psychology. I was planning to self-study unrelated AP courses like Art History and AP GOV to boost my GPA, but would that look negative during college admissions?
Note: Most of the other AP courses are requirements for my school's IB Program or are offered at school. These two courses are part of the few that I can self-study.
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2 answers
Hi @annu92
I would say go for it because those AP Courses may come in handy later on as a Plan B in case your Plan A doesn't work out. In my case, I took AP CSA, AP Psychology, AP World History, APUSH, Physics 1, AP Biology, AP Lang, and AP Spanish Lang. This coming school year as a rising senior I plan on taking AP Chem, AP Micro, AP Gov, and AP Lit. I plan to study Pre-Med but looking at these courses you'd wonder other than the sciences why the STEM and Arts. Because in my Plan B I plan on using the Coding/CSA and languages to help me better impact the world through my practice as a future physician. So in my opinion go ahead and take the chance because you never know what your future might hold. Good Luck!!! Hope this Helps!!! Let me know if you have other questions.
Not at all!! If you can take any AP math/psych classes definitely enroll in those but other than that just take the AP courses that are offered. It will look better since you are being challenged in other courses, and colleges don't usually admit based on specific majors. taking more AP's would only benefit you and show that you can handle rigorous learning (not to mention the GPA boost...)
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Hey! Thank you guys so much! I took your advice and signed up to start self-studying the courses (I'm now quite excited about AP Art History!). I wish guys good luck in your future endeavors!