More preferable to take honors courses related to your field of choice or AP courses unrelated to it? Answered
I'm planning of going into a science based field, and I'm not sure what to do. My school offers many courses related to science, but the majority of them aren't AP courses. Is it better for me to take courses aimed towards science (like Engineering 1, Biotechnology, etc.) that aren't weighted as AP (or even honors) or AP courses that aren't science based (like AP US History, AP Government Science, etc.)? As of now, I'm a freshman in high school taking the most challenging courses offered for my grade.
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2 answers
I was in a similar situation to you (I’m now a senior in high-school). What I ended up doing was taking a mix of both courses. If you are interested in Engineering for example be sure to take Engineering, Drafting, or similar classes because they demonstrate your interest in the top which will help you get into top/more competitive programs for colleges. This doesn’t mean you can’t/shouldn’t take AP courses in the humanities to an extent. It’s all about a balance. Taking those high level AP courses will help you out with credit in college, but they will also show admissions that you can take a heavy course load even in things that may not be your particular strength. This does not mean you should take a course you absolutely hate, because I can guarantee you will not be as successful in it.
In summary, take a challenging course load, but try to take 1 or 2 classes that are more science or technology related that will should a demonstrated prolonged interest. Hope this helps! I wouldn’t stress to much about college right now.
Great question! Like @nlwhite said, a mixture of both can benefit you. Colleges want to see that you're challenging yourself and taking a difficult course load. When they look at your application they're going to know what classes were available to you at your school and which ones you took (obviously) and they will use this information when considering a decision. So while it's good to take those science courses to demonstrate your interest in the field you're also definitely going to want to take as many AP courses as you can handle to show colleges you're capable of doing that kind of work and you can push yourself
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Thank you so much for the advice! It definitely helped and helped ease some of my stress/worries about the future :)