Should I take a year off after high school before college?

Help me decide what class to take next year in high school (preparing for college)?

• I'm going to be in 11th grade next year, which is the most important grade in my area, because colleges apparently (according to my high school's staff) look at this year the most. I want to go into nursing school after I graduate. Generally, I'm not a very good student. My average high school GPA so far is about a 3.1, which is very bad compared to most students at my school. Next year I have room for one more class. I want to take either regular, unweighted Anatomy & Physiology, which relates to what I hope to major in, or AP Art History, which is supposedly a very easy course which will give me college credits and increase my weighted GPA, but is unrelated to my major. I am actually quite interested in Art History, but I will not be studying it in college. I'm also definitely taking Chemistry next year, which will be very hard to take with Anatomy on the side, but I'll hopefully manage. So, which will look better when I'm applying for college? High weighted GPA with courses unrelated to my major, or average GPA with courses relating to my major? Please help me! Best answer gets 10 points of course.

• Answer:

  Colleges look at all four years of high school, not just your junior year. They don't look junior year any differently than they would your other three years. They'll also look at your unweighted GPA, not weighted. Taking Art History while it doesn't even related to your major would be somewhat pointless. Possibly you can take AP Chem. You also don't receive college credit for taking an AP class, it's only if you take the AP exam & receive a high score, and sometimes even then colleges don't accept AP credits.